[zkeller]

Greetings from South Africa!

My interest in SPATIAL AUDIO loudspeakers has brought me to this fine forum.

My current system looks like this:

Lumin D1 streamer
Lampizator Amber 3 DAC
Audio Research LS26 preamp
Sugden SPA-4 MasterClass Class A power amp
Sonus faber Olympica 2 speakers

My listening room (also lounge shared with better half) is 15'6" x 11'4" x 9'.

Clayton feels that for this room size the M5s would work well. Any feedback on pros/cons of M5s from current owners?

Thanks for having me.

[JLM]

Welcome!

Your room seems quite small for open baffles.  Why the significant move from a much more traditional 3-way floor stander? 

[ArthurDent]

Greetings & Welcome to AC  zkeller   

[geerock]

Welcome.

[zkeller]

Welcome!

Your room seems quite small for open baffles.  Why the significant move from a much more traditional 3-way floor stander?

Hi JLM,

Good question. Firstly, I hear that open baffles should reduce horizontal and vertical reflections and actually be better in a small room. Secondly, the close listening position means that I have to be careful of driver integration and crossovers. The M5 tweeter handles most of frequency range and does not have a crossover, so theoretically should be better than my 2.5 driver Sonus fabers. Finally, I enjoy my current system, but the bass lacks ‘clarity’ and it is hard to separate the bass notes and timbre. From what New Day Records says, the Spatial open baffles are outstanding at cleaning up the bass.

So although I haven’t heard them, and likely won’t be able to audition them in South Africa, what the reviews say is exactly what I’m looking for.

[zkeller]

Welcome!

Your room seems quite small for open baffles.  Why the significant move from a much more traditional 3-way floor stander?

Hi JLM, your response seems to indicate that open baffles are for larger rooms. Is that the general understanding regarding open baffle speakers? Do they not work as well in smaller rooms?

[JLM]

Dipoles (of which open baffle is a type) radiate sound out of phase front and rear.  The rear sound will also be delayed.  Fortunately the ear can separate delays of greater than 11 milliseconds, which at the speed of sound in air, 1130 feet per second, means that travel distances over 10 feet will not create the mess.  That's where having lots of space (at least 5 foot clearances to walls/ceiling or equivalent absorption) makes a difference.

Suggest reading Floyd Toole's "Sound Reproduction" (either/both editions) to learn how loudspeakers and subwoofers behave in-room.  Toole is perhaps the world's most respected acoustician. 

[Tyson]

If done well, OB speakers actually integrate better into difficult rooms than box speakers.  Bass in particular is a big problem in smaller rooms as well as rooms that have an asymmetrical layout. 

The “mess” JLM refers to is actually a reverberant field that serves to create a large and deep sound field and is actually a strength of the OB design and not a weakness as he seems to think.