RAAL

RAAL is a company based in Zajecar (Zayechar), eastern Serbia. It is 100% owned and managed by its founder and director, solely creating the company's policy, products, development and strategy.

RAAL’s roots are from 1993, when I, as a 23 year old, Belgrade university student and HI-FI enthusiast, started to get more and more interested in how the acoustic transducers are working. The first “victim” of that growing hunger for knowledge was Dragoslav Colich, now world renowned engineer of planar drivers (Sonigistix, HPV technologies), who shared with me his experience and knowledge of engineering and building of planars and ribbons since 1970’s, and became my mentor in these matters, for what I will be eternally grateful. Before he moved abroad, he had “left” me to Branimir Hodalić, another genius to whom I’m eternally grateful, who also pioneered in solving loudspeaker issues with great success. We did a lot of projects together and he still is a great help to me. Many friends like electronics engineers, machine engineers, musicians, artists, carpenters, and all of them are music and HI-FI enthusiasts, contribute to a great extent, in what RAAL does today.

Now, RAAL has more than 11 years of very extensive experience in ribbon loudspeaker research and production. That includes 13 different models of various ribbon speakers for different applications, from home high-end to professional PA solutions. Many of the two and three-way custom high-end loudspeakers, some with very radical solutions regarding ribbon drivers. Interesting thing is that not one pair of loudspeakers changed hands. If the customer wanted something to be improved, it was always the RAAL’s upgrade to a bigger ribbon driver, but not the new loudspeaker of another brand. The consequence was the vast experience gained in building real, usable designs, that fit to people, not just scientific exercises which couldn’t have “real life” usable value, or if they could, they would be very cost-ineffective. All that was, in fact, the serious R&D that had been done and finally, RAAL’s goal is made, and that is to have the cost-effective transducer, but with a performance and reliability that can not be matched.

Recently, after 11 years of small, handmade quantities, the company have started a serial production of two true ribbon models that sublimed the RAAL’s present know-how, in a new production facility. Still, there is a lot of work done by hand, but that’s what true ribbons are like. No machine can do what a skilful hand can. Nearby is construction in progress of the anechoic chamber and very much elaborated listening room, to have daily access to such tools.

Extensive use of FEM analysis methods, complex acoustic measurement methods, laser and water-jet cutting, CNC machining, etc. helps in bringing new ideas to life and keeps the pace up with large manufacturers, furthermore, makes us superior to them regarding production of specialised, dedicated to purpose, custom made drivers in small quantities.

Aleksandar Radisavljević

Founder and Director of RAAL