Congrats Jpbas1
Make sure you give them at least 100hrs before making any judgements.
Make sure you give them at least 100hrs before making any judgements.
Showing 23 responses by xti16
I was recently at a Scansonic demo. They had the MB-1.5/2.5/3.5 and Raidho X1's. These MB series are designed by Mike B who also designed the Raidho series BUT with a budget in mind. For the money they are very nice sounding speakers. But in my opinion they do not sound like the X1. That said X1 does sound very similar to the D1's (about 90% of the D1's). Now I am a Raidho owner that started with the D1's and now have D2's. Before Raidho I owned Dynaudio C1 and C1 signatures. Also in my opinion nothing has the speed/clarity and transparency of Raidho's including Scansonic. That said all speakers at the time had less than 30hrs on them. About an hour after I left I started getting messages from everyone there that the 2.5's really opened up and sounded totally different and much better. Since I haven't gone back I can't say what they really sound like. The following day Raidho announced the X3's. I want to go back when my dealer gets the X3's and broken in to compare to my D2's. |
I did hear the MB 2.5's with 70hrs and they sounded almost like a different speaker (for the better that is). We didn't put the 3.5's back to compare but my dealer said they sound much better than with 30 hrs. For the money the Scansonic is hard to beat. I do agree about the Raidho break in. Mine took a good 550 - 600 hrs. But it was worth it IMO. |
Something you may want to do if possible. Bring your current speakers with you and compare them side by side. That said I do not have first hand experience with the Scansonic break in. The 3.5's do go though a period where it sounds like something is rattling in them. Make sure the dealer has got past that point. Good Luck |
I never had a chance to listen to the Scansonic speakers because there's no dealer nearby (DFW TX)How far is Whitehouse Tx from Dallas? Design Audio Video carries Scansonic and Raidho. You could hear both and tell how much Raidho DNA there is http://designaudiovideoinc.com/brands-display.php |
Jjue Congrats on the NEW arrival. When my dealer first got them he had about 25 hrs on them and had a little get together. We listened to the MB1 - 2.5 - 3.5 Raidho X1 and Dyn Contour 3.4LE's. We all came back to the 2.5's as the best bang for the buck. After a couple of hrs I left. An hr later I started getting texts from everyone there saying Wow you should have stayed. These 2.5's just opened up almost like flipping a switch. The next time I heard them they had about 75hrs on them and to me they sounded like a different speaker meaning much better and more balanced. Enjoy |
Riced1 - I can't speak for the C series because I have never heard them. I have the D2's. I have heard the Scansonics several times. They each have their own 'house sound'. The tweeter in the Scansoncs is very close to Raidho D and X series. The soundstage and imaging is also very similar. But in my opinion there is a lot more clarity and separation between the instruments and vocals with Raidho because of the blacker background. I will say the same when comparing the X and D series but the X is a lot closer than the Scansonics. I personally believe the Scansonics punch way beyond their price point. Remember the Scansonic 2.5 retails for $3600 USD where the D2 retails between $44,000 and $48,000 depending on the finish. X3 retails for $29,500. |
The recently announced Scansonic MB 6 will be at the RMAF 2015 https://www.facebook.com/aavikacoustics/posts/1696740393889424:0 I'll wait for my local dealer to get them |
Jjue - For grins and giggles have you tried removing the bass traps now that you have about 100 hrs on them? Although you may want to wait until you hit 150hs. I think Missioncoonery mentioned a drop in SQ when they hit 125 hrs. With my D2's the bass went crazy at 525 hrs and lasted for about 10 hrs. But remember the diamond series is a completely different driver - crossover and cabinet. |
I've always said they sound higher than their price point. The only real downside is placement. If you get that right they will sound fantastic. Get it wrong and they will sound OK. But as far as driving them it shouldn't be too hard. On another forum a couple of folks are driving theirs with 7 - 15W tube amps and say they love it. Another thing you may want to try is plugging the bottom ports with cloth or foam. |
Murgeskj - Regarding the numbers of hrs for break - in are you referring o AVS? If so I'm OctaDyn_Dude. Please understand I am talking about Raidho 'D' series. For me I had a pair of D1's and put on 2000 hrs. Then upgraded to D2's. The D1's had approx 350 hrs on them when I bought them from my dealer as demos. The D2's had approx 50 hrs on them (over 2000 on them now). That said EVERY Raidho 'D' series sounds fantastic out of the box. You wonder how could they get better! Well the highs will smooth out even more and get more sparkly at the same time. The tweeters take a good 300 hrs to stop changing. I never would have thought that except I had just traded in the D1's for D2's. The bass seemed a little light too. The bass got better up until 475 - 500 hrs where it got extremely boomy as if I had turned my sub to the max. It only lasted about 10 hrs to get to sound listenable again. At 650 hrs I haven't heard any change no matter how minor. With the exception of the bass going wild the changes were slow and minor. When I owned Dynaudio C1's (had 2 new pairs of originals and 1 pair of Signatures) both sounded great out of the box. But between 100 - 150 hrs the bass and highs dropped out and the mids sounded extremely forward. Almost like magic the snapped back to sounding real good after approx 50 hrs. At 450 hrs I stopped hearing change in those too (but after the horrible sound the changes were very minor). Never heard anything bad with the signatures because I had severely downgraded my entire system until I hit the magic 450 hr mark. So that's my experience with 2 different speaker brands. The break in was very different. I do not own Scansonics or ever even had them my home for a demo. So I won't comment on the MB break in. But from what I've read from other owners they go from being pretty bad out of the box to fantastic. It's the time frame that's so many will argue about. |
Jjue - Glad everything is just starting to come together. Yes I would try to track the hours. I would suggest your next step would be to replace the foam with paper (like paper towels or toilet paper [clean of course LOL]) after 250 hrs. That way you would slowly opening the ports. Unless your room is extremely lively you shouldn't to plug the ports. Are the speakers on carpeting or a hard floor like wood or tile? Padded carpet sounds a lot different than a hard floor even from just the decoupling feet. When I had the D1's granite slabs under the feet added a lot to the mids and sounded a lot better to me. But with the D2's the mids are there without granite slabs. Bass was a bit tighter too |
Adding the Granite slabs will make them a little more forward sounding. If your speakers are on a hard surface the granite does very little except raise them by the thickness of the granite. I liked the granite when I had the D1's but not so much with the D2's (note when I added the granite to the D2's they were not broken in yet). |
Raks Were you at Nextlevel? Those were the MB 2.5's for $3500. I was there too. Honestly even at $5000 those speakers are killer. BTW The MB 3.5's I think are closer to 5500. 03-28-15: Jpbas1They will continue to get even better. I heard the 2.5's on Sat with about 150 - 200hrs and they are so much better sounding than 25hrs when I first heard them. George |
" I'm really concerned that these things sound so bad out of the box that
people are giving up on them almost immediately and selling them."
I'll admit they don't sound all that great out of the box and need 2 -300 hrs to really open up. The lows will be fairly thumpy for about the first 50hrs. Another thing is positioning. They will sound best about 9ft apart and toed in pointing to your shoulders. They are bottom ported and can be pretty close to the side walls but a couple of feet from the rear wall is recommended. So if you can't position correctly they won't sound their best. IMO when setup properly they will sound a lot better than the 3.6k retail. Last year my local dealer sold 10 pairs at Axpona so it is possible there are quite a few show specials. |
davegoodrich - That's a pretty large room. You may be better off with MB3.5's or the new MB6. I asked my dealer which models he is going to have at Axpona and I can't see him bringing that much with him. He wants to bring MB1's - 2.5's - 3.5's and MB6 Along with Raidho's XT1 - XT2 and XT3 and D1.1 - D2.1 and D3.1. I should have a better idea closer to the show. BTW where are you located? |
I heard the same rattle (they only had about 25 hrs on then at the time) and it will go away after break in from what I was told. A friend had them and he likes very loud and when I asked if the rattle still happened he said no. His amp was the Aavik U300. Another thing is I don't know how long it takes for the rattle to go away. As I stated early in this thread I went to a private demo for the MB-1 - 2.5 and 3.5. They all had about 25 hrs on them and my first impression wasn't all that favorable - very boomy. Then I heard the 2.5's at approx 250 hrs and to me they sounded like totally different speakers. So much better. I owned the D2's so I didn't pay too much attention other that I thought they are a great value for the money especially after being broken in. Like the Raidho's placement is pretty critical. Ideally you want at least 9 ft apart and toed in pointing to your shoulders. Being bottom ported they can be placed pretty close to the side and back walls but I preferred them a couple feet away. IMO they are more of a near field speaker. That said with a pair of 4 1/2" drivers they are not concert level speakers. |
It's been a couple of years. The X-1 will have a blacker background resulting in more 'air' between the instruments and vocals which you hear more detail. Overall they will sound more open. I've heard the XT-1 but not side by side with the X-1 or the MB-1. The XT-1 has softer surrounds vs the X1 which means even faster transients.
The MB-1 will play lower.
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I think some music is recorded to sound that way. I have some Chesky demos for speaker placement that sound like that. My Dyn C1's did it too. But my old Mission/Cyrus 782's never did sound like that. OTOH your room and seating position will contribute to sounds behind you. But extreme right and left IMO is a sign of a really well designed speaker. BTW the X/T -1's are a much higher class of speaker. |