Paradigm Persona series

Not at all.  A friend just got them for his center and 5F fronts.  They're super nice, and make no detectable difference in sound.  They're stupidly expensive, but definitely the nicest grilles I've ever seen/felt.

Yeah, it seems like at times, companies just charge what they’d like to get for products with no relation to their cost.

I think it’s a mistake all brands seem to make. Pricing things based on a nonsensical assumption that people will buy either way is a bad move. Consumers are smarter than that now, and it’s not hard to realize how much a product would realistically cost to make. There is no doubt that they are making a killing off the grills, but it’s still not nearly as bad as what people charge for cables — and that’s a highly praised purchase on here.

@ric
Maybe he doesn’t try to get you to sell your speakers because he realizes that’s really hard to do, and a daunting task in general. I’m sure he sells you stuff that’s high margin and/or easy to ship for little to no cost (cables!). How convenient.

I highly recommend the STR preamp for the 3F.   Tremendous value.  Absolutely would recommend over the three you listed.

I have heard them with the following....


Aavik U-300 integrated (sounded great, but overpriced)

Yamaha RN-803 did okay, and its an awesome piece, but perhaps the only setup I thought that was lacking.

Anthem STR integrated (best value dollar for dollar by far, especially if you want to integrate subs, which this will do better than ANYTHING else out there, fact.  Just wait for the new ARC Genesis update coming out in the next couple months)

Anthem STR preamp with the STR amp (best sound but dollar for dollar the integrated a better value)

Anthem STR preamp with Bryston 4bSST sounded great.

the new carver Amps sounded incredible with them.  I heard a bit with the mono blocks and STR pre. Mind blowing.  Then the 275 or whatever the inexpensive amp is (outstanding) around $2,500.

I haven’t heard them with any of the three you listed other than some modern high top of the line krell stuff and that sounded a little hard to me.  Could have been my expectation bias because I always have thought krell sounds cold and sterile.

I have also heard them with some higher end McIntosh stuff a friend has.  600watt mono blocks I believe, and a Mac preamp.  Sounded a little dry, but I’m sure 90% of the sound difference I heard was the room being completely different.

I think that’s all.


Make sure you toe in the Personas 5 degrees max.  Completely unnecessary for any more aggressive tow in (like any good speaker).  

Let me know if you want me to go into any more detail about what I heard from memory.

@pwhinson do you have them toed in at all?  They should be facing almost straight.  Maybe 5 degrees total.  I have never gotten brightness especially on orchestral recordings that are decent or better.  Even stuff like the old Telarc CDs sound simply incredible.  Almost laid back yet with jaw dropping dynamics, scale, and wade.

Oh, one more thing.  You mention wanting to adjust the bass response curve. With the new ARC Genesis, you will be able to custom tailor it however you want.  I think it releases in April or May.

The 7F shares almost no resemblance to the 1028be. Not sure where you get that.  Also, there is no enhanced bass in the 7F.  They have perhaps the tightest bass I have ever heard.  So to a lot of people that would likely be heard as “lean” in the bass due to years of hearing boomy speakers and hearing lots of the room or speaker enclosure.  Sounds like you’re letting what you read influence your impressions. I just saw you raving about them in another thread yet now you’re changing your tune based on what others are saying.

It’s amazing how much “audiophiles” are psychologically influenced and don’t even realize it.

What recordings did you hear through the 7F that made it sound two dimensional and boring? If the 7F is capable of providing a huge deep and wide holographic stage on good recordings, that means they can extract the same when available from other recordings. If the mentioned “bad” recordings don’t have the soundstage, there’s no way they’d suddenly have anything better on another pair of speakers. The speakers don’t pick and choose when they want to have space in the soundstage. That goes against logic, physics, and science completely.

Unfortunately that makes zero sense. The brightest tv at Best Buy only looks good if you’re ignorant and know very little about picture quality.

Dealers likely play “only good music” or only their music because I’m sure many customers come in with some hot garbage that would sound bad on any speaker. I don’t know of any dealer that wants to “trick” the customer, but when someone goes into a store and says “hey do you have this *insert artist here* album?” The dealer may play some garbage remaster on Tidal which sounds like trash compared to the CD master the guy has at home. That’s the kind of stuff I’d think they’re worried about, if they really are trying to exclusively play their stuff.

With the 20% off sale going on I could see a dealer stretching to like $26k or something though.

Ctsooner: it’s a trade in program where you trade in your old speakers.  And most dealers will give 10-15% off normally anyway.  No one is upset about it aside from you.  There’s nothing unusual about something being on a promotion.  Every single industry does it.  

No need for any kind of “tuning footers” or anything like that. If they’re sounding bright, you need to get them positioned properly and acoustically treat your room. Things like ISO acoustic Gaia’s are nice and all, it the higher end more inert speakers like Personas don’t benefit from them much if at all.

Raising them off the ground a little would have the same effect. Any kind of “mod” to a Persona is completely unnecessary.

I can see how a wood floor or sub floor would still allow a benefit from isolation now that you say it.  I’m on concrete.