What amp to match with Spatial Audio M3 Sapphire open back speakers

Honestly. Until you get the speakers in your own room should you even start to consider what the best amp might be? Not a living soul could tell you that. The M3 Sapphires are very efficient so really you need 50-60 watts, even less with tubes in the transformers are well made. I use a 400 watt, McIntosh, on mine set. The speakers are very open and unboxed like in every way. Fast as stats and very clean bass, no one note booming bass. Stand up bass sounds light and fast just like the real thing does, unlike a box speakers certain bass notes don't all of a sudden become loud or boomy. Every enjoyable, once you learn the speaker and take the time to set them upright, one of the easiest as far as balance left to right, like a box speakers pulling them out from the front wall, is a good thing, no different, 36" works fine, even several inch's less may be depending on your room. Toes in starts crossing you in front of them toe them back 1/2 inch at a time till you lock the image in and balance top to bottom. 

Hello Phillyb,
You are absolutely right!
As evidenced by the very large selection of amplifiers recommended by fellow goners, these speakers will apparently thrive with a variety of quite different amps.
Clearly, as you rightly point out, the best strategy will be to wait until I have them at home and then try as many amps as reasonably possible in my specific circumstances, as well as perhaps listening to existing setups if I can find any around me, and... COVID-19 permitting...
In any case,  I have yet to secure the speakers as the owner now hesitates to sell them, but am nevertheless pursuing my education and really do appreciate your input and advice. THANK YOU!

Dear All,
Unfortunately, my intended the acquisition of Spatial Audio M3 Sapphires fell through as the seller ended up accepting a higher offer for his speakers.
So I'm back to the drawing board and somewhat disappointed as I was really excited at the prospect of owning a pair these dream speakers.
I'll be starting the quest from scratch but wanted to thank all of you for your very useful input and advice. If anything, I have learned more about this wonderful hobby of ours.

Best regards to all and happy listening! jlr261

Thanks very much for your suggestions, even if the high and low order harmonics part kinda went over my head...

One of the differences you hear in all amplifiers is how they make distortion. Solid state tends to sound bright and harsh relative to tubes because the harmonic distortion they make is mostly higher ordered harmonics. The ear converts all distortion into a tonality- hence the brightness of solid state.

Tubes tend to make a lot more distortion but it tends to be lower ordered harmonics- the 2nd, 3rd and 4th. The ear is less sensitive to these (the higher orders are used to sense sound pressure, so the ear is keenly sensitive to them, please note that the brightness of solid state is caused by a very small amount of distortion) but the ear does treat the lower orders as a sort of 'warmth' or 'bloom'; these being the most common audiophile terms to describe lower ordered harmonics.


Some solid state people object to this coloration (thinking its caused by frequency response error, which it is not) and the most 'colored' in this regard are SETs. Much of this coloration can be removed if the tube amp is simply wired fully balanced from input to output; this causes the even ordered harmonics to be cancelled. This is desirable if getting closer to the music is your goal. SETs can be really neutral too, but to take advantage of them in this regard you need a very efficient speaker, typically over 100dB.

Dear atmasphere,
Thank you very much for the clear and detailed explanation of the different harmonic distortion types.

I have definitely learned quite a bit today and shall integrate this information as I go about trying out and selecting components for my new setup.