The unfiltered single-driver idea is suggestive. But I've heard speakers with xovers that felt equally open. Just so, simpler 2-way passive filters do seem inherently less problematic than more-ways to get my vote. They should also minimize time/phase issues. Hello TD1.2 2-way. My true-ribbon Raal Requisite SR1a headphone with open baffles embodies the virtues of absentee energy storage in driver diaphragms; truly exploded treble; and what I call unmitigated speed. Ideally I'd get such treble and reflexes from loudspeakers, too. Hello TD1.2 quasi ribbon and extra-hard dynamic cone. That constrained-layer membrane with airflow-optimized mega motor and mechanical direct-coupling to the baffle promises reduced fuzz and blur. In the time domain those always present as flatter transients, less rhythmic snap and compromised focus. While ported bass rings—hence Helmholtz resonator—my 80Hz/4th-order active cut bypasses such a monitor's port resonance yet still lets the mid/woofer's dynamics breathe freely.

I already own a speaker that does these things: the single-driver sealed DMAX SC5 active. It's simply optimized for nearfield use exclusively to work my desktop. Its success is clever time-domain DSP to cancel out any post ringing of its SB Acoustics driver. It's a bandwidth-limited speaker approximation of the SR1a though still not as dynamic or infinite in the treble. It's simply most persuasive proof that I'm far more sensitive to the time than frequency domain. I can live with minor response variables but react far stronger when timing is off; what I think of as blur from lack of speed. Børresen's B01 monitor moved similar qualities into a typical audiophile room so off the desktop. That prioritized speed and leading-edge timing over tonal bloom and decays. Raidho's X1t voiced by Benno Baun Melgaard had bolted more tone and relaxation to the same aesthetic. With the TD1.2 being Raidho's current top monitor, could it further load up my classic tilt scale on both speed and body without tipping the balance? Personally I'd take more speed and less body over the alternative since, for my ear/brain, the desired energy transmission relies on the former. Greed would simply like it all and hope springs eternal. [At left, another look at just how out of the way the mid/woofer's motor gets from the cone's rear.]

My one misgiving with the inefficient X1t had been its 'turbo lag' of requiring higher SPL before disrobing fully. I prefer speakers that go full frontal at rather skimpier volumes; whose torque happens in 1st gear already not delays until 3rd. Voilà, the mental landscape the TD1.2 would parachute into; and personal hopes for its landing. Had I set myself up for unattainable; had by my own greed and unrealistic expectations? This neatly circles back to my opening paragraph. What's possible when the usual brake line on expense gets cut? So our wallet has a major accident. That's obvious. But what else? A TNT tracker for a single 62kg pallet is how it all started. I followed its progress from Pandrup to Kolding, then Langenhagen in Germany and Duiven in the Netherlands.

Raidho's minimalist stand is rather more handsome than the usual massive pillar designs. The integral decouplers rest on nested single-ball bearings.

Before it hit the Tallaght/Dublin connection point then final Shannon depot, I'd found a Vietnamese award video for the TD1.2. When you have dealers around the world, applause comes in all languages. Roy Gregory's review too had ended in a Speaker of the Year award when 2020 vision closed out. So had the TD1.2 netted an Abso!ute Sound 2022 Editor's Choice award and a distinction from Mono & Stereo whilst the TD2.2 sibling bagged a 2021 Editor's Choice from Hifi Pig. Reviewers were agreeing. Would I work a foregone conclusion? Not. Have ears, happy to disagree is my motto. Frankly though, I was beginning to doubt the second half's likelihood. By all indications, I was about to meet one of the world's best compact speakers. I set up my best high-power amps to greet them: Kinki Studio's 250-watt direct-coupled 2.5MHz EX-B7 monos.

Had I expected minor assembly for the stands, I was mistaken. In these leagues, no screwing (for) the client. The stands ship fully assembled. Equally unexpected was their floor termination. Like sliding cartridges, each soft-nosed footer inserts loosely into a channel capped by a threaded cover which stops it from retracting whilst inserting another ball bearing at its apex. The leaning wing adds more potential play. If you're of the immovable pylon faith, this perch requires religious conversion. So does its height. In my reupholstered Ikea rocker, it moved the mid/woofer above my ears, the tweeter higher still.

Here you see the room which the TD1.2 serenaded; solo or crossed over via external, fixed active 80Hz/4th-order hi/lo-pass filter to a 2×15" cardiod/Ripol subwoofer driven by this Kinki Studio EX-M1 integrated. Alternate mains amp was an Enleum AMP-23R. Oscar was home! My usual sound|kaos Vox 3awf too promote low-mass stands. Because theirs is tailormade, soft-coupled and cosmetically integral, I never trialed anything else. Don't fix what works. For the TD1.2, Track Audio's was a typical high-mass option which curiosity demanded I sample. That really did break the sound's wonderfully airy, light-filled and uplifting demeanor. It changed into something decidedly heavier, stiffer, duller, clumpier and less alive. That loss was demonstrable enough to sour me within a track. Should you forego Raidho's own stand for any reason—perhaps you think it unduly costly, too tall or insufficiently rigid—do consider something equivalently light in its stead. Otherwise much of what makes this speaker special won't flourish properly. Raidho's own stand is an obvious green thumb to show the way.