Spatial M4 Sapphire Open Baffle Speakers 

I've owned the X3 Spatial Audio Lab OB speakers since May, 2021. This model has an AMT tweeter in a waveguide plus a powered subwoofer. I play mostly classical and some jazz/blues. This is an "end game" speaker for me. They do require a larger room than the M4. Mine are 5 feet from the front wall. Soundstage and depth is incredible. Instruments are clear and distinct and vocals are superb. Thank you for this review! Oh yeah, with all of Clayton's speakers, he uses very high quality components that do require lots of "burn-in".

There are no unboxing videos of open baffle speakers because there are no boxes to begin with? Baffling!

Steve, your openness to different designs is a joy. Audio innovation is boundless and you continue to surf the wave.

Seriously enjoyed this episode. Reminded me of why I fell in love with your channel in the first place!

It's great to see your enthusiasm come through. Regardless of what your reviewing and when it shows through then I know it's a good product and not just another review. Listening to you talk about the Simon & Garfunkel brings back memories of when I first bought the album and enjoyed listening to it but to have your fond memories makes that much special.

I always enjoy your videos Steve. Easy to listen to and understand. With all of these younger reviewers (padawans) coming to RU-vid, you will always be Yoda. 😎

Nice one Steve! My spatials ended my speaker swapping journey. Never once considered another speaker since I purchased them.

Enjoyed the descriptive commentary. Excellent job.

Glad to see you review these! I have the Spatial Audio m3 triode masters. I love my speakers, when I upgrade I will definitely stay with spatial! I have been fascinated with open baffle for a few years now! Hard to go back to box speakers!

Very many years ago I was given Altec voice of the theater speakers and a tube Mac they were a baffle with 2 -15 inch woofers and a big horn tweeter. The crossover mounted on the side looked like a small car battery. This was in the 1960's but I loved them this was my first hi-fi system. I now only have a Yamaha stereo receiver with Elac debut speakers but still love music just the same.

What an excellent review, Thank you.

Great review as always. Thank you.

I'm working on DIYing a set of open baffles right now, just waiting on parts to show up. Super excited to hear them once I finish

In 1982 I heard open baffle and also magnepan speakers fell in love with the sound of both as all I could hear with "normal" speakers was the box. My experience is that this type of speakers is that they need at least 6feet rear clearance but as you say they can be near side walls. They really need/like class A amps but are easier to drive than maggies

Great Video Steve. Just great.

So glad to see Spatial Audio being reviewed! I have the X2's after working up from the M3 TriodeM and I can say I am a convert. I was a huge Apogee fan since mid-90's and these are the only speakers I have heard that have that magical soundstage, scale and imaging akin to planers with more efficiency and less of a sweet spot. If you set them up right, they indeed "play the room", creating a huge, open soundstage. I find them very involving. Great review-thanks!

Great review Steve. I have the Spatial Audio M3 Turbo S in my system and I love it. I agree that the openness is extraordinary, especially for live recordings. That said, I've upgraded my system and now these speakers might be holding the other components back so I'm considering the M3 Sapphires. I expect to be blown away.

Congrats John, enjoy!

I think a combination of box and open style speakers is the best of both worlds. It’s like anything else you gotta tune it… Keep on rocking.

Hi Steve, thank you for another great review. I love my combination of the small tube amp Unison Research Simply Italy with the open baffle speakers Pure Audio Project Trio15. Maybe the Spatials also would love tubes.

Glad you did a vid on spatial. I’m seriously thinking about these over my current horns

Years ago, I walked into HiFi Hutch in Lombard, IL. I had been in there a few times. They had some good gear, but this time it was different: They had the Carver Amazing, open baffle speakers with 4, 12" woofers per side and a ribbon tweeter about 6 feet high. Talk about a slack-jaw moment! I was SHOCKED!! It was one of those very memorable audio experiences. 🧡

Once you go Open Baffle, it is very hard to go back.....Yes, you need to have room for them, yes, they can be very detailed and revealing, and yes, you need good sources, but MAN, when it all comes together, it is jaw dropping.

A friend of mine had open baffle Forsman speakers. They sounded great to me. He had them for many years, but he said that they were very demanding especially regarding placement. And he didn't have the best of space for them. So he recently sold them and bought a pair of Spendor D7. Haven't heard the latter yet, but his praise for them makes me think they are amazing.

this rabbit hole is deep yet elegant

excelent, they look amazing.

Many years ago I had the DALI Skyline 2000; big open baffle 12" woofer and 100cm or so ribbon tweeter (and like here, crossed low!). Now forgotten but, boy, they sounded great!

seems like the M3 would be a better challenge to the Cornwall 4's. throw in the x4 or x5 against the Cornwall 4's you'll see an incredible top end resolution and transparency. Great review... only downside is the increase in wait time on my order now that there will be new spatial audio fans!

I have older Spatial M3 Hologram, great speakers!

As a guitar player, most of my systems are open baffle … now I’ve got PAP Trio10 in my listening space, just loving the openness and how it loads a room. Very spacious… just like my guitar amps sound in a room.

Great to see our Kiwi friends across the Ditch getting a mention about there HiFi systems .. Great review Steve...

Would love to see more reviews of open baffles. I’ve been living with the Lii F15’s in Decware’s open baffle design for a while now and they are nice, to say the least.

For John the viewer of the day - I recently upgraded from a Dr. Feickert Volare to a Rega P10, which is quite similar to the P8. I was initially put off by the skeletal structure & use of foam. But the incredible sound of the P10 quickly got me past that. I'd think you will love the P8. Good luck.

This brand is at the top of my list!

I have the X5's. They are smaller than the X3 but still require a large room. The M serries are better for smaller rooms. You should be advised that Spatial Audio lab has some new models. They also don't have pre-built sppeakers. Plan on at least a 2 month wait. One thing that is not mentioned is that these speakers look like a piece of art rather than just a box.

So you finally decided to review Spatial, thanks.

Love the 80s Memphis inspired shirt.

Really would love to hear these in person. I don't have a listening room to support these but I'm intrigued by open baffle.

The Kyron Audio Gaia are the best speakers I’ve ever heard when I was at the Melbourne audio show many years ago. I think they look great also.

Glad you did this review. I had been intrigued by open baffle speakers and honed in on Spatial Audio Labs' stuff. I bought the X5s which have a powered subwoofer component so the amp only has to drive the tweeter (AMT) and the 12" midrange driver so is 97db sensitive. I love these speakers and I think I'm done with looking for new speakers. It's on to play the game, "what is your next amp?" and hope I don't end up with turtlewax.

I have the bigger version of the M4, the M3 Sapphire. My listening experience is very similar to your observations of the M4 sound presentation. After cycling through box speakers (floorstanders as well as bookshelf + subs) and a pair of Magnepans, I have found a speaker that does everything in my room well. Very dynamic (more so than you suggest but then, you are comparing to Klipsch) and easily driven by high quality low power amps (I use a Pass Labs XA30.5 Class A amp). Thanks for highlighting this small but great Made in America speaker company.

This makes me want to try open baffle! My next set of speakers are going to be a set of these or the trio 15s. I just bought my first set of horn speakers Cornwalls iv, I'm enjoying these for now.

I own the M4’s powered by a Hegel 190. Love the performance.

Good one.Nice to see you enjoying the goods.Am surprised thought that innacdditikn to describing the sound there wasn’t a but in how they compare with speakers like dipoles,electrostatics,and planar.Also would really like to hear the Spatial’s puts up against an equally priced Pure Audio Project.both seem to get very good reviews

It seems like I have been hearing about open baffle speakers a lot lately. I have owned the Legacy Whispers for 20+ years and have never had the desire to replace them and I have heard many, many speakers in that 20 year period. Curious why they are now becoming such a hot topic since for years they have been trashed. Everything you have talked about in this vid the Whispers do better than anything I have ever heard so I am a believer in the open baffle design. The Whispers are genius with their 4-15" basketed woofers. 4 mids, dome and ribbon tweeters. Their range is huge unlike most open baffle designs. Like any open baffle they are not earth shattering on the bottom but everything else is the best I have heard. I run a Legacy sub that just burps a little and makes the bottom absolutely massive. Imaging on open baffle designs is unreal so I hope more people take a closer look.

Yes, open baffle can sound amazing. More picky in placement and need arround 2 m of space behind them in my experience. Got a pair of Audio Artistry with seperate bass.

Great speaker design but out of my $$ range. Thanks Steve for bringing new products and your thoughts!

Some might find it interesting to seek out a video where Clayton Shaw explains how the rear bass wave and front bass wave cancel out at the sides. The rear and front are out of phase, so when the wave envelops the speaker, the front and back waves cancel each other. You end up with bass propagating directionally out the front and back. This means that there's a lot less interference from the sidewalls, etc. and maybe means that the bass you hear from these may sound weaker, when actually it's just more accurate.

Great review, I would just add they work great in a small rooms and sound better in my opinion with tubes.

Ridthaler type dipoles achieve -6dB@16Hz. They sound amazing with open-baffle wide-range drivers for mid-/high range. 😉

I saw these exact speakers before they were sent to Steve for review. Went into Spatial’s hq prior to Thanksgiving. They had a set of M4 setup for demo. I thought they were fantastic sounding! The owner and his sales rep were so great to work with. I’m waiting for them to finish getting the m4 and new m3 sapphires designed with the wood fronts. I think they have walnut maple and cherry wood fronts coming. They wood looked better for my tastes than the auto painted finishes.

Sound like great speakers. Big fan of open baffle. I run diy speakers inspired by Lampizator P17. 18" woofers and 10" coax alnico Mid/Tweeter. Very open but big sound.

Very nice. But one should consider the open baffle speakers of Steve Deckart as a potential cheaper alternative.

I own the M3's and yes once you go to open baffle you can't go back because you here the box even in same very expensive speakers

Ive never heard open baffle speakers before, im definitely intrigued! Open baffle subs do pique my interest that much more though. I would call the $5k mark the sweetspot for anyone who wants a serious 2 channel system. Almost anything @ $5k a pair will be sure to please in one way or another.

Very Good well built pair of speakers . Clayton is a good guy and a heavy hitter when it comes to US brands. Speakers look amazing, speakers sound amazing, very clean, very detailed, crazy crazy sound stage, driver integration is absolutely perfect, very analytical speakers, if you want to hear everything in a recording then there ya go.. set up takes allot of trial and error.. midrange is complete through that spectrum & male vocals ( some male vocals,) come through perfect. Bass is as exact as it should be,in time with the music doesn't lag or draw attention to itself. Cons. No need to order these speakers if you don't have significant space , you will not get what these speakers are capable of and you will start getting some reverb in the bass.. these speakers don't do well with bad recordings, I found myself looking for songs that sound good on my speakers instead of enjoying the music. Had some male vocals that sounded shouty, electric guitar , horn instruments, some key boards was so intense I had to turn it down through certain parts of songs. Overall kick ass pair of speakers, they are not for everyone but then again None of the speakers are!

Steve, I know you were wowed a year or so with the PureAudio Project Trio15 Speaker System. Can you offer up some comments comparing the two as they are both open baffle designs. Thanks and keep the great videos coming! JM

Such cool looking speakers, I imagine they are just a bit too insensitive for something like the Decware zen triode? I also want to thank you for the great music reviews, you’re always turning me on to cool records outside of my “bubble”.

I've wondered about a design that used a V shaped de/reflector on the back of an open baffle design. If it COULD (?) relieve that distance factor concerning the amount of air required BEHIND the unit, I might have considered them. I went with Ohms. They fit both the room and my interest in true surround sound.

Would love to try them on the MC602!!

Wow..Levin, New Zealand! That must be a first.

Hi Steve from Vancouver Canada

More OB’s, yeah!

I' ve made my own almost a year ago and my Maggies haven't been out of their boxes since.

I've got a pair of Ripole subwoofers 4x12" drivers in each.

Thank You, Steve! Great Show... btw!

New Zealand In-the-house! Great to see John's system . Audiophiliacs are alive and well in NZ :)

Mmm. Open back speakers should work nicely with the Bottlehead SET amp that I just ordered, in kit form. 🔥❤️🔥

Hi Steve, I'd love for you now to try a linkwitz 521 set with his active crossovers.... turn the ALL the lights off in the room, yes every light, led....meter....., then turn the volume up a little and crawl inside the music.

love the viewer system he must have started giggling once he fired up the fyne speakers what a shock no doubt lol

You gotta try the M3's now! :D

Steve, how would you compare these new speakers to the Magnapan LRS, the 1.7’s or the 3.7’s with or without a subwoofer?

I picked up a set of Spatial's M100 Uniwave Broadband Tweeters with Synthetic Sapphire diaphragm at Parts-Express, where they're known as Peerless Corundum tweeters. _kurundam_ (translates to ruby-sapphire) They come in either a 1" or 1 1/4" dome. About $54 or $75 each, and a very fine design indeed. I just installed the 1" version in my Epos ES14's but crossed over high since the Epos woofer is actually designed to run full range. Very nice! I'm guessing Spatial is using the larger version, which can go down a little lower (but 570Hz is still pushing the limit because that's fighting its resonate frequency.) I'd be interested to see what Spatial could do with a different set of woofers that could play higher and also not create the unfortunate 4ohm rating.

The extremely low crossed tweeter is not a dipole as it is closed at the back. I hope power handling of this tweeter is good enough to handle this crossover point.

Nice. Double nice. Message to John: Decent gear man but keep your options open. I'm from Napier and in the vinyl groove.

Seems like the description for this speaker design is backwards, ie the baffle isn't open, the rear box is 😎

hey steve. interesting you are reviewing these. i have .7 maggies with a rel t/7i and was considering purchasing a pair of spatial audio speakers. any thoughts on the sound differences between the .7s and the m4s? thx.

High efficiency open baffles rule!

I have OB Emerald Physics 3.4s (12" concentric mid-bass + 1" polyester tweeter) driven w=by LSA Voyager 350 GaN amp. Most people leave the XOs on the speaker base, but they vibrate like crazy. Assuming Spatial's XOs are removable, get longer jumpers and get them off the bases. HUGE improvement with my 3.4s

Outta my range but now I'm deeply curious about this design scheme

The M-4's I have look eggs ackley like the pair being reviewed. They have about 120 hours on them. Weakest link in the system is probably the small very dead 10' x 13' room. The rest of the components are: Resolution Audio Cantata 3.0 cd player (w/ an onboard pre-amp), a Coda 11 (100w pure class A) amp, mostly using wywires cables. Sound quality is very recording dependent and varies a lot. Looking for a turntable set up that will most of the time compete or outshine the Cantata, (recommendations would be much appreciated). I like these speakers a lot, but the design of the base and feet doesn't give the baffle rock solid stability. Some other speakers that have greater baffle stability seem to handle delicate details with a little more precision.

Thank you Steve, I really do enjoy your videos. Nerdy as hell but I’m the demographic. haha Carry on.

Dear steve! What speaker would you choose to asses the sound of power amps? Whats the most reveling speaker maybe under 1000usd?

Look at their web site, it appears they have changed the tweeters and the prices went way up, north of 7K for entry now.

I still have my Carver Amazings from 1988. Just can’t part with them even though I’ve moved on to boxes. They would throw an incredibly wide sound stage, although not an entirely accurate one. People would listen to them and swear they weren’t on and that the music must have been coming from some hidden speakers.

I live close to Levin...

Just wondering what you consider late night listening levels, in decibels. I like to listen at relatively low volume so would help as a reference when listening to your reviews.

Nice one Steve but can u compare them against the magnepans or magnat transpuls 1500

I haven't heard them in person, but from the RU-vid videos I've listened to, the Sapphires are amazing, and some of the best I've ever heard

I’m interested in how you characterize the difference between open baffle and magnepan? I hope you get the chance to review M3 sapphires or the X series. Thanks!

Jamo R909 from 15 years ago 👌

John get yourself a Tom Evans microgroove + x mk2 phono stage one of the best

I've been doing open baffle in DIY since the mid 90's. I could never go back to any box speaker for critical listening, they just can't compete with a well designed open baffle system.

Hi Steve did you happen to try the Schiit Vidar or Firstwatt J2 and if so, were they a good match?

With that low crossover point, mostly it creates a lot distortion from the tweeter and the Baffle size auround the tweeter, i think it is too large. You get a lot reflections from the panel, leading to combfilter effects .

wow. not long ago (2 years) the price was $4250 for this model. and now it's gone. they only have 2 Models. one is close to 10 K (for the X4) and the other one is 12K (for the Q3) . both look really nice and very expensive. why did they stop making the M4 model ???. it looks great too, and the price is more realistic..

So, what about the sound of these open baffle dynamic compared to Magnepans?

I was at that concert too! At least I think it was Simon & Garfunkel. I was pretty far from the stage.

Don’t you think the 8 watt amp is the reason the more sensitive klipsch sounded easier and more body?

Where can I travel to listen to few of the options out there in great looking speakers with wood look to make a decision? 8k-12k speakers Thanks for great info videos.