Paradigm Personas anyone heard them

I have loved Paradigm for 20 years (being Canadian its a given....) and for the last 8 years have had the privilege of owning S8v2s.  They are exemplary speakers at a real world price.  Moreover, as audiotroy points out, Paradigm is a big company and economy of scale is such they can do things others cannot; moreover, it also keeps the price down.  They are also one of the few whom totally design and manufacture everything about their speakers, which gives the company greater flexibility in design and execution.  All being said, the 9H's give me concern.

Being the top model it obviously is going to be the best, but the fact it is active in the bass worries me.  At the price point it is targeted for, it is going to be a given the buyer will have "commensurate gear" to accommodate the speaker.  And it is a given the amplifiers are going to be "good".  Essentially, with the 9H, you are being told to buy them plus the Anthem class D amps that power the bass speakers (Anthem is Paradigm's sister company).  There are going to be some whom take issue with that, especially those whom are steadfast Class A fans or those whom prefer more robust amps of tube origin.  I think had the OPTION of powered or not would of been better, and the non-powered version would of been cheaper.  Moreover, adding electronics causes more points to go wrong down the road......you don't see this with Magico, Rockport et al.  It remains to be seen but on an intuitive level, if the powered bass section were ideal, the aforementioned coompanies would be doing it.  Only subs get a powered option since the application of class D amps are ideal on this.  But on a $35K speaker?  Paradigm is not supposed to be competing with DefTech.  This line is suppossed to be far above it.


Granted,  I suspect I love a pair, but most likely the 7Fs since I already have 2 good JL Audio subs.  Can't wait to hear them.

I am aware of how biamping works.  In fact, I was hoping, in my system, to use a Class A amp for the mids/highs and a Bryston for the bottom end.  Turned out the Class A amp was running the highs only.  So I went for dual mono bridged.  

Again, I understand what Paradigm is doing; JL Audio, among others, is using active room EQ to flatten out room resonances/peaks etc so if they have access to incorporate it (with ARC) I can see why it was done.  

Don't get me wrong; I am not knocking the 9H, I would love them just as anyone else, but all I am saying is that they could of easily had a 9H and 9F version (for less money).  Most don't care about the Class D amps in subs since the bandwidth is so narrow anyway, but on speakers I could see some raised eyebrows about it.  The reason I find this significant is that, at the time, I had the option of choosing the S8 or S6 (analogy to the 9H or 7F for number of bass drivers) and I chose the S8 for the same reasons:  it is not just the fact there is more bass but a bigger cabinet and more air to work with.  

Regardless, I think it is a fabulous step up for Paradigm, although realistically I couldn't see myself with either; the S8's I have a still newer, with lots of life left in them, and with the addition of two JL Audio subs, provides a beautiful window on the music.  Of course, on financial matters, there is always random chance once a week.....

The fact that Paradigm has made a way to get both the tweeter and mid made of Beryllium is going to be a game changer.  The only other speaker I know of like this is the TAD system, and it is not cheap.  Although a little under the radar, funny enough this is the other speaker that "if I could" I would.  Since the tweeter and mid are made of the same thing the inherent sonic resonances are the same, making for more uniform sound.  

Sadly, and this is an old audio reality, you tend to buy what you are exposed to, and in Vancouver, BC, you will see the Paradigms.  I have never seen Von Schweikerts, Legacy or Magicos.  You don't buy what you cannot try out, or at least see and touch.  I am eager to await for any reviews, especially if it is in print.  I would like to think Stereophile or TAS would do it, but......In any case, Bravo Paradigm.  Considering the evolution, the next iteration could be interesting, to say nothing of the trick down effect.  But I don't see the Beryllium part doing that.