Summit X Feet for Spire Owners

I ordered a set of the Summit X feet for my Spires. The way these new feet are designed it should be very easy to get my Spires just about vertical. There are two different feet for the Summit X. One is completely solid and the other is made up of two smaller pieces to give greater flexibility in adjusting rake angle.

Melodie at ML was more than helpful, and even went so far as to take a picture of the Summit X feet in comparison to the Spire feet. Check out the difference, the Spire foot is the one to the left.

$56 per foot. I bought 4 of the two piece feet because I think I'll be able to use the bigger piece in the back and the shorter piece in the front. If that doesn't work, I can always order 4 of the solid feet.

Once I get everything set up, I'll post pictures of my new 20 X 36 X 9 listening room! Things are starting to come together nicely.

The photo shows feet that appear to be missing the spikes...

Sounds good Dave, we await your results !

Jerry...

All feet come with spikes, they just weren't included in the picture.

Update...got the new feet installed

To understand this post, look at the picture above in my original post.

I bought 4 of the two-piece feet. The bigger of the two pieces is in the back and the small piece in the front. The small piece is the same height as the original feet that come with the Spires. But both of the pieces from the Summit X feet are more substantial (see the difference in the picture). And the good news is that I don't have to unscrew the back spikes almost all of the way out to get to the rake angle I am looking for.

The new feet raised the rake angle to almost vertical. The result is that now images have a more appropriate height (i.e, aren't too high). But most importantly, there is more focus now that my ear is about level with the vertical center of the panels.

This is turning out to be a worthwhile upgrade for me.

My Summit X feet came in yesterday. Hopefully today I'll find some help and put them on my Summits...will report soon...

they charge $56 for each spike?

jtwrace said:

they charge $56 for each spike?

Click to expand...

Getting some ideas? Keep me in mind if you decide to create something!

Gordon

Gordon said:

Getting some ideas? Keep me in mind if you decide to create something!

Gordon

Click to expand...

Not really. I already did. I think $56 is crazy!

OK...got them on. They raise the speaker ever so slightly. They appear a tad more substantial than the Summit original. I haven't really had time to listen yet.

My listening impressions

I am totally enjoying the Summit X feet on my Spires. They raised the back up significantly, thus allowing the speakers to be more vertical. I agree that $56 per foot is expensive, but I only needed 4 and given the improvement I am hearing $225 is a worthwhile investment. I've wasted plenty more in the past!

Center images, especially vocals, have more body and aren't as diffuse by comparison as they used to be. I was listening to Leonard Cohen the other night and it was as "lifelike" as I have heard in any stereo system. Neil Young Live at Massey was much more solid and in the room than ever before.

This difference is probably not so much about the Summit X feet as it is about the importance of getting the speakers adjusted so that your ears are in the vertical middle of the panel. Just so happens that the new feet allow me to make that adjustment.

jtwrace said:

Not really. I already did. I think $56 is crazy!

Click to expand...

totally agree....little piece of rubber with a bolt in the middle...

Mantana said:

totally agree....little piece of rubber with a bolt in the middle...

Click to expand...

The Summit X leg/spike assemblies are actually a pretty sophisticated design. I've attached another pic, including the spikes. They are available in silver or black finish. The back leg (which can also be used in front) is a single 2-3/4" long (without spike or rubber foot) solid-steel tapered piece. The other leg is the same net size and shape, but cut into 2 sections (top 1-5/8", bottom 1-1/8"). All the pieces (including the spikes or rubber feet) have a 3/8" diameter bolt, so you can mix and match the legs and sections to vary the panel rake angle between +11, +9, +7, +5, +3, +1, or -1 degrees. They are a LOT easier to precisely adjust than Jason's custom spikes (which accomplish the same thing at a much lower cost). It's nice that ML at least offers us the option.

I got the black version, and my only complaint (aside from cost) is that the locking ring for the spikes should have been BLACK also (not silver). I might spray paint mine to blend better.

I agree that ML's pricing is a bit high, but if ML is willing to sell individual parts, you might not need the COMPLETE set to accomplish what you want.

Perhaps those of us only utilzing certain parts can get together and offer our spares for sale inexpensively. I have 2 part B that I am not using. So someone willing to use their original Summit (or Spire ) legs in the rear with spikes fully extended, can get a pair of spike points and adjusting collars and accomplish much better vertical rake than with the stock feet/spikes.

They give you much better tilt angle range either forward or backward. You can put the taller feet in the front and tilt it back if you so desired. Possibly in a home theater with riser seating platforms like a real theater.

The Summit X feet are the best designed feet I've ever seen. They actually put a lot of thought into this. They also apparently listened to us on this forum about the advantages of extended and proper tilt adjustment (Sleepysurf, JTRACE to name a couple).

This is one upgrade that applies to more models than just the Summits.

Waking up this thread. I have Vantages, which I beleive us a different size thread. Anyway, anyone here know about spikes for Vantages? I need longer ones for the back or some way to raise the speaker up some all the way around. I have the locks out on the front and the rears nearly all the way out to get to vertical. Again, just want to get them up a bit more as the front of the speaker rests partially on the carpet below because the front spikes are all the way screwed in.