As I mentioned before, the 20 watts of a Decware Torii were not enough to drive X3s to a satisfying level.
Spatial X5 speakers
Just got mine, with upgraded crossovers, a couple of weeks ago. I now have about 250 hours on them - mostly driven by the Voyager Gan 350 wpc class D amp and most recently by Don Sachs 65 wpc tube amp. Speaker Cables are Griver Huffman Pharoah's and the preamp is Don Sachs tube preamp. They are easy to set up as they come fully assembled. Right out of the box they sound promising but the bass is cardboard like and the tweeter can sound harsh. Nevertheless, after about 175 hours, these babies developed a pleasing midrange liquidity and nice open baffle bass. They throw an expansive soundscape that extends beyond the width of the toed in speakers that is also deep front to back. I mean, these speakers truly disappear as in my listening spot nothing localizes to the speaker itself. Both amps drive these speakers nicely. The Sachs amp defitely sounds better using the 8 not 4 ohm speaker posts. I am now getting air with very nice detail and tonal colors.
These speakers are just awesome. They are worth every penny I paid for them. Clayton warned me about the prolonged break in time and he was dead on the money. I just love the OB box less sound. These speakers are awesome.
I hope this thread does not degenerate into a toxic pussing contest like my Voyager Gan amplifier thread.
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I'm interested in above question as well. I found some info here https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=150900.0
The Spatial M3's I heard the other night were powered by diy modded Prima Luna Dialogue Four I sold to present owner, he was running in triode mode, around 25wpc. No issues whatsoever with dynamics, bass control, smaller room. Perhaps I could convince him to bring speakers over to my house someday, could try with my 300B or 845 SET's. Not sure about impedance curve with Spatials in general, this could be issue. |
Good to know. A colleague of mine did not have much luck with his DW Tori II either. He resold it for other SET amps with half the power, and much more satisfied now. Not sure what's up with that amp or driving it with the right preamp. Definitely worth re-trying with other amps, with some hefty transformer iron behind it. Finding a good synergy with some amps and speakers can be a challenge. :) |
@jaymark An excellent, excellent choice. I heard a debut of the X series at Axpona a few years back and was blown away. I wish I had the proper amount of space for them but I can't go more than a foot from the wall, just no room. But those X5 (tho it might have been X3 playing I know both were on the floor that day) was very close to Best in Show for me, and probably would have won Best Value from me. |
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