Tweakers' Asylum: REVIEW: Finite Elemente Ceraball Accessory by rhyno

Model:	Ceraball
Category:	Accessory
Suggested Retail Price:	85 jr bacon cheeseburgers
Description:	little silly footer thingy
Manufacturer URL:	Not Available
Manufacturer URL:	Not Available

Review by rhyno ( D ) on January 13, 2006 at 15:53:28
IP Address: 69.151.218.81

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for the Ceraball

i'd been using the always pleasant BDR SS cones under my SS amp, to good tonal effect for some time. i've had the ceraballs under source gear and never really compared them. well, with a few spare minutes i swapped the BDR cones under the amp for the Ceraballs on my Frederickson rack.
To give you an idea of the efficacy: i've been listening to Broken Social Scene's "Fire Eyed Boy" quite a bit (btw, BSC is the best band you've never heard of). Always had trouble making "sense" of the stage...always thought it was a bad recording, with parts in phase & parts out, thus jumbling the soundstage. ---Wrong. The Ceraballs immediately unwraveled the stage, allowing performers to take proper space in the soundfield.
To be short, I am stunned at the improvement in staging and microdetail. However, there's no free lunch, and the tonal taming that the BDR cones did is now gone from the amp, and its SS-ish sound is more prevalent. --Ultimately, footers can do a couple of things: tone controls (BDR), or vibration reduction (Ceraballs).
Personally, I've always felt footers needed to control vibration, and tone gets adjusted via cabling. That said, these footers are highly effective and much recommended as a very useful and cost-effective band aid for a less than optimal rack.
rhyno

Product Weakness: taste terrible
Product Strengths: it slices, dices, gets unwanted lipstick stains off your collar

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Parasound 2200 mk2 - modified
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Audio Mirror T-61 - modified
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Exemplar Audio 2900
Speakers:	Wilson WP 6s
Cables/Interconnects:	various
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	all
Room Size (LxWxH):	15 x 11 x 8
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

Product Weakness:	taste terrible
Product Strengths:	it slices, dices, gets unwanted lipstick stains off your collar