Spatial M4 Sapphire Open Baffle Speakers
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- čas přidán 15. 12. 2021
- If you've never heard a good open baffle speaker you don't know hat you're missing, says the Audiophiliac!
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I've owned the X3 Spatial Audio Lab OB speakers since May, 2021. This model has an AMT tweeter in a waveguide plus a powered subwoofer. I play mostly classical and some jazz/blues. This is an "end game" speaker for me. They do require a larger room than the M4. Mine are 5 feet from the front wall. Soundstage and depth is incredible. Instruments are clear and distinct and vocals are superb. Thank you for this review! Oh yeah, with all of Clayton's speakers, he uses very high quality components that do require lots of "burn-in".
Marcus DiBenedetto, have you tried yours in home theater setup? I am curious how the speakers perform playing porn soundtracks.
@@jamesdoranto9013, did you see the varitasim that says electricity does not travel through the wire??? :)
Beyma dual 12" woofers..? ✌
There are no unboxing videos of open baffle speakers because there are no boxes to begin with? Baffling!
Top comment. 👏👌🏽
Damn
Give the man some space, he needs air!!
I guess this is all baffle-gab?
A well deserved golf clap to you my good man.
Steve, your openness to different designs is a joy. Audio innovation is boundless and you continue to surf the wave.
Seriously enjoyed this episode. Reminded me of why I fell in love with your channel in the first place!
I always enjoy your videos Steve. Easy to listen to and understand. With all of these younger reviewers (padawans) coming to CZcams, you will always be Yoda. 😎
It's great to see your enthusiasm come through. Regardless of what your reviewing and when it shows through then I know it's a good product and not just another review. Listening to you talk about the Simon & Garfunkel brings back memories of when I first bought the album and enjoyed listening to it but to have your fond memories makes that much special.
whatever else is true, Steve is havin' fun out there
Glad to see you review these! I have the Spatial Audio m3 triode masters. I love my speakers, when I upgrade I will definitely stay with spatial! I have been fascinated with open baffle for a few years now! Hard to go back to box speakers!
Nice one Steve! My spatials ended my speaker swapping journey. Never once considered another speaker since I purchased them.
Once you go Open Baffle, it is very hard to go back.....Yes, you need to have room for them, yes, they can be very detailed and revealing, and yes, you need good sources, but MAN, when it all comes together, it is jaw dropping.
Great review Steve. I have the Spatial Audio M3 Turbo S in my system and I love it. I agree that the openness is extraordinary, especially for live recordings. That said, I've upgraded my system and now these speakers might be holding the other components back so I'm considering the M3 Sapphires. I expect to be blown away.
In 1982 I heard open baffle and also magnepan speakers fell in love with the sound of both as all I could hear with "normal" speakers was the box. My experience is that this type of speakers is that they need at least 6feet rear clearance but as you say they can be near side walls. They really need/like class A amps but are easier to drive than maggies
Very many years ago I was given Altec voice of the theater speakers and a tube Mac they were a baffle with 2 -15 inch woofers and a big horn tweeter. The crossover mounted on the side looked like a small car battery. This was in the 1960's but I loved them this was my first hi-fi system. I now only have a Yamaha stereo receiver with Elac debut speakers but still love music just the same.
So glad to see Spatial Audio being reviewed! I have the X2's after working up from the M3 TriodeM and I can say I am a convert. I was a huge Apogee fan since mid-90's and these are the only speakers I have heard that have that magical soundstage, scale and imaging akin to planers with more efficiency and less of a sweet spot. If you set them up right, they indeed "play the room", creating a huge, open soundstage. I find them very involving. Great review-thanks!
@@keplermission4947 I am using a Pathos Logos integrated. 110W/ch, hybrid tube preamp stage, solid state amp. Very pleased with the sound.
@@keplermission4947 Thanks for the info. I have the original version of the amp, MK1. Lots of reviews out there-Postivie Feedback, Absolute Sound, etc. More akin to my experience with it. I rarely buy new so those retail price points are less relevant to me, thankfully!
Enjoyed the descriptive commentary. Excellent job.
Years ago, I walked into HiFi Hutch in Lombard, IL. I had been in there a few times. They had some good gear, but this time it was different: They had the Carver Amazing, open baffle speakers with 4, 12" woofers per side and a ribbon tweeter about 6 feet high. Talk about a slack-jaw moment! I was SHOCKED!! It was one of those very memorable audio experiences. 🧡
Hi Steve, thank you for another great review. I love my combination of the small tube amp Unison Research Simply Italy with the open baffle speakers Pure Audio Project Trio15. Maybe the Spatials also would love tubes.
I'm working on DIYing a set of open baffles right now, just waiting on parts to show up. Super excited to hear them once I finish
How is that working for you, would be very interested.
What an excellent review, Thank you.
I think a combination of box and open style speakers is the best of both worlds. It’s like anything else you gotta tune it… Keep on rocking.
Great review as always. Thank you.
Great Video Steve. Just great.
Glad you did a vid on spatial. I’m seriously thinking about these over my current horns
Don't hesitate. Listen to a pair. My M3 Sapphires have been in place now for over a year. They are sublime. I have been on this path since the 60's when I put together my own valve amp. These are end-game speakers for many users - me included.
seems like the M3 would be a better challenge to the Cornwall 4's. throw in the x4 or x5 against the Cornwall 4's you'll see an incredible top end resolution and transparency. Great review... only downside is the increase in wait time on my order now that there will be new spatial audio fans!
A friend of mine had open baffle Forsman speakers. They sounded great to me. He had them for many years, but he said that they were very demanding especially regarding placement. And he didn't have the best of space for them. So he recently sold them and bought a pair of Spendor D7. Haven't heard the latter yet, but his praise for them makes me think they are amazing.
The D7’s are magnificent speakers. One of the most balanced speakers in their entire line up.
Great to see our Kiwi friends across the Ditch getting a mention about there HiFi systems .. Great review Steve...
Congrats John, enjoy!
As a guitar player, most of my systems are open baffle … now I’ve got PAP Trio10 in my listening space, just loving the openness and how it loads a room. Very spacious… just like my guitar amps sound in a room.
I have the X5's. They are smaller than the X3 but still require a large room. The M serries are better for smaller rooms. You should be advised that Spatial Audio lab has some new models. They also don't have pre-built sppeakers. Plan on at least a 2 month wait. One thing that is not mentioned is that these speakers look like a piece of art rather than just a box.
excelent, they look amazing.
So you finally decided to review Spatial, thanks.
Good one.Nice to see you enjoying the goods.Am surprised thought that innacdditikn to describing the sound there wasn’t a but in how they compare with speakers like dipoles,electrostatics,and planar.Also would really like to hear the Spatial’s puts up against an equally priced Pure Audio Project.both seem to get very good reviews
Would love to see more reviews of open baffles. I’ve been living with the Lii F15’s in Decware’s open baffle design for a while now and they are nice, to say the least.
I have older Spatial M3 Hologram, great speakers!
Great speaker design but out of my $$ range. Thanks Steve for bringing new products and your thoughts!
Many years ago I had the DALI Skyline 2000; big open baffle 12" woofer and 100cm or so ribbon tweeter (and like here, crossed low!). Now forgotten but, boy, they sounded great!
For John the viewer of the day - I recently upgraded from a Dr. Feickert Volare to a Rega P10, which is quite similar to the P8. I was initially put off by the skeletal structure & use of foam. But the incredible sound of the P10 quickly got me past that. I'd think you will love the P8. Good luck.
Glad you did this review. I had been intrigued by open baffle speakers and honed in on Spatial Audio Labs' stuff. I bought the X5s which have a powered subwoofer component so the amp only has to drive the tweeter (AMT) and the 12" midrange driver so is 97db sensitive. I love these speakers and I think I'm done with looking for new speakers. It's on to play the game, "what is your next amp?" and hope I don't end up with turtlewax.
I am driving my X5s with Triode Lab 45 Monoblocks- 4.5 wpc. They sound fantastic; full deep, rich, detailed; transparent; large soundstage . Never have I hit 80% volume. Your amp choices are limitless.
@@glenschneider5978 I ended up with Rogers High Fidelity SET 65V-2 which is about 8 wpc or so. I haven't gone past 10 o'clock and am usually below 9. I use the EL34s in triode mode.
Great review, I would just add they work great in a small rooms and sound better in my opinion with tubes.
I agree 100%
It seems like I have been hearing about open baffle speakers a lot lately. I have owned the Legacy Whispers for 20+ years and have never had the desire to replace them and I have heard many, many speakers in that 20 year period. Curious why they are now becoming such a hot topic since for years they have been trashed. Everything you have talked about in this vid the Whispers do better than anything I have ever heard so I am a believer in the open baffle design. The Whispers are genius with their 4-15" basketed woofers. 4 mids, dome and ribbon tweeters. Their range is huge unlike most open baffle designs. Like any open baffle they are not earth shattering on the bottom but everything else is the best I have heard. I run a Legacy sub that just burps a little and makes the bottom absolutely massive. Imaging on open baffle designs is unreal so I hope more people take a closer look.
Yes, open baffle can sound amazing. More picky in placement and need arround 2 m of space behind them in my experience. Got a pair of Audio Artistry with seperate bass.
I have the bigger version of the M4, the M3 Sapphire. My listening experience is very similar to your observations of the M4 sound presentation. After cycling through box speakers (floorstanders as well as bookshelf + subs) and a pair of Magnepans, I have found a speaker that does everything in my room well. Very dynamic (more so than you suggest but then, you are comparing to Klipsch) and easily driven by high quality low power amps (I use a Pass Labs XA30.5 Class A amp). Thanks for highlighting this small but great Made in America speaker company.
Why, why must you guys spend my money!? Have you little heart?! All jokes aside I’ve been lusting over the speaker for the last year and a half since I’ve seen it on new record day. I do have a question though, my listening room is only 11ft x 14ft, do you think that might be too small for the speakers?
@@djparra41 I asked Clayton Shaw at Spatial about my 13X20 room and he recommended the M3s. BUT, the M4 didn’t exist at the time. Call him and ask the question. I bet he would say go with the M4. I will point out that if a room is less than ideal (including a bit on the small side), open baffle speakers may work when some box speakers won’t because of the way they handle bass. That was my experience.
@@Unpreeeedictable Thank you very much sir I really appreciate the reply! And I will be giving him a call after all of this holiday spending has elapsed 😫😂
@@djparra41 My room is 12ft. x 16ft. I find that's just big enough for my M3 Sapphires. I have them halfway into the room --8 ft out from the short wall. I think the M4's or M'6's might be a better fit for 12 x 14 room. Just my opinion.
The Kyron Audio Gaia are the best speakers I’ve ever heard when I was at the Melbourne audio show many years ago. I think they look great also.
Incredible speakers , thanks for reminding me of them.
This makes me want to try open baffle! My next set of speakers are going to be a set of these or the trio 15s. I just bought my first set of horn speakers Cornwalls iv, I'm enjoying these for now.
I fell into a pair of Trio 10 with the mundorf amt yesterday. I’m in love with my music all over again.
Sitting in my listening position, even considering these speakers have only 10 hours on them, Bass is adequate even for electronic music … I’m patiently waiting for them to fully present themselves after break-in.
Powered by a NAD 3130 … so not a ton of watts but fairly solid on current delivery
This brand is at the top of my list!
I own the M4’s powered by a Hegel 190. Love the performance.
Really would love to hear these in person. I don't have a listening room to support these but I'm intrigued by open baffle.
Ridthaler type dipoles achieve -6dB@16Hz. They sound amazing with open-baffle wide-range drivers for mid-/high range. 😉
I own the M3's and yes once you go to open baffle you can't go back because you here the box even in same very expensive speakers
this rabbit hole is deep yet elegant
Some might find it interesting to seek out a video where Clayton Shaw explains how the rear bass wave and front bass wave cancel out at the sides. The rear and front are out of phase, so when the wave envelops the speaker, the front and back waves cancel each other. You end up with bass propagating directionally out the front and back. This means that there's a lot less interference from the sidewalls, etc. and maybe means that the bass you hear from these may sound weaker, when actually it's just more accurate.
Ive never heard open baffle speakers before, im definitely intrigued! Open baffle subs do pique my interest that much more though. I would call the $5k mark the sweetspot for anyone who wants a serious 2 channel system. Almost anything @ $5k a pair will be sure to please in one way or another.
Love the 80s Memphis inspired shirt.
Such cool looking speakers, I imagine they are just a bit too insensitive for something like the Decware zen triode? I also want to thank you for the great music reviews, you’re always turning me on to cool records outside of my “bubble”.
Spatial also has the X-series that is a bit more sensitive closer to 93dB
I think they might be okay if you listen at sane levels and your room isn’t huge. I built the Decware ZKIT2 as monoblocks and measured them right at 2 watts per channel. My speakers are small two ways which were patterned after the original Wilson Watt speakers. They’re rated at 89 db and I have more than enough power. I use a preamp and never get past 12:00 o’clock on the volume.
Very nice. But one should consider the open baffle speakers of Steve Deckart as a potential cheaper alternative.
I saw these exact speakers before they were sent to Steve for review. Went into Spatial’s hq prior to Thanksgiving. They had a set of M4 setup for demo. I thought they were fantastic sounding! The owner and his sales rep were so great to work with. I’m waiting for them to finish getting the m4 and new m3 sapphires designed with the wood fronts. I think they have walnut maple and cherry wood fronts coming. They wood looked better for my tastes than the auto painted finishes.
I also didn’t love their M4 with tubes (they had a Linear audio setup). I think something class a or ab will be a better paring. I loved my Maggie LRS but these are by far much better.
Sound like great speakers.
Big fan of open baffle. I run diy speakers inspired by Lampizator P17. 18" woofers and 10" coax alnico Mid/Tweeter. Very open but big sound.
Me too. Two 15" Altec woofers, the 8" Dayton drivers he uses, and the RAAL tweeter. I run tri-amped with 2 watt s.e.t. amps, except for the bass, 2 watts won't power two 15" woofers. I have a Big 7 DAC too. I began following Lukacz Fikus when he was a blogger before he started Lampizator.
@@johnlebeau5471 Beautiful system you have assembled. The s.e.t. amps into those speakers with the Big 7... wonderful.
I also was a Fikus fan long before he started the company. I did his triode output to a couple of cdps and that led to building my own dac/streamer. It has a Lampizator output with all his innovations in the power supply, a TDA1541a S2 chip and a SOTA clock/digital section. Then OTL 6C33C triode monoblocs based on Transcendent Sound patent. And that was inspired by his amp discussions. So really a Fikus inspired system top to bottom and I couldn't be happier with it.
Very Good well built pair of speakers . Clayton is a good guy and a heavy hitter when it comes to US brands. Speakers look amazing, speakers sound amazing, very clean, very detailed, crazy crazy sound stage, driver integration is absolutely perfect, very analytical speakers, if you want to hear everything in a recording then there ya go.. set up takes allot of trial and error.. midrange is complete through that spectrum & male vocals ( some male vocals,) come through perfect. Bass is as exact as it should be,in time with the music doesn't lag or draw attention to itself. Cons. No need to order these speakers if you don't have significant space , you will not get what these speakers are capable of and you will start getting some reverb in the bass.. these speakers don't do well with bad recordings, I found myself looking for songs that sound good on my speakers instead of enjoying the music. Had some male vocals that sounded shouty, electric guitar , horn instruments, some key boards was so intense I had to turn it down through certain parts of songs. Overall kick ass pair of speakers, they are not for everyone but then again None of the speakers are!
hey steve. interesting you are reviewing these. i have .7 maggies with a rel t/7i and was considering purchasing a pair of spatial audio speakers. any thoughts on the sound differences between the .7s and the m4s? thx.
Thank you Steve, I really do enjoy your videos. Nerdy as hell but I’m the demographic. haha Carry on.
Steve, how would you compare these new speakers to the Magnapan LRS, the 1.7’s or the 3.7’s with or without a subwoofer?
I've wondered about a design that used a V shaped de/reflector on the back of an open baffle design. If it COULD (?) relieve that distance factor concerning the amount of air required BEHIND the unit, I might have considered them. I went with Ohms. They fit both the room and my interest in true surround sound.
Steve,
I know you were wowed a year or so with the PureAudio Project Trio15 Speaker System. Can you offer up some comments comparing the two as they are both open baffle designs. Thanks and keep the great videos coming! JM
Thanks for watching Joe! They are both very very open and spacious. Great sound stage depth. The pure audio project was a much larger and more expensive speaker, it was more refined than this one today. Even better bass than this one.
Dear steve! What speaker would you choose to asses the sound of power amps? Whats the most reveling speaker maybe under 1000usd?
love the viewer system he must have started giggling once he fired up the fyne speakers what a shock no doubt lol
Nice. Double nice. Message to John: Decent gear man but keep your options open. I'm from Napier and in the vinyl groove.
New Zealand In-the-house! Great to see John's system . Audiophiliacs are alive and well in NZ :)
I picked up a set of Spatial's M100 Uniwave Broadband Tweeters with Synthetic Sapphire diaphragm at Parts-Express, where they're known as Peerless Corundum tweeters. _kurundam_ (translates to ruby-sapphire)
They come in either a 1" or 1 1/4" dome. About $54 or $75 each, and a very fine design indeed. I just installed the 1" version in my Epos ES14's but crossed over high since the Epos woofer is actually designed to run full range. Very nice!
I'm guessing Spatial is using the larger version, which can go down a little lower (but 570Hz is still pushing the limit because that's fighting its resonate frequency.) I'd be interested to see what Spatial could do with a different set of woofers that could play higher and also not create the unfortunate 4ohm rating.
Just wondering what you consider late night listening levels, in decibels. I like to listen at relatively low volume so would help as a reference when listening to your reviews.
Where can I travel to listen to few of the options out there in great looking speakers with wood look to make a decision? 8k-12k speakers
Thanks for great info videos.
I’m interested in how you characterize the difference between open baffle and magnepan? I hope you get the chance to review M3 sapphires or the X series. Thanks!
Thank You, Steve! Great Show... btw!
Wow..Levin, New Zealand! That must be a first.
Nice one Steve but can u compare them against the magnepans or magnat transpuls 1500
Hi Steve did you happen to try the Schiit Vidar or Firstwatt J2 and if so, were they a good match?
Mmm. Open back speakers should work nicely with the Bottlehead SET amp that I just ordered, in kit form. 🔥❤️🔥
Hello from sunny and beautiful Costa Rica… Steve, I’m in the process of replacing my old system (Revel Concerta speakers paired with Lexicon RV-8 integrated amp.), and would like your input with regards to two of your current speakers reviews: Spatial Audio (M3 or X5) and Tekton (Double Impact or 2-10 Perfect Set). For the amp., I’m interested in the Hegel h-390 or the Luxman L-507UXII). My room is roughly 16X 28 ft. (448 ft2). Would appreciate your feedback and recommendations, thanks in advance!!!
Hi Steve from Vancouver Canada
More OB’s, yeah!
Hi Steve, I'd love for you now to try a linkwitz 521 set with his active crossovers.... turn the ALL the lights off in the room, yes every light, led....meter....., then turn the volume up a little and crawl inside the music.
I' ve made my own almost a year ago and my Maggies haven't been out of their boxes since.
I've got a pair of Ripole subwoofers 4x12" drivers in each.
So, what about the sound of these open baffle dynamic compared to Magnepans?
The M-4's I have look eggs ackley like the pair being reviewed. They have about 120 hours on them. Weakest link in the system is probably the small very dead 10' x 13' room. The rest of the components are: Resolution Audio Cantata 3.0 cd player (w/ an onboard pre-amp), a Coda 11 (100w pure class A) amp, mostly using wywires cables. Sound quality is very recording dependent and varies a lot. Looking for a turntable set up that will most of the time compete or outshine the Cantata, (recommendations would be much appreciated). I like these speakers a lot, but the design of the base and feet doesn't give the baffle rock solid stability. Some other speakers that have greater baffle stability seem to handle delicate details with a little more precision.
Do you find you only want to listen to audiophile or exceptional quality recordings? Get a very high quality phono stage and preamp along with a turntable system.. The phono stage and line preamp would matter a lot, so sink some $ in that too..
Hi Rick, fortunately not always, quite a few live recordings and ones that are not particularly polished have offered up a lot of information that was new to me. Recordings from Can, Guru Guru, Acme Rocket Quartet, Miles Davis, Tortoise, Lard Free and Hendrix have been sounding great. I have an analog front end w/ an msrp that's bigger than my cd player...maybe there are a few set up issues that need some work. There are definitely more than enough fantastic sounding (and musically interesting) cds out there to keep me broke. It's also nice to hear new things on the stuff that's already here.
I know that you are a Magnipan fan, as am I. your description of the sound of the M4 sounds like reviews of maggies with an amplifier that does not provide enough current. Am I getting that wrong, or is it the case that you should consider a high current amp with good control of the drivers (output impedance?)? Thanks.
Nice review Steve. Wondering about similarities\differences between these speakers and Magnepans?
I was just going to ask the same question: how do they compare to the Maggies?
They are more dynamic than the Magnepan speakers. I have the X5s which uses an AMT tweeter and active subwoofer. Spatial Audio’s detail retrieval is unreal!
Wondering the same. If I have any complaint of my .7i is lack of visceral impact. But nothing 1 (or 2) subwoofers won’t cure and still come in under the M4’s $4K price tag.
Well magnapans are line source speakers. Also they are full dipoles.
Wonder this compare to Jamo open baffel speaker for many years ago.20 years ago?
Would love to try them on the MC602!!
Hi Steve, do you have any objective measurements to share for these speakers to go with subjective review?
Seems like the description for this speaker design is backwards, ie the baffle isn't open, the rear box is 😎
The extremely low crossed tweeter is not a dipole as it is closed at the back. I hope power handling of this tweeter is good enough to handle this crossover point.
Hello Steve. Have you ever reviewed the Alex Cavalli Liquid Spark DAC? It's $99.00. So guys like me can afford it. And I respect your opinion. So I just wanted to know if you ever reviewed it. I did see you talk about the Alex Cavalli Liquid Spark Amp. But not the DAC. I will be getting the amp soon. Your review was the clincher.
I have OB Emerald Physics 3.4s (12" concentric mid-bass + 1" polyester tweeter) driven w=by LSA Voyager 350 GaN amp. Most people leave the XOs on the speaker base, but they vibrate like crazy. Assuming Spatial's XOs are removable, get longer jumpers and get them off the bases. HUGE improvement with my 3.4s
Clayton Shaw, the man behind Spatial Audio, also had Emerald Physics.
@@blnokc6793 I THINK he owned it and sold to Underwood
I had the speaker and you should open up the baffle and look at the ridiculous crossover what a mess it's like spaghetti and glue everywhere.
@@jasonmelo9379 ??? What speaker are you referring to? The 3.4s are open baffle
@@roberthart9886 sorry I meant to cs2.3. they had baffles sandwiched together with the crossover in between
You gotta try the M3's now! :D
The secret of these is the tweeter the very low cross over point is almost a point source do you know how to get some ?
Don’t you think the 8 watt amp is the reason the more sensitive klipsch sounded easier and more body?
Outta my range but now I'm deeply curious about this design scheme
Anyone know where we (Dallas, Texas audiophiliacs) can demo these speakers? They look really nice.
Look at their web site, it appears they have changed the tweeters and the prices went way up, north of 7K for entry now.
I still have my Carver Amazings from 1988. Just can’t part with them even though I’ve moved on to boxes. They would throw an incredibly wide sound stage, although not an entirely accurate one. People would listen to them and swear they weren’t on and that the music must have been coming from some hidden speakers.
Do they have the gold or silver ribbons?
High efficiency open baffles rule!