RAIDHO TD3.8
Floorstanding loudspeakers
To me, the TD3.8 speaker is a landmark in Raidho’s catalogue. It is unambiguously Raidho with all the technologies inside, yet there are several important design features that set this model apart from virtually anything else produced by the Danish company. It was the wise move as the TD3.8 is unquestionably one of the finest speakers available.
Function and form
Raidho speakers are a part of Dantax Radio A/S, together with Scansonic and GamuT, and it is one of the few high-end audio manufacturers that builds its own drivers. Even before Dantax, the Raidho earned appreciation of audiophiles and respect of speaker builders by using radically innovative ideas. For example, they were among the first to use titanium voice coils by which they eliminated the magnetic influence on the driver, otherwise present with usual aluminum. Using a series of several strong neodymium magnets arranged around an open ventilation system was another innovation. On top of better cooling, they managed to remove distortions of the drivers. And then there is the Raidho’s famous home-made ribbon tweeter, probably the best-sounding tweeter available, with incredibly open, fast, and dynamic sound. In fact, this is not a true ribbon, rather a thin polymer diaphragm with a flat conductive ‘zipper’ coil that is etched to the foil.
The Raidho TD3.8 employ all this and more. The project was born out of demand for speakers with bigger drivers, so Raidho designed the speaker of more conventional proportions to accommodate dual 20cm woofers, complemented by dual 10cm midrange drivers. All these drivers feature TD cones, which stands for tantalum/diamond. By combining the five tantalum layers and the diamond coating, the membranes exhibit high stiffness and internal damping. In the TD3.8 the voice coils are of course titanium. The tweeter was upgraded with a more powerful magnet system and its rear chamber was redesigned to improve its sensitivity and further suppress distortion. All drivers are mounted in aluminum sub-baffles. The main cabinet is ported, with three rear-firing reflex openings at the level of the upper d’Appolito module. The company claims that the impedance never drops below 4 ohms and that the speakers will not represent a difficult load for any amplifier.
A lot of attention went into details. Thus, the internal wiring uses Nordost wires, and the decoupling feet (easily adjustable from top) employ a ceramic ball system to eliminate the energy transfer to the floor. I also appreciated that the TD3.8 provides the bi-wiring option, which is quite unusual for any Raidho speaker. The TD3.8 are rather tall (1420mm) and reasonably heavy (75kg each). The TD3.8 are available only in glossy black and Walnut burl veneer. Any additional custom paintwork is by request.
Bass management
My experience with Raidho speakers in the past proved that they need a different approach in where and how they are placed in a room. They prefer being further apart than other speakers, and they prefer toe in the way the speakers beam to a spot in front of the listener, rather than the usual behind-the-head firing set-up. This way any Raidho, and the TD3.8 too, build incredible depth of image, and stability of the sweet spot. The sound detaches from the cabinets and becomes less sensitive to how you are seated, especially in the front-to-back axis. Left to right, there is still one and only optimum listening spot, due to quite narrow dispersion of the ribbon tweeters.
The imaging is – if I use Marvel’s terminology – one of the TD3.8s superpowers. The soundstage wraps around me and is spacey and deep. The vertical imaging depends on how much the volume is turned up. The TD3.8s are big speakers and low-level listening turns the musicians into midgets. They are sensitive speakers too with 91dB sensitivity, so it is not difficult to play them loud – the Raidhos will like it and so will you. In fact, if you plan to buy the TD3.8 for late night listening, you waste your money. I would recommend buying the stand mounted TD1.2 or the compact TD2.2 instead. Turn it up and the TD3.8 will be happy. Charly Antolini’s Jammin´ (Knock Out 2000, InAkustik) played at concert levels is the right food for these big Raidhos – the dynamic is brutal yet the sound remains composed and totally controlled. Alike with Kodo’s Akatsuki drumfest, that roars through the TD3.8 as if the speakers were asking “Is this all you have?” and were using 50% of their potential.
Clarity & delicacy
Okay, then something more demanding, like Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Symphony (Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Telarc). Go to the orchestra’s rehearsal, take a chair, sit anywhere you like in the auditorium, close your eyes, and let yourself fly on the wings of the sound. It is big, it is dramatic, it is romantic, until the cannons in the finale try to blast the drivers out from the cabinets.
Let’s talk about the TD3.8’s bass. Bass has always been the Achilles’ heel of Raidho. The rather subtle and narrow front baffles of most Raidho models do not allow for using bigger than 16cm cones and no matter that Raidho used two or three woofers per cabinet, the bass suffered. The 20cm woofers, employed by the TD3.8, are a different cup of tea. I don’t miss the weight; I don’t miss the mass and volume in the bass either. The usual stress tracks from Sheffield Labs (bass warbles) are audible and clean down to 20Hz in the room. I don’t think these Raidho need a subwoofer; rather they need a reasonably treated listening acoustics for they will excite all modes of the room. A speaker like this can be easily ruined by an inappropriate room.
Tonal accuracy
The Raidho TD3.8 excel in midrange. They are sort of breathtaking there. The a capella ensemble in Down To The River to Pray (Alison Krauss, A Hundred Miles or More, Rounder) lets me hear all the beautiful tenors, altos and contra-altos in vibrant natural-like colors, it is one of the best presentations of voices that I’ve heard to date. Similarly in Leonard Cohen’s If It Be Your Will, maestro Cohen is alive again, in flesh and bone in the room. This is a real miracle of high-end audio: your favorite artists are with you no matter they passed away…
With the pumping Electrified (Boris Blank), the VU meters of the McIntosh monoblocks are pushed to the right, and I mean to the very right, and the sound is gorgeous. The Raidho is a rather sensitive loudspeaker and it is fed by a rather powerful amplifier at the limit if its power – yet the sound is articulate, clean, stable and enjoyable. Front Line Assembly and Shifting Through The Lens create the atmosphere of a dance club pressurized with pumping bass lines that have power to peel wallpapers off the wall. Through the Raidho, the FLA are not less pumping, but it happens in high resolution. Also softer electronica like Depeche Mode and The Love Thieves is very addictive, especially the remarkably nuanced Dave Gahan’s voice.
Spatial resolution
As much as I like Iron Maiden’s 80’s albums, they have never been an audiophile treat, unfortunately. So reaching out for Innocent Exile (Killers, EMI), although on the first CD pressing, is a risk. To make the story short – the track is fantastic through Raidhos. I feared of digital grain and shrill and instead I am getting perfectly legible Harris’ bass guitar and the sound fills the room with power and drive.
There are Bowers & Wilkins 801 D4 speakers standing side to side to the TD3.8, so why not to compare them? Both are marvelous on identical program material, yet each represents a different sound philosophy. Should I concentrate the difference into one sentence, then I would say that the 801 D4 are more hi-fi, and the TD3.8 are more life. The Raidho provide fleshier sound, better soundstage, better dynamics and better colors. Although I expected that the Raidho’s tweeter would kill the new diamond nautilus tweeter of the 801 D4 easily, the latter was no slouch. The bass quality of the Bowers & Wilkins was also about the equal, yet the midrange was the clear winner in the Raidho TD3.8. It is more life-like, more open, and less congested.
As much as I tried to catch the TD3.8 off guard, I have found no point of criticism – maybe except the price. Raidho TD3.8 is a remarkable speaker, building on the well-known brand strengths, and adding more body and naturalness to them. Over the years I have built a list of ‘wanted’ speakers. This list’s top 3 are candidates for my resident speakers, should I decide to replace my existing ones. The Raidho TD3.8 has made it into the top 3.
Recommended resellers
AV Center, Praha, +420 604 605 355
Horn Distribution (CZ) s.r.o., Praha, +420 773 467 646
Manufacturer's website: http://www.raidho.dk
Associated components
- Sources: Roon Nucleus, SOTM LAN, XDuoo X10TII
- Amplifiers: McIntosh C2700 preamplifier, McIntosh MC901 mono amplifiers
- Interconnects and speaker cables: AudioQuest Thunderbird, AudioQuest Water, AudioQuest Carbon USB, InAkustik Toslink
- Loudspeakers: Bowers & Wilkins 801 D4
- Power conditioning IsoTek V5 Aquarius, IsoTek V3 Evo Elite, Nordost Qb4 Mk2, AudioQuest Monsoon, AudioQuest Tornado
Gallery
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