A while ago I was introduced to finite elemente's rather
clever little Ceraball equipment supports, a model of elegant
and practical simplicity. And cost effective too. lf I
wanted crisper, cleaner, more focussed and more detailed
sound from a component, then the Ceraballs went straight
to the top of my accessories list, a position they've occupied
ever since. Essentially damped aluminium cup and cone assemblies,
coupled through a ceramic ball interface, the Ceraball
feet are neat, discrete and petite.
But finite elemente have a well kept secret. The Ceraball
has a bigger - no, make that a much bigger brother, the
Cerabase. Whereas the Ceraball has a 35mm diameter footprint
and a height of just 25mm, the Cerabase is 70mm in diameter
and 50mm tall. That makes it visually eight times the size!
But the real story is in the weight. The Ceraball weighs
a measly 25g: the Cerabase tips the scales at a significant
750g - or a little over a pound and a half in old money.
That makes it an impressively compact mass, if nothing
else.
Conceptually speaking, the Cerabase and Ceraball are virtually
identical. The difference is that the Cerabase allows far
greater loads and is a much more sophisticated beast altogether.
The wide base of the larger model retains the central shaft
and damping 0 ring of the Ceraball, but 106the entire structure
is turned from stainless steel rather than aluminium. Three
small dimples are equally disposed around the post and
these serve to locate the large diameter ceramic balls
that support the top cap. So far so good, but the really
clever bit is saved for the upper section. A full 45mm
in diameter, it is based on a two part turning.
The lower section is shaped like a top hat with a 22mm
crown that locates over the central shaft of the base.
Its underside carries three identical dimples that engage
with the ceramic balls. The hat's crown carries a close
pitch thread onto which screws the cylindrical top section.
This has a profiled top that carries a circular rubber
mat that compresses under load, acting as a non-slip locator.
But, remove the little mat and you reveal an eightmillimeter
hole. Counter sunk on its underside, this enables the user
to choose from the supplied M6, M8 or 50mm self-tapping
allen screws in order to firmly attach the top cap to an
equipment rack or other piece of furniture. Once fixed,
the rest of the Cerabase simply screws into place, while
the close pitch and diameter of the thread bestows incredibly
stable height adjustment through a full 10 mm. There's
no locking systern, but the precision engineering and the
mass expected to be carried render it unnecessary. Mass?
Oh yes, a set of four Cerabase feet are specified to support
a total of 500kg - or to put it another way, half a metric
tonne. With their bomb-proof stainless steel construction
I can believe it. Of course, as soon as you pick one up
you just know that these things are going to be expensive
and the gulp-inducing price won't disappoint you. Say it
very quietly indeed -about a hundred pounds each!
The Cerabase is designed to support either racks as discussed
(including finite elemente's own models) or individual
power amps and speakers. With but a single set to play
with (well, would you have fancied lugging two or three
sets around?) I tried them under poweramps, starting with
the tube c-j Premier 140 and moving onto the solidstate
Hovland RADIA. They proved to operate equally effectively,
without fear or favour, regardless of the technology they
were asked to support. Slipping a trio of Cerabase feet
under either of these power amps, two under the transformer
side, one under the other, produced an immediate and impressive
boost to their sonic performance and musical impact. It's
one of those changes that you need to ABAB simply because
you don't credit what's happened, given the fragility of
aural memory. But with the feet in place there's a significant
improvement in instrumental focus and separation. Kind
of what you might expect, so no great surprises there.
The surprise comes in the form of added weight, stature
and tonal richness. Now normally, supports will give you
one aspect or the other: clarity or weight, body or separation.
So far, of all the many I‘ve tried, only the Nordost
Pulsar Points in Titanium deliver both. Sure enough, a
quick comparison demonstrates that the Cerabase out performs,
and certainly out engineers the reigning champ. Impressive
as the titanium foot is, the finite elemente model offers
a more organic and richer tonal palette without any harmonic
or spatial clogging. The result is that the dynamic benefits
swell more naturally, with better scaling and control.
Let's take a musical example, in this case the Barbirolli/RPO
Sibelius 2 on Chesky. Its a fabulously atmospheric performance,
but the pressing is rather soft and murky. Sure enough,
played with the Premier 140 sat on the concrete floor the
sound is exactly as expected. Separation of instrumental
choirs is vague and the tonal range is lightened and washed
out. A conventional amp stand does little to improve matters.
But substitute the three Cerabase feet and you can now
clearly differentiate the orchestral elements, spatially
and tonally. The subtle bass that underpins the Allegretto
has more weight and texture, yet pulses and breathes in
a much more natural and convincing way. Indeed, the separation
of the pizzicato bass phrases in the second movement are
superbly tactile, their spacing and pitch adding real tension
to the music. And this is what makes the Cerabase benefit
so impressive. They don't just separate and define the
instruments, but also the space between them. Likewise
they define both the leading edge and tail of notes, the
shape of the energy that makes them, and once again, the
space between them. So, much as I can admire the solidity
and presence, the colour, energy and dynamics that the
Cerabase feet inject into the Sibelius, it's actually the
drama and palpable tension they reveal in the performance
that knocks you sideways. The hi-fi differences are impressive
enough, but listen past them and hear what these feet do
for the music.
The new lucidity and the better definition of the relationship
between elements within the orchestra make the structure
of the piece, its melodic lines and themes gel into a single,
coherent whole. Far from pulling things apart, the Cerabases
separation actually binds things together, keeping instruments
in their proper place and relationship to each other, spatially
but more importantly, musically. In the process, they reveal
the sheer majesty of Barbirollis vision. For what is the
benefit of a great conductor if his control and direction
are diluted by the inadequacies of the system. Now, you
might well expect the Cerabases to perform better than
the floor or a basic platform, especially given their price.
But the really impressive thing is that with the Premier
140 returned to its rightful (and very fortunate) owner,
they migrated to a position underneath the RADIA, between
the amp and the RDC Aspect rack in which it lives (the
c-j was too tall). Whereupon they promptly made just as
big a difference - and that with a solid- statedevice which
is already rather well supported. And the benefits are
not confined to classical music either. Rock, pop and especially
jazz all got a lift. Result: far more records stayed on
the system for far longer, and whilst it's a cliché to
say that I only meant to listen to one track and ended
up enjoying the whole album this was near to the truth.
The fact is that the new level of musical integrity compelled
you to follow strands to their conclusion. And if the Cerabases
didn't actually stop you halting proceedings mid-track,
they certainly underlined the artistic affront of doing
so.
Oddly enough, results under the HP100 were nowhere near
as impressive, but even a quick experiment with an Aspect
perched rather precariously atop the Cerabase feet demonstrated
even greater benefits than they achieved under the RADIA
alone. This is perhaps the only rack with which the various
fixings provided can't engineer a solid interface. What
is underlined by the experience is that it's just as well
that the feet are available in sets of four or three, meaning
that you don't end up with a very expensive spare on your
hands.
This level of design and engineering doesn't come cheap,
but the benefits are impressive to say the least. Hear
them in the context of a serious systern, especially one
with genuinely wide bandwidth, and you'll find their charms
extremely persuasive. Inevitably, proliferation under individual
components will take a heavy toll on your wallet, especially
in the context of mono-block amplifiers. However, for me,
the real home of the Cerabase will be under your equipment
rack where its financial burden (and sonic benefits) will
be spread across several components. Suddenly it doesn't
seem so bad. With my new finite elemente racks due any
day I can't wait to try it. More on that latter, but for
the moment the Cerabases will be staying put beneath the
RADIA.
lf you must have the best, these are it - and what
else in hi-fi can claim that at £100 a throw? |
infos
Component interface
Finite Elemente Cerabase |
| Load capacity: |
125 kg each |
| Height adjustment: |
+10 mm |
| Diameter bottom: |
70 mm |
| Diameter top: |
50 mm |
| Height: |
50 mm |
| Weight: |
0,7 kg |
| Warranty period: |
60 months |
|
