Raidho X2t – the best looking small floorstanding speaker?

According to Danish Raidho, the X stands for eXtreme performance for the price. In this context, it is important to remember that Raidho is a high-end brand where it is never about the price when they try to create some of the world’s best speakers. Some of which cost well over 100,000 euros.

Seen in this light, a price of 14,000 euros a pair must be considered fairly ‘reasonable’ for a floorstander. Even something as small and substantial as the X2t.

Similar only on the surface

The new Raidho X2t looks like its predecessors X-2 and XT-2. That is, a really slim and elegant floorstander, with a cabinet that gets narrower at the back where it ends in a point. With no internal standing sound waves.

The similarities stop at the looks, though, if Raidho is to be believed. The sonic capabilities, according to Raidho, should be “on a completely different planet”. They even believe that the new X2t beats older Raidho models that cost at least twice as much. Here they compare to speaker models from before 2018, which were produced under founders Lars Kristensen and engineer Michael Børresen.

t for tantalum

We’ve already reviewed the X1t small floorstanding speaker, which replaced the outgoing X-1 and XT-1, both with ceramic woofers, but coated with titanium on the XT-1. Now it’s the floorstanding 2’s turn for an upgrade. A 2.5-way speaker with a 4-inch woofer and ditto midrange.

The already super-rigid and low-resonance 4-inch ceramic cones on the X2 are coated with tantalum on the X2t.

Tantalum is highly resistant to heat and wear, and the material can withstand extreme temperatures. A tantalum coated diaphragm is much stiffer and harder without adding significant weight. The breakup point of such a diaphragm is, according to Raidho, as high as 15 kHz. In theory, this means that the diaphragm does not produce any inherent distortion until well above the crossover frequency, which is set at 3.4 kHz. Something that should ensure what Raidho calls “an amazingly clear and natural sound.”

Ribbon tweeter

The ribbon tweeter on top, Raidho’s signature component, is common to all their speakers. In fact, the X2t features the same ribbon tweeter on the almost 20(!) times more expensive TD6. The tweeter is planar magnetic and has a micro-thin foil diaphragm suspended between two opposing magnetic fields. The foil is 11 micrometres thick and the whole affair weighs just 20 milligrams.

That’s fifty times less mass than a normal dome tweeter, which Raidho says means virtually zero resonance or distortion. The break-up frequency here is a sky-high 82 kHz, which should ensure the cleanest possible tweeter, with bucket-loads of air.

And there was absolutely no shortage of air from the little X1t, as we experienced it, so we can almost imagine how the Xt1 will sound with extra body in the bass area.

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The partial filter is wired with Nordost. (Photo. Raidho)

Improved crossover

Raidho has worked a lot on the crossover in the X2t. And we take a positive view of that, because the XT-2s were a pain to work with because it almost sounded like there was a phase error if they weren’t positioned correctly in the room. And proper placement meant placing them far out on the floor, over two feet from the wall behind them. It seemed an odd choice to make such a small pair of speakers that needed so much space anyway. We hope it thought a little differently with the X2t.

Raidho promises that the crossover in the X2t has quality components that outperform many other speakers at five times the price. Including internal cabling from Nordost with the same Norse technology used in the most expensive Valhalla cables.

We notice that the new X2t has 2 dB more sensitivity than the XT-2, which means it doesn’t need as powerful an amplifier. It also claims to have a deeper bass, 40 Hz compared to its predecessor’s 60 Hz. That bodes well!

Raidho X2t: Price and availability

The Raidho X2t floorstanding speakers are available to order now and cost €14,000.

More info: raidho.dk

Geir Nordby