Wound up making the huge mistake of following the salesdude to the downstairs audition room this week. That's where he fired up the little S2s. And that's where "the plan" (and speaker budget) started down the toilet. I originally had no intention of ever considering Signature stuff, but now I don't know... The downstairs room is the one w/ B&W and other big boys, and as salesdude said "B&W should be afraid, very afraid". I'd kinda have to agree w/ him that Paradigm apparently took direct aim at B&W and didn't miss their target.
I simply can't give you a detailed B-vs-P comparison because I was running short of time and I'd also had no intention of entering this particular audition room (mostly 'cause it's where they have most of their higher-end stuff - which to me is just twelve steps down and that much closer to Hell ;~). That should also help provide perspective for any of my comments, 'cause I definitely have to consider budget these days (tuition payments, etc.) and that kinda has to limit what I can even consider. That said, I am now seriously confoosed/bummed 'cause what I heard was absolutely wunnerful - and absolutely outta my budget. I honestly caught myself just grinning at a couple of passages - the soundstage from the little S2s was that impressive to me. The overall detail, the amount and quality of sound coming from those (did I say beautiful? they are) little boxes sitting in front of the row of big boys (B&Ws, etc.) was spectacular.
Take all this spew with a grain of salt, 'cause I sure didn't have careful and extensive A/B time and any subjective comparison would be made on just shaky memory. The S2s obviously really got my attention - and I hadn't really even been looking at them. I'm impressed, though, and I just liked their sound so much that they could be my newest fanatasy speaker - the one that you really want but that's just out of reach. Very tasty - and these were just the little S2s...
I simply can't give you a detailed B-vs-P comparison because I was running short of time and I'd also had no intention of entering this particular audition room (mostly 'cause it's where they have most of their higher-end stuff - which to me is just twelve steps down and that much closer to Hell ;~). That should also help provide perspective for any of my comments, 'cause I definitely have to consider budget these days (tuition payments, etc.) and that kinda has to limit what I can even consider. That said, I am now seriously confoosed/bummed 'cause what I heard was absolutely wunnerful - and absolutely outta my budget. I honestly caught myself just grinning at a couple of passages - the soundstage from the little S2s was that impressive to me. The overall detail, the amount and quality of sound coming from those (did I say beautiful? they are) little boxes sitting in front of the row of big boys (B&Ws, etc.) was spectacular.
Take all this spew with a grain of salt, 'cause I sure didn't have careful and extensive A/B time and any subjective comparison would be made on just shaky memory. The S2s obviously really got my attention - and I hadn't really even been looking at them. I'm impressed, though, and I just liked their sound so much that they could be my newest fanatasy speaker - the one that you really want but that's just out of reach. Very tasty - and these were just the little S2s...