Raidho D1's and recommendations for amplifiers

I heard the D-2 in NY driven by a VAC tube amp and I thought it was fantastic. The specs on the D-1 say impedance is
>6 ohms. Sensitivity is a little on the low side @ 88 dB. A lot depends on the room size, what you listen to and how loud. My guess is that with a monitor you're not trying to fill a very large room to orchestral levels, in which case you probably will be fine w the Dragons.

Pass 350.8 wonderful amp,great stage,bass,imaging 350 ch plenty of power.

The size of your room and your listening tastes are going to play a big role here. If your room is larger you may find that you don't have enough power. Moderate and smaller rooms should be fine.

The speaker appears to be a moderate 6 ohm load- and the amplifier does not have provisions for less than 8 ohms. So the output power and bandwidth of the amp will be reduced and the distortion will be higher. If you are playing in a lively room of smaller size this may not be an issue.

option 1: Audia Flight Strumento pre/power combination

The Raidhos were featured at TAVES - Toronto's annual audio palooza:

Best Sound of Show — Analogue

Bergmann Audio/Raidho Acoustics/Audia Flight/Sutherland Engineering/Transparent. Walking into this room was like an audiophile oasis. A Gene Ammons LP was on the the Danish-made Bergmann Magne Turntable ($12,999 incl. air bearing arm). Ammons’ breathy tenor sax was in the room sounding like live music. Beautiful, balanced, defined, rich, present. And, when listening to the incredible Esoteric LP reissue of Kertesz/Vienna New World, the tingle meter jumped through the roof. It was so refined. Sitting next to Audiophilia writer James Norris (another conductor and a brilliant violist) was instructive. We just kept smiling at specific moments where the sound reproduction transported us from hotel room to concert hall. World class. The sound had the power and the might, but with a velvet glove. I’m already planning negotiations with my wife after the upcoming review.

The Magne Turntable (and the more expensive Sindre and Sleipner turntables) are modern, Danish designs of simplicity and sophistication. A difficult achievement, but it’s what great designers do. The Bergmann Audio air bearing, tangential tracking arm (included with the ‘table) is a big cherry on the cake. It looks and feels amazing. Tolerances are microscopic and, when sliding the arm’s tube over the air stream, feels perfect. Complementing the Bergmann were the Sutherland Engineering Power Block phono stage ($11,000), Raidho Acoustics D-1 Loudspeakers and the Audia Flight Strumento pre/power combination. The Raidhos and AF kit are very well known to me. You can find our recent, very positive reviews of both Raidho Acoustics and Audia Flight in a quick search on Audiophilia. All the manufacturers make excellent musical bedfellows with the sexy Bergmann.

Go to this page to see the whole report:
http://www.audiophilia.com/wp/?p=12511

opt1on 2: Taves 2014 Raidho X1 @Bel Canto Black

Bel Canto Black ASC1 Asyncronous Stream Controller and MPS1 Mono Block PowerStream amplifiers

http://www.serious-music.com/Blog/?p=1029

OPTION 3:

Jeff Rowland Aeris D/A converter and Jeff Rowland 625 power amplifier,

http://www.stereophile.com/content/raidho-and-rowland

I thought the Raidho D-1 loudspeaker ($28,000/pair, including stands), was among the most interesting and musically impressive new products at SSI. Raidho, a Danish company known for their work with ultra-lightweight ceramics, has developed a process for bonding to their speaker diaphragms a thin coat of industrial diamond, conferring even greater stiffness and freedom from unwanted resonances. Paired with a Jeff Rowland Aeris D/A converter and Jeff Rowland 625 power amplifier, the Raidhos were impressive on a variety of material. We’ve all heard demonstrations where we came away saying, “I can’t believe they got so much bass out of such little loudspeakers,” but in terms of the sheer quality and scale of that bass, the Raidho/Rowland combination was on another plane altogether.

Thanks for the recommendations and great advice, especially re impedance and sensitivity. Raidho doesn't publish sensitivity in their promotion literature that I could find but I'd read they were not sensitive.

Atmasphere - good points. My room is small @ 14x16 with ceiling transitioning from 9 to 14 ft; and my musical taste is varied from classical blues to jazz to rock, etc. I enjoy at times turning it up loud!

Akg_ca - Thanks - Not familiar with Audio Flight but have heard Raidho D1's match well with Rowland, Devialet, BALabo, Hegel, Robert Koda, Ypsilon, Soulution; Raidho often use Rowlands at shows. Only Hegel and Deviate are in my price range. Any comments on these two?

Try Atma-Sphere. Could be a match made in heaven. Well worth the try.

Raidho will be at Axpona this year to show off their new Aavik integrated with the Scansonic MB 2.5's Raidho X3 and D3.

Pass Labs 150.8 SS amp.
More than enough power and clean.
I have this amp with my C1.1 s and love the match. (Also using the Pass Labs XP-20 pre amp as well.)
You have a great speaker pair there! Enjoy.

If it was my money money I would have a look at a Pass Labs XA amps, Octave, or Aavik U-300.

Today I heard the Aavik U-300 with all Ansuz cabling and Raidho X-3 it sounded great. But I might prefer a tadd more warmth, Class A amps Pass or Symphonic Line. Or maybe a little bit of tube warmth, Octave.

I am using the Raidho C1.1s with an Atma-Sphere S30 and Paul Speltz Zero auto transformers. The match is absolutely perfect -- stunning synergy.

04-11-15: Mordante
If it was my money money I would have a look at a Pass Labs XA amps, Octave, or Aavik U-300.

Today I heard the Aavik U-300 with all Ansuz cabling and Raidho X-3 it sounded great. But I might prefer a tadd more warmth, Class A amps Pass or Symphonic Line. Or maybe a little bit of tube warmth, Octave.

What a small world. Yesterday I heard the Aavik U300 with the X3's too. Ansuz Ceramic cabling with the Mainz D8 streamed from a Naim NDS. My dealer used the Aavik's built in dac. I thought it sounded fantastic. What's a little funny I had the Raidho D1's driven by an Octave V110 and have upgraded to the D2's. I really liked that combo up until yesterday when I heard the Aavik. I'm seriously considering trading in the Octave.

04-10-15: Tyrreld
Akg_ca - Thanks - Not familiar with Audio Flight but have heard Raidho D1's match well with Rowland, Devialet, BALabo, Hegel, Robert Koda, Ypsilon, Soulution; Raidho often use Rowlands at shows. Only Hegel and Deviate are in my price range. Any comments on these two?

First try the amps you have. You may be surprised. I haven't heard the Hegal or Devialet but you may want to put the Naim Supernait 2 on your list. Sounds great with the D2's so the D1's wouldn't be a problem and in your budget.

That said I would highly recommend the D1's be broken in first. The Raidho's sound great out of the box but after having 2 different pair I will say the tweeters will need about 350 hrs to really smooth out. Then another 200 hrs for the bass to settle down and fully tighten up. It's a very gradual improvement. Something a first time Raidho owner wouldn't really notice but I did after getting the D2's. Honestly I had approx 2200hrs on the D1's when I traded them in. When the D2's arrived I was disappointed in the SQ. The highs were ever so slightly edgy and the lows were kind of thin sounding. After 650 hrs I stopped hearing any differences with either the D1's or D2's.

You really have to try some for yourself. I can tell you one man's synergistic utopia is another's nightmare. I would ask Raidho.

Aavik U300 is designed by Mike B from Raidho. But at 30K retail WOW.

The very best integrated amplifier I have now for my D1 is the darTZeel 8550, (with Nordost Odin cables...) Incredibile sound!!! 

Job 225?

I love raidho with constellation.  

I've owned Raidho C1 and D1 and now have the D2.  The D1s like power.  In most cases, fast powerful (at least 100 watts, preferably 200 watts) solid state amps are preferred, but there are some rare high power tube amps that do work very well with these speakers as well. According to one dealer I trust, he doesn't like warm sounding solid state amps and tube amps with the Raidhos, as the speakers already have a slightly warm sound in the lower midrange and upper bass. So tube amps like VAC or most ARC, which IME don't have very good bass contro, may not work well.  However, for some reason switching amps from ARC and NAD seem to do very well according to the dealer. I've used high powered tube amp with these and like it very much, but my tube amp isn't particularly warm like McIntosh for example.  However, they do require a tube amp that can control the woofer with authority.  Raidho seems to like Solution and Constellation amps, but I think those amps are way overpriced.  I've heard the D1s with Rowland amps, which are very smooth sounding with D1s, but IMO lacks some liveliness.  I would agree the 75 watt Coincident amps would not have enough power for the D1s.

Right! I agree with you...
The very best amplifier I have tried with my D1.1 was the Fm acoustics 811/255 combo, but even with my darTZeel CTH 8550 integrated I am totally happy...!!!

@kin You have D1.1's? Did you compare them them to the D1's? If so what differences in SQ are there?

I am in the market for speakers and have pretty much settled in on the Raidho D1.1s they are fantastic! Heard the d1s last year but couldn't pul the trigger they are at T.H.E. SHOW 2016 going on now in Irvine Califonia the Aavik U300 is great but yeah it's $30 large a big chunk however it is an integrated amp with phon stage and a DAC so altogether that is more bearable talking to Lars they do like power 100W + and they seem to feel class D like the Aavik solid state is a better fit....

@qbndds - What amp do you have now? BTW the D1.1's sound a lot better than the original D1's so I would say it was a good thing you couldn't pull the trigger last year. Otherwise you would be looking at getting them upgraded.

Anyhow back to the amp. When I had D1's I had an Octave V110 tube integrated w/black box and it sounded great. Then I upgraded to the D2's. Only at very high listening levels did the Octave fall apart (mids and highs would increase in volume but the lows stayed the same). I think that was more of a tube characteristic so after the Axpona 2015 show I bought the Aavik U300. I think you should listen to the D1.1's with your current amp first  Then audition different amps to get the sound you're looking for. If you like the Aavik check out Jeff Rowland and Soulution. Burmester is also very good and a little warmer sounding.

Good Luck 

Kin, can you describe the difference in sound between the dartZeel and Soluution amps with your Raidho?

@xti16 
I just bought a Jeff Rowland Continuum S2 not hooked up yet to pair up with the Raidho D1.1 s will let you know the outcome!

@qbndds                                                                                                                        Congrats on the JR. Even though I haven't heard the JR with Raidho's I've read they are a great match. After all Raidho used the JR's at a lot of demos before the Aavik was released.