I've been seeing a lot of the same questions or concerns on the new Spatial speakers and I've thought I chime in on why that might be perceived at 1st based on my experience with many different speakers over the years and styles of speakers from a box, panels to electrostatic and Unidirectional speakers. Efficiency from 84Db to 94Db. What is a constant is the more efficient a speaker is the more open and dynamic that speakers will sound and it will be perceived as bright at 1st because the lower efficiency speakers will always sound a little more laid back and relaxed, as are Maggie's and Electrostatics, the more dynamics a speaker can put out the more open and upfront and present they will sound. I loved my Quads and Maggie's once set up right and the room acoustics took care of. Dynaudio Confidence 5's were in the mid-'80s only at best in efficiency with a big amp they could come to life, smaller amps more of a pleasant laid back sound, with highs sounding rolled off. Put a high current amp on them it became night and day speakers, with highs open, clean, and present with bass that could really impact the recording. They sounded more aggressive than when they were on the smaller amp if you A/B them, but that would be misleading because after you adjust to having the dynamics and openness, you started to hear recording sound more real, microdynamics where the soft is soft but the swing to louder is really where the sound becomes more real and alive. Kiplish speakers can be 100dB TO 105dB efficiency, people hear them and our put back because they never heard such dynamics, the speed, and bite of horn, electric guitars, etc. Recordings come alive due to the increased dynamics and efficiency. You also can hear the same perception of a preamp that is is more open, fast, lower noise, PRAT, and more dynamics.
Spatial Audio speakers are very highly efficient and super dynamic and due to the design being open baffle and very open, dynamic,, and also lighting fast, this will take some adjustment coming from your past speakers, and could well seem more forward and bright if you're coming from speakers that are panels, less efficient, many Box speakers where music does not open up and breathe, and Electrostatics that have limited dynamic range and a rolled top end, even though what they do right is unreal good and natural in the best way. Quad lovers never leave Quads or they return and for good reason they are natural-sounding and due to lack of in-your-face sound and dynamics, they make music soo enjoyable. Yet I and others who have tried the Spatials are very happy with them, that says a whole lot. I treated the Spatial like my Quad speakers because they are open baffle there is some sound coming from the back of them though nowhere like an Electrostatic that has as much sound coming out the back as the front, so I already had a step up in-room treatment and experience with such a speaker.
A more very efficient, dynamic speaker, and open sounding speaker may sound bright at 1st, but it is because you hear a more live presentation, where the recordings come to life, huge swings in dynamics and open and extended highs, with a bottom end if on the recording can really make an impact, and the bottom-end really supports the highs as well as the midrange, you need a good bottom end to bring out the midrange and the highs, it is how our hearing and brain perceives and processes sound.
The other improvement due to high efficiency and low distortion is you playback music at a high SPL level and don't realize it, thus when say horns go off they are over loud and will sound bright. I've done this, and I was surprised how much I turned the volume down and the music was still real-sounding but now in balance, as Peter Walker once said "every recording as a certain loudness level where it sounds its best then after that you lose the sound quality. The designer at Legacy speakers told me once use the human voice, listen to when people speak to you, did they sound loud, sharp, overly detailed or relaxed and laid back, which is how the human voice does sound. Turn the volume up till the image comes to life and the sound is natural and in the room. The worst case of what not to do is going to audio shows and many speakers designers blasted their music at such a high volume it makes for a horrible listening experience. Louder is not better, and Spatial's put out easy SPL with very little watts, so watch your volume level for natural sound. Your room plays a huge role so treat it with care, the sound bouncing around your room, off TV's, windows, etc. you can bet the sound will be bright. Your room is important so treat it. The walls in front of each side and the wall behind you need treatment no matter the speakers. Any speaker can sound bright in a room that enhances the top end, room bounce, and reflected walls and windows.
Now can the Spatial sound be bright? sure they can like any good speaker can, my Quads could sound like crap, dull or lacking bass, or bright and super clean with no body to the music, all it took was lack of care in setup, learning how the speaker reacted to the placement and adding any style of spike under them. learning where they sounded good and then when I would start to lose it, how much toeing which also impacted the dynamics big time but once "learned" how they reacted in your room and where they sounded good and bad, they were easy to set up and play with, 1/4" toeing in our out could change their sound and balance and once you locked them in and that is when you knew you had them at their sonic best. So if a person came by to listen to them and they were not set up right their opinion of the speaker would not have been positive, this is for any speaker by the way.
My power cords changes are so easy to hear their impact good and bad. I just added one AQ Dragon ( was jaw-dropping good) on my amp and the speakers went to another level of performance with increased microdynamics, even better bass, and lower noise floor which equals more little details. I should say I use Hurricanes and Firebird power cords on the front end gear and PS Audio P-12 Regenerator that I use for my front end gear. My system is simple. Marantz SA-10 SACD/DAC, Mark Levinson 326S preamp, McIntosh MC 402 amp, AQ Firebird interconnects and speaker cables.
Now I've heard speakers set up right and they sound analytical and bright, with lots of detail, tight bottom, and just not my cup of tea, nor how real music sounds, but the guy enjoyed them and that is all that mattered. Many stores sell speakers like this nowadays, it's a trend, loud and bright I guess to impress you. I am glad to say Spatial Audio speakers are not that way, nowhere near being like that. Now if the recording sucks as I like to say then Spatial will let you hear that, and with current music being overly produced and processed with tracks being laid down outside of a studio and then played with by the producer for a sound he wants will that is the sound you get and should get. Play recordings that were not recorded this way, in a studio with all musicians present, and the Spatial take you there and do it at a cost that is CHEAP in today's ultra costing audio gear. Some 2-way speakers can cost $20,000 or more and not touch any Spatial speaker.
So yes, more open, dynamic, high efficient speakers with speed and ultra microdynamics will sound brighter and that is any speaker which has those design ideals to bring dynamics and efficiency and wide bandwidth, coming from a speaker that cannot do all that and then to a speaker like that can, and give it all to you when you play it back, as an audio store salesman once said to me, doesn't blame the messenger, that recording just sucks! The bane of us all we want all of our recordings to sound good but that never was possible be it vinyl, CD/digital, or lastly streaming will never change that. The better the speaker the more poor recording our laid bare. But the nice thing about Spatial's is they make even those recordings bearable and somewhat enjoyable in non-critical listening.
Spatial are great speakers, solid design and priced where they can be affordable to many and not just a few. Right now I plan to have my M3's Sapphires for a long time to come and at my age, it may very well be my last speaker. I've heard great speakers in different designs and Spatial are as good as any and better than some up to $30,000 in price range after that you're into real crazy money and that is out of my league, nor of any interest to me, you can keep the bragging rights on your 220 lb speakers. Spatial gives me all I need and many recordings have never sounded more enjoyable and real in-room experience. Just heard Kind of Blue by Miles after a few years of not listening to it, and it sounded better than ever, Ricky Leee Jones, POP, POP had me stopped in my tracks when the 1st track started, Elvis is Back, he and the band right in the room (RCA Living Stereo Recording), The track Fever was jaw-droppingly good, Reconsider Baby was to die for, and so on. Spatial and my system can sound so real, a word my wife says from time to time, "they sound like they are right in the room playing" and she hates bright sound by the way, to the point of "please take that off its awful". Clayton built a good line of speakers and hopefully, more music lovers become more open-minded and give open baffle speakers a try. These are really good speakers period.
