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

Pass are excellent amps.  As for using digital or analog to EQ, I'm in the camp of analog still being much better.  I've personally heard some of the top brands that use DSP in one form or another and I don't like it.  I do hear the difference and it changes the sound and ruins coherency. I'm not the only one who feels that way. I've spoken to dealers, manufactures as well as reviewers who also feel that digital EQ still isn't where it needs to be. Kind of like the way it's taken digital formats to sound close to vinyl.  

I moved up from Treo's to Quatro's due to wanting the bass EQ.  I have noticed a huge difference in my room with the EQ.  

I personally (I've done this) go audition the speakers you like and go with them.  When I audition, I totally tune out the salesperson.  I ask them not to speak during my auditioning and to give me the remote.  Too often they will play with the volume during the audition.  I've seen that at MANY dealers and it pisses me off.  

You seem to have a really nice rig going.  I love the Aesthetix pre amps.  Just a great value in tubes.  I owned their phono stage when I was able to play vinyl.  

My feelings on the Persona's haven't changed.  I've auditioned them at many stores now and they have always sounded the same to my ears.  They, like other Paradigm's are tipped up on top.  I own a pair as I"ve said many times.  They lack coherency.  Every dealer always says 'you haven't heard them in my store and my set up is the best".  I went to Dave's and they sounded that same to me as they have elsewhere.  Folks can always say things aren't set up properly for whatever reason they want, but in the end, I've found that gear has a sound signature no matter the set up.  Many folks love a highly dynamic speaker like Wilson or the Paradigm's and that's awesome.  I say go get them and enjoy your music as that's the only thing that matters anyways.  

If you love the Paradigm's, then go for it and enjoy them, but make sure you listen to others in your range.  JMHO

Pound to pound Paradigm Persona 9H will be similar to Legacy Aeris at 50% of the price. Both are serious about room correction but you also get a DAC and preamp for free, again at little more than 50% of price. Aeris has both a 4" Tweeter with 1" super Tweeter. Good engineering and some custom correction is need to make all the drivers sing at the same time in a given room so good to know both consider room correction seriously (Legacy does correction in more than one dimension, if I understand right). 

But yes price does not matter if you think Persona sounds way better than any other speaker. But at $35K+ there just just so many options. 

I personally liked Sanders system around ~$17k at RMAF 2018 for the price and what I can hear in the room. It just did not pass the WAF factor and also the limited sweet sport worries (frankly I always sit in the sweet spot so I don't care:), don't all speakers have limited sweet spot? anyways?. ). What Sanders said in person stuck in my brain, he said something like this "I don't understand why every one use large mid range drivers, active crossovers and room correction, it is just physics".

So yeah there is no magic or audiophool voodoo!, there are only trade offs and applying good science (called engineering). Bill @ Legacy is cut from the same cloth I think, so are many engineers who strive to build good speakers.

At anything above $10k I (personally me) would have a good return policy in place, just in case if you not fully convinced yet. Just do some extensive A/B testing if you can, like using same/matching electronics and doing simple things like SPL match before playing same tracks etc. And listen to what you like. Room and room correction can play a very big role, just be aware of it.

Just don't listen to anyones opinion(reviews) about Paradigm or other speakers. Listen for yourself and focus on controlled experiment(s) the best you can and make up your mind without bias and be happy with your decision.

Enjoy the music :).

Great post geek.  It's all physics and making sure your room sounds decent.  Then it's personal taste.

A minor correction quoting Sanders:  "I don't understand why don't every one uses large mid range drivers (large electrostatic panel accomplishes this), active crossovers (I forgot few things he mentioned here :( ) and room correction, it is just physics".

Also want to state that I am long time Paradigm Studio 40v3 user.

I read this review and while its a great review there’s a huge amount of space devoted to oblique statements referencing a need for speaker manufacturers to include tweeter level controls al la Revel to tilt the top end up or down 3 db. And actually I will say the Revel control on the back of the Salon2s functions very well in that regard. So I think its a good statement to make independent of the review but there were quite a view veiled statements referencing the slightly hot tonal balance on the Personas. The speakers are incredible true I agree but I do wonder why Paradigm voiced them this way.  They measure in room (at least in my room) the same way they measure in the couple of reviews out there where measurements were taken. Of course its true that we don’t listen to measurements and I will say that they don’t sound as tilted up on the top end as the graph indicates. Still...you wonder why couldn’t that large lump centered around 10K be engineered out of this otherwise spectacular highly resolving speaker? And yes, so many of our rooms are a bit over damped or under damped and even with room treatment while we can try to address that it actually WOULD be nice if more speakers would come with a tweeter level control similar to what Revel/Harman/Samsung puts on the (overrated to me) Salon 2s.