What a fantastic all encompassing review Tyson! Perhaps you should charge an admission fee for the plethora of amps you can rotate amongst your speakers 
! That really gives folks an idea how the speakers deal with various designs. Glad you are enjoying it!
Happy Holidays and hope we meet again at another audio GTG.
Best,
Anand.
Thanks Anand, that means a lot, coming from you. It would be great to hook up again, it's too bad RMAF is no more....
Great review! Thanks!
Thank you.
I gave setting my speakers straight ahead a try for the past hour (both orchestra and ensemble). No sonic improvements that I could hear. But, soundstage and especially depth was way better. It sounded fuller and more robust. My room and acoustic treatments are much better set up now so maybe that explains it. Anyway, I am going it leave it this way for a few weeks. What a hobby!
Marcus
Yes, that's exactly what I hear too - greater soundstage depth.
This is one of the very best speaker reviews I have ever read. I cannot wait to hear this speaker.
Rather than ask a million questions here, I'll just ask a couple:
First, did you rule out speakers in the Devore or Audio Note lines because of the geometry challenges of your room? They seem like they'd play nicely with your amps.
Second, I'm wondering how and why you chose this particular Spatial. Not only M series vs X series (which I'd like to know) but also which among the X series speakers.
I read your post a bit quickly, so i apologize if you answered these in your review. You can just tell me to reread it and I'll try harder to notice your answers!
Well, how honest do you want me to be?
Very honest? OK, I've heard the Devore and Audio Note and they just aren't in the same class as the X3's. Box speakers are odd, because the very best performing box speakers tend to be mid-to-low efficiency. So the speaker brands I'd put at this level would be stuff like Focal (Grand Utopia), Borrensen, TIDAL, Raidho, a few others. All are absolutely great sounding but not exactly good matches for low powered tube amps. Plus, in my space I already had a pair of outstanding high efficiency box speakers (the hotrodded Forte's) and after 2 years they drove me crazy because no box speaker is going to do well in my space, no matter how efficient it is.
Re: picking the X3 vs the Sapphire series, it mainly comes down to the AMT tweeter. I've heard several other speakers that used it and I felt it was a great, great tweeter. Also, from a technology standpoint, I'm kind of bored of speakers with 1 inch dome tweeters.
Re: powered bass vs. passive - I've run both in my house and passive is fine if you've got a stout amp, but powered is better if you want to run a Type 45 amp or a 2a3 amp. And, IME a dedicated 300 watt SS amp is always going to do a better job on the bass than any tube amp ever will. In addition, the ability to dial up or down the bass based on mood and preference is very cool indeed. And last but not least, even with OB bass, the right side of my room loads bass a bit more than the left side. So being able to fix that imbalance with a simple twist of the knob on the left amp is freaking cool.
Re: the X3 vs the X5 - I've got a big space, so the X3 was an easy choice. Plus, I really like how bass produced by large drivers sounds. A 15 inch driver, in particular, usually has a more effortless punchiness to it. The tradeoff is that the X5 probably images better than the X3 as a narrower baffle almost always gives better soundstage and imaging. But that's just speculation on my part as I've not heard the X5 yet.
AWESOME review, as always, Tyson! It's quite a feat to have 2 systems that are totally world class!
As you said, given the X3's being very close to what the Oticas produce, and after hearing what I'm hearing as my Oticas burn in... HOLY CRAP! I'm sure the X3's are outstanding!!! If I wasn't able to do the DIY route, or didn't want to spend the time, there's absolutely no doubt in my head I would have saved my pennies and bought a pair of X3/X5's! What you said about the room integration is spot on... I literally spent YEARS (unsuccessfully) trying to find best placement/sub settings to eliminate room modes. Going as far as trying to "unphase" the speakers with the sub to eliminate modes at different frequencies, PEQ up the wazoo - messed with it at least once weekly... Which, I suppose was nice to learn how to really integrate a sub properly. But with OB speakers, I plopped them down, and the first spot I put them there was nothing. Just solid tuneful bass all the way down. No major spikes/dips, nothing. Spent about 3 minutes integrating the sub, and I'm not sure I even touched it since. Unreal... I'm still shaking my head over it. OB is no doubt the best for "non-dedicated" rooms... and probably dedicated as well Regardless, super happy you're enjoying them! Once you hear "no box", it's all over...
And Clayton... well done! 
Haha, I feel you man, running box speakers in a difficult room is maddening!! Even with EQ. Even with unlimited messing around with placement. Even with tons of room treatments. Grrrr. And then you drop in the OB speakers (after years of aggravation) and the bass issue is SOLVED. SMH. Yep, that's something I definitely went through too
