Spatial Audio Hologram M4 Turbo S Speakers - A Review


I received these speakers about three weeks ago and with a bit of run-in on them, maybe 75-100 hours, I am prepared to say that they are simply stunning speakers.  I have a bit of a bind in my room in that I only have 2-3' from the rear wall to position them, which is about what Clayton Shaw from SA said would be workable.  I heard his former design, the Audio Physics OB speakers, at an audio show a couple of years ago and was very impressed with them, but was waved off when I learned that the AP speakers needed 4-5' of clearance to perform their best.  Clayton now has his own company and the Holograms incorporate major design improvements from his earlier designs for Audio Physics, not least of which is their performance much nearer the back wall.  

Most notably, these do not sound like any speakers I have ever had and I have had a nearly a dozen over the past decade in my room.  I listened to them with a pedestrian SS amp to break them in (note:  don't form any opinion of them until they have a least 50 hours on them) and then swapped them for an excellent 6L6 tube amp with 6 wpc.  With the tube amp (and my tube preamp), these speakers just simply blossomed with a huge soundstage and a very warm liquid sound.  There is no question that the speakers mate very well with tube amplification.  I then swapped my venerable CJ MF-80 SS amp into the system thinking that they might lose the holographic soundstage and warmth, but as it turns out, the CJ amp provides a bit more control on the LF response and gives up only a bit of the warmth and liquidity that the tube amp provided.  So, my take is that they respond very well to both tube and SS amplification, but with good gear, reveal provide much better performance.  

The M4's have such an effortless, uncongested sound to them that seems very coherent from the LF to the HF.  They are neither forward nor laid back, they just make the music sound tonally correct and realistic.  If I had more room for placement, I might consider the M3's, which go down to 32hz whereas my M4's go pretty flat to 45hz.  No worries with the M4's, I am very happy with the LF response and if I get motivated, I might hook up my REL sub to catch that lower octave.  No doubt due to the open baffle design of the speakers, I sense an openness to the sound that I haven't ever experienced in any speakers I have had.  They are very detailed, with a clarity to the spittle sound of Miles' trumpet and a palpable leading-edge attack to Ron Carter's  double bass that just is simply amazing.   The sound from bottom to top with these speaker continues to astonish me the longer I listen to them.  If think they might tend to a bit warmer presentation, to my ears, but only slightly so.  Overall, they are very balanced.  

Clayton has a generous no-hassle 60-day trial with these speakers because it is a fair bet that few buyers will not be very happy with them.   I am just a guy who has loves jazz and have been in the quest for great sound in my system for the past 45 years so that is my point of view in this review.  I am not going out on a limb in saying that I think Clayton has significantly moved the ball ahead, from technological design and production standpoint, with his Hologram speakers.  I simply marvel at the pure enjoyment I am hearing with these speakers... just such pure enjoyment.    

For $2K for the M4 Turbo S version, I can't fathom a more fulfilling audio product than Clayton's speakers.  I urge my music-loving friends on this forum to think outside the box (speaker) realm and consider what Clayton has created with his well-engineered and beautifully-constructed  line of of Hologram speakers.  At least, seek out his room at the next audio show and give them a listen.  Cheers, Whitestix






whitestix
Lolligager,
You and I are on the same page, my friend, and thanks for chiming in.  I have a DSPeaker Antimode 2.0 digital signal processor in my system that I have employed to great sonic improvements with previous speakers I have had in my system, but it is superfluous with the T4's.  I don't doubt that Clayton will come up with performance enhancements  that will make his speakers sound even better.  

Another impression. These speakers are easily the least placement-sensitive speakers I have ever had in my room.  I have a slight asymmetrical setup in my room and have fiddled for days locating earlier speakers, but I haven't found the need to do that at all with the 4T's.   They sound great about 2.5' from the rear wall, but do benefit in this position with some Aurelex foam behind them.  If I had more distance to the rear wall, I doubt I'd need the sound treatment behind them.  

I spent the afternoon yesterday on the sofa listening to the speakers and simply marvel at the openness of their sound, everything sounding so natural and tonally balanced, completely uncontested.  I will again provide this caveat:  I mate my 4T's with a sub.  Frankly, I would be happy with the speakers absent the sub in the system, but they are profoundly more full-ranged and balanced with the addition of the sub.  I listen to almost all jazz so I am not a bass nut, but the inclusion of the LF extension brings it all together.  This phenomenon is well understood in the audio world and I concur with the notion. 

My take is that if your room dimensions permit it, I recommend the Hologram M3T's over the 4T's for the bass extension, which clearly the former will have.  If you have a good sub, go with the 4T's and never look back.  I have enjoyed virtually every set of speakers I have had in my system over the past 45 years, but these Spatial Audio speakers are really magical and just do everything just splendidly right.  To wit, they are the only speakers that I have had in my system that my non-audiophile pals have commented that they look very cool.

If you a reader of this thread who is on the fence about trying these speakers in their system, Spatial Audio provides a period of time to a audition them in your system.  I absolutely think there is magic in the inherent design of open-baffle (OB) speakers and can't see myself ever going back to conventional box speakers.  I doubt anyone in the audio business will execute the design of an OB speaker better than the brilliant Clayton Shaw.  He is not a tinkerer... his speakers are based on years of design, testing, and refinement and he has the educational background to know what he is doing.  There a now lots of reviews of the Spatial Audio line that you can Google to see if my impressions are correct.  

Cheers, Mark




Yes, we are. Your experience with DSP and room placement exactly mirror mine... although I have no room configuration issue. You having an asymmetrical room is even more significant. 

Mine are just about 2.5 feet from the back wall. So far I have not complaint about the sound. But tomorrow I will try moving them further into the room to see what happens. But I would not want to leave them much further out than they are. 

So please tell me more about the foam treatment. 
Mark, on Audiogon forum is it possible to send a personal messages? I would like to send you one, but I can't figure out how to do it.

Peter 
I am not sure how to do PM, but here is my email addy if the forum always it:  msw2626@comcast.net.  Mark

I just moved my M4TS out another half foot from the back wall. A really significant change. Really quite a difference. Sound is simply more present... much more alive and dramatic and even more holographic. Bass really punches. I wouldn't have believed such a change possible to this extent. I am amazed. 

Your email address did come through so I will be sending you an email tomorrow to tell you of an experience that I had recently.