Spatial X2s arrive next Thursday


White.  Happy birthday and Merry Christmas to me!

They replace much-beloved M2 Turbos, for which I have a use elsewhere in the house.

Will properly report back after Feb. 16.  I'll have a chance to burn them in for the recommended 100 hours.  Will check in before that with first impressions.

Impatient?  Me?
bbarlow690
They sound good.  With Li'l Sproutie all I have is lower levels, mainly.  If I push Sproutie too high the woofers buzz when there are low, powerful bass notes.  Clipping, methinks.  Since that's not the experience I want, I don't do it.  Lower volume levels eliminate buzzing.  Poor Sproutie is only 25 watts into 8 ohms.

I can get a decent listening level late at night, when the world seems to be quieter.  I've just been doing that, pulling out favorite CDs.  

Fair warning:  The X2s are VERY revealing.  If the recording sucks, you're going to know it.  That's why I've avoided, for the time being, some of my older Bill Evans CDs, because the recording quality isn't that good, and it shows, distracting from the music.

That said, I put in a favorite, and learned that I really didn't like the microphone they used with the female vocalist.  I know her personally, and she didn't sound the way I supposed she should.  Pulled out an old Joni Mitchell album, and was shocked at how revealing the speakers were with her voice.  A different Joni.  Listening to my friend Dan Greenspan play upright bass, I could clearly hear his fingers moving on the strings, and hear him snort.  He takes a lot of grief for snorting when he plays.

Ya know, it's almost an argument for less-than-the-best, if that covers over a multitude of bad recording sins...

Pictures tomorrow, maybe.  Bed time.  Now I'll put them on as background music with my Walkman (yeah, I know, but it serves the purpose, and serves mostly as a tuner plugged into Sproutie for NPR).  Full of piano jazz.  "Shuffle all."  But not too loud.
Nice review. Just imagine how they'd sound if fed properly, something like a mid-power SET amplifier or one of the First Watt amplifier varieties. They look terrific in the pictures.
On Mr. Shaw's recommendation, I installed the spikes and floor protectors on my wood floor.  Yup.  Good idea.  Sound improved.  Bass clearer and tighter.

They continue to break in, but my overall impression is that they are incredibly easy to listen to for a long time.  Nothing stands out, they're just there, and the music seems to me in the room.