DynAudio Contour 60 vs Paradigm Persona 7F

Last week I had to opportunity to hear the Contour 60 and Contour 30 back to back on Hegel equipment.  Unfortunately I can't comment on the Paradigm speakers, however I was really impressed with the Dynaudio sound.  In fact I felt shameful for not giving them more respect prior.  I tend to like presence and tone a lot.  Truth be told I think the 30's sound better than the 60's.  Still their house sound is very appealing.  They have hit my radar for future consideration.  

1:IMO Dynaudio makes the worlds best speakers at every price bracket...
2:You mention acoustic treatment...I read years ago that ALL Paradigm speakers are voiced in anachoic chambers and they perform best in treated rooms..EVERY Paradigm I have ever demo'd in normal rooms was bright & I suspect this is why...Inversely EVERY Dynaudio I have either owned or demo'd sounded good in so so rooms & blossomed in treated rooms...
3:Nothing I have heard up to $2000.00 stages or images like Dynaudio...IMO it's the tweeter,look how far off the baffle the tweeter protrudes.Couple that to minimum width baffles & they disappear with little effort...

Hmm, I've heard a few people here mention they've found Paradigm speakers bright, but I've always found them nicely resolving yet neutral, probably closest to Revel when it comes to sound signature.  

Focal and Goldenear on the other hand, yikes, those could make my ears bleed.  

7F for sure.  Especially if you are getting that good of a deal on them.

Dave,
I will throw you a slight curve ball and recommend you look at the Silverline Bolero Supremes.
Think Dyn sound with a bass kick and a 8ohm load and 93db,with only 3 parts in the entire crossover.

Kenny.

@dvdboulet, you have a awesome room. Would love to have a room like that. I have heard the Dynaudio and it is a pretty nice sounding loudspeaker. While it requires a powerful amp to come alive, your Hegel is more than enough to drive it to crazy levels.
I have heard the smallest floor standers in that Persona series and I was pleasantly surprised by what I heard. They imaged amazing in a room without treatments and a glass wall behind the speakers.
If I recollect from my listening experience, I would say the Dynaudios are more laidback while the Paradigms are more upfront (but not bright). It will depend on your preference between laid back and upfront.As a FYI, the Dyns were driven by Pass amps and Audio Research preamp. The Paradigms were driven by a Peachtree amp.

I heard the c60 and the 5f and it's pretty nice having first world problems :) I think it will depend on the music and QUALITY of recordings as the esotar2 tweeter has a rep for being a bit more forgiving. My money would be the C60 and your room should be big enough to let them open up. I bought a pair of salon2's for the price of the c60 new, but unless I can get the C60 home it would be unfair to make comparisons. I would be happy with either tho.

Thanks! Yeah... for that matter did you find that to you the revel Ultima2 salon2s sounded better than the Dyn C60s?

@steve59  ya wonder if any follow up on the C60s vs salon 2 ?

The Contour 60's are immensely impressive once you give them time to break in and you feed them enough power.  I have never heard such texture in the bass and such punch at the same time.  To me, a speaker has to reproduce the human voice flawlessly and convincingly, the dyns do that very well.  

I have heard the larger Personas and although they immediately impress with their "presence" and razor sharp precision, I truly doubt that they sound "human".  Impressive, very much so, just simply not true to life.

@dznutz  well said... that precision is addictive though.. especially when you mix in some smoothness from the pre, amp or dac. Then you get some magic. But I would really love to hear the dynaudios. Both contour and confidence series.

Dynaudio has a much better target curve than whatever Paradigm is doing with Persona series--trying to copy B&W or something.

@steve59  ya wonder if any follow up on the C60s vs salon 2 ?

The C60 can be had for pretty good prices right now, but no I never got a pair home mainly because the lack of interest I didn't think if I bought a used pair I wouldn't be able to resell them had they not lived up to my expectations. 

Any other thoughts on the Contour 60s?

I am thinking of putting them in a smaller room (I love bass), 12 x 16 x 8.. and I already have 2x 18 inch subs that I use with paradigm sig s8 v2. Love the bass in the room and really enjoy my sig s8s but I wonder if the contour 60 would be a step up.

@smodtactical

I owned the Contour 60’s for about a year. 12 x 17 room, 9 foot ceiling. Concrete floors with carpet and padding overneath. Dedicated listening room. GIK bass traps in all corners, treated etc.

They are good, not great. I like them leaps and bounds over the entire Persona Series.

Pros - Bass, and gobs of it. I like bass, and I even plugged a port (that was even in a treated room). It’s good quality bass also. Not the absolute tightest, but it’s punchy and gobs of it.

Neutral, yet with detail. Esotar Tweeter, it’s great.

Natural sounding, can be played very loud without compression, won’t hurt you at louder levels.

Cons - Soundstage is not the largest, I found myself constantly trying to get them to sound "Bigger" outside the edges (I like a real big soundstage, maybe even slightly exaggerated).

Break- In - First new speaker I’ve owned that I felt broke in.

Power - ignore the efficiency rating, they want current.

Speakers I was able to directly compare them to: (in the same store, or in my own home).

Salk Soundscape 8 - Dyns have better bass, Salks do the mids and highs a bit better, if you leave the back open the Salks soundstage is bigger. If you like running your subs with your mains, and blend them well - the Salks might be a better combo. If you want your mains to sound good and pound, the Dyns are very very good at that pricepoint.

Golden Ear Triton 1 - Dyns are better in the mids and highs, GE has a slightly bigger soundstage. Dyns look better (eye of beholder). Dyns need a LOT more power than the GE’s. Both can pound, Dyn’s have better defined bass.

Vandersteen Treo CT... tough call. Vandersteen has better mids and highs, and the bass they have is more defined, but the Dyns can out slam them any day of the week.

IF you want your mains to pound, for under 10k, new or used, with solid mids and highs (and not be more than say 5ish years old, my tier one would be...

Dyn Contour 60’s
Golden Ear - pick of the litter...
Ohm Walsh 5000’s - I REALLY like these for the money - incredible value, do things other speakers really struggle with (huge soundstage), and great bass. But, they are unique.
Legacy Signature and Focus SE series - (new or used)
JBL 4367 - won’t go as low as all of the above, but they can pound midbass on up.

Salk Soundscape 10/12 (used, tough to find, need power) - These might be my favorites. But really hard to find as they are out of production. They have the same/better highs than the soundscape 8’s, but have deep, defined, punchy accurate bass.

I like Rock, Blues and Reggae primarily. I like bass, and I tend to listen loud. I don’t like integrating my subwoofer with my mains though.

I think the Contour 60’s are better than the Triton 1’s, but I’ve not heard the 1R’s. I think the Legacy Focus SE is pretty similar to the Contour 60’s and Tritons with the overall package.

The Ohm Walsh 4000’s/5000’s - unique, but do some things just incredibly well with a huge soundstage, great coherance, no compression. But, more room dependent in some ways, but yet more tolerant in others.

4367 - Great Rock speaker

A speaker I recently demo'd you might like - Salk SS9.5 - similar midrange to the Contour 60, VERY smooth for a BE tweeter, better defined bass than the Contour 60, but not quite as much.  Big soundstage.  It's a really good speaker (with incredible finish options)

Soundscape 10/12 - Best overall speaker of all of the above IMO, but rare, out of production (though Jim Salk support is great), accurate but needs power.

Wow those two choices are really different sounding speakers!

Personal preference but I preferred Dynaudio house sound to that of Paradigm, and I’d venture even more so when driven by Hegel.

Dyn/Hegel seems like a pretty sweet pairing. I’d need a bit warmer electronics to get the Paradigm to work for me. 

Good luck

@dep14  wow thanks for the great post. Lot of great insights.

Krenn you hit it on the head completely, 

The Dyaudio's are big warm smooth sounding speakers with great bass.

We heard them at Axpona and they were super musical and a huge step up from the older Dynaudios.

The Personas when used with the right gear are amazing loudspeakers, they throw a spooky holographic image and you can hear details lost in other loudspeakers.

They are a bit forward so careful matching is required but when you get them right they sound like radically more expensive loudpeakers.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Persona dealers

So what did you buy?

For the sake of the thread and I've listened to both speakers while we haven't gotten an answer from the op I bought a pair of persona 7f's. Compared to the salon 2 in my room using a hegel h360 and roon nucleus streaming music off tidal the 7f is an easier load and in my room puts out much better bass. Both speakers excel in resolution and sound more alike than different above 200 hz but their size and weight are nearly identical and prices are pretty close also...imaging and soundstaging are different the persona more intimate the salon more open, preferences will be personal. I like to rock and speakers have to be able to rock without shrieking and still have high resolution for low volume easy listening sessions. I heard the 7f paired with the anthem str integrated and thought they were correct, but lifeless again with the str separates was more impressive, super tight but still the lower mids seemed a little light then I heard them with a pathos logos mk2 and it really came together. I got lucky that I found the magic combo on someone else's dime in case I ever get used to how they sound with the hegel.