Q

Reviewer: Srajan Ebaen
Financial interests: click here
Main system: Sources: Retina 5K 27" iMac late 2020 with Ventura 13.3, 40GB RAM, Audirvana Origin, Qobuz Sublime, Singxer SU-6 USB bridge, LHY Audio SW-8 network switch, Sonnet Pasithea DAC; Active filter: icOn Gradient Box at 80Hz/4th-order hi/lo-pass; Power amplifiers: Kinki Studio EX-B7 monos, Goldmund Job 225; Headamp: Cen.Grand Silver Fox; Phones: HifiMan Susvara; Loudspeakers: Qualio Audio IQ w. sound|kaos DSUB 15 on Carbide Audio footers, Audio Physic Codex, Cube Audio Nenuphar Cables: Complete loom of Allnic Audio ZL; Power delivery: Vibex Granada/Alhambra on all source components, Vibex One 11R on amps, Furutech DPS-4.1 between wall and conditioners; Equipment rack: Artesanía Audio Exoteryc double-wide 3-tier with optional glass shelves, Exoteryc Krion and glass amp stands; Sundry accessories: Acoustic System resonators, LessLoss Firewall for loudspeakers, Furutech NCF Signal Boosters; Room: 6 x 8m with open door behind listening seat
2nd system: Source: Shanling M3 Ultra, Soundaware D300Ref; DAC: Cen.Grand DSDAC 1.0 Deluxe; Preamp/filter: Vinnie Rossi Signature L2 + icOn 4Pro + 4th-order/40Hz hi-low pass; Amplifier: Enleum AMP-23R; Loudspeakers: MonAcoustic SuperMon Mini, Dynaudio S18 sub; Power delivery: Furutech GTO 2D NCF + Akiko Audio Corelli; Equipment rack: Hifistay Mythology Transform X-Frame [on extended loan]; Sundry accessories: Audioquest Fog Lifters; Furutech NFC Clear Lines; Room: ~3.5 x 8m
Desktop system: Source: HP Z230 work station Win10/64; USB bridge: Singxer SU-2; Headamp/DAC: iFi iDSD Pro Signature;  Headphones: Final D-8000; Active speakers: DMAX SC5
Upstairs headfi/speaker system: Source: smsl Dp5 transport; DAC: Auralic Vega; Integrated amplifier: Schiit Jotunheim R; Phones: Raal-Requisite SR1a
2-channel video system: Source: Oppo BDP-105; All-in-One: Gold Note IS-1000 Deluxe; Loudspeakers: Zu Soul VI; Subwoofer: Zu Submission; Power delivery: Furutech eTP-8, Room: ~6x4m
Review component retail: TBA

On Q. Today isn't about the quartermaster of James Bond, provider of concealed weapons to His Majesty's top Secret Service agents. Today we look farther North, in the real not cinematic world. We settle on Pandrup on the west coast of Denmark where Dantax Radio S/A ply their trade with sister brands Raidho and Scansonic. It's no secret that the latter is the former's trickle-down receiver to make Scanspeakers more attainable. Just prior to Munich HighEnd 2023 for which I'd assembled an 8-page pre-show report 145 entries deep, my contact Morten Nielsen dispatched the above three teaser photos for inclusion. They were accompanied by one brief sentence. "Scansonic will bow the new Q range with three striking new floorstanders and the most Raidho DNA ever, with bigger drivers than before." No matter how hard I shook our man from afar, he played lockjaw to divulge naught else. The photos too tell a very slim story of unexpectedly curvacious spine with muffler-style protruding port pipes. Vroom? We had to wait for Europe's biggest hifi tradeshow to open its door before we learned more. Then…

… the brand's FB pages had this reveal. Rather than follow Raidho co-founder Michael Børresen's penchant for massively paralleled 4½" or 5¼" mid/woofer to muscle up enough cone surface for low-bass woofer duties, this larger Q simply goes with a bigger woofer like everyone else. Does this presage a similar rethink at today's Raidho? Time will tell. Does it mean a 3-way rather than the firm's long-standing 2½-way preference? If the latter, using two dissimilarly sized drivers for such purposes would share space with Albedo's new Agadia.

As the Italians write about it on their website, "using a larger transducer for the half way increased the radiating surface so sound pressure for the higher energy and dynamics typical of 3-ways. We could also use higher-impedance transducers with the advantage of offering a loudspeaker with a nominal impedance higher than the classic 8Ω and thus solve the weak point of all half-way designs."

The top Q doubles up on Scansonic's new 8-inch carbon driver. Raidho use their equivalent diamond-skin ceramic version in the below flagship. That showed in parallel at the Munich event also with gear from Moon by simaudio; and Nordost cabling which appears inside these speakers as hookup wiring.

Børresen's new M6 flagship at the same event meanwhile kept the faith with 4½" drivers grouped in series and parallel pairs for a rear-ported 2½-way array. Basic math knows that six 4½" drivers add up to the cone area of one 11" driver. The bigger Q's dual 8" drivers become one 11.3". A wash? The argument favoring multi-paralleled small drivers is that it concentrates far more motor flux on the same cone area, reduces excursion requirements on each which lowers membrane stress and concomitant distortion. Smaller drivers simply must multiply sufficiently for a given target of bandwidth and SPL. That increases overall height and soon mimics a line source for a more cylindrical wave launch.

The new Scansonic Q range tops out at four drivers max. For now that's all we know.

… stay tuned.