Paradigm Persona series

@yyzsantabarbara 

The more I listen to different setups with my 3f's the more I realize that it really is about the recording.  I have changed footers and cables and other sources (which do have a big effect) but the most important (given a speakers characteristics) seem to be the recording.  Sometimes they do sound bright and harsh and then sometimes I am completely surprised the next time I crank them up.....  strange. 

BTW....  @audiotroy   What do I have to do to get the Iso Acoustic Gaia feet on the large base of the 3f's?  Is there some sort of adaptor for the Paradigm speakers?  The large threaded feet don't fit anything. 

That’s a cop out. The speaker is bright. Demoing Paradigm Persona 3F and Focal Kanta No. 2, at different shops, with the same recordings, they both sound bright/harsh and uninvolving, despite the great resolution. The Paradigms were on my amp (Schiit Ragnarok). The Focals were on both McIntosh and Naim electronics (tried them two different days).

Both speakers made good recordings sound bright/OK. They both made average recordings sound horrible, and bad recordings make me want to gouge my ears out. Unfortunately, most good music isn’t recorded super well. Both speakers were also unlistenable at higher or even moderate volumes. 80 dB on my Decibel iPhone app was painful and down went the volume again.

Contrast that with the Revel F228be at the same dealer as the Focal, and they were at least listenable. None of the above speakers conveyed the emotion of the music.

Contrasting all of those with Aerial Acoustics 6T, it was no contest. Much more bass (despite the smaller bass woofer size). Made great recordings sound awesome and poor recordings sound great. You could crank them up without wincing. I was listening at 85 dB (measured with my same app mentioned above) without even realizing it. And most of all, the Aerials conveyed the emotion of the music and brought tears to my eyes. On the same songs I had been demoing with all speakers and was very sick of at the time.

One should not HAVE to tweak footers, cables and electronics in order to make a speaker listenable. One should be rewarded with additional marginal gains if they do so. The Paradigm fall in the former camp. They are inherently flawed, and folks should know that going in.

@rlovendale  Ever consider that your hearing and tastes maybe different from people who like the Persona or Kanta? Most people tend to buy what they like. 

There are quite a few owners of Persona's chiming in saying how much they like the speaker. So you are basically saying to these folks that they are rather messed up, either mentally or hearing wise, to be buying the Persona.

Stay classy.

@yyzsantabarbara Yes. Nothing I said above is inconsistent with that statement, which I agree with.

All I’m saying is that one may subjectively like or even love the speaker or want to buy it to fill their need to tune and tweak, but it still measures objectively bright (see Stereophile measurements for one) and sounds subjectively bright (as confirmed by a multitude of Audiogon users) as well. That brightness is not recording-specific, but rather applies to all recordings because it is inherent in the speaker. It is a disservice to those that haven’t heard the speaker to imply otherwise.

Now that’s not my personal taste, hence I also expressed my opinions above.

I think it is actually a disservice to A'Gon readers to have posts telling people who have not heard the Persona that it is bright and does not sound good.

I almost bought into that line and had ALMOST eliminated the Persona 3F from consideration for my office system (small room). They only reason I heard it was because of a fluke. I was intending to audition the Lyngdorf 2170, that gets rave reviews here on A'gon. The dealership had the Persona and Sonus Faber. I unenthusiastic-ally chose the Persona to pair with the Lyngdorf demo because I knew the Sonus Faber sound is not to my tastes. 

I have mentioned more about the audition previously but the end result is that the Lyngdorf was out and the Personsa 3F was in my top 3 for consideration.  The was after using a SimAudio 860A amp to power them via the Lyngdorf preamp section. Dealer actually said it was the best he had heard the Persona 5F. He normally demos with MAC gear.

Moral of the story FOR ME, don't take the words written here verbatim, even if it is written as a benevolent audio SERVICE. Go out and listen for yourself.