Anything better than the Paradigm Atoms for < $180/pr? (1 Viewer)

[John Garcia]

No, I have not heard the E30. The Northridge sereies are not bad, but I always preferred the Studio series. If you looked around used, you could probably find an awesome deal on some S26s or S38s. I wonder when JBL will release the new Studio series? Those were some serious bang-for-the-buck when they started closing them out.

 

[cabreau]

You have my vote for Atoms all day long. I haven't heard anything as good as the Atoms in the price range, and when I upgraded to Studio series, I kept all four to use as surround speakers. They are great little speakers, and I will probabaly never get rid of them if I can help it.

Here are some reviews on the Atoms...

http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/paradigm_atom.htm

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volum...rs-3-2004.html

http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/p...m_followup.htm

http://www.stereophile.com/budgetcomponents/664/

I have NEVER read a bad review on these little guys. I'm going to check out that other review that someone montioned too.

PS. - I just read the reviews on Stereophile.com. If you look at most of the reviews that he does in the budget section, he pretty much says (for the speaker that he's reviewing) that it's the best bookshelf speaker he's ever heard. Are there any sites out there that give honest reviews instead of just saying "this is the best speaker I'ver ever heard for the money" in EVERY review?

 

[Yung]

Below is the link for the Stereophile review of the Infinity Primus 150 which references the Atoms on page 2.
http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeak...s/404infinity/

Whoops, just noticed your postscript.

 

[James Phung]

With all the different speakers out there, its hard to find a review on any speaker that isn't positive. Why waste a review on crappy speakers. I like my Primus 150s (which were free). Never listened to the Atoms though.

 

[Shawn Stephens]

How about auditioning Boston Acoustics? I think the CR-75 or CR-65 would be a good competitor and would add some variety to your audition list. I auditioned the Polk RTi6, Boston CR-75, and Paradigm Titans, and I chose the Bostons to purchase. You might really enjoy them, too.

 

[ScottCHI]

you can get those bostons on close-out in some places as boston has just come out with their new lines

 

[Yung]

The CR-65 looks interesting, but the CR-75 is probably more than I want to spend.

 

[Yung]

Well, I went back to my local Paradigm dealer today to give another listen to the Atoms, the first time I have heard them in a little over a month. The speakers at the dealer were driven by some Sony integrated receiver/cd player. Of course they connect the better receivers like the H/K to the higher end speakers at the store.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been auditioning the JBL Northridge E20 in my house over the past week. While the E20 is a nice speaker for its size and its current sale price of $100/pr, I felt it was lacking something. The E20 performed well in a 2 speaker set-up on movies and seemed to get a little better throughout the week with music CDs. However, I felt the Atom sounded much better than my ears. I'm not able to A/B these speakers, but I felt the Atoms sounded more...natural. I listened to the E20s again as soon as I got home and confirmed my opinion that the Atoms were better to my ears.

Now I have disconnected the E20s and connected a pair of JBL E30s. The E30s which can be found on sale for about $135 are MUCH better than the E20, right out of the box. Besides the obvious deeper extension the E30's 6" midrange driver provides, the overall sound was much fuller and more vocal. My wife also agreed right away that these were much better than the E20. I don't know if they are as good as the Atoms yet, but they sure sound good. The only thing about the E30's is that they are pretty huge bookshelves at 15" high x 8 3/8" wide and 12" deep. I'll be afraid to knock these off the speaker stands with the top plate measuring 6"x6".

The thing is the Atoms might have the equivalent or slightly better sound than the E30 but in a much smaller package, which appeals to me. My wife asked me if there was something in between the size of the E20 and the E30, which has me thinking about the Titan. Unfortunately I was not able to listen to the Titan again and it has been months since I have heard it. When I last heard them, I thought that while the Titans were able to go deeper than the Atoms, the Atoms were just as good.

Well, I'll be listening to the E30's for at least another week or so at home before I decide.

 

[Yung]

John,
My Paradigm dealer said that the lines that were updated were the Monitor line and the Cinema Series. The "low cost" line is probably the updated Cinema Series.

In fact, it can be confirmed here:
http://www.castercomm.com/pr_docs/Ci...0-%20final.doc

Although, the pictures I have seen on Secrets showed fairly large floorstanding speakers which is totally opposite of the compact nature of the current Cinema series.