unsatisfied w/paradigm (1 Viewer)

Ok. The title was to get you guys to come see my question mainly. I am not completely unhappy with the titans I have purchased as of yet because I have not gotten them fully set up. But as of right now they dont sound much better if at all than my 5 or 7 year old infinity rs3 bookshelves. I dont understand.......they sounded alot better in the store and i have a feeling it might have been because of the reciever it was being played off of(denon 3805). I just bought them today and have yet to get them set up on the stands and get them in my room and such to see how they truly sound but can anyone give me any hints or suggestions? I have a new yamaha rx-v650 reciever that i just got for my b-day. Maybe I'll have to invest in an amp a little sooner than I thought?

Definitely could be the electronics and especially the stands. Good quality stands really do make a difference. Parts Express does carry some good quality metal ones fillable with sand for just under $100 plus shipping. They are designed to be used with stands of a certain height so that the tweeters are around ear level and will likely sound best that way. If they are too low to the ground or near other surfaces you could be getting reflections that muddy up the sound.

Different listening area, different receiver, not setup right = different sound.

Kevin

Yes, most importantly is to allow the speakers to have had time to break in. The speakers you heard in the store were broken in. Your new Titans are fresh out of the box. I'm sure at the 50-60 hour mark, you'll notice a pleasant sound from these speakers.

Also you may have something setup wrong like dynamic compression, DSP mode, EQ or tone control.

There isn't going to be a dramatic difference in sound after they break in. I've owned 4 pairs of Titans from v1 to V3, and the V1s that were years old sounded nearly identical to my V3s right out of the box. I'd say electronics and the room were largest factors. In most decent audio shops, the rooms are at least somewhat controlled. You didn't say what the rest of the gear is, but the difference between your receiver and the one you listened on is about 2x, and that alone could make a difference. If you then add in a very nice CD player, in a half decent setup system, then you are not playing with a level field.

You should be able to get good sound out of the Titans, they aren't that power hungry. A friend of mine had a pair of Atoms powered by an entry level Pioneer receiver that sounded pretty good. Get them on the stands, play around with their positioning, and give them some break-in time. You might also have to adjust your tome controls on the receiver, try playing with those a bit too.

Hi Will!
I had the same thing with my Titans, they sounded better in the base & midrange in the store's demo room (also on a Dennon) but lacked some punch on my Yamaha RXV496 which may be due to the 90hz crossover or Yamaha's brighter tone. The same thing happened when I demo'd & bought my Monitor 9's which really boomed on the Dennon but mellowed nicely on the Yamaha amp when I got them home. I'm in the same mindset for the next receiver upgrade, do I stick with Yamaha but go for a THX receiver (adjustable crossover) or try another brand: Dennon, Onkio (sp?), etc... Every Yamie I've heard tend to be a bit on the bright side so even if you'd bought another brand of speaker the same thing would have happened.
-Steve.

I have had a couple of Paradigm set ups. My first was with a Yamaha receiver. I thought it sounded a bit "harsh" in the highs and the overall balance just wasn't for me.

I switched to a Denon and it made the Paradigms sound just about right to me! I'm now running a separate amp and that has also made a big difference in the sound of the Paradigms.

I have finally switched out my Paradigms though...even with the Denon I still felt they were a bit to bright for my ears...but I still think they make some great speakers for the money!

I have a Yamaha set up with paradigms, albeit not the same as yours and it sounds fantastic.

I think you may be suffering from a bit of buyers remorse. It sounds like you bought yourself some new speakers, ran home, slapped them in your system and weren't immediately blown away by how much better it sounded.

Take the time to set it up properly, balance the speakers, get the stands set up, let your ears adjust to the new sound for a couple of days and I think you will be very pleased.

And as for the Yamaha products sounding "bright" don't even listen to that stuff. Unsurprisingly, the comments come almost unanimously from Denon converts, who think they have found the holy grail of audio. In five years, when your Yamaha is still running strong and they are trying to figure out what has happened to their sound and who to call, you will still be happy with your purchase and be thanking whoever it was that got you a Yamaha for your birthday (lucky guy!!).

Yamaha makes great products that sound fantastic and last. Nothing against Denon, I like the way they sound too but their build quality isn't what it used to be and in my opinion, they don't hold a candle to the products that Yamaha is coming out with.

As for the paradigms, I am not sure about speaker break in - that is a whole different argument - but I do know that my Paradigms sounded better to me after a few days, weeks of listening. Whether that is break in or my ears adjusting to the sound, I won't speculate. Suffice to say, they will sound MUCH better once properly set up and balanced. Use an SPL if you have it, it makes a world of difference. (and if you have an SPL, you already know this)

Sit back, listen and enjoy!

Dave

Build quality? You've got to be joking.....they are still made in Japan. Japanese made products have had a strong reputation for high standards of build quality and Denon is no exception. Outside of Onkyo/Integra products they are one of the best made electronic products I've seen.

Isn't Yamaha made in Maylasia somewhere?

By the way..I'm not saying one is "better" than the other. I think Yamaha makes very good HT receivers. I just like the overall balance of the Denon in comparison.

Not ALL Denon products are made in Japan. My old AVR-1600 was made in Indonesia, while I believe some of their DVD players are made in China.

Hey, I'm not slagging Yamaha or a former Dennon owner, just that the Yamaha's I've heard and own tend to have less "bass enhancement" than the other receivers. It's just as important to demo the receiver with the speakers of choice to obtain the desired sound. Everything adds to it's own combination of sound. Even when it's at home.
-Steve

That is true...but most of if not all of their receivers are still being built in Japan.

Thanks for all the replies guys. I am sort of sad to say that I returned the paradigms. The only problem was that I only had 10 days to truly decide if I wanted to keep them or not so I decided to return them. I have since gone and gotten some polk speakers. The deal breaker was the price I got the polks for. I had looked at them before I bought the para's but at the time they were two expensive but I got them down to an extreme price(%60 off polks web site) so I went with the polks. I have yet to tune the speakers but to me the polks already sound better and they have yet to "break in". To be fair to the Titans the polks are a more expensive speaker not that that means too much but I think the price diff shines in the sound that they produce. Anyway thats the end of my rant. As for the yamaha denon debait I cant really say I think both make great recievers. I got the yamaha because of the features in the price range it came with.....(7.1, preouts for all channels, zone 2, 95wpc((which probably isn't putting it out but I can always add an amp)), and other misc things).

Will,

Which model of Polk speakers did you end up going with? RTi4 or RTi6, by chance?

[Edit]: Will, saw your response in the other thread. Good job on the RTi speaker pick and the Yammy RX-V650.