Bryan
I was interested in a small floor standing speaker that could visually fit into any room and provide fullrange sound when driven by a receiver or 100 watt integrated. The Raw HT3 caught my attention. After speaking with Raw Acoustics for about 6 hours I ordered the Raw HT3. 3.5 weeks later the HT3s are in my room playing music.
The speakers arrived on schedule. The finish is beautiful, mildly tinted figured cherry. The veneer matches the style of the cabinet perfectly.
Blah blah blah… so how do they sound?
These speakers are not hooked up to a receiver or integrated. Instead they are in my reference system so that I could evaluate them to their fullest potential. Speaking of potential, these speakers sound way better than their size or asking price would lead you to believe.
Bass: Not sure what to say here because the bass coming from a single 7" woofer will leave you scratching your head. My room is large and heavily treated with bass traps and panels. The bass is extremely powerful, tight and clean down to 25Hz as advertised. I had to double check and make sure that the woofers from my other speakers were disconnected because it is hard to believe that this amount of bass is coming from such a small speaker that is 8.5ft out into the room and 3 ft from the side walls.
Midrange: More polite than the magnesium cones that I am used to. The last ounce of detail and transparency is not there but the midrange is excellent. If I had to compare the sound of the midrange to another driver I would say that it sounds more similar to a good Scan Speak paper/carbon mid. Not soft, not mushy, but it just does not sound like a metal cone driver because it is not a metal cone driver.
Treble: Outstanding!
Dispersion: Horizontal: right up there with the best I have heard. The 7" baffle and small 4.5" mid deliver here. Vertical is equal to or better than most short ribbons.
Imaging and soundstage: Again the narrow baffle, driver selection and the fact that the speakers are 1/3 into the room and 3 ft from the side walls just makes them disappear. I am sure it would get better still if there was not another pair of speakers behind them. But… I am not moving them because they are in the perfect spot, and the Raw HT3's will have their own room after I am done playing with them in my main room.
Value: These speakers are an absolute bargain. In this system the speaker wire being used to drive them costs more than the speakers, but the Raw HT3 is not outclassed. It fits right into the system and large room to deliver a large soundstage, outstanding frequency response and high SPL.
In closing: If the appearance of this speaker leads you to believe that it would be great for a small room then you would be mistaken. They fill my 24 x 14 x 8 room with full range sound with no trouble at all.