I am by no means a qualified reviewer of audio equipment but
thought I would give it a go with my new speakers, the Spatial Audio M3 Turbo
S. Here is my first attempt at this......
I was actually quite content with them. My older classic box
speakers that is, and so when I decided that at twenty plus years old it was time to update, I
had planned to simply replace them with the latest iteration of the same model.
It was while searching through speaker options on the web that I stumbled upon
an ad for Emerald Physics open baffle speakers. Having never heard of them and
since I enjoy learning about different equipment options, I was surprised by all
the positive reviews of the open baffle design. “The best speakers I have ever
owned” and “worth considerably more” were common themes I encountered. I then
spent some time watching good old Youtube videos which piqued my interest
further. I learned they were designed by Clayton Shaw and noted that he has
since sold Emerald Physics and moved on.
Being intrigued by the open baffle design and having learned
that the Emerald Physics speaker that I was interested in required bi-amping, I
had pretty much lost interest in the concept. I love my big SS amp and didn’t
really want to purchase new amps along with new speakers. A little more research
led me to Clayton’s new company Spatial Audio. Ah ha, no bi-amping required
with this design. Now my interest is piqued again! “Fantastic sound for the
money” and “best speaker value ever”, “holographic” were additional comments I
discovered. Upon further research I learned that the cost of most box speakers
is driven by the cabinet itself. Those fancy finishes and internal
reinforcements to battle cabinet resonances contribute significantly to overall
cost. That’s the selling point of open
baffle designs. Nearly the entire cost of the cabinet is gone. Other positive
selling points were the fact that placement isn’t as critical with open baffle
speakers and those nasty room modes don’t come into play as much. Since I have
some restrictions on placement in my living room this idea appealed to me.
One model kept coming up in my research and that was the M3
Turbo S. At 4 ohms they are 95db efficient and can be driven to massive SPL’s
without damage. (There is also a version for you tube amp folks called the M3
Triode Master which provides a uniform and higher impedance load for SET amps.)
My only concern with this type of speaker is a repeated comment about bass
response despite the twin 15” paper cone drivers. The open baffle design
presents a different, yet more defined bass response than typical box speakers.
They still reach down to 32hz and perform best with, you guessed it, big ole’
SS amps like mine. This is a speaker that disappears in the room, they say. I
decided that at less than half the cost of replacing my box speaker I had to give them a
try. So there you go, that’s the back story, here are my impressions of this
speaker.
They arrived via UPS albeit with a slight hiccup in that one
speaker arrived on Wednesday and the other the following day. No big deal; that
allowed me time and space to un-box the first one and check it out. The
following day with the second one ready to go, I moved the massively heavy box
speakers to the side by sliding them across the carpet, then literally lifted
the Spatials easily into place. They come with the bases separated from the
baffle but a couple of simple hex screws attach them. The allen wrench is
included in the packaging. Then it’s a matter of choosing between the smooth feet or carpet
spikes and they’re ready to go.
I chose Dire Straits, Communique as my first test disc and
sure enough, there it was, that holographic sound that everyone spoke of right
on the first track. I was very impressed that they imaged so well right out of
the box! I heard tales of people calling the shop (note: Clayton has decided to
only sell direct now. Mine were the last pair that came from an Audio shop in
Canada.) the following day and reporting that “there must be something wrong
with them”. I didn’t find that to be the case at all. They supposedly take about
100 hours to break in so I resigned myself to getting through that period
before making any real judgement.
I then changed discs
to Patricia Barber’s, Café Blue and chose the “Mourning Grace” track. Not only
were the vocals outstanding but I could hear more detail in the drum head
attacks and cymbal work. They sound very articulate and truly disappear in the
room. These are both good quality recordings so I decided to give one of my
prog. rock discs a try. I loaded up Genesis, Nursery Cryme and was not as
impressed with the vocals in that presentation. Okay, so now I have a hunch about
their limitations. It’s not that the disc sounded bad, it’s just that it didn’t
have the presence I came to expect from my box speaker. Perhaps I just need to
think “outside the box” a bit more. So right out of the packaging they are very
articulate on good recordings and present a beautiful sound stage in my room
(much better than my box speakers in the same position.) It’s time to break
them in a while and then re-visit their performance……
Okay so I think I’m still just a bit shy of 100 hours but decided
to sit down and do some serious listening since my wife and daughter were out
of the house. I started with a track that I feel is quite revealing, Icicle from the Tori Amos, Under the Pink CD. Alright, wait a
minute, I just realized that I should give some information about my system so
you have some idea what is involved here. Everything I listened to is Redbook
CD through a CEC TL-1 transport into a Holo Audio Spring level III DAC then
through a Plinius Tautoro pre and Plinius SB301MKII amp. Okay, back to the music.
I chose this track because of the vocals and piano. Each of which floated in
the air between the speakers. I could visualize Tori sitting and playing in front of me. The percussive attack
of the hammers on the strings was clearly audible as was the engagement of the
foot pedals which was quite a surprise. I had never heard this much detail
before. There are portions of this song where Tori really bangs on the keys and
the Spatials handled the dynamics with a yawn. I decided to stick with female vocals for now
and loaded up Patti Smith Group, Wave.
If you have ever heard the title track it is really engaging with most of it as
spoken word. It can be very emotional for some people and that’s just how I
heard it. Recognized as the “Poet Laureate” of Punk and with the album produced
and engineered by Todd Rundgren, the dynamics of this piece were just outstanding.
Interestingly when I switched to the radio hit Frederick, I was very disappointed. The dynamics were gone. It
sounded like this track had been compressed for radio and MP3 listeners. The
Spatials were revealing the quality of the recording very accurately.
Looking to try one more female vocal track I pulled out Motherland from Natalie Merchant, she
has been a long time favorite of mine. On the title track I hit play on the CEC
with the volume turned up on the pre, when the first downbeat note was struck,
I about fell out of my chair! The dynamics that were lacking on Frederick were back……in spades! This is
a well recorded CD and the sound was very engaging once again. I then decided to
try the one CD that I feel really shows off my system with its “movie track”
opening and played the first “chapter” of Andreas Vollenweiders’ Book of Roses. The opening jumped back
and forth between the speakers as the little creatures scurried about on the
open and then bloomed into the full orchestral sound that filled my listening
space as the crow flew overhead until the sudden closing thud bass note
slammed the door. Now this was dynamic! (hmmm, that word keeps creeping into my
descriptions) The strings following were very articulate and hung in mid air.
This was certainly demonstrating what the Spatials could do. Since I was now in
more of a jazz mode I decided that I needed to hear some saxophone. I loaded up
my MFSL version of Traffic, Low Spark of
High Heeled Boys and listened to the title track. The subtleness of the sax
was perhaps more apparent yet more distinct than I have heard in the past. Actually the instruments
were all very distinct and I could identify each of them individually. Since
that was so enjoyable I decided to try another MFSL mastered offering, Robin
Trowers, Bridge of Sighs. I listened
to the entire CD all the way through because it was probably the best
reproduction of that CD I have ever heard.
To wrap up, I can tell you that the Spatial Audio M3 Turbo S’s
are very…..you guessed it, dynamic! They reveal exactly what is on a recording
whether good or bad. I have not heard such detail in the past and true to
their name they are certainly “holographic”. While I had some initial concerns
about bass response, I found the bass to be very tight and well defined. This
is not a thump your chest or resonant
kind of bass that you get from a typical box speaker but a solid well defined
bass that will certainly never be “boomy”. I can see where some people may feel
like they want to add a sub to supplement the lowest frequencies but I don’t
see one in my future. These speakers will play louder than you can listen. I
recorded a few momentary jumps to 106db and they handled it without batting an
eye. You can tell that they can really handle power. My amp is rated at 470 watts
per channel into 4 ohms and they easily responded without sounding like they
were being over driven. Dynamic, revealing, musical, powerful and a great
sound stage best describe the Spatials. They certainly in my opinion
outperform their price point. I look forward to many years of enjoyable
listening.
