Do you agree with what people have said here about the 2.5s? 1. Apparently they take for ever to break in and they sound awful out of the box. 2. They need to be placed far apart. 3. They need plenty of room from the back wall. Otherwise they will sound boomy. Finally, how is their tone? Are they dead neutral or you would say they tend towards the warmer side of neutral? What electronics do you use them with? Thank your so much for the input! Luis.
Yes. Yes. That helps. Warmer side. Naim. I read article that also commented about the SS/Naim synergy. This was a demo at Raidho/SS HQ and that's what they use. Says it all for me. To be fair I use a NaimUniti 2 with my 2.5 but my dealer also uses that combo for audition too.
Interesting and timely topic. I say timely because there are 6 pair of 2.5's on sale on Audiogon ranging in price from $1800 to $2499 , unless there has been a buying frenzy in the last 48 hours I have seen this Scansonic 2.5 model bunch up sale a few times for sale over the last year, but 7 pair takes the cake.
I am curious why this is so. One member on this thread was ready to rebox his pair of 2.5 after 20 hours of burn-in only to find that 40+ hours of play opened them up. Another member claimed 50-100hrs of play or burn in.
However, I am curious if there is other reasons like placement headaches; service problems: WAF ( always a speaker killer), or interfacing electronics and cables with the 2.5 speaker. I hardly doubt that those remaining six sellers if still standing were not just selling to finance a summer vacation, or tricking out their 1968 Mustang Coup.
Actually, I am interested in the speaker as a potential upgrade and improvement over my Golden Ear Technology model 7's which received rave reviews at CES 2012 date?. (I have owned them about 18 months and they are fully broken-in) Has any member who bought the Scansonic 2.5 speaker recently on sale or when they first came on the market last summer, and KEPT THEM., satisfied with the much improved.sound quality after an appropriate period of burn in, ever compare GET model 's 7 with the Scansonic 2.5 speaker??. Obviously, the Scansonic 2.5 at $3600 is almost three times more than the GET model 7.
It would really be nice just once what the real explanation to such anomalies of buying and selling that often occur in our neurotic hobby. Maybe it is just coincidence, or market correction, or maybe every audiophile file is secretly saving for a National Lampoon ( style) Vacation at Wally World, USA.
I am am wondering the same thing SunnyJim. Maybe the people reselling them don’t frequent these boards.
i am upgrading from emotiva stealth 8s which I love. But the amp in one of them has went for the third time. And everything I’ve listened to except the their monitors fall short.
If I don’t buy a mb-1 or mb-2.5 I’m gonna get a used pair of dynaudio focus 160.
I think the sound changed after some time in them but it just be getting used to the sound. I talked to one of those sellers and he was using them I. The bedroom I believe and they needed more room. They do need some space in between them. 7'-9' and closer to 9' is better. They like good electronics and seem to be very fond of Naim. I've had mine a little I've a year and have only considered upgrading to 3.5 of the new MB-5. Probably won't do either for a bit but it's an option. If you like to play loud then the 2.5 may not be best for you. I get best results around 80-85dbs but that may just be me in my room. I listen to a bit of everything but mostly rock.
I still enjoy the sound of my MB-25's after almost a year since I purchased them. As a former owner of Maggie and Martin Logan speakers, the best I could describe the MB-2.5's sound is they sound like like a pair of Maggie's plus some quality bass. They need a bigger space than a bed room for sure, they need to be placed carefully, they are power hungry, they like quality source and cables, room treatment is almost a must-do, they need at least 100 hrs or more to break in. But they are also very rewarding once you have everything in order. I could understand why there are so many low-hour MB-2.5's for sale on Audiogon. Because these speakers sound HORRIBLE before they are broken in and they are not the easiest speakers to deal with.
I totally agree..Ive had mine for maybe 10 months and they sound even better then they did at 6 months.Plus what I really really like is unlike the Raidho line which looses its value about every 6 months when they change the line,my 2.5 are basically worth what I paid for them new..
Going to add a review of the MB3.5s shortly. But. I thought I made a mistake when i bought them. Or so I thought. Sounded terrible. Raidho pedigree yes, sound, no. However, I gave the speakers to my kids for their gaming system. Well, a few months later I went to the basement and had I difficult time understanding what i was hearing. They were a whole different speaker. Detailed, transparent, AND,.....when I put them back into my rig, the power needed to drive them had decreased substantially. I run the BMC CS2 integrated, a high power high resolution amp. THIS was a mini Raidho, they were far closer to my D3s then not, but on micro scale. In no way to they compete with any Raidho speaker, but they are glorious in their own right.Don't get buried in worrying about the "Raidho sound." I believe that to many people give up on these to soon. I suspect now that 500-600 hours of break in are needed. Remember, a speaker breaks in at the spider, not the cones, and the electronics of the cross-over are broken in at about 75 hrs. My thoughts on these have completely changed, and NOW I feel a made a great move in buying these.
Just set up MB 6 with Vitus RI 100. Owned most speakers up to 80k. MB 6 one of the best. Bass little light but they are new and room 35X25. No speakers, just music. Plus great focus and image. 10k retail a total steal. Vitus best solid state I have owned, also a steal at 13k retail.
My MB speakers took 79.45 years of 24/7 break in. I had to give them to Dr. Who to break in over several hundred years over several parallel universes. Oh, and I also had to add a bass trap 2 light-years wide at the back of the room....Then they started to open up a little. ;)
This is the most I have ever heard mentioned about break-in in a forum. The most I have ever heard about a speaker sounds terrible out of the box...I actually read in here that the speaker gets better and then gets WORSE and then gets better during the break-in period.....really?!?!?!?!? The impression I am left with is that there is just something amiss with these and it is far more likely that it takes a long time for your ear to adjust to, and appreciate, the type of sound these speakers make.
The boominess I keep hearing about is a *major* disappointment to me. YES, of course, you can rearrange/treat your house to help it, but the marketing touts non-boominess as a major plus for these speakers. It is true with 100% of speakers you can improve the bass with treatments and perfect placement.... It sounds like you are starting out with a boomy speaker to begin with and having to fix the boominess with heroic efforts that are not necessary with other speakers. With only small 4.5 in drivers - there should be 0 boom and the ported design of these speakers must have suffered to get the external design they wanted. People resorting to plugging the ports *seriously?*- something is wrong with the cabinet design.
I agree with above post, I sold mine 2.5 within 10 months of purchase. Whatever I did the ’boominess’ never want go, however once plugged in the foam into the port, the effect got reduced, scarifying the dynamic. Never had such audio purchase went wrong, yes in my previous post I raved about the laid back sound, reliazed after brought the speakers Triangle Gaia Ez I was so wrong.
And in one of the shows in Bangkok the Raidho D5.1 had similar kind of effect on bass, its just my opinion
Murgeshj I am glad that you've found a pair of speakers that you like. The best part of our hobby is that there is no single correct answer to all of us. I'm still happy with my 2.5's. I think I will sell them one day just like what I did with the other speakers that I've owned before. Until then, I still consider the 2.5's one of the best investments that I've done for my system.
I agree with that jjue. For the price it would be tough to replace my 2.5. Very happy with them. Would be nice if I could keep them 9' apart but that won't work in my current room. I'm stuck at 7.5'.
Murgeshj I experienced the 'boominess' in the early days of my 2.5's but it hasn't been an issue after 200 or 300 hrs. May be my ears were 'trained' to get used to the sound :) I saw your posts on YouTube and I think the 2.5'a may not be the best speakers for your listening environment. I grew up in Southeast Asia and I am quite familiar with the living environment there. The concrete and tile constructed hard surface structure can be a major issue for speakers like the 2.5's. Have you tried British made speakers like Harbeth or Spendor? My guess is those speakers may sound pretty good in your listening room.
Jonmc138 it's nice to know that I am not the only person who likes the 2.5's. I am lucky enough to be able to separate my 2.5's 9' apart and still have about 1.5' from the side walls. The 2.5's don't sound as good as the much more expensive speakers if you like full orchestra music. But for the music l like and listen to frequently (Jazz, Vocal, Chamber), my 2.5's have done an outstanding job for me.
Jjue, it is nice to hear that you have seen my videos in Youtube, you should be correct, in the showroom(acoustically treated) 2.5 was sounding wonderful and in the home it was different animal. I have ever used Kef, want to try Harbeth not very soon and also eyeing on Monitor audio.
Interesting you found the treated room sounded better since the Scansonic/Raidho speakers seem to work well with little treatment. Unless you're referring to bass traps that helped with the boominess you were referring to in your earlier post.
I seen in different forums complaining about the reliability on the Rega-R CD player, considering the Rega DAC-r instead, last week-end I heard CEC TL-51XZ and Moon cd.5 both were used, CEC was way better to my taste, tons of detail with smooth presentation, however the combination with ATC might be too analytical.
I suggested Rega was because of the SCM speakers. I used Rega Planet, Apollo CD players before. I borrowed my friend's Rega DAC and DAC-R and used them on my system for extended period of time too. I owned my Planet for more than 10 years and never had any issues. Sold it dirt cheap and felt like to keep it still :)
Rega products all have the similar signature sound. The difference is in the details. They all sound very open and natural. I changed to Hegel HD-25 after I sold my Rega and W4S gears. I have also tried Ayre DAC on my system and I like it very much, too. So give Hegel and Ayre DACs a try if you have a chance.
I was at a similar demonstration where they first played the MB-1 and then switched to the 2.5. The sound of both pairs were astounding and the room was packed. The bass put out by the MB-1 was surprising. However at one point there was some clipping or other distortion and the presenter ran over to the integrated amp to turn it down, saying "oops".
This was rather alarming to me because I did not think they were playing that loud. So the question is: How loud can these go? Does anyone find themselves turning the volume down compared to previously owned speakers?
If you're looking for concert levels then these are not for you. I've had my 2.5 "pop" a couple of times on bass heavy tracks turned up. I just don't turn them up that loud anymore. Still plenty loud for my room but not loud enough for my neighbors to know what song I'm playing.
I have had them sing quite loud a few times by plying drums and percussion. I don't think they 'rock' at the concert levels. They can sing loud but I don't think they sing well for rock concerts.
We really wanted to like the MB2.5 as we were considering the line from a distributor we already have a relationship with. The price, size and look of them is all very attractive. We tried out a pair that had about 100 hours on them and proceeded to put on about another 500 hours. When we first received them, they were unbelievably boomy. The boominess did lessen over time, but even with about 600 hours on them, they were still far too boomy for us, even very free from room boundaries, so we gave up. We didn't try plugging the port, even though we knew it would help. Our thought was that if we were well away from room boundaries, fed them ample high-quality power, had 600+ hours break-in and they still didn't sound good, they weren't for us. Too bad. We hooked up a pair of ATC and were very happy again.
I agree with the boominess assessment. Also thanks for confirming these speakers are not for reproducing AC/DC at concert levels. That being said, I think the midrange, treble and imaging is hard to beat for acoustic and vocal. I'm considering a pair just for that as they are small enough to move in and out of the system.
i have recently purchased an MB 3.5 . i run it with a Hegel h 360 Amp which has 250 W RMS . When i play the speakers at about 75 (out of a maximum of 99) level on my Amplifier the side woofers start to rattle. Is this normal as part of the burn in. when i checked with the dealer he advised me to play the MB 3.5 at lower than 65 level of Hegel 360.
Any experience on rattling sound during breakin ? Any comments on MB 3.5 playback with amplifiers of 200 W and up.
I heard the same rattle (they only had about 25 hrs on then at the time) and it will go away after break in from what I was told. A friend had them and he likes very loud and when I asked if the rattle still happened he said no. His amp was the Aavik U300. Another thing is I don't know how long it takes for the rattle to go away.
As I stated early in this thread I went to a private demo for the MB-1 - 2.5 and 3.5. They all had about 25 hrs on them and my first impression wasn't all that favorable - very boomy. Then I heard the 2.5's at approx 250 hrs and to me they sounded like totally different speakers. So much better. I owned the D2's so I didn't pay too much attention other that I thought they are a great value for the money especially after being broken in. Like the Raidho's placement is pretty critical. Ideally you want at least 9 ft apart and toed in pointing to your shoulders. Being bottom ported they can be placed pretty close to the side and back walls but I preferred them a couple feet away. IMO they are more of a near field speaker. That said with a pair of 4 1/2" drivers they are not concert level speakers.
I have the MB-1 Scansonic speakers. Was thinking I would sell them and buy a pair of Eminent Technology LFT16. Any opinions? I love the MB-1 - but have the bug to try a change. Thanks!
Has anyone compared the MB-1 with the Raidho x-1 or xt-1t?
I'm particularly interested to read your impressions comparing the mid's & highs.
These will be very close to a corner wall, so monitors are what I'm looking for.
Thanks in advance.
It's been a couple of years. The X-1 will have a blacker background resulting in more 'air' between the instruments and vocals which you hear more detail. Overall they will sound more open. I've heard the XT-1 but not side by side with the X-1 or the MB-1. The XT-1 has softer surrounds vs the X1 which means even faster transients.
The MB-1 will play lower.
Thanks xti16. It's so difficult to buy speakers unheard. It becomes based on leaps of faith, and trust in other peoples hearing. As you know, the MB1's are significantly less money than the XT-1's or X1's.
Is there such a thing as an "over accentuated sound-stage"? I really like the MB-1, but sometimes the sound seems like its coming from behind me or way way off on either side. "Growing Up" by Peter Gabriel is all over the room. I understand the "disappearing act" but this seems ridiculous. I also have an older pair of Norh 4.0 speakers and they seem more accurate to what a sound-stage should be. Am I crazy?
I think some music is recorded to sound that way. I have some Chesky demos for speaker placement that sound like that. My Dyn C1's did it too. But my old Mission/Cyrus 782's never did sound like that. OTOH your room and seating position will contribute to sounds behind you. But extreme right and left IMO is a sign of a really well designed speaker.
BTW the X/T -1's are a much higher class of speaker.
Just to say that at the Sound & Vision Bristol HiFi show I heard Scansonic M6 floorstander (at the time price was £1000.00 now understand it has gone up) what immediately struck me was their resolution, airy sort of 3d presentation and realistic sound. At the time blues music was being played and these slim floorstanders made a deep impression on me espescially the musical slam these speakers were capable of producing. However as I read Scansonic speakers require a long burn in and are a little fussy as to placement. They are not so popular in UK and one dealer stopped stocking the brand as there was no demand. Its a shame if only these speakers required little warm up and were room friendly!
just to put my .02$ after my recent experience with MB2.5 I got them recently as dealer demo with less then 20hrs on them for a good price. first impressions were great (coming from SF Venere1.5) especially in highs, so much air and wide stage even with low hrs on them. For music i listen(mostly metal and rock ) they do much better then SF as expected .I expect in few months it will only get better as they slowly start to open up as everyone mentioned here. They are not bright and even on pour recordings they are not fatiguing which is important as some of my collection are not great production records. I haven't experience extreme boominess as some mentioned here but my room is big and i did have enough space to spread them out 9 feet . One other thing i want to point out as a big plus is customer service. I had an issue when my wife blow one of the tweeters watching a movie on youtube and the adds ware louder quite a bit . i got an email for Dantax support and after few emails to different departments they did respond and i was sent new tweeter to my home for FREE. I did not mentioned i bought speaker as is with no dealer warranty as it was new old stock and he was not caring their products any more. Tweeter came with in 7 days of email from Denmark to Texas , replaced it myself ,enjoying speaker once more. For what i was looking they are at this moment great fit and wife likes them more then SFs which is even more important! My gear is hegel h200 ,mac mini server with audirvana , mydac dac with hi diamond cables
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