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


I have been following all the contested threads about the new Paradigm Persona line of speakers and it seems that many people are having difficulties in believing that Paradigm, a company well respected for value loudspeakers could produce a product that can rival the best exotic loudspeakers on the market.

The review came out today in the Absolute Sound April 2017 issue and what my ears have told me is true, is true. 
John Atkinson, compared the Pardigm 9H $35k to the Magico S7MK 2 $58k and found that Personas to be in the same class as these highly thought of prestigious loudspeakers. I think I read on one  of the threads that a Magico owner was saying that wasn't possible!

I am not an expert, on loudspeakers, I do know what sounds real to me, and when I heard these speakers my jaw hit the floor. Stunning realism. I could almost reach out and touch the Beatles, and Miles Davis. Huge sound stage, totally transparent, and smooth, with dynamite bass. 

At this point I am torn between the Legacy Audio Signatures and The Paradigm Persona 3F which shares the same driver technology of the 9H but costs $10k, I am lucky to be working with a dealer that represents both of these awesome lines of loudspeakers. 

It seems to me that many audiophiles need to open their minds and stop being so brand loyal to the point of obsession,  and start looking at the sound, and only the sound. I know for me as a professional photographer, I have gone back and forth between Canon and Nikons, and I love them both but am wedded to neither. Why in the audio world do people have such furvor over what they buy with the belief that their product and only their product is the best? In the camera world it seems much more fluid with people changing camera brands without ever starting a written riot if someone dares to bring up another brand or question their choice. 



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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.
Paradigm Personas have almost an identical frequency response to Bowers & Wilkens 7 and 8 series. It shouldn’t be rocket science to figure out what they were going for. It’s only odd because Paradigm’s last generation series were extremely neutral so it's definitely a change in philosophy for them.