Spatial M3 and M5 Sapphire speakers

[sockpit]

I ordered the M5s for a trial the other day.  

 

What the heck, I figure. Ill be out the shipping if they don’t knock it out of ballpark in my small 11 by 13 dedicated listening room.  Clayton says they will. Time, probably two weeks to delivery, will tell.

 

Am looking forward to my first OB experience.  

[sockpit]

Not yet.  They arrive in one week, alas.  Audiocircle has a spatial thread or three with some reports.

Am psyched to try them out.  Going on raves of others, so high expectations.

Clayton Shaw seems like he knows his business and has been fine to work with.

[sockpit]

Here is one happy, new owner of the M5s.

 

https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=166883.new#new

[sockpit]

My room is about the size of yours.  Delivery scheduled currently for Thursday, but am ready for delay with the holiday.

 

Will report back.

[sockpit]

One week in.

 

They are a dominating presence size-wise in a 12 by 12 space, which is fine if it’s your dedicated listening room. They are quite beautiful and the build quality is top notch.  They are, finally, 75lbs each, which is why they arrive via freight and on a pallet.

 

But how do they sound?  At first, not so great.  But the owner of Spatial and Spatial customers strongly recommend 1-2 hundred hours before taking serious measure of their performance.  I’m at about 100 hrs and they are, indeed, coming to life.  Still too early to say for sure if they are keepers.  I will return them if I don’t like the sound (and eat the freight.) But I think I’m just starting to hear what people rave about.  

 

One plus: they are so revealing of details and dynamics that I can happily listen in my small room at much lower volumes.  Which is good for my hearing in the long run. And the cliche that I’m hearing things for the first time is true in this case.  I may be on my way to speaker happiness in this small room.

 

Sorry I can’t help you with the Magnepan comparison . . . 

 

[sockpit]

Sorry, I’ve had to travel for a few weeks and am behind on my critical listening.  Will try to report back when I have a better sense if things, but keep in mind I’m not the kind of audiophile who has gone through 20 sets of speakers and amp combos, can tell you how speaker wire x sounds, etc.  Not even sure my vocabulary is up to snuff for this crowd.  So my feedback would be of limited value.  If you are interested in Spatial, I do suggest calling Clayton Shaw.  He’s a gem and a straight shooter in my experience.

[sockpit]

On 1/11/2020 at 10:39 AM, davide256 said:

I suspect another reason for the 100~200 break in period is that one also ends up reevaluating the rest of the system set up, exposing weaknesses or mismatch

that was unnoticed before as you try to optimize the new purchase. This takes time to identify comparison options, do A/B swapping and revise the system for best performance

I never intended to go down this rabbit hole, indeed I thought the comment absurd at first, but I optimized by purchasing an LTA z10 integrated tube amp.  LTA has partnered with Spatial at shows.  The result is crazy good in my small room.  That’s my unofficial and brief interim report.  Call Clayton Shaw about your room size and needs and he’ll give you sound advice.  And then call Nicholas at LTA, who will send you an amp for two week trial.  It’s a work of art with a great phono stage and headphone output.  This is my last amp—full stop.  I can well image buying even better speakers in the future, but they are very likely to be Spatials, given the great experience with Clayton and the end result.