[glynnw]

I felt the Spatial Audio M1's and one of the Emerald Physics models were the best affordable speakers I heard at RMAF - the Spatial Audio being the clear winner on looks.  But their 4 ohm load is off-putting with some small tube amps. 

[mick wolfe]

What do you guys think about some custom made stands to raise the speakers height somewhat? 

Tyson, I get to RMAF ever I'd like to buy you a drink and shoot the breeze.

Jim. The bass is deeper and stronger with the woofer located close to the floor. At least that's what I've always heard in regard to open baffle designs. I'm getting decent image height with the even shorter M2. Vocals float roughly 1.5' above the top plane of the baffle......which is as good or better than you'd get with a small monitor on a 24" stand. Remember with the tilt back angle, the tweeter fires a bit above your ear at the listening position.

[Tomy2Tone]

These Spatial speakers really interest me too.

[mick wolfe]

I felt the Spatial Audio M1's and one of the Emerald Physics models were the best affordable speakers I heard at RMAF - the Spatial Audio being the clear winner on looks.  But their 4 ohm load is off-putting with some small tube amps.

I've driven the M2's with a Latino ST 70 or Line Magnetic 218IA for hours with no issues. Believe me, it was one of my concerns as well. Probably no worse than driving a 4 ohm Maggie. I know the M2 has been demoed with Audion 300B amps in the past and Audion 300B amps are sold on the Spatial site.

[jimdgoulding]

Jim. The bass is deeper and stronger with the woofer located close to the floor. At least that's what I've always heard in regard to open baffle designs. I'm getting decent image height with the even shorter M2. Vocals float roughly 1.5' above the top plane of the baffle......which is as good or better than you'd get with a small monitor on a 24" stand. Remember with the tilt back angle, the tweeter fires a bit above your ear at the listening position.

Thanks, Mick. 

[Tyson]

What do you guys think about some custom made stands to raise the speakers height somewhat? 

Tyson, I get to RMAF ever I'd like to buy you a drink and shoot the breeze.

Might take you up on that

[Ultralight]

Curious.  These are large 12" and 15" drivers and thus, I am assuming, much more directive than smaller open baffle drivers that has wider dispersion?

Thus also a narrower sweet spot?   Curious.

UL

[JohnR]

Curious.  These are large 12" and 15" drivers and thus, I am assuming, much more directive than smaller open baffle drivers that has wider dispersion?

The top driver is a coax, there's a compression driver operating above the crossover frequency of 800 Hz (according to the webpage).

[mamba315]

Curious.  These are large 12" and 15" drivers and thus, I am assuming, much more directive than smaller open baffle drivers that has wider dispersion?

Thus also a narrower sweet spot?   Curious.

UL

My experience with the Geddes NA12's (12" woofer there) suggests otherwise.  With proper (tighter) directivity, you can run extreme toe-in (45 degree angles) and gain a listening row (or two).  They sounded very similar across a large area, and this has been reported time and again by others.  But you need a very tight and smooth directivity for this trick, and that's hard to find.

Would be nice to see Geddes-style data for the Hologram M1 and M2.  The open baffle design is a potential advantage for the Holograms (especially when it comes to accurate bass), but matching the smoothness of the Geddes directivity pattern would be a real feat.  But then again, how does the Geddes model even apply on a dipole?  Geddes is a monopole design, while Hologram design is monopole above 800hz and dipole below.

The top driver is a coax, there's a compression driver operating above the crossover frequency of 800 Hz (according to the webpage).

Always wondered if the bottom woofer also crossed at 800hz like the top.  2 way or 2.5?  Seems like imaging might improve with a 2.5 way, but I've no expertise here so it's all a WAG.

[wendelltate]

Hi all.  I have been hesitant to jump into this thread for a couple of reasons.  One, the M1s are not mine, and two, they have been breaking in.   

I think that I am ready to give my humble impressions of these.  A friend of mine purchased the M1s a few weeks ago.  We work together and he brought them into a spare office which is about 12x12 or so to break them in.   The source equipment has been a Topping 50w amp, Sony cd player for transport, separate D/A converter.  The speakers have been through well over 100 hours of white noise alone over weekends and nights as well as hours of listening.

From the beginning they sounded great.  The soundstage was fairly wide and deep. The amount of space, transparency, and air was amazing!!  But the thing that really caught me was the bass.  These speakers have it.  It is fast, powerful, and well defined.  I initially had the impression that the soundstage was a bit low as mentioned in this thread.

I think that we listened for a couple of days and then the speakers ran all weekend with a break-in/white noise cd.  A guy at work had this cd and said that he had heard great things about it breaking in new speakers.

Once we started to hit the 100 hour of so mark these speakers really opened up.  The soundstage rose a few feet and expanded in width and depth as well.  These speakers really do disappear and leave you with the music. 

I have listened to everything you could imagine; Sade (electric bass is incredible), Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, Nora Jones, classical, Steve Martin's album with Edie Brickell, Steely Dan, and much more.  I have heard new and wonderful music in even the most familar recordings.

I hate to say that I have not listened to any music on my home system since I have listened to these.  I am sure that I will do that soon.  I just don't want to be disappointed. 

Again, I have been waiting to get a really good impression of these speakers before posting anything. I used to work in a hi-end store where we carried Vandersteen, Alon, Paradigm, and the odd other speaker.  I have never heard anything at any price that compares with these M1s.

[bladesmith]

Open baffle speakers are the least fatiguing speakers I have ever heard, ever.

Just simply sublime. 

[boisty]

Any other reports on these speakers?  I've ordered a pair of M2 Turbo and am really interested in what kind of amplifiers people are using.  Thanks!

Boisty

[erniek]

What are some of the impressions of the Holograms in comparison to the Emerald Physics equivalent. I heard the Holograms at 2014 Axpona and the Emerald Physics CS2.3 at this years show. I really liked the EP speakers at the show and am now seriously pursuing Open Back speakers as my next replacements.

[lolligagger]

Hi all.  I have been hesitant to jump into this thread for a couple of reasons.  One, the M1s are not mine, and two, they have been breaking in.   

I think that I am ready to give my humble impressions of these.  A friend of mine purchased the M1s a few weeks ago.  We work together and he brought them into a spare office which is about 12x12 or so to break them in.   The source equipment has been a Topping 50w amp, Sony cd player for transport, separate D/A converter.  The speakers have been through well over 100 hours of white noise alone over weekends and nights as well as hours of listening.

From the beginning they sounded great.  The soundstage was fairly wide and deep. The amount of space, transparency, and air was amazing!!  But the thing that really caught me was the bass.  These speakers have it.  It is fast, powerful, and well defined.  I initially had the impression that the soundstage was a bit low as mentioned in this thread.

I think that we listened for a couple of days and then the speakers ran all weekend with a break-in/white noise cd.  A guy at work had this cd and said that he had heard great things about it breaking in new speakers.

Once we started to hit the 100 hour of so mark these speakers really opened up.  The soundstage rose a few feet and expanded in width and depth as well.  These speakers really do disappear and leave you with the music. 

I have listened to everything you could imagine; Sade (electric bass is incredible), Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, Nora Jones, classical, Steve Martin's album with Edie Brickell, Steely Dan, and much more.  I have heard new and wonderful music in even the most familar recordings.

I hate to say that I have not listened to any music on my home system since I have listened to these.  I am sure that I will do that soon.  I just don't want to be disappointed. 

Again, I have been waiting to get a really good impression of these speakers before posting anything. I used to work in a hi-end store where we carried Vandersteen, Alon, Paradigm, and the odd other speaker.  I have never heard anything at any price that compares with these M1s.

I agree totally with Wendelltate's assessment of the Holograms. I own the M2's, not the M1's. I have had them for a little over a year now. And, as Wendell says after sufficient break-in they really did open up. And as has been already suggested they are not fatiguing. I can listen for hours without experiencing any fatigue. Plus, as has also been stated they are very open sounding.
Imaging is superb. Prior to these I was running Anthony Gallo 3.5s which are known for their wide sound stage and eerie holographic imaging. The M2s are as good as the Gallos with respect to their wide deep sound stage and even better than the Gallos with respect to their holographic imaging.
The Gallos are also known for their very wide sweet spot... which to me is important. When considering the M2s I was concerned that I might lose this aspect. My concerns proved to be totally unfounded... the sweet spot is every bit as wide as that of the Gallos.
With respect to image height: The Spatial M2s image higher than the Gallo 3.5s which imaged higher than the the Gallo 3.1s which I had prior to the 3.5s. To my ear the image height of the M2s is correct and I don't think that I would want it any higher as it might seem surreal.
Here is an interesting (and appreciate by me) performance parameter: The Gallos sounded great when I was seated, but when I stood up the height of the soundstage collapsed and the music seemed to be lower than me and highs fell off considerably. This is not the case with the M2s. Stand up and the image moves up with you. For those of you who have M1s or M2s, if you haven't already noticed this, sit down and listen. Then in the middle of a track close your eyes and stand up. See if you don't experience the same thing that I do. 
Another great aspect of the Gallos is their disappearing act.. they really seem not to exist at all. Again, I was concerned that I might lose this with the M2s and again my concerns were unfounded. Of course a lot depends on the recording, but the M2s usually give me a wide deep soundstage with instruments imaging from beyond all the walls... sometimes from way beyond (especially widthwise)... and nothing seems to be coming directly from the speakers.
But where the M2s really shine is in their timbral  accuracy and bass reproduction. Bass is tight and controlled and very musical. Even with recordings that inherently have somewhat fat bloated bass, I can now follow the musical line with relative ease. In recordings where the bass is accurately recorded it is a thing of beauty... especially with acoustic bass due to the very accurate timbres reproduced by these speakers.
Timbres of acoustic instruments are super accurate across the board. All instruments truly sound like themselves and due to the speed of these speakers transients are spot on.
The Gallo 3.5s are very good speakers... the Spatial Audio Hologram M2s are better.
And here is the most interesting thing: In order to get the best out of the Gallos I had them room corrected. I have the Spatial HD room correction and Clayton did the correction for me. Wow! What a difference!
The M2s, however, have not been corrected and uncorrected they sound better than the corrected Gallos do. Not too long ago Clayton was going to do the correction on the M2s for me. I set up the mic and he ran the signal and did the measurement. As it turns out these M2s do not need any correction... which I had already suspected just from listening to them.
These speakers, at least in my listening room, are extremely room friendly. Any differences that may result from placement are so slight that they are hard to detect.

Here are my electronics: MacMini with Pure Music 2.0.4/Audirvana +/GeekPerfect (I have all three) > Auralic Vega > Crayon CFA 1.2 integrated.

I think these are great speakers.

Here is a tip which some of you may find useful:
I have my speakers sitting on Diversitech AntiVibration Pads. I drove the front spikes right into them (very easy to do) and I have one under the rear support pole. I can adjust the tilt of the speaker by simply moving the rear pad forward or backward along the pole. I feel that these pads have rendered the presentation of the speakers even smoother and at the same time more precise.
These pads are not made for audio use and hence they are not expensive. I got 48 of them for $22. I have them sitting under everything.

Here is a link to a review of them:

http://thesoundapprentice.blogspot.it/2013/10/cheap-tweaks-diversitech-eva-anti.html

[poseidonsvoice]

A nice interview with Clayton Shaw by New Record Day:

http://youtu.be/d03t7kIbjIQ

Best,
Anand.

[Manolo]

Nt

[Poultrygeist]

With two 15" Eminence Alphas and a piggy back compression driver they could sell for much less and still be profitable.

[Quiet Earth]

I spent some time in that room at the Newport show. It was one of the best sounding rooms at the show, and certainly the most inspiring room at the show considering the price for all of the gear used to get that sound.

With two 15" Eminence Alphas and a piggy back compression driver they could sell for much less and still be profitable.

Those are not off the shelf drivers. They are custom made for spatial by a company that also makes off the shelf drivers. Watch the video. (Just listen to it.) At 1500 dollars for the M3 I don't think there is a better speaker out there, period. If you can build a better sounding (and better looking) pair for the same or less, then you are a genius. Don't forget to factor in the cost for your labor. Surely your time is worth 20 or 30 dollars an hour?

[steve f]

Wasn't Spatial at AXPONA? They look familiar. I remember Red Dragon amps in one room.

[WGH]

These Spatial speakers really interest me too.

There is a pair of M1's for sale in Tucson right now! Free shipping too.
I know the seller, been to his house a few times to listen to these Spatial's. 
He's a good guy too.

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=136388.msg1450197#msg1450197

Wayne