The positive effects on the sonic performance of positioning power amplifiers and turntables – in the latter case, for reasons of usability, only on a piece of supporting furniture – could certainly be enhanced, thought Luis Fernandes, and so he designed the Statement version, placing no restrictions on himself in terms of materials and costs: Four honeycomb cores are used, with carbon fibre layers between them. The upper and lower cover layers are added to these three. In addition, a reinforcing structure is incorporated into the second layer of honeycomb core material from the bottom, to which the four – or, on request and at extra cost, five – Cerabase classic feet are attached. A version with an even more precise spirit level is designed specifically for the use with turntables, as perfectly horizontal alignment is even more important here than with power amplifiers.

Now, one could argue at length about whether it makes sense to place a power amplifier on a base that costs about a third of the price of the amplifier itself. What's more, I'm not inclined to present hi-fi components in such a way that they vaguely resemble an altar. But you can also simply listen to a conclusive track such as the first movement of Mahler's Symphony No. 3 with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mariss Jansons two or three times while the Einstein amp still rests on the Carbofibre° HD, then swap it for the Carbofibre° Statement, start the file again – and remain completely perplexed in your listening chair! This is not about marginalia, no, it really isn’t. If someone had done a blind test with me and told me that they had integrated an even higher-class power amplifier into the chain during the last listening run, I would have believed them without question: The sonic image is now significantly larger and extends beyond the base width of the speakers. Impulses leave an even stronger impression, and transients impress with their immediacy. The image is now even more precisely defined. The depth gradation on the stage, which now extends a good deal further into the room, gains in three-dimensionality. And all this just because of a base—albeit an extremely elaborate and rather expensive one? Almost unbelievable, and yet true!

Of course, I listened to a whole range of my relevant test tracks, but not to rave about which of the disciplines I just mentioned the Einstein performs better in than on the HD version thanks to the Carbofibre° Statement. I was simply curious to see whether more and better in so many criteria could not also be too much of a good thing. So far, I have not found anything to dampen my enthusiasm. As long as that remains the case, Finite Elemente's Carbofibre° Statement will have its place at the top of my “must-have list.”