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REVIEW: Spatial Audio M3 Sapphire Speakers

Model: M3 Sapphire
Category: Speakers
Suggested Retail Price: $4,950
Description: Full Range Open Baffle Design
Manufacturer URL: Spatial Audio

Review by Dr.Phil on September 08, 2020 at 20:09:18
IP Address: 96.228.55.224
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for the M3 Sapphire


Open Box speaker design. One design I've not tried though one of my 1st speakers the DQ10 were open baffle except for the woofer which was a sealed boxed. I am not one to change gear as some do, I usually keep what I find I enjoy and tweak the system as I see fit to. For the past 8 years, my speaker of choice has been Quad ESL 63's rebuild to as new along with an upgraded power supply. Worked done by Kent at Electrostatic solutions. These Quads had all that the golden ERA of Quad had and then some, better dynamics, more extended top, and bottom. Imaging was scary good where 3-4 voices stood in completely there own space in the sound stage. I Still love them and what they do no speaker can do and current designs with hyped up highs need not apply. In fact, I heard two major brands at 20K that could not touch the Quads.

I wanted a change while keeping the Quads for an awhile longer perhaps or for good or I might sell them if I could find a speaker that I could live with. After doing some research I can across Spatial Audio, and I used YouTube to watch interviews with Clayton who is the designer and seemed like a straight shooter. He can across very knowledgeable on open baffle design speakers and their benefits over boxed dynamic speakers. I gave him a call and sure enough, he gave me straight answers to my questions and even the tough one on what will I give up from what I enjoy about the Quad ESL 63's. His answer was some of the coherency, and transparency that all Quads have to do to their inherent design. But I would find much more dynamics, better extension both top and bottom, and a speaker still with very fast transit speed along with more realistic imaging height wise and while still sounding unboxy and open like the Quads.

Well I took the leap in faith and purchased a set I found from a reviewer who had high praise for them and who lived in my state, Spatial was running 6-8 weeks backlog due to sales. So with one-day delivery vs. 6-8 weeks and $1,000 savings made it the way to go. He told me most of the long burn-in was done when he arrived. He stayed to help me set them up as a starting point then left. We set them up 3' from the front wall where I left them for 2 days. During that time I just let them run and took note of what I was missing, and it was bass and low-end dynamics. It was there but not present as the mids and highs.

So I finally read the owner's manual! Really, Duh.

One suggestion made was 36" out front from wall to start, which I did. It then stated wait 48 hours and either pull them further out 6" from the front wall or back 6", whichever one gives you the most mid-bass and bass is the distance to keep. Meaning you were in a bass canceling zone, (nordal area in the room). The louder dynamic bass area is a better location.

Well in my room and I believe due to not having the wall behind me where I sit, loft with the family room behind me and below on the main level, going back 6" to 30" from the back wall made a huge difference, now they had bass, full rich and deep, I also tried 33" also and that was very good also with better depth to the image away from the speaker. Going to do the final measurements of toe-in. My room of course as bass traps and other diffusion panels.

I decided to stay with 33" front the front wall today.

The speakers disappear, imaging is not bloated like planar speakers or lacking height like my Quads (on some records they image way above the speaker top). Bass is dynamic, impressive buy unlike box speakers clean with no bloat or room incurred bumps in smooth bass transition. The bass is different in that it is not pushed at you or ahead of the mid's and highs, they work together evenly which if you only had boxed speakers that would take some adjustment, but with owning Quads not much so. But I will have to adjust to such extension in the upper frequency where the Quads never reproduced.

Quads due to being limited at extension gives you the most important reproduction of music, the areas that our ears love, and you don't miss the rest, bass in my room with my rebuilt Quads was around 35Hz and even some bass at 33Hz at normal listening levels, with a good mid-bass that added body to vocals and was addicting. so what the Quads do right no speakers can do, they are seamless, natural and due to the roll-off at the top, what you hear and what you focus on is really where music lives, and you don't miss the very top end that is a bit rolled off, but what they give you is so very real-sounding.

The SA M3's sound more open and pure, deep vocals have weight but are more open, highs are fast, yet not in your face, mid-bass is not bloated so the mids stay open and uncolored, while the deep bass remains firm and clean like an open baffle speaker should if done correctly and that is the key if done right using the right woofers designed for open box applications. In the past woofers used were for sealed or vented speakers and they did not work well, thus the loss of bass due to cancelation from the back wave canceling the front wave.

Like the Quad a speaker and unlike 99% of speakers sold, the open baffle is off the tried and true path also. So they will sound different to some extent, but they sound good on all music, details are excellent, and it is coherent and balanced. They are not a dark and full sounding speaker, which I do gravitate towards but I enjoy my music being soulful and fun to listen to. That I am enjoying the Spatial M3 shows an old audiophile can learn a new trick and throws the old bias out the window that open baffle cannot reproduce bass. Not true with this design. Will the bass as upfront and always present as a sealed box no, but when the recording has the bass it is there in spades. Stand up bass is the best I've ever heard.

I don't always like to spike speakers, it all depends and there is no set rule you have to, though people automatically do because they think they have to. Yes, they can tighten the bottom end up, but they also can shift the presence areas from the top down, and take the soul out of the music, and leave nothing but a clean sound that as nothing to do with how real music sounds, my Quads with spikes sound aggressive, bright and the highs stick out like a sore thumb, took me 30 seconds and they off, and the round pucks used for the feet and balance returned. I've tried the SA M3's both ways and I am most likely keeping the front spikes off. They are solid with the back spike left on and very stable.

I must note the design quality, this is a well designed and beautifully constructed speaker. WBT speaker connectors, real wood front panel, weighs about 65 lbs, so easy to move and setup. and they look good in the room, my wife saw them and said wow they look nice to fit into the room. My speakers are walnut.

With Quads, my McIntosh power amp showed 40 watts being used at times if not more on some dynamics, with the M3's 4-10 watts. This speaker would be great with a 70-watt tube amp, even a rebuilt Will Vincent Dynaco stereo 70. I think with tubes you have true magic and these speakers are shown with tube gear a lot. With my solid-state gear, they sound musical fast and open but not analytical at all. I've played several types of music from the '30s, '40s, '50s, Jazz, Blues, Swings, Vocals, and Audiophile favorites, like For Duke, Jazz at the Pawnshop, SACD, and Redbook CDs, the feeling you get listening to them is what on the recording which is what a speaker should be.

I will say this where they beat my Quads is upper-mids and up, on the 1930's recordings, you can hear the noise from the vinyl they had to use as clear as day, like your playing a record, with the Quads you hear it at such a low level. Things like shakers, snare drums, kick drums came to life with the M3's, with the Quads all there but very laid back but nice to listen to, the Quads do not offend, that is the beauty of them. I played some Big-band music to see what the M3's could do, and my wife said it best "that sounds like a Big Band playing" Horns and the speed and bite of live instruments and the dynamics and ebb and flow of the music was superb.

A Spatial open baffle speaker is a game-changer for this type of design. The "past" limitation is gone, for the most part, they also make models higher up the product line with powered woofers with DSP, AMT drivers for the highs.

You can purchase directly currently $4,999 plus shipping with a 30 day trial period. With so few Audio stores remaining this is not an issue for many because its very heard to hear a speaker you like locally anymore, some areas no high-end audio stores so this is the future plus you save the extra cost of the dealer marking up the selling price so to make a profit to stay in business. So look at it as buying at dealer cost.


Product Weakness: Lack of one note booming bass.
Product Strengths: Transparent, dynamic, open, clean bass


Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: McIntosh MC 402
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Luxman C-800F
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Marantz SA-10
Speakers: Quad ESL 63
Cables/Interconnects: LessLoss
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Various
Room Size (LxWxH): 15 x 11 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments: Bass Traps, Diffusers
Time Period/Length of Audition: one week
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): PS Audio P-12
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner
Your System (if other than home audition): N/A




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Topic - REVIEW: Spatial Audio M3 Sapphire Speakers - Dr.Phil 20:09:17 09/08/20 (7)

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