Spatials = Done for now!

Hello all - and happy holidays!

I think I'm finally done for now when it comes to the merry-go-round (I can hear my wife laughing about that even as I type it). But some recent acquisitions have really pulled the music together in the system in a way that makes me content to listen to the music and not the system.
My sources are old standbyes: An Oppo 105 through which I spin cd's and stream Tidal; and an VPI HW-19 MK4 with a Sumiko FT-3 tonearm. These are perfect for my needs and spending limits. As is the Acoustic Zen cabling throughout - except for the homemade Belden 8402 IC's for the phono stage and Decware Styx speaker cables.
However, the rest of the components have evolved over the past year. A Pathos Classic One Mk 3 is the integrated I've been looking for in terms of sound and presence. And I just installed and am breaking in a Hana SH cartridge while I ship off my Benz Micro Ace SH for retipping, and I'm loving the Hana's sound and projection so far.

But the Spatial M3 Turbo S's that arrived a month ago are the icing. The first ten minutes or so of listening had me thinking that, finally, I had found the sound I had been seeking. It was almost there with the Acoustic Zen Adagios I had a while ago, but they weren't as enveloping as the Spatials. The M3's surround me without being washed out or saccharine. They pinpoint without being clinical and they project with little fatigue and no harshness. I previously had a pair of Reference 3A Veenas, which still are phenomenal, but simply a different sound that didn't meet what I was looking for. The closest I can come to is the magnificent presence my Maggie 3.6R's had, powered by an ARC VS-110 another lifetime ago.

I had never heard Spatials or any open baffle design before, save for the Maggies. But these make me happy. Their design is beautiful and their sound is everything it's cracked up to be - wide open, deep, crisp but not sterile. A good rule of thumb for me is how a speaker (or any component, for that matter), can present the Steve Howe's opening guitar-work on Yes' "Roundabout". Can the component resolve both the backward piano and the the acoustic guitar and have the latter hang in a holographic space? The Spatials do this beautifully, with Wakeman's reversed piano note serving as a backdrop to Howe's nylon-stringed announcements that float like butterflies in the air of my listening room.

I know I most likely will change one component sometime in the future, including upgrading the Pathos' input tubes. But as I ween my way off using my music to listen to my system, the Spatials have helped tremendously. They were well-reviewed throughout the Audiogon and journal sphere and have so far lived up to their hype.

Sigh of contentment...