Question About Raidho Models C, D, XT

audiotroy,

Thanks for the response.  The room is moderately sized, about 15x14.  The issue is that the rear wall behind me is a wall in the hallway, and on one side of the room is an open railing (rather than a wall) that leads to the dining room.  I have used an acoustic panel attached to that railing to simulate a sidewall.  That works OK, certainly not as good as having a solid wall but better than nothing.  Of course anything higher than 5 feet (the height of the rail) is open space.  The ceilings are 20 ft.

I have had "higher-end" speakers than the Duette in the room.  However the Duettes are very forgiving of a less than ideal set-up, more so than any other speaker I have ever used.  I hope to move next year in a larger house that will have a dedicated music room so I'm probably getting ahead of myself even thinking about something else.  I like the Wilson's because they're dynamic and they image pretty well.  I think their transparency is good, not great but they're better than most I've heard at reproducing the acoustic signature of a live venue.  I wondered about the Alexias (every so often I see a really good deal on them) but I haven't heard them in a while and don't know if they'd sound similar to the Duettes.  I guess ultimately if the Duettes imaged a little higher and went down a little further (in this room there is not much below 30-35hz) that would be ideal.

Ihmeyers,

If you love Wilson you probably won't like the Raidho sound, The current Wison voicing with the soft dome tweeters err more in sounding richer and more "musical" then the older Wllson speakers which used the Focal sourced tweeters.

The Raidho sound is very transparent, and the small speakers s sound way bigger then they should. One of the main issues with them is they are very very detailed and will show you any flaws and are therefore very critical of what you are using with them.

The Duettes are nice speakers there are a ton of good options depending on what you are hoping to get more of. As per Voxativ these types of speakers excell at dynamics and do not have the same kind of resolution that current high tech loudspeakers can provide also they do not create as focused a soundstage.. We sell Rethem which is a lot of the same sound for less money, and they have a unique flavor. 

If you are looking for small speakers that are superb you have many contenders, if your room is "crappy" but has sufficent volume for a good floorstander, I would add the Focal Sopras 2, the Paradigm Persona 3F and 5F the TAD ME 1, and the new Magico A3 into your list as well as the current Wilsons, also the KEF Ref 3 are very good as well.

Another interesting idea to work with less then ideal room is adding room correction to a system, this is not a cure all but can help balance out the room.

We would need to know more about the size of the room and what components you currently own to better guide you.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Thanks for the responses.  Rock concert I don't need.  My issue is the crappy room I'm in which only has one sidewall (open on one side to the dining room) and is pretty narrow.  My Duettes are about 5 feet apart as that's all I can manage in that room.

I'm guessing that D3's setup 5 feet apart (3 feet from back wall) won't do those speakers justice.

My friend has Raidho C3.1 with Absolare mono-amps and at medium to low volume it's one if the best systems I've ever heard.

Raidho's are very particular with their set-up/placement. Ideally they should be be 9' (or more) apart and pointed toward your shoulders. I had my D1's then D2's about 7 1/2' apart and although they sounded very good once I got D2.1's I was able to get them 9' and the imaging and depth got a lot better. Also they should be at least 3' (or more) from the tweeter to the back wall and same goes for the side walls.

ricred1 does bring up a point about loudness. The XT's will play louder where as both the C and D series have a much blacker background. Because of that they do play louder than you think. But if you want a rock concert in your home Raidho is not the speaker you would want.

Raidho’s and Wilson’s are completely different speakers to my ears. Unless you purchase the D series, Raidho's are best at medium to low volume. The Wilson’s are some of the most dynamic speakers I’ve ever heard and can play extremely loud.

That helped greatly, thank you very much.

How sensitive are they to a good set-up?  Right now I'm in a crappy room, big sideboard behind the speakers, only 1 sidewall, large sofa.  Uggh, I know.  When I move next year I will have a dedicated listening room again.  Right now I have Wilsons Duettes which are really forgiving of less than ideal setups and the system sounds better than it has a right to in that room.

I'm between Raidhos, WIlson Alexias and maybe Voxativs.

All are very good but a bit different from each other. The XT series is more 'lively' in its presentation. But they lack the layers of resolution of the C and D series. They play a bit louder (when pushed) too. Going to the C series adds a couple layers of resolution.  The D adds a couple more layers over the C series. In the C and D series once you hit the 3-4 and 5 you add a dedicated midrange or 2 for even more midrange clarity. I believe in the XT series once you hit the 3 and 5 there are dedicated midrange drivers. The XT 3 has a dedicated 8" side firing bass driver where the XT 5 uses multiple 4" drivers.

The X and C series have ceramic drivers. The XT has a titanium over ceramic on the drivers which adds a bit more clarity. The D series adds a layer of diamond over the ceramic. The do that with a particle accelerator. That also adds more layers of resolution because the ceramic cone breaks up around 12Khz where the diamond breaks up just over 20Khz.

All 3 use the same tweeter
Hope that helps a bit.