I bought these about 2 months ago because of what Ron said about them. I have the Sapphire's paired with the new NAD M33. Sounds devine. My 300B Tube Amplifier sounds awesome with them as well. Thanks Ron!
Dude, this has to be one of the most forensic speaker reviews I have seen. It's clearly apparent the amount of work undertaken to evaluate these. Well played. And yes, I would love to hear (and own!) these speakers! High praise indeed (and the measurements seem to validate your listening impressions). Great stuff, Ron. I enjoyed this one!
This is an excellent review Ron! I kind of went out on a limb being the first one to post some kind of impressions on the M3S on Audiocircle. I did my best to explain what I was hearing and certainly did not want to mislead anybody and this review makes me feel much better about that. I really get what you are saying and you did a much better job than I could concisely laying out what these speakers accomplish. There are times in this video I felt like we had a mind meld. Like your description on the way these deliver detail and how the 15" woofer does a fast clear lower midrange. I just went and did Patreon for the first time ever. Got to be part of the pairings discussion. You have earned it.
Crazy Crazy... i heard these speakers today. They are worth the hype. My usual speakers are 40k soundlab M1px and a 200w amp. These are 5k!! 5k! And were played with a 20w integrated amp. Wowoza... met Clayton that guy is the real deal
I can't stress this enough, the speaker measurements portion is what makes these reviews so valuable. I somehow had the impression that Spatial Audio is one of the boutique brands out there that neglect engineering efforts, I'm glad I've been proven wrong. Awesome horizontal and vertical dispersion. Good job on the review, Ron!
I agree, the measurements provide real value, not just for the measurements themselves, but also Ron detailing his process for taking them. #showyourwork It's worth noting that Spatial's founder, owner, and operator is an engineer who has been designing speakers for more than four decades, so it should come as no surprise that he doesn't "neglect engineering efforts." (Still trying to figure out what that phrase even means, TBH.)
If you ever spent time talking to Clayton in person you would instantly realize this cat -really- knows his stuff, but even better is he is not interested in doing what others do just because, nope, he has other ideas, and they be solidly good ones.
I think it is germane to mention that the -whole rig- you listened to for this review contributes to the exceptional characteristics of the Sapphire's sound. Personally, I have never heard a speaker and system seemingly remove all the gear in the signal path, from mic to ear, from the sound as well as this rig does. I've never heard another system just put the music in the room in such a natural and unencumbered way.
Finally, I've been waiting for this! Now I need to scrounge up $5k and beg the wife to let me put them in the living room. But the M5's might be a better fit for me, slightly smaller and less expensive.
Ohhhh Ron its here. Open Baffle!!!! Thank you, thank you. Cant wait to watch this. I appreciate all your hard work. Looking forward to signing up to the NRD Patreon membership. Iv been patiently waiting for this. Again thank you. You have really helped out with some of my decisions for my two channel setup going forward. NRD ROCKS!!!👌
Ron, great job man! Ever get info on the chances of a trade in policy from spatial? The only speaker I'd ever replace my turbo s with would be another spatial higher up the line. A trade in/up policy would be pretty cool.....allow existing customers to have an easy upgrade path and allow access to past models at substantial discount to the many potential new customers who are hesitant to pay full retail on a speaker design that is still not mainstream. Totally selfish thought! I'd love a pair of these sapphires but OB speakers are so uncommon that us owners take a real beating trying to sell them on the used market in order to finance an upgrade within the spatial line. Because OBs are not mainstream we take such a loss selling on used market that it discourages the upgrade path. A trade up policy and direct to customer certified used program might really help more people upgrade or step into the brand at a lower cost of entry. It could widen the market and encourage sale of higher end models.
A friend of mine got these early last year and I was one of the first to hear them. The only thing I can compare them to are McIntosh XRT2K speakers - and they were completely unaffordable. Not to mention that they literally tower over everything else in the room. Both the M3 and the M4 series speakers are incredible... Clayton Shaw is a genius.
Pay homage to my own old school review process... 😂🤣😂sorry bruh! This must have caught me just right because I’ve been in stitches coming up with my own “throw-back” homages to my own work. This is the gift that keeps on giving. But seriously, great review! Thanks for the content!
Your first review of the M3s navigated me to buying a pair of Turbo S. They are just musical speakers. Well, I am now stationed in Germany and purchased some ELAC Vela 409’s for very cheap since they are natives of this country. I wanted to like them so much because of their ribbons(and native discount), but after a month I grabbed my M3s and plugged them back in. I did this because my Wife said that the ELACs sound like “speakers.” She doesn’t care too much for music reproduction, but our music wasn’t “live” anymore with the box speakers. Now this review is guiding me to buy some X3s. Dang Ron, thanks a lot. Your reviews cover everything I need to know, and my audiophile self and non-audiophile Wife applaud you! Keep it up! Sticking with the LIO though.
It is wonderful to listen to a review of an open baffle product. Too many reviewers seem to ignore this segment of the market. I discovered open baffle speakers a few years ago, through the work of Martin J King. my DIY setup is somewhat based on his setup. I differ in that I use Bi Amping with an active crossover to avoid a number of hassles. Tubes for the Mids, Solid state for the Woofer. The best of both worlds.
is yours the one with eminence beta woofers? do you have any links to your build to share? i've always interested in building an active open baffle setup, just can't find enough resources/info to get started.
I just watched/listened to your listening session with the Otticas where you talk about optimal speaker placement for open back speakers and yours were 7 feet from the backwall. I just realized that I don’t have 7 feet worth of space in my living room...I have maybe 4 feet max. Am I screwed? lol. Also your recordings are amazing! I am listening to these audio demos both through my iPad Pro speakers and headphones and I can hear everything you are talking about. Your recordings really capture the sound of these speakers which is amazing. You should have been an audio engineer!
runs to get popcorn before starting the show... been waiting weeks for to review this... Spatial audio is about 20 min from my house and considering dropping by for a demo of the M3/M5 sapphires... I have the Maggie LRS and love them for the price point but these would be my end game speaker to save for.
I have the M3S in my main system and a pair of LRS in my second system. The Magnepan LRS are a very good speaker regardless of price. Totally ridiculous how good they are for the price. My Spatial M3S are definitely more technically adept. But hard to compare because the components in my main system with the Spatials are better but the power (60 WPC) is not enough to give the LRS what they need. The efficiency of the Spatials is a big plus compared to Magnepan. I do like the LRS enough to where I am going to get a better DAC for that system and eventually a better preamp. The LRS and the Spatials are very different so the LRS makes a good 2nd system complement. I would definitely go and listen to the Spatials in your case. If you like the Spaitals you could still keep your LRS and find a nice spot for them due to their adaptable size.
As someone who lives close too, do it. Clayton is a great guy who showed me the whole process of how they are made and the components that are in them. And then we sat down and listened to them for about an hour. Everything Ron has said about the sapphires I’ve had a similar experience in. I’m sure Clayton would love to help
Ron, mostly on the strength of your review, I ordered a pair of M3 Sapphires a couple of months ago and received them last week. While I am not ready to definitively comment on the overall sound, I can say that the bass is miles ahead of any box speaker I’ve owned. The two subs I have been using with small Magnepans will likely be finding another use. I would also add that the M3’s are gorgeously made and extremely pleasing to the eye. Congratulations on your efforts to increase awareness of OB speakers beyond the DIY crowd.
I've had the spatial M4 turbo S speakers for a few years now and they are astounding! I've had zero desire to even consider changing them for anything else.....I can only imagine how good these sapphire speakers are!
Im getting shipped a pair of M4 turbo S I bought used because of Rons praise of the company and open baffle. I have never heard OB...so I'm very excited!
@@mikehuntington4440 I'm super confident that they will exceed your expectations! The M4s are spectacular, for the piece....... unmatched. Get a little sub though, only thing they lack is bass weight and only for certain music, a small used sub with crossover and volume set very low and you will likely never want another speaker. With a little sub to support the low end the spatials deliver a huge wave of sound that is super fast, full range, natural and unforced, highly dynamic, detailed but never harsh with a gigantic soundstage. For me their #1 strength is how sound just jumps from them so quickly and effortlessly, it's truly something special..... no matter how dynamic and complex the music is the spatials just explode the sound out with zero effort. I'm excited for you lol
I ordered these after your interview with Clayton. They arrived mid September. So I am currently still running them in - which has been such a revelation. The first few days I thought - what on earth have I done - so tiring. A couple of weeks later and they are making simply *beautiful* music. {Currently with Auralic (Aries G2.1) and Devialet with Roon (on a Mac mini) and Qobuz + NAS} This review and your personal impressions are seconded here. Thanks again Ron for your work - we really appreciate your professional dedication to our love/obsession. For the future - may I suggest that you investigate Chord - especially their DACs. eg Qutest or Hugo TT2 with and without Hugo M Scaler. You may well find that they have something similarly well worth sharing. Greetings to you and yours, one and All.
Hey Ron. When you are doing your voice over try moving further away from the microphone to avoid the proximity effect. Then your on camera audio and voice over will be perfect. The rest of the video is amazing!
@@Newrecordday2013 Baddy ... somewhat, but certainly bassy😉👍 hmmm, ... extrapolating; Bad + 40yrs = Sick *Ron, btw, a piece of work such as this review, entirely validates your "going in full time" decision 👏 Bravo
Hi, Ron. Very well done review. I've got a review of the M3 Sapphire for Part Time Audiophile coming out soon. It'll be fun to compare our "takes" on these fine speakers. Take care!
Utterly superb review as always. This channel has some of the best b-roll and cinematography going. I'm always surprised at how stunning the shots are.
Really dig that guitar track at the intro. I was a bit surprised at that undignified trolling the trolls routine you went on. Letting them know they get to you is only giving them oxygen in my opinion. The actual review was very good.
I gotta agree with you, Ron, about the whole open baffle speakers are the most compelling to listen to. I have 2 audiophile friends who have much fancier kit than me, and yet, with a little bit, OK, a ton, of acoustics knowledge,some non-expensive pro gear and, actually, a few tips from Clayton, I've created a rig that costs
About small FR drivers: I found that steep cone drivers are really bad for upper med resonance. But the shallow cone ones seem to be much better, I mean way better. They are mellow and don't seem to exhibit resonance at all compared to the steep cones. I have 3" shallow cone FR drivers with 10" woofers and not even a hint of resonance. Better than any two way cos the woofer has to handle like 1 kHz. Not with my 10" woofers, 1 khz is in the 3" drivers that go right down to 100 hz. It's important to get as much lows as practical in the FR drivers (when running then with woofers) as FR drivers are "colder" sounding than woofers and any lows in them helps the tone to be "warmer" and still point source.
Another Grate Review! Ron, I have a 15 X 15 x 10'h. Room. In your audio opinion ... would the M3 work out in such a small area? Also, is there a good range of Amplifiers which will work with them? I value your opinion... THANKS for the REVIEWS, and HAPPY NEW YEAR !
It will work... you are close to the same dimensions of my old room. You will have a ton of bass in that room and potentially too much. As long as you can deal with that, it can work.
PSA / Shameless Self-promotion: You can buy this ENTIRE system (Innuos + Lampizator + LTA + Spatial + Anticables) and get it all at a discount with one click (ok, three clicks but who's counting - the point is it's easy and you get a discount if you buy them all together): www.lineartubeaudio.com/products/spatial-m3-lampizator-amber3-lta-z10-integrated-caf-system
Great review Katie! Looking forward to the NX-Otica's. Can you let us listen to the NX-Otica's in the review please Ron. Thank you. I hope you are all keeping safe and healthy.
It’s a neo magnet these are types speakers you’re finding guitar amplifiers. Very similar to old Alnico speakers in fender amps, they are very tight meaning very little movement on the cone. It’s great they are becoming popular
Ron, thanks for the review and it's clear your passion for the M3 sapphires is genuine. I have a question regarding the "point source" comment you made. While crossing over at 600Hz is obviously a major feat for a 1" dome tweeter, I can't help but note that Orchestras tune to "A 440", which is half an octave below this. Since there has been so much attention paid on your channel and via technicians about reference points of listening and potential combing and cancellations, and since both 15" drivers are playing frequences well into the midrange, is this really "point source"?? I'm not questioning the speakers very flat measurements because obviously they speak for themselves, but I don't understand how this can have a "point source" effect when we have about 14-15" from tweeter diaphragm to first woofer voicecoil, and again another 20" to the bottom voicecoil (I'm estimating each).
You could be right and this is beyond my realm of knowledge. One thing I tried to be careful with saying is the sapphires offer “point source like coherence” and avoid flat out calling them a point source speaker. I hope this clears up any confusion. Appreciate the comment Jeff!
@@Newrecordday2013 If it's beyond YOUR technical knowledge I'd like to introduce you to the very large cavernous abyss known as "Glickman's awareness of physics." Anyway what I think might be an interesting comparison is a set of Tannoy Legacy Arden's. Significantly more ($8k USF), but big dual concentric 15" jobbies which will undoubtedly require different positioning and matching. But I'd be curious to hear your response to comparing of these two, as totally different ways to try and tackle big acoustic reproduction.
Not an expert, but I heard that a woofer doesn’t start beaming until the wavelength is smaller than the width of the woofer. At 15 inches that would be 900 hz, so well above the point where the tweeter takes over
No, the M3 isn't a point source, but I can believe it has great coherence. A full-range driver is only one method for creating a point source. A coaxial/coincident driver is also a point source (KEF, Tannoy, etc). A Quad electrostatic uses concentric rings to emulate a point source. By the way, the nail is already in the coffin of full-range drivers. Most audiophiles don't accept them for their wildly uneven frequency response and coloration, although free of crossover issues. As high-sensitivity speakers, they attract fans of low-powered tube amps.
Ron. The Totem Tribe Towers don't have a crossover on the Torrent driver woofers. They were designed to play the whole spectrum. There is no breakup or resonances. Try them out, or ask Vince to explain it to you. I would love to see a review. Regards.
@@Phastm3 I have seen your videos. You have an awful room and give them no space. I have played them over 100db with a quality amp, and they do not resonate.
Anonymous guy not sure how my room would make them resonate. I was able to have the demo pair at my local dealer resonate with the same music. There is a reason that there has been very few reviews on those speakers after being out for over 3 years. Enjoy your overpriced Totem garbage in your perfect room. I changed my garbage room, time to change your garbage speakers
Fantastic Review, the quality of your reviews has gone up exponentially over the past months. Quick question. Are these speakers suited to late night listening at low DB levels ? A lot of speakers need some volume to sound their best. Thanks again.
Absolutely. As of late, the vast majority of my listening is well below 85db. Depending on your definition of low DB levels, I think the sapphires do great in this regard.
I do a little of both. Most of the B-roll is raw and the rest (talking head) is just 8bit. I think the 8 bit can look amazing under controlled lighting but if things are unpredictable, the raw is incredible to work with. It’s nearly impossible to break in color grading... you can just keep bending the exposure to your liking. It’s rad!
Nice review man, personally you’ve sold me with this concept and seriously look forward to chatting with you and Danny at an appropriate time - there are a lot of moving parts with these. Thanking you 👍🏼🇦🇺✌🏽
Hi Ron thanks for the review, had been looking for it for a long time. You said that the sapphires are not the most detail centric, but given the X3 and X5 are open baffle top to bottom, could you comment on them ?
You need to include distortion measurements. A crossoverless Tweeter that goes down to 500 Hertz? If the suspension on the Twitter was long enough to achieve that, you would have crazy intermodulation distortion due to the Doppler effect.
Great review, thanks! The price of the M5's fall within my mid-fi budget - but the room placement is a dealbreaker. Many of us do not have dedicated listening rooms or a large enough space to place an open baffle so far out into the room. Pity, I'd love to give the M5 a go. Considering Forte III's specifically because they can be placed so close to the wall.
Hi there Ron, great review. This is the first day I am seeing these beauties. I am so excited and can not wait to hear them. I am just wondering if these speakers also perform well when being played loud. Ijust want to be able to play music loud and getting real into it. Current set is Infinity Kappa 8 and I am ready for a change, but they also need to be able to give that big sound.. Thanks
I ordered a pair of the X3's yesterday after listening to the M3 Sapphires. The rational for the X3's was based upon a listen (at The Show) of Porcupine Tree. It just didn't have the explosiveness that I'm familiar with. Now, I wasn't surprised given the LTA 12WPC tube integrated, a brilliant piece. My wife (who couldn't attend) is both an imaging lover and loves the slam or shall I say, dynamic range of a line array such as the LS6's which we owned a long time ago. She dearly misses those speakers. Don't get me wrong, the bass response of every other song played was amazing, as I expected it would be. I was a fan of the Emerald Physics line and have built/owned open baffle speakers in the past. Our room is 15ft x 19ft. In your valued opinion, does the X3 lose anything to the Sapphires?
You know, there are very good reasons why people would question running a tweeter so low, and 575Hz is incredibly low for a tweeter. Hifi is full of products that break the rules, and that's great, but there is usually a price to be paid, and there's a saying "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence". Sufficient evidence is not provided here other than "it sounds good". All drivers' distortion rises as they are pushed to the bottom of their range as their suspensions are stretched and their motors work in the less linear parts of their range, and to show this is not an issue here you would have to provide a Total Harmonic Distortion measurement. I looked for distortion measurements for this tweeter online, and the closest I found was for the tweeter's 1" sibling, which showed good distortion performance, but rising below 2KHz as most tweeters do. If you knew about this issue, you would have done the appropriate tests. Calling people who question an extraordinary claim "trolls" is very disappointing.
Hey Dan, the troll comment pertains to what I specifically talked about, not distortion measurements which are extremely problematic to conduct on my level. Getting the noise level low enough to even get a close idea of what’s actually happening isn’t something I plan to pursue on my channel. In any event, I appreciate the comment and commentary.
Great review and very helpful. BTW I do not know what troll is! I do have a question though. Have you compared the SPL levels eminating from the rear side of the speakers to those from the front? Placement of these speakers in a room from a pragmatic viewpoint may raise a few concerns and not only from the fairer gender.
curious if you've ever heard the Carver Amazing loudspeakers. The open-baffle platinum models with four 12" woofers and dual 30" ribbons had amazing sound and articulation. unfortunately, i've blown several ribbons and want a modern replacement. curious if these compare to the Carver ALS...
So if you can only pull the speakers 3 feet from the wall, you would say that box speakers would be better? The biggest reason I've been interested in the M3 TMs is due to your conversation with Clayton about how OB speakers effectively nullify the biggest problems with residential rooms. Now I'm completely confused, unless the point is just that all sound is bad at 3 feet from the wall.
so, I've just been listening to the (Spatial) X3's - have to say I'm kinda blown away with these designs; any thoughts on the M3 Sapphires v the X3's (Ron)? had the chance to do a side by side listen perchance...
Super! But why are you hiding ⅓ of the graph with misplaced text (that you have room to put elsewhere on the screen than on the actual frequency response itself). And always hiding the frequency response for the lower midrange and the bass. Why make all of that work and covering ⅓:third of it? :) (So the first graph at 6:46 min show not ±2 it is more ±5. But yeah at those lower frequencies they are more room dependent.)
I’ll need to make a video about this since this question has come up a couple times. I’m doing a gated measurement which means only data from 250 and up is “accurate” and “reliable” information. The reason the rest of that graph is shaded is the bass response is not being taken into consideration with my measurement.
Why not the LX521 from Linkwitz Lab? If you are a true audiophile you should at least be curious of what started this revolution 30 years ago…? Any thoughts?
Thanks for this and for your enthusiasm for hifi generally. It's great. One question.... how do you buy these speakers? Are they ONLY direct from the manufacturers ... I see no dealer list.. Also, do you know if there is any any intention of having any overseas dealerships? I'm in the UK and there's nothing... it's a shame really.. would love to demo or buy these but it doesn't seem to be an option unless you live in the US? Cheers
Why did you cover up the low frequency response on the graphs? Would be great to see the whole graph - especially the critical sections between 40-80Hz where the room interactions happen. Also floor bounce around 200Hz is important. They still look great.
Would be cool to hear your review of the Spatialaudio X series one day in comparison to the Sapphire and the GR Research nx-ottica. Also would the Sapphire benefit from one or two of the GR subs?
I really don’t think you need additional subs with the sapphires. This could change based on your room but for me, they sapphires are a one and done kind of deal.
I bought these about 2 months ago because of what Ron said about them. I have the Sapphire's paired with the new NAD M33. Sounds devine. My 300B Tube Amplifier sounds awesome with them as well. Thanks Ron!
I’ll bet that m33 is killer with these!
man im so jelous of you right now. purifi + dirac + open baffle speakers = audio nirvana!
Never considered Linkwitz Lab speakers, they have been around for about 30 years.
The father of OBs.
Dude, this has to be one of the most forensic speaker reviews I have seen. It's clearly apparent the amount of work undertaken to evaluate these. Well played. And yes, I would love to hear (and own!) these speakers! High praise indeed (and the measurements seem to validate your listening impressions). Great stuff, Ron. I enjoyed this one!
Thanks man!
This is an excellent review Ron! I kind of went out on a limb being the first one to post some kind of impressions on the M3S on Audiocircle. I did my best to explain what I was hearing and certainly did not want to mislead anybody and this review makes me feel much better about that. I really get what you are saying and you did a much better job than I could concisely laying out what these speakers accomplish. There are times in this video I felt like we had a mind meld. Like your description on the way these deliver detail and how the 15" woofer does a fast clear lower midrange. I just went and did Patreon for the first time ever. Got to be part of the pairings discussion. You have earned it.
Crazy Crazy... i heard these speakers today. They are worth the hype. My usual speakers are 40k soundlab M1px and a 200w amp. These are 5k!! 5k! And were played with a 20w integrated amp. Wowoza... met Clayton that guy is the real deal
Lots of work to produce this video, much appreciated!
I can't stress this enough, the speaker measurements portion is what makes these reviews so valuable. I somehow had the impression that Spatial Audio is one of the boutique brands out there that neglect engineering efforts, I'm glad I've been proven wrong. Awesome horizontal and vertical dispersion. Good job on the review, Ron!
Hey thanks man! I’m glad you appreciate that information because I work really hard on the measurements!
I agree, the measurements provide real value, not just for the measurements themselves, but also Ron detailing his process for taking them. #showyourwork
It's worth noting that Spatial's founder, owner, and operator is an engineer who has been designing speakers for more than four decades, so it should come as no surprise that he doesn't "neglect engineering efforts." (Still trying to figure out what that phrase even means, TBH.)
If you ever spent time talking to Clayton in person you would instantly realize this cat -really- knows his stuff, but even better is he is not interested in doing what others do just because, nope, he has other ideas, and they be solidly good ones.
not possible. the acoustic design is laughable.
@@einarbk885
And yet they are very compelling speakers. Have you listened to them in an acoustically optimized room?
I think it is germane to mention that the -whole rig- you listened to for this review contributes to the exceptional characteristics of the Sapphire's sound. Personally, I have never heard a speaker and system seemingly remove all the gear in the signal path, from mic to ear, from the sound as well as this rig does. I've never heard another system just put the music in the room in such a natural and unencumbered way.
Finally, I've been waiting for this! Now I need to scrounge up $5k and beg the wife to let me put them in the living room. But the M5's might be a better fit for me, slightly smaller and less expensive.
Wow! There was an impressive amount of work put into this review. Very well done.
Ohhhh Ron its here. Open Baffle!!!! Thank you, thank you. Cant wait to watch this.
I appreciate all your hard work. Looking forward to signing up to the NRD Patreon membership. Iv been patiently waiting for this. Again thank you. You have really helped out with some of my decisions for my two channel setup going forward.
NRD ROCKS!!!👌
And that’s how u make a proper review! Love it man! I hope To listen to those puppies some day
Wilsons?
Thank god for this review! Finally someone’s speaking coherently and making sense.
Thank you! I aim to please!
Ron, you absolutely0 killed this review, Period! Keep 'm coming. Cheers, RL
Ron, great job man! Ever get info on the chances of a trade in policy from spatial? The only speaker I'd ever replace my turbo s with would be another spatial higher up the line. A trade in/up policy would be pretty cool.....allow existing customers to have an easy upgrade path and allow access to past models at substantial discount to the many potential new customers who are hesitant to pay full retail on a speaker design that is still not mainstream. Totally selfish thought! I'd love a pair of these sapphires but OB speakers are so uncommon that us owners take a real beating trying to sell them on the used market in order to finance an upgrade within the spatial line. Because OBs are not mainstream we take such a loss selling on used market that it discourages the upgrade path. A trade up policy and direct to customer certified used program might really help more people upgrade or step into the brand at a lower cost of entry. It could widen the market and encourage sale of higher end models.
A friend of mine got these early last year and I was one of the first to hear them. The only thing I can compare them to are McIntosh XRT2K speakers - and they were completely unaffordable. Not to mention that they literally tower over everything else in the room. Both the M3 and the M4 series speakers are incredible... Clayton Shaw is a genius.
Pay homage to my own old school review process... 😂🤣😂sorry bruh! This must have caught me just right because I’ve been in stitches coming up with my own “throw-back” homages to my own work. This is the gift that keeps on giving. But seriously, great review! Thanks for the content!
I keep waiting to hear "Dropping the needle on Cosmic Hippo..." Some of those classic NRD phrases you can't forget.
Love seeing comments from the old fans! Thanks!
Best reviewer I've seen, good job sir, you areknowledgeable without being snob and a very good communicator.
Thanks man!
Dear Ron, this is an amazing review format and of course . speakers! Thank you so much for all your work! Best regards from Argentina!
that intro to the speakers was very nicely done indeed. I do miss the old format sometimes
Your first review of the M3s navigated me to buying a pair of Turbo S. They are just musical speakers. Well, I am now stationed in Germany and purchased some ELAC Vela 409’s for very cheap since they are natives of this country. I wanted to like them so much because of their ribbons(and native discount), but after a month I grabbed my M3s and plugged them back in. I did this because my Wife said that the ELACs sound like “speakers.” She doesn’t care too much for music reproduction, but our music wasn’t “live” anymore with the box speakers. Now this review is guiding me to buy some X3s. Dang Ron, thanks a lot. Your reviews cover everything I need to know, and my audiophile self and non-audiophile Wife applaud you! Keep it up! Sticking with the LIO though.
It is wonderful to listen to a review of an open baffle product. Too many reviewers seem to ignore this segment of the market.
I discovered open baffle speakers a few years ago, through the work of Martin J King. my DIY setup is somewhat based on his setup. I differ in that I use Bi Amping with an active crossover to avoid a number of hassles.
Tubes for the Mids, Solid state for the Woofer. The best of both worlds.
is yours the one with eminence beta woofers? do you have any links to your build to share? i've always interested in building an active open baffle setup, just can't find enough resources/info to get started.
I bought a pair of these speakers today largely because of your review. I can’t wait to hear them in my living room.
Awesome! Keep us posted!
I just watched/listened to your listening session with the Otticas where you talk about optimal speaker placement for open back speakers and yours were 7 feet from the backwall. I just realized that I don’t have 7 feet worth of space in my living room...I have maybe 4 feet max. Am I screwed? lol. Also your recordings are amazing! I am listening to these audio demos both through my iPad Pro speakers and headphones and I can hear everything you are talking about. Your recordings really capture the sound of these speakers which is amazing. You should have been an audio engineer!
What a superb review. Thanks for the great in depth breakdown.
runs to get popcorn before starting the show... been waiting weeks for to review this... Spatial audio is about 20 min from my house and considering dropping by for a demo of the M3/M5 sapphires... I have the Maggie LRS and love them for the price point but these would be my end game speaker to save for.
I have the M3S in my main system and a pair of LRS in my second system. The Magnepan LRS are a very good speaker regardless of price. Totally ridiculous how good they are for the price. My Spatial M3S are definitely more technically adept. But hard to compare because the components in my main system with the Spatials are better but the power (60 WPC) is not enough to give the LRS what they need. The efficiency of the Spatials is a big plus compared to Magnepan. I do like the LRS enough to where I am going to get a better DAC for that system and eventually a better preamp. The LRS and the Spatials are very different so the LRS makes a good 2nd system complement. I would definitely go and listen to the Spatials in your case. If you like the Spaitals you could still keep your LRS and find a nice spot for them due to their adaptable size.
As someone who lives close too, do it. Clayton is a great guy who showed me the whole process of how they are made and the components that are in them. And then we sat down and listened to them for about an hour. Everything Ron has said about the sapphires I’ve had a similar experience in. I’m sure Clayton would love to help
Ron, mostly on the strength of your review, I ordered a pair of M3 Sapphires a couple of months ago and received them last week. While I am not ready to definitively comment on the overall sound, I can say that the bass is miles ahead of any box speaker I’ve owned. The two subs I have been using with small Magnepans will likely be finding another use. I would also add that the M3’s are gorgeously made and extremely pleasing to the eye. Congratulations on your efforts to increase awareness of OB speakers beyond the DIY crowd.
Worth the wait although am left wanting for an X3/5 review now!
I've had the spatial M4 turbo S speakers for a few years now and they are astounding! I've had zero desire to even consider changing them for anything else.....I can only imagine how good these sapphire speakers are!
Im getting shipped a pair of M4 turbo S I bought used because of Rons praise of the company and open baffle. I have never heard OB...so I'm very excited!
@@mikehuntington4440 I'm super confident that they will exceed your expectations! The M4s are spectacular, for the piece....... unmatched. Get a little sub though, only thing they lack is bass weight and only for certain music, a small used sub with crossover and volume set very low and you will likely never want another speaker. With a little sub to support the low end the spatials deliver a huge wave of sound that is super fast, full range, natural and unforced, highly dynamic, detailed but never harsh with a gigantic soundstage. For me their #1 strength is how sound just jumps from them so quickly and effortlessly, it's truly something special..... no matter how dynamic and complex the music is the spatials just explode the sound out with zero effort. I'm excited for you lol
I ordered these after your interview with Clayton. They arrived mid September. So I am currently still running them in - which has been such a revelation. The first few days I thought - what on earth have I done - so tiring. A couple of weeks later and they are making simply *beautiful* music. {Currently with Auralic (Aries G2.1) and Devialet with Roon (on a Mac mini) and Qobuz + NAS} This review and your personal impressions are seconded here. Thanks again Ron for your work - we really appreciate your professional dedication to our love/obsession.
For the future - may I suggest that you investigate Chord - especially their DACs. eg Qutest or Hugo TT2 with and without Hugo M Scaler. You may well find that they have something similarly well worth sharing. Greetings to you and yours, one and All.
Hey Ron. When you are doing your voice over try moving further away from the microphone to avoid the proximity effect. Then your on camera audio and voice over will be perfect. The rest of the video is amazing!
Thanks! I agree it turned out a little bassy and muffled.
@@Newrecordday2013
Baddy ... somewhat, but certainly bassy😉👍
hmmm, ... extrapolating;
Bad + 40yrs = Sick
*Ron, btw, a piece of work such as this review, entirely validates your "going in full time" decision 👏
Bravo
I like your voice close proximity!
Awesome review. Contains all relevant info that I would want from a review incl well explained measurements.
Hi, Ron. Very well done review. I've got a review of the M3 Sapphire for Part Time Audiophile coming out soon. It'll be fun to compare our "takes" on these fine speakers. Take care!
Enjoy! They are wonderful.
@@Newrecordday2013 Spoiler alert for the PTA review, but I agree with you. ;-)
Utterly superb review as always. This channel has some of the best b-roll and cinematography going. I'm always surprised at how stunning the shots are.
Thanks for all you do. Much appreciated.
Really dig that guitar track at the intro. I was a bit surprised at that undignified trolling the trolls routine you went on. Letting them know they get to you is only giving them oxygen in my opinion. The actual review was very good.
Thanks
I gotta agree with you, Ron, about the whole open baffle speakers are the most compelling to listen to. I have 2 audiophile friends who have much fancier kit than me, and yet, with a little bit, OK, a ton, of acoustics knowledge,some non-expensive pro gear and, actually, a few tips from Clayton, I've created a rig that costs
Nothing short of an Outstanding Review... Thank you... Wish Clayton still made the
M4's(I think that's the model)...2K+-
Another good review. I like the approach of late. Keep up the great work!
Support this good man and his good work! Keep great content alive. Join Patreon. JAJ
That’s very kind of you! Thanks from the Brenay family!
About small FR drivers: I found that steep cone drivers are really bad for upper med resonance. But the shallow cone ones seem to be much better, I mean way better. They are mellow and don't seem to exhibit resonance at all compared to the steep cones. I have 3" shallow cone FR drivers with 10" woofers and not even a hint of resonance. Better than any two way cos the woofer has to handle like 1 kHz. Not with my 10" woofers, 1 khz is in the 3" drivers that go right down to 100 hz. It's important to get as much lows as practical in the FR drivers (when running then with woofers) as FR drivers are "colder" sounding than woofers and any lows in them helps the tone to be "warmer" and still point source.
Ron always appreciate your thoughtful reviews . . . Thx
Another Grate Review! Ron, I have a 15 X 15 x 10'h. Room. In your audio opinion ... would the M3 work out in such a small area? Also, is there a good range of Amplifiers which will work with them?
I value your opinion... THANKS for the REVIEWS, and HAPPY NEW YEAR !
It will work... you are close to the same dimensions of my old room. You will have a ton of bass in that room and potentially too much. As long as you can deal with that, it can work.
Hi Ron
I desperately need a competent comparison on the M3 Saphire vs. the X5/x3 and I think you are in a unique position to do it - Thank you.
Great review Ron !!!
Any idea about dealership in Europe ?
I'd love to give 'em a listen
PSA / Shameless Self-promotion: You can buy this ENTIRE system (Innuos + Lampizator + LTA + Spatial + Anticables) and get it all at a discount with one click (ok, three clicks but who's counting - the point is it's easy and you get a discount if you buy them all together): www.lineartubeaudio.com/products/spatial-m3-lampizator-amber3-lta-z10-integrated-caf-system
Fun video. I miss the old skool, it’s distinctly you. Great production, generally.
NX-OTICA comparison? How do the sapphires compare to your gr research diy speakers?
Great review Katie! Looking forward to the NX-Otica's. Can you let us listen to the NX-Otica's in the review please Ron. Thank you. I hope you are all keeping safe and healthy.
That was great brother..👍✌️
Superb review, Ron. These sound special.
Thanks amigo!
It’s a neo magnet these are types speakers you’re finding guitar amplifiers. Very similar to old Alnico speakers in fender amps, they are very tight meaning very little movement on the cone. It’s great they are becoming popular
There seems to be no videos or listening sessions of Spatial Lumina L2, any chance hearing these?
Very few of these reviews of open baffle speakers give us a good listen to the speakers. Hearing them is better than hearing about the
Thank you for your hard work. You have a great channel and I value your opinion.
Ron, thanks for the review and it's clear your passion for the M3 sapphires is genuine. I have a question regarding the "point source" comment you made. While crossing over at 600Hz is obviously a major feat for a 1" dome tweeter, I can't help but note that Orchestras tune to "A 440", which is half an octave below this. Since there has been so much attention paid on your channel and via technicians about reference points of listening and potential combing and cancellations, and since both 15" drivers are playing frequences well into the midrange, is this really "point source"?? I'm not questioning the speakers very flat measurements because obviously they speak for themselves, but I don't understand how this can have a "point source" effect when we have about 14-15" from tweeter diaphragm to first woofer voicecoil, and again another 20" to the bottom voicecoil (I'm estimating each).
You could be right and this is beyond my realm of knowledge. One thing I tried to be careful with saying is the sapphires offer “point source like coherence” and avoid flat out calling them a point source speaker. I hope this clears up any confusion. Appreciate the comment Jeff!
@@Newrecordday2013 If it's beyond YOUR technical knowledge I'd like to introduce you to the very large cavernous abyss known as "Glickman's awareness of physics." Anyway what I think might be an interesting comparison is a set of Tannoy Legacy Arden's. Significantly more ($8k USF), but big dual concentric 15" jobbies which will undoubtedly require different positioning and matching. But I'd be curious to hear your response to comparing of these two, as totally different ways to try and tackle big acoustic reproduction.
Not an expert, but I heard that a woofer doesn’t start beaming until the wavelength is smaller than the width of the woofer. At 15 inches that would be 900 hz, so well above the point where the tweeter takes over
No, the M3 isn't a point source, but I can believe it has great coherence. A full-range driver is only one method for creating a point source. A coaxial/coincident driver is also a point source (KEF, Tannoy, etc). A Quad electrostatic uses concentric rings to emulate a point source. By the way, the nail is already in the coffin of full-range drivers. Most audiophiles don't accept them for their wildly uneven frequency response and coloration, although free of crossover issues. As high-sensitivity speakers, they attract fans of low-powered tube amps.
Ron. The Totem Tribe Towers don't have a crossover on the Torrent driver woofers. They were designed to play the whole spectrum. There is no breakup or resonances. Try them out, or ask Vince to explain it to you. I would love to see a review. Regards.
i had them a couple of years ago....the little 4" woofers resonated in my system.....i sold them within 3 months
@@Phastm3 I have seen your videos. You have an awful room and give them no space. I have played them over 100db with a quality amp, and they do not resonate.
Anonymous guy not sure how my room would make them resonate. I was able to have the demo pair at my local dealer resonate with the same music. There is a reason that there has been very few reviews on those speakers after being out for over 3 years. Enjoy your overpriced Totem garbage in your perfect room. I changed my garbage room, time to change your garbage speakers
@@Phastm3 Fuck you Tom. There have been plenty of positive reviews. Your house also looks like shit.
Fantastic Review, the quality of your reviews has gone up exponentially over the past months. Quick question. Are these speakers suited to late night listening at low DB levels ? A lot of speakers need some volume to sound their best. Thanks again.
Absolutely. As of late, the vast majority of my listening is well below 85db. Depending on your definition of low DB levels, I think the sapphires do great in this regard.
Isnt that tweeter the Peerless DA32TX-08 1-1/4" ???
Nicely done Ron
Thanks man!
@@Newrecordday2013 out of curiosity are you working with the c200 in raw workflow or the normal codecs cheers Ron your grading is mint
I do a little of both. Most of the B-roll is raw and the rest (talking head) is just 8bit. I think the 8 bit can look amazing under controlled lighting but if things are unpredictable, the raw is incredible to work with. It’s nearly impossible to break in color grading... you can just keep bending the exposure to your liking. It’s rad!
@@Newrecordday2013 Wow talking head is 8 bit - amazing camera
Thanks Katie enjoyed the review
Hahahahaha!
Thxx Ron for all the hard work! Would love to know/hear how Coltrane, Funky Herbie Hancock or the Beatles sound on this Speakers...
everything looks perfekt in this video, but that Hat man! comon! {keep up the great videos you doing great}
Nice review man, personally you’ve sold me with this concept and seriously look forward to chatting with you and Danny at an appropriate time - there are a lot of moving parts with these. Thanking you 👍🏼🇦🇺✌🏽
Hi Ron thanks for the review, had been looking for it for a long time. You said that the sapphires are not the most detail centric, but given the X3 and X5 are open baffle top to bottom, could you comment on them ?
You need to include distortion measurements. A crossoverless Tweeter that goes down to 500 Hertz? If the suspension on the Twitter was long enough to achieve that, you would have crazy intermodulation distortion due to the Doppler effect.
Well crap! Guess I bought my Tannoys too soon. Would love to hear what these would sound like with my Rogue Sphinx. Great review.
Great review, thanks! The price of the M5's fall within my mid-fi budget - but the room placement is a dealbreaker. Many of us do not have dedicated listening rooms or a large enough space to place an open baffle so far out into the room. Pity, I'd love to give the M5 a go. Considering Forte III's specifically because they can be placed so close to the wall.
open baffles shouldn’t require such asinine room placement…that’s literally their benefit
Hi there Ron, great review. This is the first day I am seeing these beauties. I am so excited and can not wait to hear them. I am just wondering if these speakers also perform well when being played loud. Ijust want to be able to play music loud and getting real into it. Current set is Infinity Kappa 8 and I am ready for a change, but they also need to be able to give that big sound.. Thanks
Nice review Ron, and thanks for mixing it up. The new format you've been doing is ok, but honestly it's not my fav.
Thanks Jon. I can’t please everyone.
@@Newrecordday2013 I'm the only one that matters Ron! LOL
Well how hard can that be! Challenge accepted sir!
@@Newrecordday2013 I can see you're already putting in work man. Nice sounding 'measure' and 'measurements'
Nice review.
Also, where did you get the grey diffuser-looking items on the wall?
They used to be sold on Amazon.
I ordered a pair of the X3's yesterday after listening to the M3 Sapphires. The rational for the X3's was based upon a listen (at The Show) of Porcupine Tree. It just didn't have the explosiveness that I'm familiar with. Now, I wasn't surprised given the LTA 12WPC tube integrated, a brilliant piece. My wife (who couldn't attend) is both an imaging lover and loves the slam or shall I say, dynamic range of a line array such as the LS6's which we owned a long time ago. She dearly misses those speakers.
Don't get me wrong, the bass response of every other song played was amazing, as I expected it would be. I was a fan of the Emerald Physics line and have built/owned open baffle speakers in the past.
Our room is 15ft x 19ft. In your valued opinion, does the X3 lose anything to the Sapphires?
You know, there are very good reasons why people would question running a tweeter so low, and 575Hz is incredibly low for a tweeter. Hifi is full of products that break the rules, and that's great, but there is usually a price to be paid, and there's a saying "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence". Sufficient evidence is not provided here other than "it sounds good".
All drivers' distortion rises as they are pushed to the bottom of their range as their suspensions are stretched and their motors work in the less linear parts of their range, and to show this is not an issue here you would have to provide a Total Harmonic Distortion measurement. I looked for distortion measurements for this tweeter online, and the closest I found was for the tweeter's 1" sibling, which showed good distortion performance, but rising below 2KHz as most tweeters do.
If you knew about this issue, you would have done the appropriate tests. Calling people who question an extraordinary claim "trolls" is very disappointing.
Hey Dan, the troll comment pertains to what I specifically talked about, not distortion measurements which are extremely problematic to conduct on my level. Getting the noise level low enough to even get a close idea of what’s actually happening isn’t something I plan to pursue on my channel. In any event, I appreciate the comment and commentary.
Very good video. Thanks
They aren't point source they are 2 ways.
Ron, fantastic review. How do you think the M5s would sound in comparison to the M3s?
For smaller rooms, I’d imagine they are identical and a great choice!
@@Newrecordday2013 Thanks. Would that also apply if you listen at lower volumes?
Yup!
Nice job. What's the first song?
Would you explain what you are using and how you measure the speakers in your space? Thanks
Great review and very helpful. BTW I do not know what troll is! I do have a question though. Have you compared the SPL levels eminating from the rear side of the speakers to those from the front? Placement of these speakers in a room from a pragmatic viewpoint may raise a few concerns and not only from the fairer gender.
curious if you've ever heard the Carver Amazing loudspeakers. The open-baffle platinum models with four 12" woofers and dual 30" ribbons had amazing sound and articulation. unfortunately, i've blown several ribbons and want a modern replacement.
curious if these compare to the Carver ALS...
So if you can only pull the speakers 3 feet from the wall, you would say that box speakers would be better? The biggest reason I've been interested in the M3 TMs is due to your conversation with Clayton about how OB speakers effectively nullify the biggest problems with residential rooms. Now I'm completely confused, unless the point is just that all sound is bad at 3 feet from the wall.
so, I've just been listening to the (Spatial) X3's - have to say I'm kinda blown away with these designs; any thoughts on the M3 Sapphires v the X3's (Ron)? had the chance to do a side by side listen perchance...
Outstanding. Your views on the x5?
Can these speakers work well with tube power amplifier 30w and what's the sound stage and focus like?
Super!
But why are you hiding ⅓ of the graph with misplaced text (that you have room to put elsewhere on the screen than on the actual frequency response itself). And always hiding the frequency response for the lower midrange and the bass.
Why make all of that work and covering ⅓:third of it? :)
(So the first graph at 6:46 min show not ±2 it is more ±5. But yeah at those lower frequencies they are more room dependent.)
I’ll need to make a video about this since this question has come up a couple times. I’m doing a gated measurement which means only data from 250 and up is “accurate” and “reliable” information. The reason the rest of that graph is shaded is the bass response is not being taken into consideration with my measurement.
New Record Day Thanks Ron.. I’m glad you adressed this.
Why not the LX521 from Linkwitz Lab?
If you are a true audiophile you should at least be curious of what started this revolution 30 years ago…? Any thoughts?
COOL!!
Thanks for this and for your enthusiasm for hifi generally. It's great. One question.... how do you buy these speakers? Are they ONLY direct from the manufacturers ... I see no dealer list.. Also, do you know if there is any any intention of having any overseas dealerships? I'm in the UK and there's nothing... it's a shame really.. would love to demo or buy these but it doesn't seem to be an option unless you live in the US? Cheers
Yes, direct only. Email Clayton for any other questions.
@@Newrecordday2013 Thanks!
Fantastic Review! Really enjoyed it.
Will free air subs work with sealed or ported subs and would it let the system be better than just one type of Base
My wonder is how the midrange decay behaves... In other words, is seating distance more critical with a design like this?
Not really a problem from what I’ve heard over the last 4 months. I think the decay structure is one their highlights.
Wow, what a great review! You covered all the bases. Thank you for your efforts.
You are welcome!
@@Newrecordday2013
Will you be doing reviews on the X3 and X5?
These do sound LOVELY but would like to hear a less than ideal recording through them.
Persona 9H is a sealed cabinet with cancelling bass drivers and good bass correction software. Unreal bass performance ... better than the sapphires?
It is great I have little to buy now but when money comes in will I buy these speakers
I would like to hear these compared to a top of the line Magnepan 20.x speaker.
I'd like to hear them compared to a 1.7i and 3.7i
Why did you cover up the low frequency response on the graphs? Would be great to see the whole graph - especially the critical sections between 40-80Hz where the room interactions happen. Also floor bounce around 200Hz is important. They still look great.
Because the measurements are gated. Thanks!
nice work, how would these compare to maggie 1.7i
Would be cool to hear your review of the Spatialaudio X series one day in comparison to the Sapphire and the GR Research nx-ottica. Also would the Sapphire benefit from one or two of the GR subs?
I really don’t think you need additional subs with the sapphires. This could change based on your room but for me, they sapphires are a one and done kind of deal.
I would like to a sperate midrange, but these speakers are awesome.
How do they compare to the nx series from GR that you reviewed?