Brass door knobs as footers

Holy crap! It looks like I misread the Parts Express entry; they charge less than $20 for a package of four cones with threads and protector disks, plus shipping as Ghosthouse said.

Actually, the Mapleshade brass heavy footers come in at $160/set of four.

Here's an in-between compromise: *adjustable* solid brass footers from Parts Express for $71.45 for a set of four.

Another A-goner has these and says the threads make these footers direct replacements for the stock Technics SL12x0 feet. These are on my short list.

I just installed a set of PartsExpress Dayton cones on my Technics SL12x0 turntable, replacing the stock feet. The cones sit on an Ikea butcher block cutting board, which sits on Vibrapods.

I was startled at how the cones dropped the noise floor. There's new space around each note, clearer starts and stops. I wasn't aware of the smear until the cones diminished it. It's something you almost feel more than hear. And what I feel is that my shoulders have dropped and relaxed more when I put on music.

The most important thing is it's noticeably improved my enjoyment of the music. I was enjoying it quite a lot before, but I'm enjoying it even more now. I guess those cones do a nice job of collecting the vibrations bouncing around in the rubber base and draining them to the cutting board. (Gee, should I use an over-the-sink cutting board with built-in strainer so it drains faster? :-) )

The Technics DD turntables are capable of great quiet along with the speed stability. It all comes down to vibration extraction from the base and isolation from the rack and room. There are two big KAB mods to further improve this that I haven't implemented yet: the outboard power supply and the fluid damper for the tonearm. Music is coming out of such a nice, dark background now that I suspect when I add these, the true quietness level will equal or exceed some much pricier turntables.

PS. Right now I am using the threaded points to help level the turntable and I'm still getting appreciable results. I suspect that if I level the rack shelf itself and use Loctite to tighten and crank down the cones, the vibration transfer will be even better.

Ghosthouse, what cartridge and headshell are you using?

Apologies to this thread's originator for "hijacking" but hopefully some of this will be helpful to them as well.

Well, since the Dayton brass cones from PartsExpress are cheaper than doorknobs, I think you did everyone a favor.

09-05-07: Ghosthouse
Hello JB53 -
...I've followed many of your posts and if I recall you are running a Denon (103?) with Sumiko headshell that you seem very happy with

You're close. I'm using a Denon, but it's the high output DL160 mounted on the Sumiko HS, tracking at 1.6g.

And I guess I have you to thank on the Dayton speaker cones tip. That $20 certainly improved the sound quality and musical enjoyment a couple of notches.

I read someone's post here who dislodged the threaded sleeves from an SL1200 base while screwing in the M6-threaded Mapleshade Heavyfeet. Having read his post, I screwed the Dayton cones in slowly and carefully, and didn't encounter the problem. The vulnerability is that the threaded sleeves are only anchored in the rubber bottom layer.