DENVER (PTA) — It’s the Raidho Acoustics world premiere of a new loudspeaker, Moon by Simaudio never sounds better, VPI Industries rages on with direct-drive power, and Nordost weaves a web of gold.

Sponsored by Core Power Technologies A/V — Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2019 coverage sponsored by Core Power Technologies A/V

The Story

The new Benno Baun Meldgaard designed Raidho Acoustics TD2.2 (starting at $46,000 pr USD) tower loudspeaker is the natural evolution of the well known D2.1 it replaces. The D2.1 embodied the heritage of Raidho design, so evolving and building upon the existing platform only made sense. The all new driver redesign debuted in April 2019 at the Axpona premiere of the TD1.2 standmount speaker.

The 6.5-inch mid-woofers of the TD2.2 (and TD1.2) were developed in-house with a new design for the magnet motor structure and support chassis. The chassis is designed to have a minimum of influence on the airflow and seek to eliminate reflections occurring inside the enclosure. Feature changes to the mid-woofer include a patent pending new 5-layer tantalum/diamond-cone, inner cabinet damping, and proprietary edge-wound titanium voice-coil. Along with the use of a lower distortion, TD quasi-ribbon tweeter that sees more backwave elimination due to redesign and an all new crossover. Overall efficiency is rated at 89dB and with a stable 6-Ohm load presented to the amplifier.

The new TD2.2 really does bill itself as an all-new and more efficient loudspeaker with so much revised and improved technology. Outward, the looks of the new TD2.2 vary little from the previous D2.1 it replaces, and that’s a good thing as I’ve always felt they were destined to be an iconic design as time marches forward.

The rest of the system was rounded out by a Moon Evolution 700i V2 amplifier, 780D v2 DAC (and streamer), a 610LP phono-stage, a VPI HW-40 Signature turntable paired with a Van Den Hul “The Black Crimson” phono cartridge, and Nordost Valhalla II cabling throughout.

The Sound

The new Raidho TD2.2 speaks to power handling like no other speaker I’ve heard. I dared the room operators to close the door and crank the volume knob. The Moon electronics had the power on tap for great control, and the mid-woofers didn’t flinch. The strength of the new under-hung design exhibits itself well during hard playback material and dynamics. It seems unbreakable. Distortion was non-existent, and tonality pure. Presentation was snappy and large. I was duly impressed with Raidho’s new compact floor-stander, as it played like anything but compact.