Raidho D1 audition



Two weeks ago I have heard the Raidho D1 speakers in a hi-end shop in Amsterdam (A10 audio). Surprisingly, but luckily for me, I was the only one attending the "morning" demonstration. I could listen all the CD that I brought with me sitting in the sweet spot and without any disturbances.

The D1 where driven by the Jeff Rowland Corus preamp and the 625 power amp. There were two CD players hooked up, i.e. the dCS Vivaldy and an EMM labs single box retailing at roughly 30k euros (I did not asked which model it was). The dealer told me that the system was optimized for the dCS player, meaning he has used his most expensive cables costing around 30K euros. He did not mention which brand of cables he used and I did not bother asking as I find it silly to use cables that cost as much as the pre-power combo (we all have our prejudice in this regard).

The D1s sounded certainly nice, very detailed and fast but also with a very full midrange. Resolution-wise, one would have a rather hard time to find speakers that are more transparent in the midrange and highs (IMO of course). Speed-wise, while very fast, the D1s are not as fast as horns or electrostatics. The stereo image and soundstage were quite good (given the fact that the listen room was filled with other electronics and speakers) and together with the very detail and full midrange made for a rather impressive presence of the speaker in the room. That is, voices and most instruments where rendered with full body and size with a confidence typically associated to large speakers (at least in my experience).

I could not really judge the bass output of the D1s, as the room was quite large (given the D1s' size), plus the position of the speakers in the room was not chosen to give the best bass response but rather a good stereo image and soundstage. Nonetheless, it seemed decent. However, given the level of performance in the midrange and high departments, it would be a pity to not add one or two top of the line subwoofers (in fact as many as necessary) to achieve a world class performance also in this department.

I have quite a bit of experience with moderately high priced monitors like Dynaudio C1 (mk 1&2), Focal Micro Be & Diablo, Wilson Duette and Vivid Audio V1.5. Among these monitors, the Focal Diablo sounds the closest to the D1s, i.e. fast and detailed. The Vivid V1.5 has also a similar presentation. While the D1s sounded much better than any of these monitors, I find it hard to say how much better it really is. Not only I have listen these speakers in different system and room and at very different times, but one should not underestimate the effect made by the dCS Vivaldi in the D1 demo I had. (The Vivaldi was a marvelous cd player to say the least, though at 90K euros ones should not be surprised.) Maybe I should also mention here that the dealer told me that in his opinion the D1s are above the Magico Q1 (while being cheaper here in Europe). Since I have never listened the Q1s, I can not make any comment in this regard, but the dealer carries Magico speakers for a long time and has first hand experience with the Q1s.

I would conclude by saying that I was quite impress with the Raidho D1 speakers. 17k euros (including stands) is certainly a lot of money for a monitor with limited bass, but the reality is that 17K represents only a fraction of the price of other expensive monitors, e.g. TAD CR1. (I would be really interested to hear from people who have listen the TAD CR1 monitor and also the Raidho D1s).

Finally, I should acknowledging A10 audio in Amsterdam (www.a10audio.nl) for putting together a very nice demo.
nvp
>>WRONG Razmika ..
Mmmm... I looked in to that. At the time this was written (March), he had not yet received his first demo unites form Magico and he has never heard the Q1, nor does he have them now nor before. Yet, it did not stop anyone from calming that he has
JV, lost his exclusivity on Magico so he goes out and find Raidho; something else he can champion. A nice small 2-way, MDF box, ceramic woofer, and a ribbon. Nice but nothing else. These have been around for some time, but apparently no one cared until JV said it is OK. It really is OK, but it is not a Magico (Nor a Vivid). Not in spec, value, nor performance. If you wish, go and visit the dealer you are talking about and hear the C1 or D1 next to the cheaper Magico S1. Once you get over the “ribbon” sound, which is impressive for short terms listening BUT extremely colored and enjoying for the long terms , it will be an easy choice. BTW, the so called "diamond" woofer, is also a bit of marketing BS. You can vaporize carbon on just about anything. It is not very expensive, and at this level, not very effective. Definitely not to be confused with drivers like the Accuton diamond domes.
Hi Razmika,

Please illuminate what evidence you have to substantiate the claim that the diamond layer applied to Raidho D-series mid/woofers amounts to marketing BS?


08-07-13: Razmika
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BTW, the so called "diamond" woofer, is also a bit of marketing BS. You can vaporize carbon on just about anything. It is not very expensive, and at this level, not very effective. Definitely not to be confused with drivers like the Accuton diamond domes.

I hope I’m wrong but the above comment has the look and feel of uninformed mudslinging to me.

To begin with, the diamond layer has nothing to do with vaporized carbon.

The process is made by a particle accelerator and has nothing to do with vapor deposits. The layer built by Raidho is structurally very close to pure diamond and is approximately 140 times harder than the ceramic material on their ceramic cones. Pure diamond would be 200 times harder. The fact that it’s “only” skin layers can be looked upon like building a composite sandwich material, using the incredible strength and hardness on the outside skin layers, separated by a softer and damped aluminum/ceramic core. This really has two major benefits that you just can’t achieve with a solid diamond material the first is being stiffer and better damped for a much lower weight, second is the ability to use diamond on the bigger drivers. Raidho claim that the Diamond membrane has its resonance breakup above 20 KHz and the Ceramic driver is at 12.5 KHz which reportedly was already better than any other manufacturer.

More details can be found on Raidho’s D-Series CES 2013 press release. Suggest you have a read.

To your other point on Accuton’s diamond domes – yes indeed Accutone have a small tweeter (not a woofer, like the Raidho D1 employs) which uses a different CVD process to apply the diamond.

Why you’d apply diamond to a tweeter is open to much debate, but what we can be more certain of is that the Raidho ribbon has a weight which is approx. 1/30th of the Accuton diamond dome and because of that it has approximately 30 times more speed and micro resolution as the critical current required to make the diaphragm move is also 30 times less than any dome!

Little wonder then that audio reviewer after audio reviewer (Valin, Gregory, Thomas, Fritz, Kershaw et. al.) report the Raidho tweeter to have incredible resolution sans listener fatique.
Awesome thread. I love the side banter. Nothing to add but reading this reminded me of the time WWF Hulk Hogan was called out to calm Tonga after his disqualification from a match. Hogan was the only one who could bring him back to his senses.
The process of building a VERY thin layer of carbon on a surface is quite common (See drill bits), “particle accelerator” in this case is simply a more sexy name to a vapor deposit. The 10 um thick carbon they add can hardly be called a “diamond” layer (you really can’t have much more than that due to the substantial increase in weight it will add). BTW, Young’s modulus of Ceramics is 435 vs. diamond 1220 GPA. Only 3 times stiffer, not 140 or 200.
Anyway, I am not trying to rain on your parade, these are fabulous speakers, try to enjoy them without having the need to justify how much better they are then a Magico or a Vivid, cause they are not.