April 2017 review of the Paradigm Persona 9H A home run for Paradigm!

If you would like to discuss, the Paradigms and how the press is validating their ascendancy to that of a world class loudspeaker builder, please feel free to chime in.

As per the speakers I only know what I heard at Audio Doctor's showroom they are very impressive, and I think  we will be seeing a lot more rave reviews on them from the rest of the press over time as more and more reviewers will be exposed to this new line.

As to what people will like they are remarkably transparent so I am sure the Magico, Focal, Rockport guys will love em. and perhaps the Vandersteen, Harbeth, more musical camp will probably find them too transparent.

I think it is going to be interesting to see how the market reacts.

I don't find it the least bit surprising that Paradigm can make a speaker as good as magico for a lot less money.  I'd be surprised if they couldn't.  They're a bigger company with more knowledge and experience.  Since they've always built to more moderate price points they've been experimenting for decades with making the right compromises to get the best performance for the money.  Lots of more mainstream companies have experimented with making higher end stuff and have been successful creating high performing products but not as successful selling them.  A person who wants to drop 50k on speakers doesn't want them saying Paradigm or Polk or something.  They want something people haven't heard of and they want there to be a lot to talk about. 

I wish Paradigm the best here but I won't be surprised if in a few years you can buy these online for an obscenely low price because they couldn't get high end buyers interested.  Vanity is a huge part of the reason very high end stuff exists. 

I would agree with you on principle, however, I have been told that they are going to be very limited in production so that should keep them relatively scarce.

Vanity does seem to be a large part of this industry, personally I don't give a dam about that stuff, to me it is about the sound and technology,. and if someone was to suggest something I would like better I would move out of that product and buy the new. Who cares if it is a Wilson, a Focal, Magico, or a Paradigm these are just tools and that is all they are.

Well Kuppe, we agree on one thing, CSA and Audio Nexus are not the friendliest of dealers and I do not patronize them either (although CSA is out of business now) and Andy Singer had a rep as overbearing but I always appreciated his knowledge and he always treated me very well. You and I also do not disagree on the freedom of one to like whatever speaker he chooses or whatever equipment he chooses. But my beef, as stated, was with Audiotroy who has invaded more than one thread that I have been in (and one which I was not on) or I would not be all over him. Look at the language he uses to promote Audiodoctor in the Wilson thread. I have never read any dealer post on the history of this forum that so shamelessly promotes his dealership. This was in line with how Dave tried to sell me at Sound By Singer and at audio shows. It just rubbed me and others the wrong way from the very first time I was subjected to it. I did my best to avoid Dave in my subsequent  visits to Singer's shop and mostly succeeded. Audiotroy deserves everything he got from me IMHO. His 12 posts on that thread were attempts to defend himself from me calling him out and to further promote his expertise and that of Audiodoctor.
Of course, in any thread, someone can make a suggestion of another brand or another alternative--I am never against that. It's the way Audiotroy did it (and as a dealer rep) that caused me to go at him. I am not the master of Audiogon propriety and indeed have never been as ferocious in writing in any forum or anywhere else as I was here on Audiogon with Troy.  
You, on the other hand, are apparently happy with the way they have treated you and I'm sure they are capable of that. They do carry some fine brands but I will exercise my right not to purchase those brands from them. You will exercise your right to not purchase from Audioconnection because John strongly promotes Vandys. And life will go on.
  

Again, we agree to disagree, I have never in the 20 years of being an audiophile and an occasional shopper, living in this area, found a kindred spirit such as  in  Dave and Audio Doctor. 

Never was I given a hard sell, as you described, and he proved in doing demos that little changes in system setups and pairings could totally change the sound, we did a shoot out between Wireworld and Audioquest Cables and the differences were easily audible and it was instructive and thusly changed my biases towards cable upgrades, I can't ever remember a dealer actually doing a cable demo everyone is always trying to sell me new speakers or components, not cables and power conditioning as a next possible step. 

Dave felt more to me as someone who was committed to the art of music reproduction, and the fact that these guys chose to work with lesser known but famous brands such as ATC, and Paradigm, says to me it is more about the sound then the brand, until now who ever thought of Paradigm as making world class speakers? And I can't ever remember anyone selling ATC in the New York metro area, I have seen lots of B&W, I have seen Harbeth and Spendor, never ATC. 

I really don't understand your resentment of Dave, and unless he went out of his way to treat me differently I am very shocked by how you feel, I talked with Finibx  after meeting him at the shop, and his story is similar to mine, he told me Dave came to his house and re set up Wilson 8 didn't charge him a thing, and now his Wilsons sound significantly better.

Andy on the other hand seemed to always be pushing me to spend more, and encouraged me to always be changing components. I ultimately bought a pair of Virgos and Scorpios from Andy, but I never got the feeling that Andy was in it for my best interest rather than his. He is a fascinating man and can be quite engaging.