[TrapJaw]

Just received my new X4 Premiums today (6/22/2023)!  After carefully unpacking 4 boxes and they were packed very well, I fired them up.  Of course they need to break-in.  My very first impression was not good.  They sounded boxy but that had more to do with the fact that the amp was cold.  Within an hour, they sounded better.  Base was tight; boxiness gone; sound clear & transparent.  Really not fair to make to make too many conclusions just yet.  Stay tuned for additional comments after full break-in and the room is setup properly.  This is a new house and my wife desperately wants to decorated the front wall.  Any room treatment suggestions are welcome.  I notice a new thread on sound absorption.  Suggestions should probably go there.

[thestatman]

Lucky you Trapjaw!
   I see you have them fairly straight on.   Worth trying a bunch of toe-in angles to see what works best in your room.
   What you need to do is to convince your wife that what she needs is a series of acoustic diffraction panels up on that wall, it'll look so pretty.
   The beauty of your round rattan thing is that you can move it out of the way when you are doing some critical listening, it'll mess up the sound field where it is.
My X3s took 3 full days of pink noise to max break in, there is way more tocome for you.   Generally those audiophile caps take an order of magnitude longer to break in unfortunately, but when they do - wow!

[geerock]

Congrats.  Don't underestimate the amount of time for break in.  I was ready to send my X5's back but Clayton, and the folks on the forum, convinced me to hang on for a bit longer.  I did, and I continue to enjoy them 6 years later.  And certainly work on the room.  Those open doorways on tbe far side of each speaker will need some work for speaker placement.  Find the first reflection off the sides first and correct it.  Then, I had much better luck with deflection than absorption, work behind the speakers.  People start playing with cables, tubes, new equipment, etc. and forget how important the room itself is.  Enjoy.

[kingdeezie]

Sweet! Do you mind sharing the lead time? Been thinking about a pair for a while.

[Mr. Big]

Just received my new X4 Premiums today (6/22/2023)!  After carefully unpacking 4 boxes and they were packed very well, I fired them up.  Of course they need to break-in.  My very first impression was not good.  They sounded boxy but that had more to do with the fact that the amp was cold.  Within an hour, they sounded better.  Base was tight; boxiness gone; sound clear & transparent.  Really not fair to make to make too many conclusions just yet.  Stay tuned for additional comments after full break-in and the room is setup properly.  This is a new house and my wife desperately wants to decorated the front wall.  Any room treatment suggestions are welcome.  I notice a new thread on sound absorption.  Suggestions should probably go there.

You are correct room treatment is needed big time. You are not hearing how good your speakers are you are hearing sound only. You ain't heard nothing yet! Smile! lots of pictures here of rooms that have some acoustic treatments. a MUST!

[Early B.]

Those open doorways on the far side of each speaker will need some work for speaker placement.

It would be cool if you could install some pocket doors to close off the front of the room when doing some serious listening. The speakers would probably sound significantly different if you could. 

[RonN5]

Could you describe or post some pictures of how they were packed?

[TrapJaw]

Thanks for the room treatment comments.  I was hoping the small hallways behind each speaker would act a bit like corner bass traps.  Pocket doors would be great.  It would be major surgery on a new house that I'm not up for.  I've also got the "spouse factor" regarding room treatment.  She already commented that they stuck too far out in the room.  You can't tell from the picture but this is a large room, 24' X 30'.  There is also a large sliding glass door to the right side that you can't see.  I do have three floor to ceiling, heavy, stationary curtains to help with the glass.  My first reflection point might be at one of these curtains.  I'm definitely going to move the speakers in together a foot or so and toe them.

[DaveWin88]

You have a fantastic setup. Once you tweak them how you mentioned, I think you'll be in killer shape. Just a friendly reminder that keep in mind, our speakers are only as good as our front-ends.

[dpatters]

I agree with moving the speakers closer together and adding some toe in. This will help with the openings on either side. If you could then add some diffusion behind the speakers that would be helpful. Understood about spousal approval when it comes to room treatments. I was able to get my wife to go along with this setup.



Don P

[RonN5]

In my case with the M3 Sapphires, I was able to space them at 9' apart....and they had to be at least 41" from the rear wall.  If you go back and look at some of the older Sapphire and X series threads, you will see that at minimum, things didn't start sounding "ok" until 200 hours and most people said 4-600 hours to sound their best....so, I'm not sure I'd even think of room treatments until this point.  Also, remember that toe in and tilt can make a huge difference...but probably not even worth too much time messing with this until at least 200 hours.

[Mr. Big]

In my case with the M3 Sapphires, I was able to space them at 9' apart....and they had to be at least 41" from the rear wall.  If you go back and look at some of the older Sapphire and X series threads, you will see that at minimum, things didn't start sounding "ok" until 200 hours and most people said 4-600 hours to sound their best....so, I'm not sure I'd even think of room treatments until this point.  Also, remember that toe in and tilt can make a huge difference...but probably not even worth too much time messing with this until at least 200 hours.

Spot on. The Sapphires are so good, and after 2years they get better as I learn better setup from working with them, but like last week, I pulled out one of my many power cords that I never tried on my ML amp, and oh my did it sing with the ML amp thus my M3 again reproduced an even more enjoyable reproduction, open, fast, good body and weight, and zero glare, or brightness, with the key to a good midrange and excellent midbass and deep articulate deep bass. Was like hearing a new amp and speaker. M3s are truth-tellers of what is driving them. 

[TrapJaw]

Could you describe or post some pictures of how they were packed?

See pics.  Base and hardware in separate similar packaging.

[TrapJaw]

Regarding the two small hallways behind and to the side of each speaker.  Interestingly, bass was "cancelled" when standing in front of the hallway but when I stepped back into the hallway, the bass reappeared.  The bass cancellation to the side of a dipole is to be expected.  Maybe the hallway is acting like a helmhotz resonator (I hope not).

[DaveWin88]

Worth watching for a better understanding of whats happening with bass waves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM7HuCX5byo