[jjss49]

hello all - i am a new member, this is one of my early posts here - though i have been a music lover and audiophile since the 80's!

i have met don sachs recently discussing his lovely line stages, and he turned me on to spatial, as he is loving his x5's

i spoke clayton briefly earlier today and he was kind to have a good discussion with me to help me understand the new m3 and m5 sapphires in the rationalized product lineup, and i am inclined to order one of them to try

my thinking, after being very familiar with my boxed and electrostat speakers (harbeths and quads) driven my various tube and ss amps, is that i would like to experience what these very cool ob speakers can do in my room, my system

i had dabbled with high efficiency horn loaded speakers in the past (but did not like the horn colorations), thus still have several nice low powered SE tube units such as a pair of Wavelength Cardinals and a Cary 300B SEi... thinking that given the almost crossover-less design of the new spatials i would try to run those with these super pure, low power amps

i have now read the 21 pages of posts on the m3/5 sapphires thread here, but i guess because they are so new, there is hardly any user feedback on the new m5s's... i am wondering if the m3 or 5 would fit better in my dedicated well damped 16x18x9 listening room... for mostly jazz pop and vocals music, which would be a better match for the amps and have the proper level of bass output

the m3s are rated 4 ohm impedance, dipping even lower at 100 hz, if i read correctly, whereas m5s are 8 ohms... but 2 bass drivers vs 1... which is better driven with 8-10-12 watts of single ended tube power?  will the bass be sufficient?

curious to hear input and reactions, esp. for those who may actually have m5s's in hand, past break in...

absent add'l input, my plan would be to order the 5's to try them first, with clayton's generous 60 day trial offer, if the bass is insufficient for my listening and taste, then return and move to the 3s...

[Flathead2]

Hello. I to am interested in the M3 and M5.  My room measurements are similar so I look forward to hearing people's thoughts on the matter.  Thank you.

[Audiosaurusrex]

I am an M3 owner and had similar concerns coming from my Vandersteen 2ces. I have to say I relied totally on Clayton to guide me in my purchase. He knows exactly what would work in my room and more important what the M3 would offer over my old speakers. They did need significant break in time but they are amazing for the price and I think judging by the size of your room jjss it is similar to my 16x16x8 room, the M3’s were the way to go. I did notice substantial improvements with placement and footers Isoacoustic Gaias(I have hard wood floors) and room acoustics. Definitely worth every penny for either the M3 or M5

[jjss49]

will find out for myself soon enough as i have ordered a set of m5 sapphires... if the se tube amps can't generate enough bass driving them i do have other more powerful ones... but it would be nice to hear those super lovely lower watt 300B based units by gordon rankin and dennis had make music again

in the meanwhile, hopefully current users having received their m5s's will hopefully post their experiences

[sockpit]

I hate to complicate your decision, and do not understand the fine details of your amp requirements, but I have owned the M5s for nine months in a 10 by 13.5 by 8 ft former bedroom.

I continue to tweak placement and will be acoustically treating the room to try to correct what I perceive as a brightness on the high end, there from the beginning. Clayton is aware of it, and I ran the bass trap plan by him.  The counterintuitive principle is that treating the bass in small rooms actually enhances it and puts the speaker into better balance across the frequency spectrum.  Am basically happy with the purchase, but still working on things.

My own inclination with a room your size would be to pop for the extra woofer in the M3s, unless Clayton has given you a very good reason not to.  Just my two cents, but you asked 😉. Worth a second thought and perhaps a second conversion with him to save lots of shipping cost and inconvenience.

[jjss49]

thanks sockpit

i will do that

[geerock]

I'm inclined to agree with sockpit on this.  Your room is pretty good size and I know that the 3's are some extra cash layout but heres what usually happens.....
First, if you buy the 5's, you are always gonna wonder if you should have bought the 3's.
Second, the cost to send them back and then pay a second shipping charge is a pretty good outlay.
1500 bucks is a decent amount of cash for the
M3's, but it is long time investment in your system and something you are going to enjoy for years to come.  I, too, have been a fan of ob speakers for many years and I got my X5's earlier this year.  Just this last week I swapped out a couple older sets of speakers into the system as I also added some new electronics in since I installed the X5's.  I tried out a set of Martin Logan 11a's and also a pair of Maggie 3.7i's and it was obvious that there were deficiencies in both of those speakers that were solved by the X5's.  Now I know I can box them up and get them sold and know that I made a right decision with the X5's.  BTW.... Spatials love tube power.  I'm driving mine with a tube DAC, Don Sachs all in pre, and an LTA Amp.  Great sounding system.

[jjss49]

spoke again to clayton. ... going with m3's...