My review of the M3 Turbo S is finally live!

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rebbi

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My review of the M3 Turbo S is finally live!
« on: 9 Nov 2017, 03:03 am »
Read and enjoy, but sit down with a cup of your favorite beverage because it's a long one.   :lol:

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dyfromhawaii

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Re: My review of the M3 Turbo S is finally live!
« Reply #1 on: 9 Nov 2017, 04:06 am »
since you previously had an Ohm Microwalsh set @ $1400, can you provide a short paragraph comparison between it the the Spatial?

ric

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Re: My review of the M3 Turbo S is finally live!
« Reply #2 on: 9 Nov 2017, 03:32 pm »
Yes, I think I tend to agree. Long with enthusiasm is fine in my book. Also agree with the observations, I guess I should consider myself lucky that both my amp and room have not been a problem, as I love the sound and every new listening session can be an adventure with the right material.
I thought I would have had to get rid of my Shakti Hallograph knockoff's with the open baffle speaker, but I find that sometimes the on axis directionality  can sometimes be "in my face" so it is great to have these hallographs to adjust the soundstage, which tends to be (but not always) out facing (a 45degree reflection point for large scale music and toed in for smaller ensembles).
Still wondering whether it would be worth upgrading to the triode master as these will probably be my last speakers (yeah, right!)
Thanks so much!

rebbi

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Re: My review of the M3 Turbo S is finally live!
« Reply #3 on: 9 Nov 2017, 04:58 pm »
since you previously had an Ohm Microwalsh set @ $1400, can you provide a short paragraph comparison between it the the Spatial?

Golly, it's been a long time since I had those speakers in my listening room (by the way, they were followed by the 100's, which at the time were the next largest model up the line).
I think the major thing with a pseudo-omni-radiating design like the Ohm's is whether or not the way that they present the music floats your boat, so to speak. They do have a room filling quality that is quite different than any forward-radiating speaker. For a while, I found it quite wonderful. But, at the same time, they don't image anything like a forward radiating speaker. Personally, I found their imaging rather vague, and that just made me crazy after a while. Also, although, tonally, they are unfailingly pleasant and smooth to listen to, in my room, with my gear, I always found them to lack a certain clarity, as if some details were being left "on the table."
To me, the Spatial Hologram series is kind of the best of both worlds. It will throw a huge, immersive, three-dimensional image when the recording calls for it, while at the same time offering very specific imaging (again, when the recording calls for it).
That said, I know a group of people on Audiogon who absolutely swear by the Ohm Walsh line. Again, it all depends upon whether you like that presentation or not.

Francation

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Re: My review of the M3 Turbo S is finally live!
« Reply #4 on: 9 Nov 2017, 07:07 pm »
Great review! Has me stoked for mine to arrive...

SFDude

Re: My review of the M3 Turbo S is finally live!
« Reply #5 on: 9 Nov 2017, 09:26 pm »
rebbi, SOLID REVIEW! And I have a similar room but not as compromised as yours. Definitely same situation in that I roll a bed into it for guests when they stay.

Great read.

-dave

rebbi

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Re: My review of the M3 Turbo S is finally live!
« Reply #6 on: 9 Nov 2017, 09:50 pm »
rebbi, SOLID REVIEW! And I have a similar room but not as compromised as yours. Definitely same situation in that I roll a bed into it for guests when they stay.

Great read.

-dave

Thank you, Dave!  :D

rebbi

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Re: My review of the M3 Turbo S is finally live!
« Reply #7 on: 9 Nov 2017, 09:51 pm »
rebbi, SOLID REVIEW! And I have a similar room but not as compromised as yours. Definitely same situation in that I roll a bed into it for guests when they stay.

Great read.

-dave

When do you expect yours to arrive?

SFDude

Re: My review of the M3 Turbo S is finally live!
« Reply #8 on: 9 Nov 2017, 09:54 pm »
Have been an M3TS owner for about a year now. :) Still enjoying them. I should consider a Krell integrated too but I just pitched in for this new Icepower amp that bavmike is offering. Will see how that works out. :)

-dave

mcgsxr

Re: My review of the M3 Turbo S is finally live!
« Reply #9 on: 9 Nov 2017, 11:07 pm »
I have owned (and built) a fair number of OB speakers over the years. 

To my ears, there is something special about the way OB speakers present music.  I don't have a lot of success translating that into verbiage, but it always hits me when I hear it.

Great review, and clearly a speaker that hits you where you live!  I enjoyed the balance of the review, and the various "side streets" you took the reader down as you laid out the background, system and room etc.

Good stuff!

rebbi

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Re: My review of the M3 Turbo S is finally live!
« Reply #10 on: 9 Nov 2017, 11:09 pm »
I have owned (and built) a fair number of OB speakers over the years. 

To my ears, there is something special about the way OB speakers present music.  I don't have a lot of success translating that into verbiage, but it always hits me when I hear it.

Great review, and clearly a speaker that hits you where you live!  I enjoyed the balance of the review, and the various "side streets" you took the reader down as you laid out the background, system and room etc.

Good stuff!

Your kind comments make me happy.   :)
Several times while writing it, I thought, "Nobody's going to slog through this entire thing.   :lol:

Wind Chaser

Re: My review of the M3 Turbo S is finally live!
« Reply #11 on: 10 Nov 2017, 12:59 am »
I can relate to your experience with the SET and the M3ts. In my case it was not a power house Krell or anything like that, but a lowly little TPA-3116 (which can be purchased for $20) that clearly sounded superior to my treasured tube amp. Any one freaking tube in that amp cost a lot more than the TPA-3116. And when I say that the cheap little SS amp sounded superior to the SET, I mean by a very wide night and day margin. It was as if the Dynamo with the NOS tubes was worth $20 and the little chip amp was worth 10K.

rebbi

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Re: My review of the M3 Turbo S is finally live!
« Reply #12 on: 10 Nov 2017, 01:54 am »
I can relate to your experience with the SET and the M3ts. In my case it was not a power house Krell or anything like that, but a lowly little TPA-3116 (which can be purchased for $20) that clearly sounded superior to my treasured tube amp. Any one freaking tube in that amp cost a lot more than the TPA-3116. And when I say that the cheap little SS amp sounded superior to the SET, I mean by a very wide night and day margin. It was as if the Dynamo with the NOS tubes was worth $20 and the little chip amp was worth 10K.

 Yes, I can totally believe that. It was a shocker for me. When I plugged that monster (400 W into 4 ohms!) into my rig, I fully expected flat, bright, obnoxious and unpleasant. Instead, as I said, every wonderful thing about that speaker got much more wonderful. That’s why I tried to make the review not only (primarily) about the speaker itself, but about having an open mind about these things. You just don’t know how something is going to sound until you try it.

NavyDoc

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Re: My review of the M3 Turbo S is finally live!
« Reply #13 on: 10 Nov 2017, 08:50 pm »
Very nice review, it was well worth the wait.

Vlad

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Re: My review of the M3 Turbo S is finally live!
« Reply #14 on: 10 Nov 2017, 10:29 pm »
Thanks for the review Rebbi! Very detailed and informative.

What is your room size? It looks like the speakers are set up at the long wall, correct?

Thanks,
Vlad

rebbi

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Re: My review of the M3 Turbo S is finally live!
« Reply #15 on: 10 Nov 2017, 10:30 pm »
Very nice review, it was well worth the wait.

So glad you liked it, thank you!

rebbi

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Re: My review of the M3 Turbo S is finally live!
« Reply #16 on: 10 Nov 2017, 10:30 pm »
Thanks for the review Rebbi! Very detailed and informative.

What is your room size? It looks like the speakers are set up at the long wall, correct?

Thanks,
Vlad

It's something like 13' x 16', and the speakers are long the longer wall, that's correct.

k6davis

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Re: My review of the M3 Turbo S is finally live!
« Reply #17 on: 10 Nov 2017, 11:34 pm »
I really enjoyed your thorough and thoughtful review. And "certainty makes you certain" is a keeper. Thanks!

rebbi

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Re: My review of the M3 Turbo S is finally live!
« Reply #18 on: 11 Nov 2017, 12:00 am »
I really enjoyed your thorough and thoughtful review. And "certainty makes you certain" is a keeper. Thanks!

I'm so glad! You know, there's no advertising on the site – I just do it for the pleasure of it and feedback like yours makes it worthwhile. And yes, the grad school professor I mentioned had a lot of wonderful and very funny sayings, but that's always been one of my favorites. :-)

mpv

Re: My review of the M3 Turbo S is finally live!
« Reply #19 on: 22 Feb 2018, 03:37 am »
I can relate to your experience with the SET and the M3ts. In my case it was not a power house Krell or anything like that, but a lowly little TPA-3116 (which can be purchased for $20) that clearly sounded superior to my treasured tube amp. Any one freaking tube in that amp cost a lot more than the TPA-3116. And when I say that the cheap little SS amp sounded superior to the SET, I mean by a very wide night and day margin. It was as if the Dynamo with the NOS tubes was worth $20 and the little chip amp was worth 10K.
That's RIDICULOUS .........If this is true Coincident and other big names in Audio Industry won't survive,my friend.