Soundocity Outriggers: Build Quality
I
communicated with Paul quite a bit about his product. He asked if I’d be
interested in a set, I said yes, and then I had to figure out which set to
order. Well, I had no idea. Luckily, I told him the speakers (Axiom m60 v2’s)
and the type of floor (medium pile carpet) and he did the rest. I ended up with
9 inch “straight end” Outriggers (there is a “round end” where the metal under
the adjustment knob is, well, round). He suggested using the sharper 2.12”
spikes (over the 1.5”) but provided both for the purposes of the review (prices
change based on the length of the bar and not the style or spike length). The Outriggers
were well packed and arrived without incident.
The crossbar is constructed of ¼ inch thick HRPO (steel) with a black powder coat finish. The spikes are brass and come in two finish flavors, gold nickel or black nickel. I ended up with black nickel which should really be called “silver” or “chrome”. Regardless, the finish is impeccable. Each of the cones has a removable tip so that you can install either the shorter, duller tip for a complete length of 1.5”, or a longer tip for a complete length of 2.12”. The tips screw in easily but they don’t lock in any way. I found that during adjustments, sometimes the tips loosened a bit so you may want to add a dab of Locktite on them if you’re sure you’ll be sticking with the same tip forever. The Outriggers did increase the height of the speaker probably only a fraction of an inch. You have the option of using a combination of the shorter and longer tips in order to point the speaker slightly up or down depending on your needs. For someone with a low (or high) couch, this may help a bit in getting the tweeters pointed in the right plane.
In addition to the crossbars and spike tips, I also received all steel mounting hardware (washers and bolts), some dimpled rounds (for installation on hardwood/tile floors), and some all steel with zinc plating threaded inserts… Wait threaded inserts. It was at this point that I started to get worried…
