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

Dear Gabmetz, Thank you and you get it. Incidently I agree with you, we had the $120k Kharmas in our shop, as well as the Polymer Research MKX-s quite amazing speakers by the way, we also sell the Kef Blades.

Ctsooner just because you heard them at Bernies in Newington, doesn't mean anything, it means you don't like what you heard at Bernies, it doesn't mean you won't be amazed at hearing our setup or maybe not amazed but you may find that our setup is one of the most realistic systems you will ever hear and that is without first order slope speakers or you still may not like the speakers as much as your beloved Vandys. 

What I said in another post was the boss, Dave drove out to another dealer to hear the speakers and was not impressed with their setup, but he heard their potential so he took the leap of faith and ordered a set.

Everyone's setup room and gear are different, our room is 26 by 20 with a 10 foot ceiling, I stopped in to that dealer you spoke of many years ago to check out their Magico setup and I don't think they had one large sound room in their entire facility, many dealers don't. 

We are using $50k worth of T+A electronics, a Light Harmonic Davinci, $35k, a Baetis Music Computer, $15k and all Enklein cables prices vary, our room features Shakti Holographs, Acoustic System Resonators, Echo Buster Pannels and Stein Harmonizers to name a few of things we are doing to make the speakers perform optimally. 

We got a demo of the Isoacoustics Gaia and they were amazing and made a huge improvment. 

So you have to understand my point which I have made many times before each dealers setup is different we tried a lot of good electronics including Conrad Johnson, Devialet, Electrocompaniet, Thrax, Chord before we found the T+A gear was better then all the rest. 

I don't know Bernie and I am not saying he is getting the same sound better or worse then we are getting, I recommend that you finally come here and meet with Dave and myself and hear our reference system for yourself.

Your friend in NJ just purchased a Light Harmonic Davinci based on one of our setups in his home, we don't move into new lines casually, we test and listen and test.

We did compare the Davinci to EMM Labs DA2, the Berkly Reference 2 and a DCS Rossini,  and in our demo system the Davinci was much more musically satisfying. 

Troy
Audio Doctor

Paradigms were always voiced for rock , a wise market strategy.
Any of these bigger makers can make anything they want, Paradigm just wanted  to get some of the Wall St bubble money while the getting was good .

Shubert,

As per any of the bigger makers making anything they want that isn't true, the first issue is intent, the second is engineering prowess, and the third is having the budget to spend the money on R&D, just because a company is large doesn't mean they will go to the elaborate steps that Paradigm did to produce the Persona series which cost $4million dollars in R&D funds. 

Sony is a very large company way larger then Paradigm, and their reference speakers were rather tame in terms of pushing technology and they were also around $30k a pair!

The Paradigms Persona series will play whatever you want through them they are superb speakers that are  totally neutral. They will ultimately sound like whatever you use with them. 

Do they sound good for rock, yes they do as the speakers play loud with out compression, however, we play Jazz and classical on ours and they sound great no matter what is depends way more on the gear you are using and the music you are playing on them. 

The speakers have tremendous resolution so garbage in garbage out. 

Paradigm's loudspeakers have always been able to play loud and have been known for good bass and clean top end.

I would say that the lower end Prestige series is more like what you describe but not the Personas.

As per grabbing the wall street money, the Persona series starts at $7k a pair so that is what we would say affordable for a lot of music lovers who don't work on wall street. 


Troy
Audio Doctor

Troy, I understand your point. Yes, Matt loves the Davinci as well he should.  We each know how the other hears and speak often as you know.  He has great things to say about you guys. I know that who ever his sales guy is went out of his way for him.  Yes, any piece of gear will sound different in any system.  Set up is critical as is the room.  I"ve always said that.  Your set up may be the best and I'ms sure you have spent a ton of money on the set up based on what you have posted.  I'm not fighting with you or saying that the speaker isn't great.  Yes, I love the Vandersteen sound when set up properly and not so much when it's not.  I do know that I've always liked them in any of the rooms I"ve heard them so far and that's a lot of rooms.  I was like that with Avalon back in the day, but couldn't afford them at the time.  I'm picky as heck. If I have to add that much stuff to my listening room to make the speakers sound like I want them to, then I'm out.  That's not a cut as many who can afford a 30k plus speaker can afford to redo their rooms.  I don't have  dedicated room, so the Paradigms just aren't for me.  Again, not a cut at all.  

I was pulled into this thread without knowing about it or wanting to know about it, so I have expressed my views.  Will I come down to listen to your gear in your shop?  If I have the time of course I will. The next stop in Jersey for me is Matt's and then to a reviewers home (can't turn down invites to hear gear that I may never get to hear).  I love your passion for your store and your products, but to be frank (not trying to be a jerk), it just seems like you are pushing too hard.  The number one point you make we TOTALLY agree on is that folks need a good dealer who they trust. They then need to LISTEN and not sit and talk during an audition (when I do this I really after the fact that the system never drew me into the music, so I talk).  Then they need to trust their own ears and make the decisions they make.  Again, I"m not trying to put anything you have or do down as I don't want to be that guy, even though it's hard sometimes when writing opinions.  Thanks Troy.

Ctsooner,  I am happy to see we do agree on that. You also seem like a passionate guy who loves his gear and after reading some of your threads I agree with some of what you say.  

There are some terrific dealers out there, and some where the people are nice but their setups are just okay and others where the sound is just plain lousy. The point I was making when you mentioned hearing the Personas at another dealer was how their setup and matching equipment was totally different then ours, and perhaps you would have a different take on the speakers after hearing our setup, I also said maybe not.

Personal taste is just that, personal. I am also not saying that the Personas are the greatest speakers on the world. 

What I have said is that the speakers can and do compare with many of the best products out there and in some ways transparency and holography may outperform some of the other brands in those areas.

You have also seen how we were attacked by a certain member for saying that. 

Several members who heard the other contenders agree with us and subsequently bought the  Persona speakers.

Personally I don't care if someone likes a different product than what I am representing, what I want is for someone who is considering making a purchase find a dealer hopefully a good one and get a demo of these products and be open to exploring something new which may be better and perhaps be even a better value. 

What I said in one of the other threads, was after finding the T+A gear which was compared to the crazy expensive CH Precision gear, by the TAS you would think that some of the members would have expressed interest in finding out where they could hear that product.

To date just one guy is going to hear the T+A stuff after reading our posts, and for the record that guy is in CA for we are not benefiting.

If that was me, and someone told me there was an amp for $19k expensive but somewhat doable, that compared to $120k of very respected and very expensive Swiss gear, I know I would have been on the phone the next day to find out who in the country sold that product. 

Can you imagine how dull the industry would be if no one championed these new and sometimes better products? 

To wit if you have been following these threads you will see some of the remarkably incendiary comments directed at me and the product. 

It is this small mindedness, and brand snobbery that gets my goat. 

Since I have been going to the Audio Doctor shop since the late nineties  they have had a number of great sounding reference speakers, Dave moves into and out of brands in the pursuit of the best possible products, and I am sure if he could find a line that represents better sound quality, engineering and fair pricing he would add that line as well.

I know it seems that I am pushing hard, you would push hard, in the face of being attacked by a certain member, that doesn't like the store owner, because he dared to "sell to him at a show and that same guy is pissed at me because I invaded a Wilson thread." 

As per invading that thread, I made one comment on how the Personas would work well in his small room and save the guy $20k and I got lambasted for that, that lead to a lengthy exchange to support my position and to support my friend. 

What is refreshing to see is how we have gotten support from a number of people here who are understanding our position.

There is a tremendous amount of negativity and brand elitism shown on these threads. 

People shouldn't care what brand of gear they are using it is the sound that should matter, with that being said, what we are being guilty of I have seen other members spouting the same rhetoric about the products that they endorse, over and over again.

i look forward to meeting you at the shop someday and we can finally play some music together.

Troy
Audio Doctor