Product Previews

Spatial Audio M4 Triode Master Speakers Preview

The M4 is the entry-level speaker from Spatial. Spatial Audio owner and designer Clayton Shaw wants to enable music fans to experience top-dollar sound without having to pay top-dollar prices, and his line of open-baffle speakers go a very long way toward satisfying that desire.

The M4 Triode Master speakers are upgraded versions of the base-model Hologram M4 and retail for only $2995. They are 93db efficient with a 4-ohm nominal, 3-ohm minimum impedance. And they need as little as 5wpc to get them going. These numbers promise a happy partnership with both low-watt and high-watt amplifiers. But, will they sing or slouch with a four-watt Single-Ended Triode amp? Will they soar or start smoking with a 300-watt Class-D amp? I will listen to them with several amplifiers to find out.

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But what I’ve heard from them so far, powered by a 50wpc solid-state amp from the 1970s, is game-changing. I have never heard such seamless and open sound in my system. Stay tuned for a full review, where I’ll dive in deeper into just what makes these speakers so special.

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Gene Hopstetter

Gene Hopstetter has been collecting records since 1981, when he walked into a record store and spent all of his allowance money on every AC/DC album he could find. In the mid-1980s he worked as a stock-boy in a neighborhood hi-fi emporium, which is when his obsession with sound quality began. He has always had a record player and vinyl in his life. Gene was born and raised in New Orleans, where music and food were invented. In the 1980s and 1990s he was active with two university radio stations, KLSU in Baton Rouge, and WTUL in New Orleans, where he got involved with local music promotion and album production. He earned degrees in Creative Writing and Journalism from LSU, which he somehow manages to use in his current career as an IT professional. When he is not listening to music, reviewing components, or updating his collection on Discogs, Gene enjoys restoring vintage Garrard turntables and cleaning LPs with his ultrasonic cleaner. His most prized vintage hi-fi components are a pair of McIntosh MC30 tube amps, a Garrard 301 cream grease bearing turntable with two tonearms, and a Thorens TD124 turntable. Gene is also interested in contemporary developments in hi-fi, such as Raspberry Pi DACs and streamers, amplifiers with Gallium Nitride transistors, and phono preamplifiers with digital output.