Raven Osprey with Spatial M3 Sapphires

i agree with tvad -- ring up clayton -- he is quite accessible and easy to talk to, very knowledgeable

if the tube amp you are considering has 4 ohm taps then it should be fine w 30 wpc push pull kt66 configuration if your room is of average size and you listen at reasonable levels

the issue/challenge w m3 sapphires is control and driving the dual 15 in woofers... so flea watt tube amps, no matter how sweet, need not apply

i am using 3 amps (alternating of course, not at the same time 🤓) with my m3s’s.... linear tube audio zotl 40 (45 wpc el34), audio research ref 75 (75 wpc kt120) and audio mirror set45 (45 wpc 6c33c)... all are driving the speakers with apparent ease/excellent control, and can play as clean and loud as i would ever want

in my conversations with clayton on tube amps driving the sapphires he repeated emphasized the need for proper 4 ohm taps off the output transformers of the amps i mentioned, in order for the tubes to get proper ’leverage’ interacting with the woofers

iirc - raven gives an in home trial money back... so trial should be painless

rex

i like all three and at this time can’t pick a favorite

the audio mirrors... being SET has most bloom and classic tubey ’roundness’ and ’meati-ness’ - lovely sweet single ended sound but with plenty of power to grip the woofers and get loud with ease and no slurring

zotl 40 is least tubey sounding -- being output transformerless it plays closest to tip top solid state... pure extended crystalline highs, very specific imaging, fast, visceral bass -- with old stock mullards (or japanese equivalents), it still gives a nice degree of luscious tubey fleshed-out lower treble and midrange that SS can never do

arc ref 75 is kinda in the middle... some more warmth than zotl, not quite as sweet as vlad’s SETs but better deep bass -- due to the greatest power reserve, there is just an effortless quality to the sound that is captivating and it has the biggest broadest deepest image - note this amp is balanced in only, so makes more demands of upstream gear

so i alternate, listen intently, still trying to figure out how i would rank them

if you are new to tubes, i would suggest:
-- very important, make sure your m3s’s are FULLY broken before you audition $$$ amps... mine were still smoothing out towards their settled in character 1000 hrs in from new
-- i would give the raven 30 wpc a shot. given money back trial offer .. my guess is that it would fall between the audio mirror and the arc ref amps -- and that to me is roughly where the tonality a ’typical’ good sounding tube amp would fall in the ’skim milk to full fat’ spectrum -- and so it is a good place for you to start and hear what good tube amplfication will do w the spatials

@audiosaurusrex

i have not had an octave amp but it sounds like serious stuff, very solid engineering, nothing homebrewed about it

i would agree that m3 sapphires benefit from more rather than less power, especially if using tube amplification

enjoy

Blackhawk (sold mine 3 weeks ago) is also a decent amp and great value for the money, but not in the same class as these two. Not even close.

uh oh... wait, is that a roaring tsunami i hear in the distance, headed our way??  😆😆😆😆😆