Do you like Raidho speakers? Frankly speaking, do you drool over Raidho speakers? Do those snappy transient responses and the sense of air typical of the Danish firm make you go crazy, but you know you are two zeros short from the price tag of even the cheapest model?
I do.
Last year Raidho’s chief designer, Michael Borresen presented in Munich the D-5, a $200.000+ speaker standing six feet tall and fledging a stack of diamond coated woofers and midrange drivers with a ribbon tweeter disposed in D’Appolito configuration with the only problem being the price. This year they repeated the trick with the sole difference being the in-house produced amplifier, the Aavik U-300 instead of Constellation’s electronics with the NAGRA DAC and Ansuz cables being the same. Not much new here you might think.
Tony, one of our readers commented last year “I never met a Raidho speaker that I did not like. I never met a Raidho speaker that I could afford. There’s the dissonance.” And this has been my point exactly. Raidho is taking care of us Tony! Michael Borresen designed a new line of affordable speakers under the brand Scansonic.
There are currently 3 models, a small bookshelf and two floorstanders under this brand name, and I finally managed to listen to the smaller of the two, the MB2.5 priced at a very reasonable 2.900 euros. These are good speakers, made in Denmark (and not somewhere in the Far East), carry a similar sealed ribbon tweeter with carbon cone woofers and physically resemble the mighty Raidhos.
You probably think I am going to wax poetic here, but this is how it went. During the show, the staff tried to pump them far beyond their capabilities in terms of power handling, and the Class D Aavik pushed them hard — the result being an audible distortion in Led Zeppelin’s classic “Whole Lotta Love”. Still, the little white and carbon fiber mini-Raidho showed some cojones and made it through without breaking (not so many companies risk playing that loud during shows, breaking a speaker in front of Munich’s crowd and the press is as bad as publicity can be). At normal volumes, they showed common traits with the D-5s standing right next to them; the sound was fast, detailed and airy. A very interesting proposition for more down-to-earth people.
I heard those Scansonics at Axpona this year. They were incredible. I had them play Heart’s “Mistral Wind” at my request, “as loudly as you are comfortable playing them.” Even though 6 people left the room, I thoroughly enjoyed them. One guy asked if there was a subwoofer in the room. The presence of the high’s was just uncanny, as well as the bass performance. Compared to the Raidho’s they had in there (at 30k) , it made them seem all the better. They offered me a pair for a nice discount, alas I was not in the financial state to purchase speakers haha!
I think I was in the Raidho room at the same time as you. Did you repeatedly ask Lars (larz?) to keep turning it up as loud as it would possibly go (or close to those words)? You came back to sit down a little longer when you heard the disc I had them play…Woman in Chains by Tears for fears. If so, small world. I agree the 2.5’s were insanely good for $3500. Makes me want to hear what they can offer for a somewhat higher (not raidho prices, though) price tage.
Lars Kristensen is Raidho’s front man and a friend, the rest i prefer not to comment 😉
This is the first time I’ve comented on an article and others comments. So, I guess don’t know how to do it properly. My first comment was actually in response to Hank Nova’s comment. He is the one I was writing to. Anyway, PK, nice article.
You never know who is sitting just behind you in a show 😉
(and keep in mind that the Scansonics played much much less hours than the big Raidhos, I had to come back several times and request Lars to play them for us)