Audiophilepure

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“As discussed earlier, I try to prevent being too immediately aware of price when forming my findings about a loudspeaker. In the Raidho TD-4.8 there’s the physical loudspeaker and the sound it makes. Physically, I was pretty close in setting it in price context. It looks like an elegant loudspeaker in the £120,000–£150,000 price range. But that says nothing to its sonic performance, which puts it in the company of the open-ended flagships that make £150,000 seem like chicken feed. OK, those behemoths and dreadnoughts of the audio world tend to come with increased headroom or bandwidth (as in, you can play them at ear-punishing levels or with the sort of bass impact that impales the listener), but that’s all they trade, and you’ll rarely hear this kind of detail and information on loudspeakers that cost a cool half a million or more. Plus, this is the kind of loudspeaker that doesn’t impose constraints upon the choice of amplifier”

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“Legacy Audio’s Studio HD loudspeakers generated a conspicuous sense of spirited liveliness: something very often missing in audiophile-sanctioned loudspeakers. In my room, to my ears, the Studio HD emphasized the presence region and deemphasized the meaty part of the lower midrange. Its folded-ribbon tweeter conspired with its woofer’s bass alignment to emphasize tempo and timing in ways I found 100% agreeable. Therefore, if you’re a foot-tapping fanatic of pace, rhythm, and timing, this might be the loudspeaker of your dreams. And if you’re a rock aficionado, just assume that the “HD” in the name stands for Heavy Duty boogie.”

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“Overall, Paradigm’s Persona 5F is a truly excellent speaker in a stylish and easily accommodated package. It need not be favored with any particular type of music or listening level, and aside from requiring some attention paid to toe-in, it was very easy to set up. Throughout my time with the Persona 5Fs, their sound quality repeatedly sidetracked me from my job of critical analysis. Often, I planned to only sample an album or work but found I couldn’t resist the temptation to enjoy the whole thing. I believe that the Persona 5F is a more-than-worthy competitor for any similarly priced speaker, and deserves to be considered when shopping in this market. For Paradigm, it’s an auspicious entry into the thinner air of high-end audio. ”

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“Here, in the same room, Sonus Faber’s new Aida produced some of the best low-frequency response I’ve heard—much like that of Marten’s Coltrane III, which made me realize how much better my room’s bass could be than what I’d been getting from the Wilson Alexandria XLF. The Wilson Alexx fixed that. And now the Aida II—which costs 6.5 times the price of the Amati Homage in 1999—fixes it even better.

The rest of what the Aida does—especially its ability to perfectly hang together without ever revealing a sonic seam (an amazing design feat, considering its considerable complexity), and how well it performed with every type of music I played, or against any checklist of sonic parameters you might come up with—produced the kind of sonic thrills and solid, believable musical performance to which $130,000 entitles you. And my experience tells me that you needn’t fear putting a pair of them in a room of relatively modest size.

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“They go loud too. Kii Audio claims a maximum sound pressure level peak of 115dB, which is impressive and entirely believable if our experience is anything to go by. Turn the volume up and the Threes stay remarkably clean and unflustered, keeping obvious distortions to very low levels.

We move onto Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and enjoy the speaker’s dynamic punch and ability to track a multitude of instrumental strands without confusion. The Threes sound brilliantly organised and have the composure to match even when the music becomes demanding. They can deliver a large-scale sound with an authority that’s well beyond most similarly sized rivals and with clarity most barely hint at”

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“If price is your main consideration–and it certainly is for most people–there are plenty of options available at roughly the $10,000 level. An equally important consideration, though, is size. A smaller speaker is much easier to integrate into a room, and if it can perform at the level of the Kanta No. 2, you will score some bonus points with your significant other. I would contend that most audio enthusiasts are guilty of believing that more is better. Go big or go home is the typical thought process. I would caution to choose speakers for the room size, not based on your insecurities: Bigger is not always better and is more often a problem when considering the speaker to room proportion ratio. Having lived with the Kanta for a few months, I began to appreciate the total package: a huge and high-resolution soundstage with manageable dimensions.”