Soundcare SuperSpikes for 803/804's?

[gostan]

Does anyone have any experience with or use Soundcare Superspikes with their 803's or 804's? And, if so, can you comment on benefits, if any? These look like they may be worth giving a try.

The following is a link to information concerning the Superspikes: http://www.audiophilia.com/hardware/ma10.htm

Thanks,

Stan

[DrBoom]

I use Soundcare Superspikes under my 804's and my ASW650 sub, I'm not sure how much difference they make but I just like the look of them.
And I feel the 804's are more stable with them than if they were simply on the floor without spikes.
It's also a huge benefit that the superspikes have integrated disks, so if you move the speaker it won't remain stuck on the floor and have the exposed spikes damage something.
They also raise the speaker by about 4 cm off the floor, which protects the speakers from getting "wet" from cleaning the floor
And if you have an uneven floor you can level the speaker nicely, making it more stable.
So for the price of these things, I can't find anything wrong with them and they only have benefits.
I never tried listening with/without them, too much work to unscrew them.
I installed them when I bought the speakers, even before putting them on the ground, so I never heard the with/without effect.

Here's some pics of how the 804's look with the superspikes installed.




Oh and your link is a bit messed up, so here's the working one

http://www.audiophilia.com/hardware/ma10.htm

[jlee]

Hey Dr. Boom, the DVD rack is getting full eh?

Have you tried the Nautilis speakers without the tweeter grill? It's a nice tweak you can try... to my ears, with proper front end (ie no glare, high freq. distortion from amp, preamp or cables), treble sounds a lot more crisp and "natural" without the tweeters on. With the tweeter grills, fine treble sometimes sounds "broken"... almost as if the little grill partitions are breaking up the note so to speak haha.

[sikoniko]

seem to be reasonably priced. Which ones would be the best to get? can't really tell form the description.

[DrBoom]

Yeah, tell me about it, you should see the rest of the room :roll:
It's a pity I don't get around to watching more DVD's actually, if I could squeeze in 2 DVD's a week I could justify getting a nice projector but at the moment it's more like 2 DVD's in 2 months.

About the tweeter grille, never tried that actually, but I 'd also never leave them without the grilles permanently.
And I 'm not going to take them off every time I want to play something
At the moment my front end isn't good enough anyway to hear the difference, main culprit being the RSP1098.
I tried playing the CD directly through the poweramp which has adjustable gains, and it sounded way better that way.
It's just not very practical.
Thinking about adding a dedicated stereo preamp to the system, just for 2ch music playback.
Something along the lines of the new Classé CP500, but I'm still in doubt because it isn't exactly cheap.

Sikoniko, unless you want to pay for the looks of the high-end version, I'd get the standard Superspike which has a 6mm thread (there are 8mm versions as well but they don't fit the B&W's)
I love the Titanium models and especially the Titanium Extreme too, but they're ridiculously expensive.
$460 for 4 Titanium Spikes, and $1900 for the Extreme model :B

[jlee]

I was in a DVD watching binge this week... getting caught up on my "to watch pile"... I was watching 2 per day including extra features.

Why wouldn't you not leave them off permanently... do you have children or pets? I leave mine off permantly... been like that for over a year.

I have the 1098 and I think it's pretty darn good for a multichannel preamp... it has a great high freq. extension without being bright. The first multichannel preamp that I heard that "warranted" being considered as a 2 channel preamp was the old Classe SSP-75... I think all other pre/pros at that time were not in the same league 2 channel wise... this is the first pre/pro from Rotel that is as good... granted, the new Classe CP-500 preamp only is simply outstanding... I heard it with the 400W monoblocks and their CDP-100 CD player and it's just awesome... however, I'm a little suspect about the pricing... as good as the new stuff is, I think it's overpriced.

[gostan]

Dr. Boom:

I should have known that you would have the superspikes....and, then again, all I had to do was look at some of your previously posted system pictures.

Why would the titanium version be any better or more useful than the standard version (longevity?) I like my steelhead fairway woods better than my titainium fairway woods (but the titanium driver is far better than the steelhead driver)!!

You did answer my unasked question about B&W thread size (6MM)

Stan

ps: The Red sox just tied the Yankees 3-3 in the second. And better yet FoxHD is now up and live on DirecTV!

[Fife]

Dr Boom,

Maybe you should get some self-adhesive Superspikes #2 for your center channel as well.
The pricing looks reasonable.

Otherwise, you setup looks really nice and clean. :T

[gostan]

Dr. Boom:

The high end superspike models (below the titantiums which are outrageously expensive) do look very nice (with the gold/copper and clear base aesthetic touches). They run about $174.00 (US) for four. But, I would require three sets, so I would spend almost $400 more for aesthetic upgrade. Instead, if I stayed with standard type I could add 20 DVD's or 30 CD's to my collection.

I will remove my speaker grilles for a day of listening-watching on the weekends....not when the wife and others are around for possible damage (everybody wants to touch touch touch when the grilles are off).

Stan

[sikoniko]

I'll wait until you get them Stan. Let us know if they make a difference!

[watchthewaves]

So Stan, how's the sound of your speakers with and without the Soundcare Superspikes?

[gostan]

So Stan, how's the sound of your speakers with and without the Soundcare Superspikes?

Simon:
My dealer finally found the Superspikes he knew he had after his calendar year inventory and I have just installed them. I do not know yet whether they make my 803's and ASW850 sound better, but they are pretty cool looking and make it easier to move the speakers (which I do all of the time). Let you know more in a few days.
Stan

[watchthewaves]

Thanks Stan. Will wait to hear how they sound to you. BTW, your speakers were originally just on hardwood floor without the stock spikes, right?

[gostan]

Simon:

Here is a pic of 803 an 850sw with superspikes attached. I am still playing around with the alignment of the s-spikes, but the 803's are much more stable on the wood floor. Everything sounds fabulous. I think better with, than without, but it may be my mind/ears playing tricks on me. A reasonable $45/per set upgrade for me. I am really enjoying my B&W's these days, especially since I bi-amped the HTM! with my Rotel 1075. I can't wait to upgrade the 1075, but all sounds wonderful. Interestingly enough, I had a few people over to watch the Patriots make the Superbowl again, and two of them commented about the picture/sound of the game and one asked "what are those things on the bottom of your speakers".

Stan

[watchthewaves]

Stan,

When you say "more stable", you are compared with just placing the 803 flat on the floor without spikes, is it? I need the stability because of a toddler running around. I was thinking of just taking the stock spikes off. But if the Superspikes are more stable than just the speakers flat on the floor, I'll definitely have to get them.

Then after having found the position for the speakers, I'll probably use blu tack under them to get them more secure to the floor.

Thanks!