Description

Mid Lecel Rollerblock Jr
Isolation footer system
includes Rollerblock Jr bodies PLUS ultra-precision
Grade 10 Tunsten Crbride bearings


Tungsten Carbide Balls Introduced to the High-End by Symposium
Symposium was the first to discover the importance of ball material for ball bearing isolation devices, and introduced the Tungsten Carbide ball upgrade in 1998, a year after the first Rollerblock system was sold. As opposed to chromium steel balls, Tungsten Carbide balls provide better bass, lower background noise, more definite imaging specificity, weight, and greater musical authority. Some have characterized chromium steel balls as sounding "brighter" or "faster" than Tungsten as an initial subjective judgment. "Brighter," yes; "faster," no. Transient response is not lessened with Tungsten Carbide, and this material ultimately sounds and is better because it preserves a more coherent "link" to the Rollerblock body than chromium steel or other materials, due to its combination of improved mechanical transmission and hardness. While many believe that the TC ball is better because it is harder, this is not really correct. While hardness is desirable to prevent deformation of the ball under stress, the hardness of the ball by itself is secondary to another, more important parameter, which is mechanical transmissivity. The transmission index of Tungsten Carbide is close to that of aluminum, which means that it makes an excellent match for the aircraft aluminum Rollerblock body. This critical "link" to mechanical ground is often overlooked, but is absolutely critical for proper results. If hardness alone were the critical aspect of ball performance in footer devices, then ceramic would be a superior material. It is decidedly not, and is markedly inferior to Tungsten Carbide, as our testing has demonstrated. This is an important point utterly missed by many footer manufacturers who mistakenly use ceramic balls in their products because it is "harder." Ceramic, while harder, does not share the matrix atomic structure of metals, which conduct vibration far more efficiently, and with less distortion. This is the point of using Tungsten Carbide - and never ceramic balls - in our Rollerblock products, and is a key reason why they are superior.