Tough Nut Cones Isolation for loudspeakers, brilliant solution over spikes

This is a very intriguing solution - thank you for sharing!

I wonder how the cones vs cylinder options worked out for neptune123?

https://forum.audiogon.com/posts/2871694

Thanks to Jay's Iyagi's video as well as this thread I ordered a set of Tough Nut cones for my TAD CE1tx speakers.  The cones recommended by Derrick (owner of Tough Nuts) for my speakers are not on their website - he described them as a hybrid between the cones and cylinders and that they are especially well suited for speakers.  The invoice say 'TN Isolation Cones Medium Short Stainless Steel Barrel Black thumb nuts Metric M8'.  They fit the base of the TADCE1tx perfectly.

In assessing new equipment I listen to a few recordings including 'Oscar Peterson Plays Porgy & Bess' recorded in 1959.  A magnificent piano trio of three master musicians playing intimately and cohesively.

After installing the Tough Nut cones Ray Brown's bass sounded tighter and more defined, Oscar Peterson's piano had more midrange clarity and less smearing between notes, and Ed Thigpen's cymbals sparkled just a little more clearly.  The soundstage had grown a little more, but the most noticeable improvement was greater overall clarity - as if a veil had been lifted between me and the musicians.  The overall effect is more subtle than dramatic - a noticeable incremental improvement in an already incredible system. 

The Tough Nut cones made a great speaker sound even better - highly recommended!

And the icing on the cake is that Tough Nut is based in my home city of Toronto - and Derrick is a pleasure to deal with and very helpful.  And Jay's Iyagi is also Toronto based (not to be confused with the Florida based Jay).

The video cited in the OP’s post pretty much follows the same script as the owner cites as their basis behind their R&D and production line.  It is also quite interesting the Tough Nut Vibration R&D test board shows up in Jay’s video.  Did Jay get paid for this independent video review, who knows?  Did he get promotional product from Tough Nut, possibly?  With that said, I am in agreement with others that the vibration test board is not actually measuring the sound in the room and how different isolation or other devices are impacting that sound in the room by reducing distortion, etc.  I am not saying that different products do not improve our systems and audio reproduction, I would like to know how much better a certain product compares to another product with measurements of the actual sound in the room.  I currently have the following speaker config:

• ProAc Studio 148s
• Soundocity outriggers using their top threaded spikes for easy removal when placing and height adjustment
• SuperCellAudio 20mm steel floor protector discs that fit perfectly into the center of Rockville Isopads which are on berber carpet and pad over concrete slab

This setup did improve the bass tightness, plus the overall image and sound quality.  But how does my current setup test against other products (basic sorbothane, various DIY / custom speaker isolation setups like mine, IsoAcoustics, Townshend Audio, Tough Nut Audio, plus many others) by measuring the actual distortion in the room using something like Room EQ Wizard?  I think this last question would make a very interesting video topic.  Plus is there a point of diminishing return of improvements once an upgrade price is reached?

Oh, it looks like Tough Nut Audio will be increasing their prices in mid Feb 2026 due to material cost increases and tariffs, which is an unfortunate situation.

@audiotruth I can only comment about my situation.  On a second floor wood frame structure the only thing that worked for proper isolaton of my speakers were the Townshend podiums.  They cleaned up all the resonate bass frequiencies from the floor and inproved the soundstage, image and depth.  I tried spikes, no spikes on the carpeted floor and on a 2 inch thick limestone pad.  I also tried Herbie's gliders.  I think de-coupling isolation workes the best in,my situation and they are a must have component.

I've had the Tough Nut cones on my Solid Steel S6 stands as well, the speakers do wobble like a pendulum when slightly touched. I wonder how this affects the midbass/bass punch as well as imaging when the bass driver is punching away. I mean I will swap the cones out and back to the supplied spikes and pucks to find out, but in the meantime, what are peoples thoughts?