[GrsZ06]

 Not to take anything away from the M3s but, the wiring from the crossover to the drivers and  the sprung connections at the drivers seems very low end to me or a way to cut corners for price point. Has anyone upgraded the wiring and soldered the connections at the drivers and if so what did you use as a replacement?

[minatophase3]

I have the M4 Sapphires but think they are similar, below is what I posted on the M4 review thread a while ago.  Looks like prices of the bypass caps has gone up a little but still a very worthwhile upgrade

I have had my M4 Sapphires for about 1 1/2 years and love them.  I think they are one of the best values in speakers and punch much higher than their price point.  I have a friend that loves to add tweaks to everything in his hi-fi system and he convinced me to try adding some silver bypass caps to my M4 crossover.  He did this for me about 2 months ago and I was floored with how much they improved the sound!  Sound stage became wider, taller and deeper, music had better clarity, better instrument separation, bass tightened up and was better.  I had always been afraid making modifications like this and wouldn't have done it myself but it was very easy.  Hardest part was melting off the glue from caps in the crossover box to get access to the wires.  If you are looking for a relatively cheap way to get more from the M4's I would highly recommend this.  Here is a link tot he bypass caps he put on, we used 2 per speaker for a total of 4.  Probably the best $250 upgrade I have done to my system.

https://www.partsconnexion.com/JUPITER-89579.html

[Mr. Big]

Not to take anything away from the M3s but, the wiring from the crossover to the drivers and  the sprung connections at the drivers seems very low end to me or a way to cut corners for price point. Has anyone upgraded the wiring and soldered the connections at the drivers and if so what did you use as a replacement?

In the end, they sound so good, and I have owned a lot more expensive speakers. I have no issues with the connections on my Shappires M3's.

[RonN5]

Knowing Spatials relationship with Anticables, it is inconceivable that Clayton would compromise sound in order to save a few bucks with cheap wire.

Furthermore, changing the wiring, removing the grills, etc. has the potential to hurt the desirability and resale value.

I’m in the camp of “sounds fantastic as is”.

[ric]

I am not in the camp of sounds good as is, and i am in favor of tweaking anything to improve sound quality. My older M3TS had cheap crossover parts and wiring and I replaced them with Jupiter caps and Anticables on the bass and  Duelund silver for the tweeter--all improve sound quality. I'll look in to the bypass caps, too.
I would think that capacitor replacement would give more sound improvement, but when you get in to sensitive speakers and equipment, everything matters.
Good luck!

[Bingenito]

Everyone believes what they want to believe but in the end when your gear provides max resolution…. Everything matters.

[Mr. Big]

Anything you do with a system will change the sound. Try 4 firm tables under a piece of gear you will gear different presentations. In the end, changes are only good if you like what you hear, but in my experience, those who design products know a heck of a lot more than I do. From being in electronics I know if you put a dale metal film in where carbons were in that particular design, knowing metal films do pass highs much better but by doing so all you wind up with the sound skewed to the upper end, and sound is bright as hell and out of balance because that circuit design was built around what carbon films did so it was already compensated for in the design circuit to achieve proper sonics and balance of highs to the rest of the range. Now if a designer uses such parts (metal films or whatever) in their design it will sound fine because they have also compensated for in their use in their circuit design.

[sockpit]

My Sapphire M5s from 2019? have Dueland wire in them. When I was shopping cables for them early on Clayton directed me to Dueland wire or Anticables. I tried both and kept the latter. I’d relax and enjoy the music. I don’t think Clayton cuts corners where it matters.

[minatophase3]

Knowing Spatials relationship with Anticables, it is inconceivable that Clayton would compromise sound in order to save a few bucks with cheap wire.

Furthermore, changing the wiring, removing the grills, etc. has the potential to hurt the desirability and resale value.

I’m in the camp of “sounds fantastic as is”.

I agree they do sound fantastic as is.  Clayton uses good quality parts, but he also has to hit a price point. I believe most products while they may sound great could benefit from better parts/wiring, but that if the manufacturer added would price them much higher.  I was extremely pleased with my M4 Sapphires in stock form, am even more pleased with the bypass caps added to the crossover.  Would probably like them even more replacing the existing wiring with silver wire but that would detract from the looks so I probably won't do it.

[DaveWin88]

I agree they do sound fantastic as is.  Clayton uses good quality parts, but he also has to hit a price point. I believe most products while they may sound great could benefit from better parts/wiring, but that if the manufacturer added would price them much higher.  I was extremely pleased with my M4 Sapphires in stock form, am even more pleased with the bypass caps added to the crossover.  Would probably like them even more replacing the existing wiring with silver wire but that would detract from the looks so I probably won't do it.

minatophase3 where did you get the information (what parts to use) on your M4's. I actually reached out to Danny Richie and he said he would look at the crossover (M6) if I sent him a speaker. Just haven't pulled the trigger yet?

[minatophase3]

minatophase3 where did you get the information (what parts to use) on your M4's. I actually reached out to Danny Richie and he said he would look at the crossover (M6) if I sent him a speaker. Just haven't pulled the trigger yet?

My friend that helped me told me what to get.  I am not the type to do modifications but he loves to do them.  I basically purchased the bypass caps and he did the rest.  If it were up to me I never would have done it as I have no experience with this sort of thing.  It was pretty easy to install, just had to use a heat gun to melt some of the hot glue covering the capacitors and then twist the bypass caps onto the existing caps.  We left them without solder them for several weeks to make sure I liked the sound, but it was clear from the moment I heard them the bypass caps were staying.  Wish I had taken some pictures of the process but unfortunately I didn't.

[mrotino332]

I have the X5s which I purchased three years ago and came with the Clarity Cap caps on the tweeter.  Later Clayton upgraded the caps to Ven Haus Odams.  When I spoke with him recently he did say the sound did improve even further using the Odam caps.  Of course when he upgraded the caps on that speaker a few years ago the cost of the speakers went up as I had purchased them at their initial price three years ago before the prices increased.  No matter how great I believe the X5s sound as is I think as audiophiles we are always searching for even better sound if possible especially if it is at a reasonable cost, it's the curse of being an audiophile.  The cost of two Odam caps is not much and I haven't tried it yet but probably will in the near future.  Clayton did say they take a very long time to burn in so I if I did do that upgrade I would probably need to burn them in on a different speaker running continuously for a week or so. 

I would think if you spoke with Clayton he may say that upgrading the M3s caps to Odams would improve the sound but it's hard to say without speaking with him about it.

Anyway it would be very easy to go back to the stock capacitor if for some reason one preferred it.

[Audiosaurusrex]

Interesting Thread. I have the original version of the M3 Sapphires purchased in 2019. No outboard crossover. Are the caps even accessible or sandwiched between the baffles? Not sure I wanna go there