Studio 40's vs Studio 20's. (1 Viewer)

[cabreau]

Those of you who have heard the Studio 20's right up through the Studio 100's, where would you rate the Studio 40's in comparison to the 20's and the 60's. I have 20's and I'm thinking of trading up to the 40's so I can get a bit more bass out of them for musical applications. Do the 40's sound "closer" to the 20's or to the 60's? The differences are:

Studio 20's and Studio 40's - both bookshelf design.

but:

Studio 40's and Studio 60's - both have 3 drivers, one tweeter, one mid, and one woofer.

On the site, the specs say that the Studio 20 actually has a BETTER frequency response than the 40's.

http://www.paradigm.com/Website/Site...udioSpecs.html

The 20's - On-Axis (0°) ±2 dB from 54 Hz - 22 kHz
The 40's - On-Axis (0°) ±2 dB from 62 Hz - 22 kHz
They both have the same LFE according to the specs. 36Hz. I would have assumed that the 40 would produce better lows, since it has a bigger box and has a pseudo 3-way setup, whereas the 20 only has two drivers. Can anyone help me get some clarity on this?

What gives?

 

[WayneO]

You got it figured pretty good and it does follow the logic. I've been listening to the Studio's lately for a possible upgrade from my Monitors eventually. The 40's definately have more bass and a little fuller sound than the 20's. The same goes with the 60's when comparing to the 40's, but I think going for 20's to 40's is a bigger jump than 40's to 60's. The 60's are in a bigger cabinet so that helps give a little low end improvement, but not radically. Now by the time you figure in stands for the 40's your getting awfully close in price to the 60's. So unless your budget or space absolutely stops you from getting the 60's, get them over the 40's IMO. Then put the 20's in the rear, perfect. I did a similar thing when debating a Monitor 5 or 7 for my rears, and went with the 7's because of the stand issue, but the Monitors are a little closer in price to make the decision a no-brainer. Good luck choosing.

 

[John Garcia]

I would take the 40s every time over the 20s, and I have listened to them (v2 and v3) quite a bit.

One reason is: 90dB/87dB for the 20s and 92dB/89dB for the 40s. I can't tell much difference between the low end between the two, but the added sensitivity will fill a room much more easily, with the 40 moving much more air and utilizing amplifier power more efficiently. +2dB is a fairly significant increase in performance. I noticed exactly the same thing when I went from Minis to Monitor 5s - the sensitivity made a considerable difference.

 

[Dom P]

Where can I find some prices for the Studio line? What material are the cabinets made from?

 

[Jason Brent]

About a year ago, I had the same thoughts.

The cost was pretty much the same by the time I added stands.

After exchanging emails with Gary Takeda of Paradigm, he recommended the 60's and that's what I went with. According to Paradigm, the studio 20 has a lower anechoic respose due to the 20 having more box volume per driver than the 40. But in an actual room, the 40 would have better low end than the 20 would in room.

The 20's are great little speakers. If you're running a decent sub with 'em, I don't think you'll tell a big difference between the 20's, 40's, or 60's IMHO.

 

[cabreau]

I could hear a large difference between the 20's and 60's when I originally purchased the 60's. I already have stands for the 20's, and I still can't afford the trade in ($600 difference) for the 60's, but I can probably afford the $300 difference in trade-in to up to the 40's. I was just hoping that the 40's sounded more like 60's than 20's. Hope that makes sense.

 

[Jason Brent]

cabreau,

Don't get me wrong, by themselves, there are very noticeable differences. It's just with a good sub, and everything setup properly, those differences diminish.

I do like my 60's better than the 20's though. As far as your hopes about the 40's, I would say you observations are correct that the 40's are closer to the 60's than the 20's. They definitely have more low end presence than the 20's.

BTW, are you selling your 20's? I would like to pick up a pair. I just missed out on some v2 20's my dealer had left over, that he let go for $350:frowning:

 

[Brandon D]

the 40's are the only set of speakers that I don't like in the studio line. At least in the new V3 series. They don't imgage as well as the 20's, barely go any deeper, and the midbass is a little muddy sounding.

If it were me (and it is at the moment as I am more than likely going to purchase 3 pairs of studio 20's) I would only be considering the 20's 60's and 100's.

I believe they studio line has real wood veneers and the 20's are magnetically sheilded if you want to use one as a center (which I'm going to do).

 

[Mike_Skeway]

You can get any of them with the MagneShield if you don't mind Black Oak. I don't know why that is offered in Black Oak only, but for me that isn't a problem, I like the Black Oak.

As for my preference I liked the 100's over the 60's, the 40's over the 20's, and the cc570 over the cc470. I always like a tower over a bookshelf. But that is just me. You will have to see for yourself as to what you like.

 

[Kevin. W]

Brandon, what were they powering the speakers with? The Studio 40's(v3) in my setup are very tight with the bass. My 40's are powered by a Rotel RMB-1095. Now every room will sound different and I have bi-wired, filled the speaker posts with sand, and used those small cork circles between the speaker and stand. The (v3)40's are an excellent speaker. I haven't tried my 20's in the front. Maybe one day I will.

Kevin

 

[Matt Heebner]

I have to agree with Kevin. I have v2 40's as may mains and v2 20's as my surrounds and I think the 40's are tight and very excellently defined. I have substituted the 20's for my mains for two channel music, and while they sound fantastic, the 40's I think image better, and have better sounding mids as well as slightly better bottom end.

I will say that I think the 20's are some of the best sounding "bookshelf" speakers out there, almost like a well kept secret if you will, but I think the 40's are a touch better in all departments.

BTW...these are all being powered by a Rotel RMB-1075. The Studio series does like power, and they perform well with it.

Matt

 

[Drew_W]

I auditioned the Studios a few weeks ago (actually, I guess it's been a month now, boxing day). The difference between the 20s and 40s wasn't as great as that between the 40s and the 60s. The 60s gained a lot in terms of bass performance from the larger cabinet, and I felt the sound was a tad more even than the bookshelf models. YMMV.