Floorstanding loudspeakers — Raidho Acoustics X2t

The X2t is a floorstanding loudspeaker from Raidho Acoustics, built with a proprietary signature ribbon tweeter almost identical to the one used in the brand's flagship TD6, a model costing more than ten times this speaker's price. Raidho positions its X series as delivering "eXtreme performance for the price," and the X2t represents a significant step up from the outgoing X2, inspired directly by the acclaimed X1t monitor first shown at the 2022 Munich show.

Key specs that matter

Sensitivity is 86-87dB into 8 ohms depending on source, with a nominal 50W and maximum 80W power rating. The 2.5-way bass-reflex design uses two 5.25-inch ceramic bass/midrange drivers, with only the upper unit handling midrange - a coherent top-to-bottom approach Raidho considers a special hallmark of its floorstanding designs. Both cones now use a tantalum coating, a refractory metal with a melting point of 2,996 degrees C, making the diaphragm significantly stiffer and harder without added weight and raising the breakup mode to an exceptional 15kHz, well above the 3.4kHz crossover point. The signature ribbon tweeter is an entirely Danish in-house design using an ultra-thin 11-micron foil, fifty times lighter than a conventional dome tweeter membrane, capable of extending to 82kHz. Voice coils use titanium rather than aluminium or copper to avoid magnetic induction effects. Internal wiring uses genuine Nordost cable with Norse technology, the same found in Nordost's flagship Valhalla cables, hand-wired point-to-point. At 300 x 1065 x 490mm including feet and just under 23kg, the cabinet tapers narrower toward the back specifically to eliminate internal standing waves, with decoupling integrated directly into metal-ball feet rather than conventional spikes.

Sound and use context

Expect a soundstage more reminiscent of a full-sized reference tower than a compact column speaker - reviewers describe an all-black background revealing instruments in three-dimensional, holographic space, with no audible distortion, fatigue or coloration, and a scale one reviewer described as mind-blowingly large relative to the speaker's slender proportions.

Pairing

The modest 50W nominal power requirement makes this speaker easy to drive despite its exotic engineering, suiting a wide range of amplifier choices without unusual current demands.

Alternatives

Raidho Acoustics' more compact X1t monitor offers the same core technology at a smaller scale, worth considering instead if this X2t's dual-woofer bass authority exceeds what a specific room requires.