All PARADIGM Owners please respond. (1 Viewer)

[Martin Rendall]

Mark was right about me. I bought Paradigm mostly on reputation. I didn't have time to go visit many audio shops, listening to a bunch of different speakers. I also believe that listening in an audio shop's music room with high end electronics isn't going to tell me how good or bad speakers sound in my own home. There are too many variables. I also don't think that you can easily A/B speakers in different shops. At least, I can't. So I did my research, and came up with Paradigm as a good candidate. Went to the audio shop, demoed them until I knew I wanted them, and walked out with them. If I hadn't liked them, I may still have been without speakers a month later. I just don't have the time to putz around those high end stores.

Frankly, you just have to look at the other equipment the Paradigm lovers use - decent quality stuff. That provides a good clue that they know more than I do. When browsing for reviews, I typically look for the bad reviews. There's usually way more useful information available in those than the people touting (and justifying to themselves) their latest purchase. Paradigm had some negative comments, but mostly it seemed to revolve around lemons or other issues. Certainly, there were fewer unhappy campers with the Paradigms than some other brands I was researching.

And I'm extremely happy with my choice with Paradigm. Maybe other speakers would have worked out better for me, but I'll never know. It's time to start enjoying the speakers, instead of worrying over them.

Martin.

 

[RicP]

Do you have any idea what they weigh after filling?

I guess that all depends on what you fill them with Mine are filled with shot (small metal balls) and they prob weigh in the neighborhood of 70lbs or so each. The 40's fit perfectly on the top stand and it's really extremely difficult to even tip the speakers a little bit now, they are solidly in place.

 

[Brian Mansure]

Here, here Martin.

Good show.

Pretty much sums up my experience with demoing (sp?) higher end equipment around where I live.

It wasn't very practicle for me and after reading many reviews, both good and bad, I put B&Ws and Paradigms on my short list. Went to the local HiFi House and listened to both makes and ended up getting a pair of Mini Monitors with a CC370. Just recently I purchased a pair of Atoms for the surrounds so the only thing to replace eventually will be the sub.

I truly perfer the Paradigm sound over any other speakers I have demoed and the price was right.

If I spent every day wondering if I could have found a better speaker, I'd be waisting my time.

I would rather spend that time enjoying my current setup.

Brian

 

[Steven Simon]

Excellent thread!!! Let's keep the Bose Speakers out of it...
I for one, think Paradigm Reference is the best speaker on the market, for Value/Performance. I agree with RicP that the Mid Range on these speakers is tough to beat. The high's aren't to shabby either......
I own several Studio line speakers.(Take a look at my theater pics for a complete listing).
Studio 40's are the gem of the Reference line, without going into super amplification. With Decent power 100-120 watts at 8 ohms, outstanding results can be achived. Anything over 150 is overkill IMHO....
The Studio 100's on the other hand are the best speaker overall in the line, if powered with massive quality amps. I do have a large room to fill, and this is why I choose the 100's in the larger theater. I power them with 150 Watt Parasound MonoBlocks, and have never had the need for more power than that. I don't really listen to my audio at super high reference levels, and have never had one of my blocks clip....
My Paradigm dealer states that the Paradigm Reference line is 8 Ohms (Compatible), and they drop down to 6 Ohms.
Hence I would be drawing more power into the speakers. Anyone here know this to be true??
I auditioned MK, Def Tech, B&W, and a few others. The Paradigms sounded the best to my ears. Also Paradigms get better and better once broken in......

 

[Kevin Coleman]

Well Ric since you asked I will tell you about my experience with Paradigm,
I bought a PS-1000 sub about 3.5 years ago and I have already had two quality issues with it.
1. The driver blew.
2. When I took it apart to see what happened I noticed some of the screws that hold the bottom on were loose. When I pulled the bottom off it was obvious as to why they weren't tight. It was becuase when they screwed the bottom on they blew out the wall on the side of the sub and of course they wouldn't tighten. So what did they do? They just left them instead of just moving it over an inch or so and doing it more carefully they just left them loose. To me that shows two things.
1. They weren't careful when they assembled it?
2. They didn't even care?
To me 2 is way worse than 1.
So I won't be buying any more Paradigm speakers. Especially at the price point I paid for that sub.
Kevin C.

 

[Evan S]

I have a question regarding "break-in" on these speakers.
Picked mine up in mid-december. Probably play them for about 2 hours each day. Only rarely do I get a chance to play them higher than 80db however. Most of the time, my listening is in the 60-70db range.
I've heard that break in time for these speakers is anywhere from 30 up to 150 hours. Seeing I've had mine for about 45 days, I'd say I have about 90 hours on them, but 70 of those hours are at low volume levels.
Do you have to run your speakers at a certain reference level to achieve proper "break-in"? I have noticed my speakers sound WAYYYYY better than when I first hooked them up, but I was wondering to what degree further improvement can be obtained.
Thanks.

 

[Graeme Shiomi]

Personally, I have the Studio 60's, and I love them. I've often read (same as in this thread) the comment that the 40's are the best of the line, but when I went through many listening sessions comparing the two, I ended up liking the 60's the best. Don't ask me why, I just liked the 60's better than the 40's.

But I guess it's all personal taste.

Graeme

 

[Shane Martin]

I've heard probably 60 pairs of speakers on my quest to find replacements in my Home theater/music setup.

Of the Paradigms I've heard(all reference) the 40's were indeed the best of the bunch by a large margin. Would I buy them? NO.

The reason is because of their metal tweeter. It became very fatiguing and also shrill(bright) over time even coupled with some quite characteristically warm amplifiers(Parasound was one).

I think nowadays with alot of people buying speakers blindly w/o hearing them and Paradigm is quite popular being an afforable brand so they get recommended alot blindly. I think Mark was eluding to this somewhat in his statement before the flamewar got ignited.

Anyway they are good speakers, I've just heard better. I can't say I wouldn't recommend them as speakers are so personal as differently trained ears react different to speakers.

. I also believe that listening in an audio shop's music room with high end electronics isn't going to tell me how good or bad speakers sound in my own home. There are too many variables. I also don't think that you can easily A/B speakers in different shops

Home demos fix that..although that might be a thing of the past.

 

[Steve Zimmerman]

I'm not a Paradigm owner, but tomorrow I'm headed to a dealer to listen to the Reference 100s (among others). I'm not actually in the market to buy since I just bought a pair of Swan Diva 6.1s, but I'm going to go there and do a bit of comparison listening just for fun.

I'm always a bit skeptical of statements like "I for one, think Paradigm Reference is the best speaker on the market, for Value/Performance" because there are simply too many choices to be able to accurately make such a statement.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the Paradigms are not a great speaker. I full expect to find them to be very nice. That said, I paid half of the US list price of the Ref 100s for my Diva 6.1s, so I reserve the right to argue the value/performance point. However, if I lived in or near Canada I might have a different opinion.

Comparing the way my speakers sound at home with the way the Paradigms sound in the store is unscientific at best, but I'll report my findings nonetheless.

--Steve

 

[RicP]

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone participating, both on the positive and the negative sides of the fence. Let's keep them coming!
Kevin:
I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience with the subwoofer. I'd hope that wouldn't preclude you from trying out their speaker line at some time in the future, after all 1 failure does not a pattern define
I had a Pioneer reciever blow up on me, but I didn't disparage the whole line, in fact I own a Pioneer Elite 29TX today. I recognized that I had a faulty unit, and just chalked it up to "shit happens", but didn't let it sour me on Pioneer as a company.

 

[jeff lam]

I'm always a bit skeptical of statements like "I for one, think Paradigm Reference is the best speaker on the market, for Value/Performance" because there are simply too many choices to be able to accurately make such a statement.

I agree, there are so many great choices out there. Many speaker manufacturers try to be the best and with marketing can achieve it.

In my personal experience, companies that you have never heard of usually provide excellent products. Usually because they spend their money on improving their product line and not advertising. I agree that paradigm makes wonderful speakers but there are better ones out there. And if you factor in DIY speakers, there is just no comparison as you can buy the finest quality components and parts at a much lower price. That's the route I went. I had my mind set on getting Paradigm minis, that is until I found out about DIY speakers. Now I enjoy my audiophile quality GR-Research AV1's, and I paid the same price as the minis would have cost me. I can honestly say I prefer these over the studio line any day. Needless to say, I am very happy!

In the retail world, I would say Paradigm is one of the best values out there. But I don't have to worry about that any longer as I will never buy another retail speaker again. From now on, its DIY quality all the way.

 

[Yohan Pamudji]

The reason is because of their metal tweeter. It became very fatiguing and also shrill(bright) over time even coupled with some quite characteristically warm amplifiers(Parasound was one).

Too each his own, I suppose. I've heard people claim that Paradigm tweeters are too mellow. I personally thought they were just right, so I bought a set When I crank the receiver up to max volume the tweeters sound very shrill, sure. But I've never experienced fatigue listening to my system at reasonably loud levels.
I haven't been able to demo the reference line in quite some time because the closest dealer dropped that line due to lack of sales. Hopefully one day I'll get to hear what all the hubbub is about with regards to the Studio 40s.

 

[NathanP]

Member Banned from HTF.....
I will repeat again: Bose speakers have nothing to do with this fine thread!!!
Steven Simon
HTF Administrator

 

[RicP]

Nathan, was that absolutely necessary? Or did you fail to see the Administrators warning on the previous page?

 

[Massimo N]

I currently own Paradigm Reference 40s (for the front and rear) and the CC. I have this set matched with an SVS20-39 to handle the low-end.

When I was auditioning for speakers, I auditioned (not complete list) the Paradigms (of course), Kelpsh (please forgive spelling), Def Tech, Energy, B&W and Mission. I can't remember all of the model numbers of the speakers I looked at but they all were around $800-1100/pair Canadian.

What drew me into the Paradigm were and still are:

- Great Imaging

- Accurate, revealing speaker

- The sound draws you in

- Great Looks (I have the rosewood veneer)

- Handles both music and HT very well (with this I mean they are great for loud and soft passages)

- Fits within my budget (great value).

 

[Edward M]

I'm very happy with my Studio 40 / ACI Titan II LE combo for music and HT. You definately need a decent sub with the 40's. I have heard the 100's and would be had pressed to upgrade to them at this point.

Ed

 

[DavidY]

What I bought several years ago:
Mains: Studio/60 V.1
Centre: CC=450
Rears: Studio/20 V.1
Auditioned a bunch of speakers over a six month period prior to my Reference purchase including:
PSB Stratus Bronze
Mordaunt Short MS30 (something like that)
Paradigm Monitor 7 V.1
Sound Dynamics RTS-7 (floorstanders)
B&W DM602 V.1
Energy C-2
Energy e:XL25
IMO, Paradigm Reference speakers offer excellent performance for the buck....especially here in Canada.
BTW, I had found a big difference between the Reference Studio and regular Monitor series.
Dave

 

[Jeff D.]

I want to elaborate on something I hinted at earlier. I wonder if anyone, after honestly (and objectively) looking at Paradigm product - considering price, investigating build quality and, of course, listening - could say they truly feel Paradigm is in any way a "bad" product.

Now, some people may not like the Paradigm "sound" and therefore these speakers are not for them, but I doubt you'd find many people who deny that they aren't good products.

That is the problem when we discuss speakers. If I say I think Paradigm is the best value on the market, does that mean all other brands are rubbish? Of course not. I recognize the quality in a lot of brands, but to me their sound quality just doesn't do it for me.

In terms of sound quality, it all comes down to personal preference.

/Jeff

 

[Mark Austin]

Jeff,

I think you siad a mouthful there. While I certainly feel that there are many other brands out there that offer a better value, I do not think that Paradigm speakers are complete rubbish, and stated so in a previous thread.

What I have learned over the last 24 hours is that Paradigm owners are a very sensitive lot, not unlike other owners of differing equipment. Very quick to defend their preference should anything be said against it, and that is fine, but at the same time realize that other products are out there that offer equal or greater value. Try not to take things too personal. We are only talking about equipment afterall.

 

[RicP]

What I have learned over the last 24 hours is that Paradigm owners are a very sensitive lot

Mark, I really hope that you've also learned that opinions are opinions and not facts. That one person's opinion does not make it indisputable fact, and that rash generalizations regarding owners of a certain brand of products is not always a good idea.