A new approach to a familiar problem.
By Roy Gregory
Things come, things go. Some even get to stay…
It’s easy to forget that once upon a time, systems got plugged into stock extension leads (normally using captive power cords), speakers sat on the floor and if stands were used they often had wheels rather than spikes. These days, AC supply components and equipment support constitute entirely separate product categories in their own right, while a speaker arriving without spikes is unusual to say the least: it’s more normal for serious speakers to turn up sporting complex, layered and adjustable ‘footers’ – often featuring ceramic balls and massive threads. But that’s at the extravagant end of the market where speakers cost more than cars and systems cost more than a house.
Back in the real world, things are more prosaic: most performance orientated systems (irrespective of price) have got as far as some kind of dedicated power cords and hopefully a star-grounded distribution block. These days the vast majority of speakers are fitted with adjustable spikes. But as is often the way, many manufacturers see these things as peripheral and treat them as an afterthought. Cable manufacturers tend to concentrate on the cable itself, often fitting stock connectors chosen on the basis of availability (or even appearance) as opposed to performance. In the same way, most affordable speakers are equipped with raw steel spikes, mainly because it’s expected and they represent the most ‘cost-effective’ option – where ‘effective’ is measured in terms of some matrix of appearance and price. As anybody who has (or is sad enough to have) conducted comparative listening to connectors will attest, they can make or break the performance of a cable – and whilst the same might not be true of speaker spikes, better spikes a better speaker make. It creates a fertile field for modification or upgrade, either with aftermarket tweaks or DIY adaptation – sometimes with surprising results.
Simply replacing the raw steel pointy objects that arrive with most, even semi-affordable loudspeakers, with precision-machined stainless-steel spikes from Track Audio (although I’m sure other alternatives exist) has a shocking impact on speaker performance. Whether that is down to the performance of the spikes themselves, their profile, the ease with which those silky smooth threads can be adjusted, or the fact that you can tighten the free-running lock nuts without inadvertently shifting the spikes, who can say? But the results are real, repeatable and significant enough that the Track spikes have been a go-to set up upgrade, for years, the substitution a no-brainer.
Now, an alternative has finally emerged, albeit at a price…
The iconoclastic Stéphane Even of Neodio has a long history with supports, his latest Origine B2 footer garnering considerable interest, while leaving more than a few listeners seriously puzzled by the scale of its impact. His latest offering is intended as a replacement for the stock spikes found on loudspeakers and racks at the more affordable end of the market. And for once, these ‘spikes’ aren’t pointed at all! Machined from solid stainless steel, each Harmonie footer has a profile not unlike a flying saucer: 50mm in diameter, they are flat on top with a sharply bevelled edge, a vertical peripheral band and then a shallow, tapered, conical underside, culminating in a short, cylindrical ‘stub’, 10mm in diameter, its flat base intended to meet the floor. A picture is worth a thousand words, so what is hard to describe is easy to understand, once you see it, especially in the flesh.
