Paradigm speakers

Grpgr4blu,

The Prestige series is a bit bright, so are Rahido, Monitor Audio Platinum Series I, B&W, and many others high performance and high resolution speakers. 

As usual, speakers don't have a sound unto themselves, the sound you get has to do with the entire system, unless you are talking about fully active speakders with built in amps and dac, this is what is called the art of system matching, which is something I am particularly good at.

I am not saying there isn't a house sound, there is, and you can't make a bright speaker sound dull nor can you make a dull speaker sound bright, but you can find matching components that will compliment the things that you like about speaker x and minimize the things that you don't.

Grpgr4blu obviously doesn't know a damm thing about  this, or he wouldn't make sure ridiculous comments, he would know this as a fact.

If you have a speaker system which tends to favor upper octaves over more of a midrange centric system with a downward shelved treble such as a Vandersteen, then you need to add a warmer digital front end or a tube preamp or both along with neutral to wamer sounding cables, have you wondered why so many people talk about the Vandersteen/Ayre combo?

Vandersteens tend to sound warm and a bit rolled off in the top end, Ayre is neutral to a bit dry sounding, therfore, the match elevates both,

Same thing with the current Wilsons and ARC for example. ARC has always been neutral to a tad more forward compared to such tube brands like CJ, and the current Wilsons are less forward then past years with the Focal tweeter, get my point, it is finding a synergistic match of components.

The Personas have superb driver integration more so than the last series where you had a Beryilium tweeter coupled with an aluminum hybrid woofer. 

Dave owner
Audio Doctor NJ

What you should be doing when listening to a set of speakers is to identify what is the sound of the speaker vs what is the sound of the components.

Ideally you will find a set of speakers which work for you and then build around them.

Our philsophy is always start with the speakers, then match the electronics to the speakers, and then match the analog and digital front ends to those components.

You use the cables that will complement all of the components. 

Sometimes you have to experiment by changing to a tube preamp, or changing a digital front end etc.

Dave owner
Audio Doctor

m-db where did you hear the Personas and what were they setup with?

I have sold Avalons in the past, and do find them to sound excellent. I have always had tremendous respect for Avalons, but boy have they gotten pricey for what you are getting these days. 

I am not going to disagree with you that the Personas can sound a bit bright if you don't have them with the right gear. They are definatly tuned to sound neutral, but are definately not recessed, I would say they remind me a tad like the B&W Diamonds but with a more intergrated midrange, and a bit less agreesive top end then the new B&Ws. 

Again, we have one of the best Personas setups in the country and are using some of the best possible gear with them in an acoutically neutral room. 

Your opinion of them might be radically different if you heard our setup.

As I mentioned in some of the previous posts it has taken us years to come up with this system.  The funny thing is what worked with the remarkably high resolution Polymers pure Diamond tweete and midrange, worked splendily with the Personas.

For the record: T+A electronics, Aqua Hif, T+A PDP 3000 or Light Harmonic Davinci MK II, Enklekin cables with Audio Magico power conditioning. 

Dave owner
Audio Doctor NJ

Is anybody going to answer the question about break in time and not playing too loudly out of the box, can you hurt them until broke in given same playing levels before/after break in using a great Mark Levinson amp and no clipping. I know clipping an amp can damage speakers. 
Enough of the opinions and who knows what's best, geez everyone has their own tastes and hearing and what they prefer! 
Can we agree there are a lot of great products from different manufacturers and obviously some better than others, without spending $100,000.00!!

Anyone who has seen their product line transition over the past few years could see there has been a change in their operation, and honestly to be expected of any firm. But for a very long period, it was an example of value engineering and build, but not so much in terms of aesthetics. You could certainly see the desire to differentiate themselves with a large degree of in house build and specific design for the product line. This has changed somewhat, as aesthetic value is obviously greater and may have taken a bit out of the tank like build quality they had been known for. That dealer might have taken note of that and didn't find it quite the product he'd known.

As for the sound, the best description I should provide is something easy to admire, but harder to love. In a technical manor, Paradigm would achieve a great deal of speed, resolution, and clarity. Sound stage width was typically good but the depth and layering would be a shortened. Exciting, visceral, energetic. Where it fell a bit short was engagement, emotion, or what many consider its musicality. Its more than an elevated treble alone, its the overall presentation of the music. But for some who prize transparency over all else, it was especially good at it considering the price. I know the Revel line quite well as I've listened to entire line and they are notably different. Its a relaxed presentation that in my opinion, is a bit easier love. It also has wide image width, but notably better depth. What they often lack is a bit of treble air and on certain music genre, might not sound as exciting. I still prefer them over the long haul as they far more often allow engagement to the music and let the speakers fall behind the music.