Soundcare Superpikes, coming in at around £35-£40 for a set of four have been a long time staple of the audiophile world. Dan Worth screws some into his speakers’ outriggers and tells us what he thought of this inexpensive tweak. 

The Norwegian company Soundcare has been around for many years now and well known in the Hifi community for their Superspikes. They are a spiked footer with or without threaded rods for isolating equiptment racks, speakers and equipment alike. Their design incorporates a spike with an encapsulated base which allows for surface protection and the added ability to protect hard surfaces, for instance when repositioning speakers or the main rack.

The exact product for review here is the M8 threaded version which I have attached to my Ayon Seagull Ceramic loudspeakers’ outriggers, which are seated on a very thick slab of granite which in turn sits on two layers of floating wooden floor and a concrete base floor.

The spikes do come as an option with M8 threaded inserts to fit into the base of loudspeakers if they do not already have the inserts available, but in my case my outriggers do so I had no need of the inserts. Also included are self adhesive felt pads to add to the bottom of the spiked enclosure for added manoeuvrability and protection.

The Sound 

After installing, leveling and tightening the nuts to hold height position with the included wrench I went straight for my favourite music which I know inside out.

Playing Fink’s ‘Trouble’ from the ‘Wheels Turn Beneath Me’ album greeted my listening experience with additional spatial awareness and clarity throughout the entire frequency range. The bassline on my speakers is already very controlled, but with the addition of the Superspikes it lifted from the floor to reveal more layers of detail and gave perceived overall height increase to the entire soundstage, unravelling what was a more condensed sound into a freer and more open musical picture.

I worked my way through this entire album with joy. The top end had more clarity and sparkle to it in a slightly sweeter way which was unexpected from the all ceramic drivers and accuracy gained a more definitive musicality and timing giving a soundstage that gained more depth as the layers were freed. The overall picture of the music retained my systems tonality and scope but it had a bit more pizzazz and razzle dazzle.

My excitement grew as I analysed the vocals which were already projecting effortlessly with great tone throughout the upper mid range and deep into the midrange. Joss Stones ‘I Put A Spell On You’ accompanied by Jeff Beck brought more timbre to her vocal and relieved me of a little shine which I had previously had with many other footers I had tried on my loudspeakers. Installing the Superapikes gave me the ability to really give the Ayons a truly solid stance. The rocking backwards and forwards test left the speakers absolutely level and without any ability to resonate negatively with poor ground interaction. I believe this solidity, which has never seemed firmer, has really enhanced the quality of sound and allowed the cabinets to behave as the designer envisioned.

Soundstage width as well as height had a perceivable increase in size although closer inspection revealed that the added air and space around instruments allowed for harmonics to become freer and the overall openness although on first look was greater. The general lack of distorted areas in the sound was truly key to the overall ability to retain a lot better timing and correction of the image.

I could delve deeply into many types of music from many artists, but all material had the increased attributes of the aforementioned qualities. I will touch on acoustic guitar slightly.

Newton Faulkner, Jeff Beck, Nils Lofgren and Derrin Nuendorf to name a few artists who give me huge enjoyment have a very dynamic way of playing strings. The purity of the strummed strings was more immaculate and pure in its presence, once again decaying harmonics in each acoustic setting was marvelous. Each new note overplayed the previous’ decay, layered and untangled, which in turn culminated in more speed and accuracy to the sound and releasing more natural timbre into the presentation. 

CONCLUSION

The Soundcare Superspikes are a real triumph in design for protecting hard surfaces and increase the overall sonic ability of any well constructed system. I often take time out between reviews to work on my system, whether it’s significant box changes or small tweaks and the Superspikes are a tweak I now will not be without on my speakers.

They enhance the space around instruments and vocals by removing distortions and allow for a freer, more natural and believable soundstage which gives more excitement to material, whether a slow emotional piece of jazz or acoustic music, or give the ability to separate busier tracks in order to release the congestion of details they get my sincere seal of approval.

Pros:

Price/performance

Protection for hard surfaces

Sonic characteristics allow for more space, clarity and better timing 

Cons:

Absolutely none 

Price at time of review: Varies between £35-£40 per set of four 

Dan Worth