Question: if noone likes a speaker why is it "well respected"? Just because a paid-for reviewer wets his pants over it?
I don't think if none likes a speaker it becomes well respected. A well respected speaker is one that sells well PLUS has good reviews (plural; not only a single guy wetting hos pants) PLUS picks-up well in the fora like Audioshark.Question: if noone likes a speaker why is it "well respected"? Just because a paid-for reviewer wets his pants over it?
I don't think if none likes a speaker it becomes well respected. A well respected speaker is one that sells well PLUS has good reviews (plural; not only a single guy wetting hos pants) PLUS picks-up well in the fora like Audioshark.
Even on this forum you see waves of speakers that multiple members buy. Raidho, D3/D5 Wilson Alexia, Dali Epicon 8. And quite frankly, these are good speakers for sure but for example I couldn't wet my pants on either one of those.
Just read this thread for the first time......very interesting. Kinda hard to find a speaker that didn't make the list. Ain't it great.
Paul-You may well have a good point. There are speakers listed here that are on some people's dream list to own while others here actually do own them. They all can't be that "good" or that "bad" at the same time. Could be the rooms and/or the gear they are being driven with that causes the myriad of opinions on how they sound.
With regards to Raidho, you left off "and sell" after "buy."![]()
Oh crap, why do I feel like I need to look under my bed????
Mep, I honestly would like your take on Michael's comments (link below) regarding his design objectives that I have been trying to explain to you which IMO make the Raidho's sound so singular from a musicality stand point, but also make them difficult to set up. Please pay particular attention to his reference to the vagaries of mechanical damping and the dynamic linearity of electrical damping (ergo his preference for electrical damping and the criticality of proper electronic matching).
Have you ever heard of anyone selling the Raidho's who powered them with Soulution gear? I think it is unfortunate you haven't heard the D3's with this pairing. Michael has been clear about his design intent and the tradeoff's regarding amp selection from the early days of the D3's. If people either don't understand this point or choose to ignore it and, in turn, sell the speakers while simultaneously espousing they are the most fantastically musical and engaging speakers they have ever heard, I find that very unfortunate; but it is not because the bass can't be controlled.
Please note Michael's explanation dates back to 2013 long before much of the online brouhaha about Raidho bass control. This supports my position to you that low mechanical damping was part of the original design intention which helps achieve the Raidho magic as opposed to what you refer to as a flaw (i.e., it is not cya by Michael after the fact).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkBF-LeW9ek&feature=player_embedded#at=387
Oh crap, why do I feel like I need to look under my bed????
Mep, I honestly would like your take on Michael's comments (link below) regarding his design objectives that I have been trying to explain to you which IMO make the Raidho's sound so singular from a musicality stand point, but also make them difficult to set up. Please pay particular attention to his reference to the vagaries of mechanical damping and the dynamic linearity of electrical damping (ergo his preference for electrical damping and the criticality of proper electronic matching).
Have you ever heard of anyone selling the Raidho's who powered them with Soulution gear? I think it is unfortunate you haven't heard the D3's with this pairing. Michael has been clear about his design intent and the tradeoff's regarding amp selection from the early days of the D3's. If people either don't understand this point or choose to ignore it and, in turn, sell the speakers while simultaneously espousing they are the most fantastically musical and engaging speakers they have ever heard, I find that very unfortunate; but it is not because the bass can't be controlled.
Please note Michael's explanation dates back to 2013 long before much of the online brouhaha about Raidho bass control. This supports my position to you that low mechanical damping was part of the original design intention which helps achieve the Raidho magic as opposed to what you refer to as a flaw (i.e., it is not cya by Michael after the fact).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkBF-LeW9ek&feature=player_embedded#at=387
I can't believe this thread has 25 pages...... Just saying...
Oh crap, why do I feel like I need to look under my bed????
Mep, I honestly would like your take on Michael's comments (link below) regarding his design objectives that I have been trying to explain to you which IMO make the Raidho's sound so singular from a musicality stand point, but also make them difficult to set up. Please pay particular attention to his reference to the vagaries of mechanical damping and the dynamic linearity of electrical damping (ergo his preference for electrical damping and the criticality of proper electronic matching).
Have you ever heard of anyone selling the Raidho's who powered them with Soulution gear? I think it is unfortunate you haven't heard the D3's with this pairing. Michael has been clear about his design intent and the tradeoff's regarding amp selection from the early days of the D3's. If people either don't understand this point or choose to ignore it and, in turn, sell the speakers while simultaneously espousing they are the most fantastically musical and engaging speakers they have ever heard, I find that very unfortunate; but it is not because the bass can't be controlled.
Please note Michael's explanation dates back to 2013 long before much of the online brouhaha about Raidho bass control. This supports my position to you that low mechanical damping was part of the original design intention which helps achieve the Raidho magic as opposed to what you refer to as a flaw (i.e., it is not cya by Michael after the fact).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkBF-LeW9ek&feature=player_embedded#at=387
OK. I watched the video. I actually made it all the way through. I find it ironic that the stated goal is to "remove dynamic noise" from the drivers and yet they released speakers on the market that made so much racket they offered to replace the drivers for free and I believe the crossover network too. I also thought it was interesting that Raidho's reference for designing speakers is headphones as Michael stated in the video.
If you buy into his theory of throwing mechanical dampening out in favor of electrical dampening, it's not much different than people who buy OTL tube amps instead of tube amps that have output transformers. Just as when you forgo having an output transformer in order to make your signal path "more pure" and it requires you to sign up to a whole new list of requirements for your speakers (must have high impedance/high efficiency drivers), Raidho speakers impose a whole new set of requirements on the rest of your entire system and room.
So now I believe I have heard/read about two theories that explain the Raidho 'sound' and the concomitant bass issues that have been well reported. The first was in the review by JV in TAS where he talked about the designed in Fletcher Munson curve in Raidho speakers. This would give Raidho speakers louder bass at lower listening levels just as if you hit the loudness button on a 1960s receiver, but unlike the receiver, as you turn up the volume on your Raidho speakers, you can't switch off the loudness button to restore the correct frequency balance. The second theory is what Michael described with eliminating mechanical dampening in favor of electrical dampening which imposes a whole new set of requirements on the owners for the rest of their system.
Paul, I'm just an observer of the audiophile scene. Some Raidho owners remind me of the joke about the two happiest days in a Fisherman's life (the day you buy a boat and the day you sell the boat) because the initial bliss of buying Raidho speakers turns into dissatisfaction for some of the owners. We have seen it play out on this forum in real time. Just as some people tire of the search for the Loch Ness monster, Big Foot, and unicorns, some people apparently have thrown in the towel with regards to finding the perfect amp, speaker cables, interconnects, and grounding scheme in order to allow the Raidho speakers to work their magic. Not to mention the changes you have to make to your room acoustics on top of changing your system from top to bottom because whatever problems you are hearing with the Raidho speakers is never the fault of the Raidho speakers-it's everything else in your system that is the issue.
At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is that if you are happy with the sound of your system. I know that you have put in a lot of thought on how you are assembling your system and I hope you are successful with your setup when you are finished putting it all together.
Guys,
This was a very interesting and informative discussion. Thanks for both your comments. You both raise some excellent points.
Ken
Paul-I see you bought the Solution amps that JV raved about in TAS for use with the Raidho speakers. How far away are you from finishing your room and assembling your system?
Paul-I appreciate the planning you have put into your purchases. I know you are doing your homework. If you can't make those babies sing with the time, effort, and resources you have put into this so far it wouldn't bode well for the common man. Contrary to what you may think, I really do hope your system and room are going to be everything you are hoping for and more.
Dude, I be a very common man. Thanks for your wishes, but still look under my bed every night.eace: