Any Paradigm Persona 3f and GoldenEar Reference comparisons?

I have owned Paradigm speakers before but not the Persona 3F Unless they changed their house sound, I always found them to be very bright with too much detail. They were certainly not for me. I do own the Triton References, and they are a perfectly blended speaker with staggering bass, pinpoint imaging, very deep and wide sound stage and smooth mids and highs. They are the kind of speakers you can listen to all day long without fatigue.  The Triton Reference speakers are 93.5 db efficient and the woofers are powered by a 1800 watt amp.  The rest of the speaker is a pretty easy load but you should have an amp that does well into 4 ohms.  They are quite easy to place within the room as the level control for the woofer gives you plenty of leeway to make sure you don't get a thin sound or excessive bloat.

I haven't heard the reference, but did demo the Triton Ones.  Other than the extremely powerful bass output I wasn't very impressed - harsh treble and recessed midrange, it was all overly aggressive highs and bass.   The Paradigm Prestige 95Fs I demoed at the same store were heads and tails better in every way except for bass, and that's easy to fix with a sub.  

The Persona series just takes it up another level.  I've only heard the Persona Bs, but wow, they're absolutely amazing, best speakers I've ever heard hands down - detailed and open with absolutely no harshness, a wide and deep sound stage, and never showed any strain.  

The Personas are in a completely different league and are well underpriced.  Not a fair comparison.

the 3f is super detailed, but I felt would get bright listening at louder volumes.  The 3f in my opinion needs a subwoofer for sure.  It's the more accurate speaker in terms of detail, air etc.

The reference is what it is.  It lacks a little detail, but can pound all day, will work with less expensive electronics really well (even a receiver) as it's not going to ever be too bright and doesn't needs gobs of power as the subs are powered.  

I would want a very detailed DAC and something like a very nice class A amp to drive the top of the reference if I owned them.  

When I compared the DynAudio Contour 60's to the reference, I prefered the Dyn's  - plenty of bass also, but tighter and more defined.  More detail on the top end, but not bright.  

That said, the reference is a rare speaker you could do Home Theater with and probably be just fine without subs.

The 3f lacks low end oomph for sure.  Two very, very different speakers.

It sounds like you heard a very poorly set up pair of 3F's.

That's one disadvantage of them -- they are not a set it and forget it speaker.   You have to be able to really place them in the room properly which takes time -- and obviously you can't have a horrible acoustic environment.

It's also one advantage of the Triton Reference.  Much more user friendly speaker, but there is no question the Persona is leagues ahead in every aspect except bass extension only.  The persona bass QUALITY is considerably better however.

Nice to hear how well the new Dynaudio Contour 60s compared to the Reference. Would also be curious if anyone has compared the Dyns to the Persona 5f or 7F.

Your responses are interesting. I don’t live in an area with a lot of brick & motar stores. One that I patronize carries Paradigm, Focal, and Goldenear. The staff strongly favors Focal (Electra, Kanto, Sopra) or the Personas, (not so much the Prestige). They are admittedly detail & openess oriented. This store is several hours away- I need to plan a decent comparison of the three brands. The other, more local store, (that I buy from) carry tthe Paradigm and Goldenear lines, but stop at the Triton 1 and the Prestige 95f- the staff there also favor the Paradigm.

Of course they do, there is probably more profit margin in that line.

Stereo5 — the amount of misinformation you spread on this forum is troubling. Focal might have the lowest profit margin of all the major brands.

Maybe the dealer is just pushing them because they think the customer will be happiest with them, which makes the customer even more loyal.  Sometimes business isn’t just about the moment of sale.  

dvdboulet17 posts03-30-2018 8:21amNice to hear how well the new Dynaudio Contour 60s compared to the Reference. Would also be curious if anyone has compared the Dyns to the Persona 5f or 7F

The usual caveat, both are good.  The dyns are a fuller sounding speaker IMO, the 5f and 7f have more detail, heck they have just about every detail.  The Dyn's seem to move more air and have a fuller bass sound (but without being boomy).  If you listen for every last detail the Persona is likely more your cup of tea.

The persona's to me are similar to the Focal Sopra line to the brighter side of neutral, but good coherent accurate speakers, but for me they need a subwoofer.

The Dyn's are pretty dead neutral, but with a bit fuller sound.

The Golden Ears to me, are on the warmer side of neutral, with tons of bass, but not as accurate and as punchy as the Dyns.  

I think the Golden Ear Triton 2+ is the sweet spot.  I wouldn't spring for the 1's unless you had a bigger room, and the reference I would think about if you just loved the Golden Ear sound and wanted "more".  

@returntomusic The ’several hour drive’ is well worth undertaking for speakers you may have for a number of years.

It sounds like the dealer more local to you caters to their local market and therefore cannot justify carrying the upper tier inventory, or they have chosen not to. Nothing at all unusual or wrong about that.

You will and are getting a lot of feedback but ultimately you need to make the choice that best fits your needs and preferences. Best of luck.