Raidho Ayra C1.0 Bookshelf Speaker Review

Overall Sound

I’ll just start by saying that the Ayra C1s set new standards for not just mini-monitors, but all small speakers. Their ability to produce a reach-out-and-touch-someone soundstage was the best I’ve ever heard in my house, period – and for that matter anywhere else. I also heard no better of this type of soundstage from any speaker at any price at the recent, 2008 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. Their inner detail, and imaging was also in the same class as speakers that cost six figures. They had dynamics, scale, and slam that you would be thrilled with from any speaker of any size. The fact that you get it from these little gems is just amazing. Well, let’s get on to some details.

The Top-End

This ribbon was really something. Generally, I find the only ribbons I like are in planer speakers, but Raidho had even managed to up the annie on the best planers with this ribbon. The treble was truly beautiful; it was extended, fast, yet smooth, and effortless. Of all the speakers I have reviewed, the only speaker to match its top-end was the Ikonoklast 3HO with its “Single Membrane Coherent Line Source Tweeter” in combination with the Murata ES103a Spherical Super Tweeter. I love the delicacies that such a wonderful tweeter can provide in their reproduction of music.

The Ayra’s top-end was fast, detailed, extended, yet never drew attention to itself. Not drawing attention to itself is a very important attribute for a tweeter in my book. I found string instruments, bells, and the treble end of the piano to all sound very open, airy, sweet, and just plain lovely on the Ayras. They had a very natural sparkle when the music demanded it, but I never felt they were adding sparkle that shouldn’t be there. They never sounded analytical or etched. I found them to be overall tonally neutral, but when they erred, they erred on the side of beauty.

This ribbon was incredibly articulate without ever being harsh. The designers at Raidho have done a great job of getting a ribbon mounted in an enclosure to be free to breath and bloom. There are few tweeters that can match them, and none that I have heard them that can top them.

It’s the Midrange Stupid

We all know in politics, “it’s the economy stupid.” As the heading suggests, speaker designers had better know that how their midrange sounds will make or break any speaker.

The Raidho Ayras produced as coherent a midrange as any speaker with a crossover I have ever heard. They were as transparent as I have heard from any two-way speaker. That amazed me since they used a ribbon and ceramic driver. By the way, with the time I spent with some very good sounding two-ways, including the Kharma Mini Exquisites, the Audio Note AN SEs, I personally find paper drivers like the Lowther DX4s or the Feastrex just slightly more alive and transparent.

Still, for those who love the type of sound produced by the Ayras, and an exquisite sound it is, they would probably think the paper drivers are forward-sounding. I disagree, but that’s what makes life interesting. By the way, there is no doubt that speakers with modern drivers, and dead cabinets measure flatter and are more technically accurate.

The ability to resolve small amounts of information and keep them separated from each other, and at the same time produce a coherent sound is one of the things that separates good speakers from great speakers. It is simply amazing how incredibly resolving this small Raidho box can be. The Ayras let you hear inner detail with ease. So often, speakers that are described as very detailed are really more etched-sounding than live music ever is. I’m glad to say that the Ayras reproduced detail in a very natural and musical manner, but plenty of it.

The general sound of the midrange is clear and beautifully detailed. Properly set up, as described above, they allowed voices to sound rich and wonderfully natural. There was no overemphasis of sibilance or edginess. Pianos benefited from the coherency of this speaker and sounded very emotionally engaging. The Ayra C1 made it very easy to hear the differences between the Benz Ebony TR and the EMT JSD5 phono cartridges. These two similarly priced cartridges are both very musical, but they play music from a slightly different prospective. The Raidho Ayra made these two prospectives easy to hear. You get to appreciate just how amazingly beautiful the Benz Ebony TR can sound; and how juicy, sweet, and full the EMT JSD5 sounds when you listen through the Raidho Ayra C1.

Listening to strings on these speakers was truly a beautiful experience. They sounded sweet, without strain, and were so beautiful you could listen for hours. It didn’t matter whether you’re listening to a guitar, a standup bass, or a classical violin, they all sounded very convincing and enjoyable. It didn’t matter whether the strings were plucked, bowed, or strung, they all sounded natural and beautiful.

Bass

The bass on these speakers was simply wonderful, dare I say shocking for their size. Note, I did not say wonderful for their size, just shocking. That’s because their bass would be wonderful for any speakers, any size.

Again, I think we have to admit that audiophiles have different tastes, and nowhere is this truer than about bass. For those who love speakers that have cabinets that do not resonate, and who value fast, tight bass with real slam, the Ayra C1s will rock your world down into the 40 cycle range. For me this is plenty of bass; in no way did I find that I needed more bass to enjoy a really musical experience. People who listened to the C1s in my home never asked where the bass went; they did often ask where the sub was.

The bottom-end was quick, fast, nimble, and very accurate. These qualities allowed the bass transients in the lower range to have details seldom heard other than in live music. Their leading edge was truly as good as I have heard from any speaker at any price. They let you hear the sticks or mallets as they struck the drum as well they let you easily discriminate the location of each drum. Likewise, the finger work on a stand-up bass came across fast, taut, and realistically deep.

After listening for an extended period of time you learn to appreciate how remarkable their bass was. I never felt the bass lacked for visceral power. Occasionally I did feel they lacked the last word in breath and decay; but only compared to the very best in memory. There is just no way around it: these speakers have great, dare I say it again, shocking bass down to the mid 40 cycles.