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Spatial Audio open baffle speakers, who has them? Worthwhile change from Maggies?

Of late have been eying the Spatial Audio line of open baffle speakers and like what I have seen and read so far.
Now I am extremely happy with my baby Maggies which have easily bested any and all box speakers in my room ( that I can afford anyways!).
So looking for opinions and views from actual owners of said open baffle speakers, what did you change from and what are the real strengths of the Spatials?
Not short of horsepower to feed them even though they do not need much juice by all accounts but you know the old saying, " too much is never enough!"
Thanks in advance.
128x128uberwaltz
rolanda's avatar
rolanda
10 posts
 
For this sort of money, and enough space for planars, you owe it to yourself to checkout the Sanders Sound hybrids - electrostatic midrange and treble, transmission line bass, bi-amped with the bass amp included.  The electronic cross-over includes room equalization.  They sound like the original Quad ELS speakers only with real bass and very high power handling.  Much cleaner than Maggie’s or Walsh or anything else.  He sells direct with a money back guarantee, and with a lifetime warranty that he actually honors.
aniwolfe
761 posts
 
@rolanda

Those speakers are $17,000...that's a huge difference from the price of the Spatial TM's. ($2000 demo model)
scothurwitz
113 posts
 
uberwaltz

I have a few questions for you. Which Maggies do you have now, what is you budget, how big is your room and what amp to you have? Those are all important questions.

I had a pair of 3.7i's for 3 years and I thought they were a very special speaker, but, like all audiophiles, we get the urge to get something better/different and I sold them and bought a pair of Audio Physic Classic 30's that I got a great deal on that I couldn't pass up. My friend was the rep for Audio Physic had a demo pair that he was willing to sell me at half of retail with full warranty so I bought them. They were a very nice speaker and they did some things better than the Maggies but I just started to realize that the Maggies are something special. That true ribbon tweeter is one of the best tweeters I have ever heard and Magnepan has finally figured out how to blend that tweeter with that incredible midrange panel so you can't tell were the midrange stops and the tweeter starts and the bass blends beautifully as well. Sure, you need a bigger room and a really good high current amp to fully realize what they are capable of but when all that is in place, they are a huge bargain. 

There is a speaker that a lot of audiophiles seem to overlook (not sure why) that just sound amazing. I would strongly suggest that you look into them. The name is Eminent Technology and the model # is LFT8B. If you are lucky enough to have a dealer in your area (there are very few dealers) who has a pair set up properly that you can go listen to you won't believe what you're hearing. They retail for $2500.00 pair. I have them and I honestly prefer them over the Maggie 3.7i's, they are that good. Don't let the price fool you. The fact that they sell for $2500.00 a pair is nothing short of a miracle.  


uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz OP
13,381 posts
 
Scot
I already decided on the M3 Triode but the LFT were a close second and have many champions here as well.
Maybe I made the wrong choice but we will soon see.

And if it comes down to it ET factory is only about a 2 hour drive away.......
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,868 posts
 

@scothurwitz, the LFT-8b is overlooked for a couple of reasons.

1- Eminent Technology has very few dealers (compared to Magnepan). 2- ET doesn’t advertise, not playing the ads-for-reviews game. In spite of that, the speaker has received a number of rave reviews (Robert Greene in TAS, a couple in UK mags).

A big fan of the LFT-8b is VPI’s Harry Weisfeld, who proclaimed it to have the best midrange he has ever heard, in any loudspeaker, at any price. I assume he has heard the original Quad ;-) .

But like other products in hi-fi, some are trendy, some aren’t. Maggies are, ET’s aren’t. I compared the LFT-8b to the MG1.7i, and the difference was dramatic (I haven’t heard the 3.7i, but own Tympani T-IVa’s). I can only assume 1.7i owners have never heard the LFT-8b.

The LFT-8 has a much friendlier impedance curve than do Maggies, the magnetic-planar panels being 11 ohms (nice for tube amp lovers), the complete speaker 8. Like Maggies, insensitive/inefficient, but Maggies soak up far more power.

I don’t want sound negative towards Magnepan (VERY high value loudspeakers imo), but the ET LFT magnetic-planar driver is a far better designed and built driver than Magnepan’s single-ended m-p drivers. Push/pull (magnets on both sides of the Mylar), vapor-deposited low mass foil conductors (in comparison to the wire conductors glued onto Maggies’ Mylar), and stiff metal frames keeping the magnets in place (Maggies have no such frames).

The LFT-8b isn’t pretty, but the music it makes sure is. So is the price!

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