Amps for Paradigm Persona 3f

I believe that all speaker manufacturers should supply impedance v -phase graphs with their speakers.

No one yet has done one to give a good indication of if a pair of Krell mono blocks are needed or they can be happily run from a 10w single ended tube amp.

So to suggest an amp without knowing impedance curve vs -phase curve would be purely a subjective opinion 50/50, or a dealers opinion, and we know they that can be questionable sometimes, depending on what they need to shift.

To be safe returntomusic if you must go with your few options, I go with the one with the most watt/current and I think that would be the John Curl Parasound A21

Cheers George

returntomusic OP38 posts


Georgehifi- not sure if this helps with impedance & phase angle question,
the L&R speakers in the link below are the Paradigm Persona 3f speakers-

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/paradigm-persona-3f-speaker-system-review-test-bench

Bit hard to tell without a complete overview of a impedance v phase graph, as they’ve only selected 3 different points to give in print, and those "could" be doctored/selected to look easy.

But with what there is to work with.

1: In the bass:
Impedance reaches a minimum of 4.42 ohms at 141 Hz and a phase angle of –60.68 degrees at 98 Hz. This could be seen as a potential problem for amps by the amp, as a EPDR load of around 2.5ohm to 3ohms in the bass

2: In the Highs:
With 3.49 ohms at 16.1 kHz with phase angle of –53.22 degrees at 18khz this is a potential problem for amps, as it could equate to around an EPDR load as seen by the amp of around 2 to 2.5ohms in the highs

There’s nothing measured for midrange frequencies.

With what we’ve got here, because the 3f’s are 89db efficient, a 100w or higher amp into 8ohm will do. But it looks to me from the above measurements it’s a speaker that need a bit current also from the amp, that is solid state amps that can "almost" double their wattage from 8ohms to 4ohms to 2ohms would be great. EG: 100w 200w 400w. Even though they may work, I’d stay away from tubes with these, if you want the very best out of them.


Cheers George