Beautiful cabinet, excellent sounstage and imaging, extraordinarily neutral

very revealing of poor recordings and equipment

After reading reviews that this is the best speaker in the $1000 range and auditioning B&W CDM9's, Paradigm Reference 60's, Paradigm monitor 7's and Monitor Audio Silver 9i's I gave these a try.

Ordering a speaker unheard over the net was scary but all I heard was good customer experience & reviews and you rarely see them for sale used.

Great choice for the $$$. Amazing speaker. Cabinet work is beautiful and they look magnificent. Sound is satisfying, engaging, detailed, neutral to the point of embarassing bad recordings and weak amps. Soundstage is huge and imaging very precise.

Warning-these require good amplification, source and wiring.

ACI will not be seeing this set again.

Similar Products Used:

Nothing even close

quality construction, looks, finish, biwire capability

subwoofer required

Up until lately I had the same speakers that I have owned since 1973, the Sonab OA116's, a superb omnidirectional speaker that uses many tweeters, aimed in all directions, an upward firing midrange and a downward firing woofer. The sound has been amazing. But the speakers required critical placement in front of an essentially blank flat wall. Most rooms just weren't ideal for the Sonabs to sound their best.

When I moved to New York I replaced the Sonabs with Rogers LS2's, nearfield monitors which were far less critical about placement. They did very nicely in combination with a 10" self-powered subwoofer. They required, however, that all sounds below 150hz be handled by the subwoofer.

Then I ran across a recommendation of the ACI Sapphire III speakers as a replacement for the Rogers elsewhere on the web. This led me to the reviews here of the Sapphire III's. I have never bought a speaker without listening to it but the incredible reviews here and the 30 day money back guarantee offered by ACI was just too much to resist.

The first very pleasant surprise occurred before they were even hooked up: my wife loved their looks. Now there's a switch. She hates the look of most audiophile gear. She loves the Sapphires even more with the speaker grills removed as they are just as meticulously finished behind the grills. Guests have also commented on the beautiful modern appearance of the speakers. Then they're usually floored by the sound.

The second surprise was not as thrilling: distortion. I quickly discovered the ACI finds your system's weakest link and let you hear it. In this case it was my 15 year old NAD's receiver's harmonic distortion. The Sonabs and the Rogers masked it but the ACI's really let me know it was there. So the NAD went and was replaced by a much later generation high current receiver. The problem was solved and I started hearing details not heard before from my discs.

I needn't have worried about the stereo image when retiring the Sonabs. The imaging of the Sapphires is absolutely superb. The music appears to be a couple of feet behind the speakers but it is very realistic and there are no holes or gaps. Also the image doesn't suffer if one is well off-axis from the center of the listening area.

Although the sound is "full bodied" the Sapphires still sound better with a good powered subwoofer. Just don't plug the Sapphires into the subwoofer's crossover. They should run right out of your amplifier. No need to trim your bass, anyway. The Sapphires can't produce a lot of sound around 50 hz but what they do produce is solid and undistorted. Still, they benefit tremendously by being aided in the lower registers by a good subwoofer.

The Sapphires are not power hungry. My listening space, not huge by any means, hardly taxes my 50 wpc high-current amp.

I did find, however, they like a really heavy gauge speaker wire. Moving up to 14 gauge with Monster banana plugs made a noticable difference in the Sapphire IIIs' sound.

Although the Sapphires love really good electronics and will convey the extra definition supplied by top quality electronics these speakers are not snobs. They still sound wonderful being powered by an Onkyo 484. If your receiver is clean sounding, hang onto it. Put your money into the Sapphires and move to better electronics later.

A really good set of 20" high speaker stands is also a necessity. Putting the speakers on stands and moving them away from the wall added substantially to the clarity and imaging.

A friend has the incredible Genesis I speaker system. His system costs $155,000. I have been going over there with my best vinyl disks (he refuses to play cd's through his system) and doing a lot of listening. Then I'd come back here and listen to the same music. His huge Genesis towers place me front row center at Carnagie Hall. The Sapphire III's place me about 14 rows back. But orchestra, 15th row is a really nice place to be and the Sapphire III's are not one tiny bit less clear than the Genesis system. They're just a bit "further back".

I concluded that the Genesis towers have considerably more speakers but the far more modest Sapphires really do match them in clarity. As a matter of fact, my friend's room is totally dominated by the Genesis towers which are so big they are a bit too close together. As a result the stereo image of my Sapphires is superior, at least until he moves his Genesis system to a far bigger room.

The ACI Sapphire III speakers when used in a not overly large listening space, and with a good subwoofer, will produce sound equal to audiophile speakers many times their cost. The sound quality and imaging is superb. The Sapphire III's are wonderfully accurate and incredibly musical speakers that magically transport the musicians to my listening room.

Similar Products Used:

Sonab 0A116's, Rogers LS2's w/subwoofer

I have owned a pair of Sapphire IIIs since 1994, only recently having replaced them with a pair of B&W 802s. I can say that for the money these are exceptional speakers, lacking only in low bass extension and impact. All other areas such as resolution, stereo perspective, and soundstaging are very good. They may not be for everybody however. Their one fault may be a slightly dry and reticent presentation. This can be offset by use of other components in the chain that exhibit good pace, and extended lows and highs. I paired up my Sapphire IIIs with ACI's Sub 1s. The latter is not recommended. The Sub 1s will fill in the desired bass, but the quality, speed, and integrity of the Sapphire IIIs alone is lost.

I would like to comment further on the use of the Sub 1s with the Sapphire IIIs.
I do have the polypropolene version of the Sub 1s, and in fact modified the Sub 1s by removing the high pass cross over and externally wired it directly inline with the mid-bass terminals on the Sapphire IIIs. The tweeter is wired directly to my amp (MacKormick DNA-1 Dlx). In addition I replaced the bypass caps with very high quality caps from Hoveland. I also rewired (replaced the Audioquest F-14 wire) the Sapphire IIIs internally with two strands of Audioquest FPC and one strand of FPC silver twisted together. On the Sub-1s I removed the standard wiring terminals and mounting board, and rerouted the input to the shortest possible distance to the low pass filter. Here I installed Edison binding posts and doubled up the leads to the low pass filter. Additionally I installed shorter, sturdier feet, and screwed in threaded inserts to accept ACI's brass cones.

All connections have been Tri-Wired.

These somwhat simple and cost effective modifications made a WORLD of difference in the overall integration, clarity, transient response, and tightness of the Sapphire III and Sub 1 combination.

My main criticism is the difficulty in locating the Sub 1s relative to the Sapphire IIIs and dealing with the effects of the room. I always found that the best balance left a 'lean' spot in the lower midrange that went away when the Sapphires were used stand alone. Obviously the additional heft, dynamics, and bass extension were reduced considerably. More of a quality not quantity issue. On test CDs I also noticed a pronounced hump in the 40hz region, and a steep drop off in output below about 32hz. So much for ACI's claim to flat response to 20hz.

Again I would recommend the Sapphire IIIs. However if someone is looking for a full range speaker system I would suggest something else such as Paradigm's Studio 100s, Snell C/V, PSB Stratus Gold. Some of these cost a little more, but you won't have to hassel with the placement, and yes the additonal room, the Sub 1s require. Not to mention the ability to use a higher quality single or biwire cable.

I would rate the Sub 1s in combination with the Sapphire IIIs (standard) about a 3 star recommendation.

I have had the III's and the sub 1's for a couple of years. A real miracle of a speaker. And, the sub 1's are among the quickest, richest and deepest bass units I've ever heard. To the last reviewer; try bi-wiring. It sounds like you are routing from your amp to bass to mid-high. The Sapphire was not designed for this. It was designed to get a straight-line signal from the amp. Unless you have the rare "all polly" Sub 1's, you absolutely have to bi-wire.

This is one fantastic speaker. I'm using a pair of Sapphire IIIs with an ACI Titan sub. For the under $2000 I've invested, I can't believe how exceptional the performance is. Having worked in the audio industry for years, I have spent a lot of time with very expensive speaker systems ($5000-$60,000). This combo rivals the very best for overall realism and musicality! Can't recommend them highly enough. A real bonus, they look great! I like that they are REAL wood veneer and not plastic or spray.
I've heard from numerous sources that five Sapphire IIIs with Titan sub (s) makes an absolutely wonderful home-theater system at a bargain price. Check out the reviews on these speakers at SMR Home-Theater on the Internet, I've heard that those two reviewers bought the review samples, I can sure see why! Try these speakers, you'll love em!

I've had these speakers for about a year now. I don't really want to post an excessively detailed review. To put it consicely, I love them. I don't have a subwoofer so that is the only area that they are lacking, but for the price I don't think you can find any speakers that can beat them.

Last year I submitted an initial review (7/11/97). This is now a follow up.I am now using the speakers with a Lexicon DC-1. I'm using the DC-1's built-in digital crossover filters to separate subwoofer and Sapphires. Subwoofer is still Hsu sub filtered at 80hz.

After one year of listening, using Jazz, Rock, & Classical (all others are not to be called music) as well as Home Theater movies, the sound of this speaker system is.......

none.

There is no sound. Meaning it doesn't impart its own sound to color the recordings! WHICH IS JUST THE WAY I LIKE IT!

So therefore these are excellent speakers well worth their price and then some. Those reviewers who found them bright are justr plain deaf! No credibility. And the reviewer who was pissed about being out shippin' charges, please, do us all a favor and take home some Bose from your local dealer. You won't have to worry about any shippin' charges then. Cause them Bose is the kind of sound you want anyway.

I give this speaker the greatest compliment you can ever impart on a speaker.... NO SOUND OF ITS OWN!

Here is my follow up as promised on my previous 09/25/98 posting:
I have been living with the Sapphire III's used with my Sub 1's for about a
month now. I have become more familiar with their sound and have learned
alot of things about this Sapphire III since purchasing them.
The main concern was that the current version of the Sapphire III uses a
new Focal 7K4211DB mid-bass unit as opposed to the older version's Focal
7K011DBL unit used in the the Sapphire II, Sapphire IIti and earlier versions
of the Sapphire III. The change in woofer units was due to the fact that the
speaker manufacturer Focal, discontinued the older model 7K011DBL unit. The
closest replacement unit is the Focal 7K4211DB. I learned of this
change when I ordered my set from ACI. I was concerned about how the
'new' Sapphire III's would sound now that it basically constituted a redesign.
ACI of course backed it up with their 14 days money back guarantee if I was
not happy with the newer design. So I had no problem with ordering them.
Needless to say, I did not return them.

Okay, now that that is out of the way, how does it sound? I have some
good and bad news here. First lets get the main bad points out of the way,
keeping in mind that my resulting evaluation is ultimately still a (5 star)
rating. Okay? Okay.

Overall the speaker sounds great but on the bright
side with the tweeter running alittle bit hot. As delivered they immediately
gave a great sense of a pleasing sounding speaker system when used with
my stereo set of Sub-1 subwoofers. However as I lived with them and allowed
for break in time, I began noticing that the very 'detailed revealing' highs
were calling too much attention to themselves. Nothing harsh or peaky that
hurts or offends your ears, (like the older Sapphire II's do) just bright.
I gave them more time to break in hoping that the 'sizzle' would tame down and
diminish. It did slightly but not enough for my tastes. In comparison to
the older Sapphire II's I have on hand, the Sapphire III's sound smoother,
thinner in the midbass and brighter with more detailed highs. They are
absolutely smooth sounding without any harsh blaring. The Sapphire II's as
accurate as they sound, sometimes had an upper midrange peak that blared out
at you and could hurt your ears. The Sapphire III's even with the bright
tweeter, do not exhibit any of these harsh traits. They are very smooth,
just with a hot treble end. I read a review in the Audio Critic where the
reviewer David Rich said that his Sapphire III's sounded less bright than
he remembered his old Sapphire II's sounded. In his case he did not have the
Sapphire II's on hand for direct A/B comparisons. I do have both on hand and
I can say for sure the Sapphire III (at least the newer version I received
from ACI) is brighter sounding than the Sapphire II's in the upper highs.
Too much brighter in my opinion. Maybe ACI, redesigned the tweeter's crossover
after the Audio Critic's critisism and brightened it up for David Rich? Hmmmm,
it makes me wonder. I mention this because I detect a descrepancy from my
Sapphire III's tweeter crossover circuit from the tweeter crossover description
described by Speaker Builder magazine's Gary Galo in his favorable review of
them. In Gary Galo's description of his Sapphire III's tweeter circuit, he
described an impedance compensation notch filter. I found no such configuration
in my Sapphire III's tweeter circuit, just a straight forward 1st order design
similiar to the configuration used in my older Sapphire II's. Hmmmm, did ACI
change the design to brighten it up? If so, it was a mistake in my opinion.
For instance, 'as received' the new version Sapphire III's sway the 'tock'
in a 'tick-tock' sound to sound like the 'tick' sounds. Snare drum hits
have a sizz to their snares rattling and sound thinned out because of this.

The GOOD NEWS is this can be VERY easily and cheaply rectified!

What to do? I added a very simple and easy resistor modification to tone
the tweeter level down a hair. The modification consists of simply adding a
resistor 'in series' with the Sapphire III's tweeter (+) or (red) terminal
posts on the back of the cabinet. I tried different values of resistance
from .5 ohm to 2 ohms. I settled on using 1.47 ohms (or 1.5 ohms to round off).
This definitely fixed the over-bright sizzle of the Sapphire III's and
the speaker sounds well balanced now with ALL of my program sources and music.
It is very very satisfying like this and I wish that ACI would have just tuned
it this way to begin with! I used 10 watt wire wound resistors that I had on
hand and had ordered from MCM Electronics (an electronics supply mail order house).
I used a 1 ohm resistor and a .47 ohm resistor in series for a total
of 1.47 ohms as stated above. You could just as well get the resistors from
your local Radio Shack. They sell 1 ohm, 10 watt wire wound resistors. You
can parallel two 1 ohm resistors to make a .5 ohm resistor value. Then put this
.5 ohm in series with another 1 ohm resistor to arrive at the needed 1.5 ohms
to put in series with the Sapphire III's (+) tweeter terminal post. That's it.
Of course you can vary the resistor value by + or - .5 ohms to suit your tastes!
I like the 1.5 ohms setting. Like this, the speakers sound excellent, superb
and very well balanced. They are superior to my Sapphire II's this way and
are more satisfying to listen to on most of the music that I have played
through them (from Jazz to Rock/Pop to Classical).

As for the concern of the change in Focal mid-bass units, I do detect a
difference in frequency response but it is relatively minor. The older
Sapphire II's have a slightly more prominent bass output than the newer
Sapphire III's. The Sapphire III's in direct A/B comparisons sound thinner
in the mid-bass region than the Sapphire II's. But only slightly. Where
they are better is in power handling capability and smoothness. They seem
to play really loud without any compression of dynamics and no mechanical
cone or suspension stress. The Sapphire III's upper mid-bass does not
have that annoying peak that the Sapphire II's can have on some program
material. The Sapphire III's are utterly smooth! With the tweeter resistor
mod in place, I cannot find any negative areas that this speaker does wrong.
It is absolutely a very, very smooth, accurate and thus satisfying system.
I must emphasize however, that I only rate them this highly when used with
stereo subwoofers such as the two ACI Sub-1's that I used to evaluate them
with! Without subwoofers they are okay, but do not satisfy. They need
subwoofers! I consider them a complete full range high end speaker system
ONLY with subwoofers. With subwoofers they are one of the best sounding
systems around regardless of price! They compare favorable with the best
and most expensive systems (like the new B&W Nautilus 801's).

What more can I say? I am trying to convey an honest assessment of the
Sapphire III's with Sub-1 subwoofers. I did examine the internal crossover
network design (for the tweaks and techies out there), and I really was not
as impressed with the layout of the network as I am with their sound.
The coils were placed way to close together and windings were in the same plane
so that crossover interference between the coils magnetic flux can occur.
How much of an audible improvement would be had if they were not layed out this
way though, I can't say. Just an engineering design consideration that I don't
know why ACI did not consider this. They could have at least glued down the big
woofer coil such that its windings were perpendicular to the other two coils,
thus minimizing the flux crosstalk between coils. ACI are you listening?
Also noticed that they cut corners on parts quality for the crossover as
compared with my older Sapphire II's. I see what looks to be a cheap mylar
bypass capacitor in the tweeter circuit and I see they used two cheapo
electrolytic type of capacitors in one leg of the mid-bass's crossover.
The rest of the components in the Sapphire III seem to be of high quality.
In my old Sapphire II's ALL crossover parts were of high quality not just some.
Also the Sapphire III feels a bit lighter in weight than the Sapphire II's.
Internal bracing was removed from the newer Sapphire III's so that they no
longer have a cross brace in two planes like the older Sapphire II's.
Instead of the big removable MDF cutout back plate of the Sapphire II, the
Sapphire III now uses a little generic plastic terminal cup with decent
gold plated terminal posts. Maybe they had to increase the internal cabinet
volume for the newer Focal midbass unit, that's why they removed the extra
cross bracing? I'm only guessing here. But the Sapphire III's cabinet
still is as solid as and passes the 'knuckle rap' test as the olde Sapphire II
cabinets. No problem here.
Well these are the facts. I am just glad that they sound just fine as the
total end result. So that is what really matters.
Just to let you know, you may very well like or love the newer Sapphire III's
without the resistor mod that I recommended. They really can and do sound
very pleasing without the mod too, just on the brighter side of things.
With mod, IMHO they are easy Stereophile Class B category stuff and an easy
FIVE STARS rating here at Audio Review.

The Sapphire IIIs are a bit on the bright side, and my small room is bright to begin with. This is how you deal with small room acoustics with the Saphire IIIs (two of them) matched up with one ACI Titan sub:
Because small rooms have extemely poor characteristics in the low bass region, the sub must be crossed over properly with the Sapphire IIIs and ALSO BE EQUALIZED (I do not want to hear from "purists" who cannot handle the reality of needing equalization in a small room). I have done it well using a product from AudioControl called the Richter Scale III. It is a subwoofer crossover AND equalizer. Using this unit does wonders with the problem of keeping response smooth in the 50 to 200 Hz region and below. I do not work for AudioControl (or ACI) but ACI and AudioControl should cut a deal. The combination of Sapphire IIIs, Titan sub and Richter Scale is 5 stars all the way! By the way - I handled the brightness with a simple tone control on my preamp.