Diamond drivers
Off topic, perhaps, but in respons to poster Jwm: I heard all the Raidho speakers at CES 2013 and was not impressed. It is a favorite of Valen's which means hifi sounding and it sure is. I once owned the Raidho C1.0's(w/upgraded Raidho binding posts), and while my main issues with their sonics may not address your "quibble" on Raidho speakers sounding "hifi," based on your recent CES impressions, I'm guessing my own impressions carry strong remnants of "hifi"-sound that applies to your usage of the term. I could start out by asking what you mean with speakers sounding like hifi, but what rubbed me the wrong way with the C1.0's was a noticable lack of energy or "aliveness" in central areas. I would describe them as extremely elegant sounding, unfluttered, well-balanced, highly resolved, and quite composed - though on the verge of (or rather trespassing the line of) being a bit dull-sounding. By 'dull' I mean a certain lack of dynamic expressiveness as well as the lack of ability to make me "feel" the fabric and palpable quality of the music, as if being robbed the unwarnished rawness of the sonic material at hand. Moreover Raidho speakers in general have struck me as having perhaps a tendency to emphasize spatial information that makes it feel slightly unnatural at times. Within the realm of the more or less "typical" hifi-speakers above named issues may not be that prevalent, and there are certainly qualities found in the Raidho speakers' sonics that makes them the preferable choice in many cases here, but my latest(i.e.: last two years) endeavors with compression driver-fitted waveguides and pro-style paper-coned 12" woofers have made a huge difference in addressing my complaints aimed at the Raidho's(and hifi-speakers in general), radically tilting the sound away from the (to my ears) too smooth and "dull" imprinting. Now to be found is instead a dynamic explosiveness, "ignition" at lower levels, the sense of real instruments and voices being played, scale in spades, and not least the overriding feeling of effortlessness - very, very important, to me at least, in setting the music free and making it sound real. I gather these traits go somewhat contrary to what is usually seeked and cultivated in the hifi-domain in general. Put shortly the Raidho's became too cultivated, too spacious, and too dull and smoothed out to my taste, and my main reference in coming to realize this was the frequent attendance of live, acoustic concerts - in tandem with a gut feeling. Hifi has veered off too strongly to become cultivated and tamed, and while Raidho has made efforts to avoid exactly that I believe their course has yet to address it properly. Somehow I doubt expensive diamond cones will make any significant changes to this signature, and that the tendency is instead linked to the overall implementation of the product. Just my 5 cents... |
Phusis, the C1.1 are suppose to be significantly more dynamic and more emotionally connecting to the music than the C1. So may have gotten what you're looking for in the C1.1 that C1 was lacking. Roy Gregory have compared both side by side, and that was his conclusion. http://www.theaudiobeat.com/equipment/raidho_c11.htm |
Seadogs1 -- Phusis, I understand about dull speakers, which speakers do you think are NOT dull? As in "NOT dull" = real life vitality? None, presumably, and yet; fortunately what mimics real life sonic conditions do not require for an absolute replica, but works within thresholds where approximations of a certain order make for startling realism. It's just that many if not most typical hifi-speakers linger on the wrong side of the threshold that translates into "NOT dull," as I hear it. My own speakers, and their sibling models, are certainly not dull, as aren't many other alternatives fitted with compression drivers or (to a lesser extent) even tweeter domes in front of larger waveguides/horns - like all models I've heard from S.P. Tech/Aether Audio, various DIY solutions, JBL K2's and Everest, and others. It's not only a matter of most notable compression drivers used in front of waveguides, typically used from 800Hz to 1kHz and upwards to 18-20kHz with 1" exits, but also very important is the bass/mid driver where such are not low fs units as typically seen in smaller 2-way hifi-speakers, where even 6 1/2" mid/woofers can get relatively sluggish in their upper working areas. A 12" mid/bass unit with a lighter paper cone and strong motor can make small wonders in the lower to central mids, I tell you, leaving smaller hifi-units pale in comparison, and moreover makes for a more ideal energy coherence transition in conjunction with a 12" waveguide than what you'd see between a 6" unit and a 1" dome tweeter or even a ribbon-like unit used in the Raidho's. |
