I bought the X3! Now what?

Desertpilot · « **on:** 23 Apr 2021, 01:19 am »

Went to the X3 owners thread for answers.

Marcus

TomS · « **Reply #1 on:** 23 Apr 2021, 01:33 am »

IsoAcoustics Gaia II feet
Room treatments as needed

Desertpilot · « **Reply #2 on:** 23 Apr 2021, 03:20 am »

Hi Tom. Exactly what I was thinking. I have room treatments but the IsoAcoustics Gaia Series II Isolation Feet is my first upgrade.

ric · « **Reply #3 on:** 23 Apr 2021, 01:25 pm »

Yes, when I decided to keep my (older model) M3s, I upgrade to Gaia's, but then tried more IsoAcoustic products and now use them under pretty much everything (amp, TT, Dac, power supply,crossovers). You may want to upgrade your amp, etc., as each time you will find improvements as your pocketbook permits. Then there are cable upgrades, fuses (synergistic orange) and duplex outlet(s), Bybee products, etc!

Audiophile58 · « **Reply #4 on:** 4 May 2021, 03:55 pm »

How about power ? I heard the x5 with the excellent Coda integrated Wow it was fantastic.
With Top Holo springs May dac
http://v2.stereotimes.com/post/coda-csib-integrated-by-richard-willie/

mrotino332 · « **Reply #5 on:** 5 May 2021, 01:56 pm »

I personally don't feel you need anywhere that amount of power for the X5s as the bass is already self powered. The speaker is 97 db efficient and you are not powering the lower woofer thus in my opinion a very high quality amp of at least 10-15 watts would be sufficient. I'm powering my X5s with a 30 watt pure class A integrated in a 25 x 11 x 7 foot room and i have plenty of reserve power. I also tried a high powered separate amplifier at 200 watts/channel and much prefer the sound with my integrated most likely since it is all class A and has some tubes in it. I think with the X5 quality of watts is much more important than quantity. The M3S would probably benefit with higher powered amps as you are driving both full range woofers.

TomS · « **Reply #6 on:** 5 May 2021, 02:49 pm »

Quote from: mrotino332 on 5 May 2021, 01:56 pm

I personally don't feel you need anywhere that amount of power for the X5s as the bass is already self powered. The speaker is 97 db efficient and you are not powering the lower woofer thus in my opinion a very high quality amp of at least 10-15 watts would be sufficient. I'm powering my X5s with a 30 watt pure class A integrated in a 25 x 11 x 7 foot room and i have plenty of reserve power. I also tried a high powered separate amplifier at 200 watts/channel and much prefer the sound with my integrated most likely since it is all class A and has some tubes in it. I think with the X5 quality of watts is much more important than quantity. The M3S would probably benefit with higher powered amps as you are driving both full range woofers.

It is also noteworthy to consider that the X5 woofer amp receives its inputs from the primary amp's speaker outputs (high level), so the sonic character of that amp still passes through that path. The X5's probably don't need the power, but the quality of the primary amp is reflected full range on the X5.

jjss49 · « **Reply #7 on:** 5 May 2021, 04:17 pm »

to me the most compelling proposition the x3 x5 is that they allow is use of super sweet super tactile low powered tube amps, as the onboard amp does the heavy lifting in the low frequencies, ask nothing in that area of the main amp employed

mrotino332 · « **Reply #8 on:** 5 May 2021, 05:20 pm »

Tom,

Your point is true. I had used to rel storm III subs in my previous speaker setup prior to the X5s and the rels operated the same way as the X5 speaker level woofer amp did taking the high pass signal from the amplifier feeding it and amplifying it based on the bass characteristics of the system amp. The bass quality of the amp you use to drive the X5's will influence the sound of the bass from the X5. I believe if your amp has a full loose sounding bass then that would be transferred and amplified by the Ncore X5 amp as well.

Mr. Big · « **Reply #9 on:** 5 May 2021, 06:17 pm »

Front Wall Damping and Corner Bass Traps. Most of all allow for full burn-in and then enjoy. Play with Toe-In, just have fun with it, 1/4" at a time start with speaker center to your right and lift ear then slow go out 1/4", live with it for awhile hen 1/4" more, you will say that good, then another 1/4" out and see if the sound stage degrades then you know to go back in 1/4" and you are set.

rollo · « **Reply #10 on:** 5 May 2021, 08:09 pm »

How about you fully break them. Then try room treatments and tweaks as you just may go sideways until then. My opinion.

charles

doggie · « **Reply #11 on:** 6 May 2021, 11:49 am »

Quote from: rollo on 5 May 2021, 08:09 pm

How about you fully break them. Then try room treatments and tweaks as you just may go sideways until then. My opinion.

I think that this is very good advice.

Best to only change one thing at a time when upgrading. Break-in can be dramatic and can have ups and downs.

If you add room treatments during break-in you will not really know what is contributing to any changes that you hear. Also, as the speaker goes through its changes it may react differently with the room, especially with the bass drivers.

fridays · « **Reply #12 on:** 6 May 2021, 12:23 pm »

You may be an audiophile if as soon as you get something new you think about improving it

RonP · « **Reply #13 on:** 6 May 2021, 12:37 pm »

Quote from: doggie on 6 May 2021, 11:49 am

Best to only change one thing at a time when upgrading. Break-in can be dramatic and can have ups and downs.

this!

and then you know WHICH tweak/upgrade to "blame" when the sound changes.

Desertpilot · « **Reply #14 on:** 17 May 2021, 01:54 pm »

My X3s have been in "pre-conditioning" since last Wednesday evening. Assuming they left it going over the weekend, that's 4 days of pre-conditioning. Apparently, they run test tones or something to exercise the speakers. Once completed, they take measurements. If all goes well, they listen to a few music tracks, box them up and ship them out.

Lucky for me, since I plan to listen to my music (classical) in stereo, I discovered that all my download sites (eClassical, Chandos, native DSD, etc) let me download the stereo version of my music for free, except Native DSD, which charged me a very nominal fee. So now I have a bunch of duplicate albums (both multichannel surround and stereo). This took a bit of work to get them all organized in JRiver. I did this because I wanted the actual published stereo version rather than let JRiver do the mix down.

My room is ready. My system is as tweaked as it will get, for now. Maybe, just maybe today I will get shipping information from Clayton. UT to Las Vegas shouldn't take very long.

Marcus

doggie · « **Reply #15 on:** 18 May 2021, 03:40 pm »

Quote from: Desertpilot on 17 May 2021, 01:54 pm

My X3s have been in "pre-conditioning" since last Wednesday evening. Assuming they left it going over the weekend, that's 4 days of pre-conditioning. Apparently, they run test tones or something to exercise the speakers. Once completed, they take measurements. If all goes well, they listen to a few music tracks, box them up and ship them out.

I hope that this bodes well for me also. I ordered a pair of X5's on April 6th but there was a delay getting the Hypex bass amp modules in.

I am really looking forward to this!

Desertpilot · « **Reply #16 on:** 18 May 2021, 06:43 pm »

Unfortunately, here it is, Tuesday. No shipping information. I can't believe testing goes this long (since last Wednesday). So maybe the new amps are bad or something. Who knows? The good news is if testing showed a problem, I am happy they caught it. I might try and call Clayton later today. I am trying very hard not to be a pest. But, it would be nice to know what is delaying shipment.

Marcus

abd1 · « **Reply #17 on:** 18 May 2021, 07:23 pm »

Quote from: Desertpilot on 18 May 2021, 06:43 pm

Unfortunately, here it is, Tuesday. No shipping information. I can't believe testing goes this long (since last Wednesday). So maybe the new amps are bad or something. Who knows? The good news is if testing showed a problem, I am happy they caught it. I might try and call Clayton later today. I am trying very hard not to be a pest. But, it would be nice to know what is delaying shipment.

Marcus

My guess is you're not the only one with an order and they are busy. Not to mention companies have been dealing with labor shortages slowing things down across industries. Not saying this is happening with Spatial but I would just hang on and I'm sure they'll make it. I know its hard when excited about new speakers. A couple years ago I waited 6 months for Salks and I must've hit the update button on his order tracker at least 3 times a day until I got them. Once I did I forgot about the wait and just enjoyed them.

jriggy · « **Reply #18 on:** 18 May 2021, 08:29 pm »

Being an audiophile taught me patience. I was always into music and audio but once I got serious and became an audiophile is when I truly began to learn patience —and this site was part of that learning. I’m sure it was a manufacture here that I was inpatient with once...

And I’ve also heard Clayton is quite busy.

All good things in all good time.

emmesstwo · « **Reply #19 on:** 18 May 2021, 08:51 pm »

I placed an order for M5 Sapphires on January 29th – they haven’t arrived yet................