Are Paradigm Speakers that good? (1 Viewer)

[Mike_T_]

Paradigms, much like SVS are mentioned A LOT around here and to those that don't own them, it can start to bother you a bit I think. There are SO many great speakers out there, Paradigm just falls into the position of being very well built speakers that aren't going to break the bank. Hence the mass appeal. Speakers are so sensative to your room acoustics, your equipment and your ears it's impossible for anyone to say they are wrong or right for you. The best part about this forum is that you can learn of a product through people who have auditioned and owned them, knowing full well that you have the final say.

Paradigm has built a great reputation around here, and one thing that DOES say about the company is that their rep isn't just built on words, but on individuals who have invested money in their product and felt pleased regarding the outcome.

 

[Jason F.]

Thanks for the help guys

 

[Sihan Goi]

Paradigm produces some value for money equipment. For the price, its tough to find speakers that are better. There are however comparable speakers. However, its not the end all of speakers. Personally I find the Monitor series to be lacklustre in performance. The Reference Studio series however is significantly better.

However, dollar for dollar and pound for pound I still prefer PSB to Paradigm. The Stratus series IMO trounces the Paradigm Reference Studio series.

 

[Kevin Brashear]

Jason,
Looks like Dave and I paid about exactly the same for our speakers. The salesman told me that Paradigm is really funny about "discounting" their speakers. But, since I've bought stuff there in the past, he said he knocked a few dollars off, but I can't tell anybody.
Daves prices are with a couple bucks of what I paid for my exact same speaker setup.

 

[Chris Demaree]

I am really happy with my Studio 20's and CC. I had intended to get the Mini monitors and cc-370, but vocals sounded SO much better to me on the studio 20's ..I had to have them.

 

[Mike Veroukis]

Well, I'd just like to take this opportunity to announce that I just joined the Paradigm cult. Yup, I just bought myself a pair of Studio40's for my mains. They sound GREAT!
To be honest, when I first started shopping for speakrs I didn't know much about Paradigms. Although I read about them on the forum here I was only mildly interested in them. I ended up going to a hi-fi shop to check out some B&W's friends of mine recomended and since they had the Paradigms there I decided to try those out as well. Well, I fell in love with them right away and the rest as they say is history.
- Mike

 

[Martin Fontaine]

The lower lines are ok but the titan's have a rather nasty 60 hz bump which bloates the mid range

Can you explain what exactly you mean by that? I recently ordered (Paid a deposit so he gets them in stock, I'll do the actual purchase next week) a pair of Titans (Mains), a pair of Atoms (Rears) and a CC-170. I will be picking them up next week. What is that nasty 60hz bump? I will be running those on a Kenwood VR-509 and most likely set them to small so am I still affected?

I am upgrading from the plastic speakers that came with the Kenwood HTB-353 so the difference should still be a major right?

 

[Jeff D.]

Any comments on sound quality are purely subjective, of course. I think almost everyone would agree that Paradigm speakers sound good - whether or not their balance suits everyone's taste is another matter.

However, looking more objectively at them, Paradigm speakers are very well made. You will find quality cabinet construction running throughout all their major lines - with the best, of course, being reserved for their Reference line. All drive elements are of the highest quality and feature such niceties as cast-frame drivers and ferrofluid filled tweeters. Combined with solid support in the form of a 5 year guarantee, you really can't go wrong.

At the end of the day though, it comes down to how well they blend with your listening system, room and taste. Always trust your ears.

/Jeff

 

[John Garcia]

Can you explain what exactly you mean by that? I recently ordered (Paid a deposit so he gets them in stock, I'll do the actual purchase next week) a pair of Titans (Mains), a pair of Atoms (Rears) and a CC-170. I will be picking them up next week. What is that nasty 60hz bump? I will be running those on a Kenwood VR-509 and most likely set them to small so am I still affected?

I used to have the exact setup that you ordered, but I wasn't pleased with the Atoms as rears, so I swapped them out for Titans all around. To be honest, there really is no reason to go with Atoms for rears unless you go Atoms all around, IMHO. After doing a demo with Mini Monitors, I swapped out the front Titans for them. I also have a pair of Titans in my bedroom system.
I think the "bloat" could be port noise? The Titans start to roll off right around 60Hz, and become sort of "loose" or muddy at the bottom, but I feel only at louder levels. With them set to small, this is not noticable. The Atoms don't really have this, as they start to roll off around 75Hz, which is why I think most people say they sound more clean than the Titans. I agree the Atoms sound more accurate, but I am almost certain this is due to higher natural roll off of bass.
The Mini Monitor also exhibits some of this loosness in the lower midrange, though not as much as the Titan, likely due to the poly mid-bass driver. It's kind of hard to describe, and I never noticed it much until I demoed some DIY (GR AV1s) speakers that didn't do this in my system.
This does not discourage me from owning, or recommending all of Paradigm's speakers.

 

[Chris Tsutsui]

I listened to the Studio 100s through a Pioneer Elite VSX-49TX and Pioneer DVD player. It's not that I didn't like them, they sounded great. I just thought that cheaper brands also sounded great.

After reading the forums and countless pro paradigm threads I was expecting perfection. Instead I just heard some nice loudspeakers... They still sounded like "speakers" to me.

I am just recomending to listen to as many as you can and give even cheaper speakers a listen.

 

[Evan S]

Chris, don't mean to cast a flame war here, but even though the Pioneer might be the best receiver on the market today, it's still just a receiver. IMO, the 100's are Paradigm's flagship speaker and deserve to be auditioned with a quality setup consisting of separates, especially a dedicated 200WPC amplifier to see what those babies are really capable of. I'm sure the pro-Pioneer folk will come out of the woodwork and chastise me for saying this, but I don't think you saw exactly what the 100's were capable of with that setup. Again, this is my opinion and YMMV.

BTW, can you tell me which "cheaper" speakers you auditioned that you found to be comparable to the Paradigm Reference line? Just curious.

 

[John Garcia]

I have to agree here with Evan, very good speakers need very good gear to get the most out of them. When you test drive a Porsche turbo, you don't want to put 87 octane in it, IMO.

The other thing is, and I am not saying anything about anyone in particular, one must have a very discerning ear to really hear the difference in higher end speakers. More or less, I feel as the quality (and cost) goes up, the differences become FAR more subtle, and it becomes more difficult to notice small improvements. It will not be night and day, and is very much a personal taste. If you really can't hear the difference, then don't spend the money.

One becomes acustomed to the speakers they regularly listen to, and that becomes what they consider to be "correct" or pleasant sounding to them. I would call this a bias, along with the fact that we would all like to believe that what we have chosen is the best we could get for our money.

 

[Martin Fontaine]

I used to have the exact setup that you ordered, but I wasn't pleased with the Atoms as rears, so I swapped them out for Titans all around. To be honest, there really is no reason to go with Atoms for rears unless you go Atoms all around, IMHO. After doing a demo with Mini Monitors, I swapped out the front Titans for them. I also have a pair of Titans in my bedroom system.

The reason I want Titans in front instead of Atoms is because I have a big spectrum gap around the 50-70hz because I have shitty mains (Plastic HTiBs0 and a below average sub (HTiB Sub - It's not as bad as the mains but I will upgrade it eventually) I was thinking of setting the fronts to large and let the sub take over when it can. I will be testing both small and large settings. I noticed that with Cine EQ enabled, it will smoothen that and even when set to small, the mains will get sound below the 100hz Crossover, so speakers that are flat to 60hz might give an advantage.

The reason I want Atoms for rears is because of the price difference... It's probably not too late to change my mind and take 4 Titans instead (Or 4 Atoms)

Bottom line is, should the difference (Pricewise) from 2xTitans + 2xAtoms to 4xTitans be really worth it for me? I don't crank them up that high but I want accurate response.

 

[John Garcia]

It really depends on where you got them from. I could not get my dealer to budge much on the price of Atoms, while he actually gave me the second set of Titans at a relatively cutthroat price of $189 (Isn't that MSRP for Atoms?) So it would be worth it to at least look into it if you have the room for Titans in the rear. Between the two, they sound quite similar when set to small in my system, however, I like the fact that the Titans have a bit more bass. I also have a fixed crossover at 100Hz, and that seems to work well with the roll off of the Titans. That's just my opinion, doesn't mean it is what you should do.

I like both the Titans and Minis set to large, with no sub for some music listening, and small for movies (redirect all that bass to the sub). They can handle being set to large all the time, but I tried it quite a bit, and settled on having them set to small most of the time, including for casual music listening.

 

[Mike_T_]

I don't know how many times I heard someone tell me that the 100's need to have at least 200wpc to open up and I figured yes, it would make a difference. But, it's actually another WORLD. I was driving them with an 85wpc Yammaha (which is now my pre amp and is actually a solid receiver) and now I have the Sherbourn 5/1500a 200 wpc monoblock amp. I can't describe with words the difference you can hear. I keep checking my sub to make sure it's getting no input because I can't believe tower speakers can have this kind of massive kick to them. I will never make an opinion on any speaker again until I hear it as it was designed to be heard.

 

[Nathan Cook]

Do any of you guys know of a pre/pro amp combo that will mate generaly well with my paradigms?

im using paradigm atoms up front along with a paradigm center channel and i have low end optimus speakers for rears. (ill be upgrading rears to paradigm) right now im using low end pioneer surround reciever which , ill probably throw it out the window when i get my seperates. i had to turn the treble all the way down on the thing just to listen to it. im willing to spend up to $3000. i listen to more music to that of watching movies though. i was thinking possibly a marantz setup, mainly because i like their philosophy "music first". also i live in a small apartment. id apreciate any kind of advise.

thank you

nate

 

[Martin Fontaine]

Between the two, they sound quite similar when set to small in my system, however, I like the fact that the Titans have a bit more bass. I also have a fixed crossover at 100Hz, and that seems to work well with the roll off of the Titans. That's just my opinion, doesn't mean it is what you should do.

Ok, so then Atoms would do fine as well... I guess I'll ask and I'll see if I can get 4 Titans if not, well Atoms should do fine in the rear... I'm going to visit the dealer tomorrow to check if he received my stuff, I'll buy them next Thursday (To be delivered next Saturday)

 

[Martin Fontaine]

I just pulled the trigger!

I went to the dealer and he had my stuff in his warehouse... I also took the advice I got here and got 2 pairs of Titans instead of 2 Titans and 2 Atoms. They will be delivered next saturday... I have one more week to wait!