Spatial Hologram owners thread.

[Brendon Foster]

A place for those with a pair of these magnificent speakers to share their experiences and othee gear that goes well with these!

[Jumbuck]

Well I got a pair of M3 Triode Masters (white ones) just for a bit of fun to see what they were like as have been interested in open baffle speakers for a while. Have spent all of 5 minutes setting them up but they seem to like the same place as my Maggies (away from the rear wall). Driving then with a Consonance i880 with KT120's and everything sounds pretty good so far. Will have to do a lot more listening and positioning though.

Surprised there aren't a few more owners of Spatial out there. Maybe just a small niche product but they seem to be quite good for the price. 

[blybo]

A lot of members have PM'd me about these since I got mine so there is obviously a lot of interest out there. A pity the distributor does not share that interest.

 

I believe @Luc was the first Spatial owner on SNA and how I found out about them. I may be the 2nd owner, not sure. I've had Spatials's for about 18 months now. I'm sold on OB designs now.

 

The M3 TurboS (mouthful that one) sound incredibly natural to me. They do not give that initial Hi-Fi WOW factor of say a Lenehan or Huglich but I find them less fatiguing and just as dynamic.

 

The imaging is very good without being razor sharp. The benefit here is they seem to sound excellent no matter where I am in my livingroom or kitchen. Stage depth is exceptional in my opinion.

 

I doubt I'd ever go back to box speakers unless my budget suddenly increases exponentially! I bought mine after having a love hate relationship with a pair of Maggies. Spatials in many ways are like Maggies that can rock out.

[Jumbuck]

34 minutes ago, blybo said:

Spatials in many ways are like Maggies that can rock out.

I would have to agree with with this. I find them very dynamic compared to my Maggies. Nice change on some of the music I play. I do miss the Maggies ability on vocals though. 

 

I have ordered some isolation feet to try and clean up the midrange a bit. I find then a little bit muffled/boxy at times but then other times they can sound really good. Not very forgiving imo on a bad recording.  If I can do this then I will be very happy with the Spatials. Not unhappy at the moment but there are just a couple of things I would like to improve if possible. 

 

They can certainly fill a room with a wall of sound and lose the speakers despite being relatively small and not a panel which makes then quite enjoyable. 

 

 

 

 

[Luc]

I can only concur with Neil, both about the OB Spatials and the lack of any direction from the distributor. so much so that I imported mine from the designer manufacturer and I paid double what they were eventually retailed at after the distributor got of his arse and stocked the entry level model I have.

 

I have them 1m and 1.5m out from the corners of my room at 90 degrees to those corners, they have had 7 vintage solid state amps and two push pull tube amps running them and despite the differing power of all these amps they just do the business. Another thing with OB's is that if you can't sit in the sweet spot your not missing that much if you a bit off centre or seated to one side.

The white ones I have like Neil's look good in my all black room, it's a deliberate minimalist look I was after and I'm more than happy with them.

Big box speakers aren't my cup of tea and they dominate a room if they are really big jobbies and your in an average suburban house's lounge room(I've been to a few GTG's and some rooms are just dominated by the sound system which is something I didn't want here) I know heaps here have some big box speakers and good luck to them but these Spatials for me are just right.

 

If your sitting in the sweet spot at my place you won't hear left or right, the speakers actually seem like they aren't there and isn't that a trait that we're all after? One thing they don't like is crap recordings, they seem to show up poor quality and you certainly wont be able to listen to much more than a minute or two of a tinny recording(think a lot of Led Zep for instance) I have a Houses of the Holy and I can't listen to it due to the thin brightness of it..awful, so too with quite a few others but get a good recording and it's bliss.

 

I bought the Dean Martin LP that everyone swooned over at Marc's show last year and even though it's not quite that $500,000 Dutch system we all heard it on...it sounds pretty damn good through my little speakers.

 

Vocals have been fine with my music selection and if they lack any thing then it's a bit of bottom end. They have plenty of grip though and they'll display decay really well if your recording is up to it.

 

For the bucks they should be more popular and as for the sound...they leave an absolute host of box speakers both floorstanders and standmounts for dead. An absolute no brainer for flat/unit dwellers because of their ability to project a deep and detailed soundstage at low volumes and I mean low and that's something many box speakers can't do.

[blybo]

12 hours ago, Luc said:

If your sitting in the sweet spot at my place you won't hear left or right, the speakers actually seem like they aren't there and isn't that a trait that we're all after?

Agreed, mine disappear unless I sit there and try and place them with my eyes shut

12 hours ago, Luc said:

An absolute no brainer for flat/unit dwellers because of their ability to project a deep and detailed soundstage at low volumes and I mean low and that's something many box speakers can't do.

Yes, deep soundstage is a strength, however they do need some space behind them, like all dipole designs, which may be a negative for small multi purpose rooms. Mine are just on 1m into the room, but I have mine on Herbies slider feet, so we can push them back to the wall when kids are playing, or when the cleaners are here.

 

Nobody has put a photo up yet. This is 1 I've posted a few times across the site, but worth being here. I already had the panels on the wall when I got these, but some say panels inside the speakers can help. I haven't got a strong feeling on that but my room is very lively with lots of windows and blinds so anything to reduce slap echo is a benefit in my mind. We've also replaced that shag pile rug that looked horrible within 12 months of daily traffic.

Edited January 19, 2019 by blybo

[bzr]

[bzr]

Luc's on the money. Soon as I heard these I thought , yep, got the maggie sound, got ease of set-up, got a true to recording speaker as in put crap in & it'll slap your face with crap back. The better the hardware upstream from these... they just lift! Matched with Aries Cerat & those Torus Generators, woohoo, it's like a Latino girl before she grows a mustachio in red high heels....

[Luc]

Rooms a mess at the moment as I rip everything digital to the new streamer sitting there but these are the little bros of blybo's . The carpet is 100% pure wool with acoustic underlay so I don't worry about using the supplied spikes. 

Small room, small speakers although I reckon I could place the big Spatials without a problem. 

[andyr]

2 hours ago, bzr said:

 woohoo, it's like a Latino girl before she grows a mustachio in red high heels....

 

Now, now, @bzr - this is a 'family friendly' web site! 

 

Andy

 

[blybo]

A holiday and now work means I've been home for 2 days since Christmas... Missing my Spatials.

 

Also love my Moon Neo ACE streaming integrated, but I'd love to have a set up where I could swap from day to day integrated power to a Weston power amp for special listening sessions with my Neo ACE's pre outs without too much faffing about

 

I guess the only way would be to have 2 sets of speaker cable, and swap out depending on power source of choice... Is there any other method I'm not thinking of?

Edited January 20, 2019 by blybo

[TerryO]

11 hours ago, blybo said:

A holiday and now work means I've been home for 2 days since Christmas... Missing my Spatials.

 

Also love my Moon Neo ACE streaming integrated, but I'd love to have a set up where I could swap from day to day integrated power to a Weston power amp for special listening sessions with my Neo ACE's pre outs without too much faffing about

 

I guess the only way would be to have 2 sets of speaker cable, and swap out depending on power source of choice... Is there any other method I'm not thinking of?

While it can be sometimes a pain I have two sets of speaker cables in both listening rooms, one for the HT AVR and the other for the 2-channel listening through the dedicated HiFi amp. Takes 2 minutes to swap between HT and HiFi. 

If there is a easier way that doesn’t compromise the HiFi sonics then I’d also like to hear what others are doing.

 

cheers Terry

Edited January 20, 2019 by TerryO

[Guest]

Simplest cleanest solution imo. 

[blybo]

actually thinking I would need to change them at the Amp end as my integrated cables would still be powered and I guess could short out.

[unclemack]

Do they have any bottom-end?

[Jumbuck]

23 hours ago, unclemack said:

Do they have any bottom-end?

I would describe the bass as tight and not overdone.  Some  people use a sub with them but unless your room needs it I don’t think is necessary. 

[unclemack]

I would describe the bass as tight and not overdone.  Some  people use a sub with them but unless your room needs it I don’t think is necessary. 

Cheers mate. M

[Jumbuck]

On 22/01/2019 at 7:39 PM, unclemack said:

Do they have any bottom-end?

Added some SVS Soundpath isolation feet today and very happy with the result. Just tightens up the sound a bit and I thought improved the clarity/detail of instruments. Relatively cheap tweak at $230 to do both speakers. Better isolation systems out there but how much better they are I have no idea.

[bzr]

On 22/01/2019 at 10:39 PM, unclemack said:

Do they have any bottom-end?

 If you have a pair of OB speakers & you listen to just them in a stereo set-up, as in no other speakers to compliment the sound, allowing they are a decent pair of coarse,.... whatever...,  you will soon adjust to the fast tight response of the lower hz that the ob's deliver.

 When I first got mine I listened to then for a good 3 months before I put my subs into the system so I could get used to the ob sound & also get the box out of my perception. The base sound is exceptional because it is on a linear playing field, the bass sound added by subs, that needs to be very fast & articulate to keep in time without smearing.

[SMARTPLAY]

On 16/01/2019 at 8:30 PM, Jumbuck said:

Well I got a pair of M3 Triode Masters (white ones) just for a bit of fun to see what they were like as have been interested in open baffle speakers for a while. Have spent all of 5 minutes setting them up but they seem to like the same place as my Maggies (away from the rear wall). Driving then with a Consonance i880 with KT120's and everything sounds pretty good so far. Will have to do a lot more listening and positioning though.

Surprised there aren't a few more owners of Spatial out there. Maybe just a small niche product but they seem to be quite good for the price. 

Hi, where did you get them? - I’m interested!

[gemini07]

My 2c worth:

 

I've had my Spatial Hologram M3 Turbo's for about five months now and couldn't be happier. They do the job for all genres I'm interested in ranging from rock to female vocals and some varied orchestral stuff. Bass is very solid and defined - you don't need a subwoofer, as this morning's rendition of Hans Paul Zimmer's Pirates of the Caribbean ST amply demonstrated - and the midrange is spot on. Treble is very slightly rolled off but still quite detailed and natural. 

 

Overall, the sound stage and presence is better than any other speaker I've owned. Switching from Andreas Vollenweider's Down to the Moon, to Pink Floyd and the sound is coming at you from the front, sides and corners. My speakers are about one metre from the front wall and 1.5m from the sides.

 

Home theatre is also very well catered for. Various scenes from War of the Worlds, Saving Private Ryan, and various Batman movies were quite thrilling.

 

What I would say though is that these speakers do better with a lower volume amp that has detail rather than thump. I just sold my (very new) BHK preamp and PS Audio S300 power amp because the 300W at 4ohms simply produced an imbalance of bass at the expense of accuracy at the higher end of the scale. Timbre was missing and the overall effect was one of the heavy blanket syndrome.

 

I tried a couple of alternative amps and listened to a Soneteer Alabaster and an Atoll IN 50 when visiting Duratone over Christmas. Made me realise the detail I had been missing. I ended up buying (for my bedroom system initially) a vintage Pioneer A300 - R (Precision). This is a specially modded version by Tom Evans, and to say I was staggered by the end result would be an understatement. The 35 / 50 W this produces is actually perfect for my Spatials and I rarely go past the 9.00 position. Trialling your speakers with a variety of amps is essential I believe.

 

I also found that these speakers are also very sensitive to speaker cables. Lenehan FoilFlex are unbelievable but for me out of financial reach. The next best are Aurealis 201 and I'm very happy with what they bring. Haven't finalised ICs yet.

 

Speakers were purchased from McLean's.

[Luc]

14 minutes ago, gemini07 said:

My speakers are about one metre from the front wall and 1.5m from the sides.

What's the distance between them?

[gemini07]

Approx 2.2m between centre points.

 

Room is 5.5 x 4.5 with the speakers along the long wall.

[Brendon Foster]

[gemini07]

Gorgeous looking room - well done. Your cabinet seems to be the same brand as mine - I think it is in the French Provincial style?

 

I have just changed cables over to Aurealis 201, from WireWorld Eclipse7. They made an immediate improvement to the detail, separation and 'attack'. I am currently trialling a pair of R1 Dragon ICs, and they also appear very special. Geoff Mahony has some loan cables he uses for people to try out - highly recommended.

 

My setup below has just changed - update coming over the weekend.