you weren't kidding! Those roller balls WORK!

Posted by pburke (A) on May 7, 2003 at 23:24:25

In Reply to: Re: rollerblock test the cheap way posted by bdiament on May 6, 2003 at 16:11:09:

so the tweak is finally installed and I am in TOTAL AWE after 5 hours of listening to music. Forget weights, forget superballs under the source - rollerballs are in a league fo their own. $ 5 at wallmart (for 3 basting sppons, not ladles as I posted earlier, and a bag of marbles) and my system sounds like I just added some $5000 component somewhere!

the basting sppons are very shallow, chromed (=hard and shiny) and almost perfectly spherical in the lower part of the spoon). I cut off the handle with my angle grinder in the garage (took too long with the dremel), then placed the spoon cups on IKEA cork coasters, secured them with rope caul in a level position, cleaned them and selected smooth marbles. The small ones ran almost 40 seconds when I did the roll test from the spoon top edge. Just what the doctor ordered!

Removed all the weights from the top of my CD player, lifted it up, removed the caulk ball feet and replaced with the three roller ball supports. one under power supply, one under the front where the drive sits and the third on the far right to balance it all. Level check and then power on and test. Cords are all nicely relaxed, so the player jiggles back and forth for quite sometime if I give it a push - I'll now open the drawer only with the remote - pushing buttons on that thing is now a shaky affair. But it's worth it! the sound improved in so many dimensions I don't even want to start describing it. The impact on my system was almost as big as the recent move from SS preamp to a tweaked Foreplay tube preamp. If it wasn't after 1am, I'd still be re-discovering my record collection as you predicted

Anyone who has been experimenting with component isolation and NOT tried the roller balls - $5 and about an hour of work and you're going to be a convert like me!

It's been one of these experiences you want to see from every tweak, but only once in a while will things improve at the magnitude I have seen today - and that for $5!!!

Peter

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - superball isolation question - pburke 12:47:18 05/05/03 (19)

Superball isolation - DaveT 16:53:50 05/05/03 (1)

my approach - seanmcd 11:33:22 05/07/03 (0)

super or not super, that is the question. - dave c 15:05:36 05/05/03 (16)

right on dave... - sunnysal 11:22:39 05/06/03 (0)

Re: super or not super, that is the question. - zanash 04:22:16 05/06/03 (0)

Re: super or not super, that is the question. - pburke 16:21:39 05/05/03 (13)

perhaps - dave c 03:26:35 05/06/03 (12)

Re: perhaps - pburke 06:45:11 05/06/03 (11)

Re: perhaps - JimBop 08:03:10 05/06/03 (10)

Re: rollerblock test the cheap way - pburke 08:33:57 05/06/03 (9)

Re: rollerblock test the cheap way - bdiament 16:11:09 05/06/03 (8)

you weren't kidding! Those roller balls WORK! - pburke 23:24:25 05/07/03 (6)

pardon the ignorance - LikeWhatG? 08:01:21 05/08/03 (1)

Re: pardon the ignorance - pburke 08:59:27 05/08/03 (0)

The next step and the one after that - bdiament 05:10:15 05/08/03 (3)

Where to find the beaings... - JimBop 07:26:26 05/08/03 (1)

Re: Where to find the beaings... - bdiament 16:47:54 05/08/03 (0)

Re: The next step and the one after that - pburke 06:59:15 05/08/03 (0)

Re: rollerblock test the cheap way - pburke 12:50:15 05/07/03 (0)

Follow Ups

you weren't kidding! Those roller balls WORK! - pburke 23:24:25 05/07/03 (6)

pardon the ignorance - LikeWhatG? 08:01:21 05/08/03 (1)

Re: pardon the ignorance - pburke 08:59:27 05/08/03 (0)

The next step and the one after that - bdiament 05:10:15 05/08/03 (3)

Where to find the beaings... - JimBop 07:26:26 05/08/03 (1)

Re: Where to find the beaings... - bdiament 16:47:54 05/08/03 (0)

Re: The next step and the one after that - pburke 06:59:15 05/08/03 (0)

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