How many NICE looking high end floor standing speaker are there at present

I saw them mentioned in someone’s earlier post, but I will throw our name in this hat, which is the Paradigm Persona’s. The 5F starting at $17k/pr (price depends on customization) is the model in my room (see profile pic) and you can get them in a wide array of colors and with, or without grill covers.

Our Design Studio allows you to customize the speaker much like how you would build a car on any automotive website. You may choose cabinet color, driver color, metal work and lens covers, and three different choices of grill cloth colors which can be added if you don’t like seeing the drivers - and there is a slide allowing you to see the grill on or off of the speaker.

If you don’t see a color you like, for an additional charge, pick a color and supply us the paint code and we’ll match it for the cabinet. I will also mention, the performance exceeds the look. The cabinet colors are illustrations and if you saw a color you think you’d be interested in, we can send the actual color sample to the dealer, if they don’t already have one, so that you can confirm it’s the color you want.

It’s fun to play around and create different looks. Here’s a quick link to build a 5F if you’re curious:

https://design.paradigm.com/en/persona/customize

Our Dealer Locator will allow you to find your closest Dealer if you’re interested in pursuing it further:

https://www.paradigm.com/en/dealer-locator

Good luck in your search and please feel free to reach out if you have further questions. Thank you for your time and any consideration!

Cheers,
Chris

Michelle,

In regards to your side-firing woofer bias, Drivers need to work in unison.  A drum set doesn't have the kick drum or the snare drum turned sideways or off to the side to throw the hit a different direction.  Good crossover networks, particularly our electro-acoustic crossovers help all of our drivers work as though they sound as one, not a disjointed or convoluted mess.

• The crossover coordinates it all, like the conductor of a massive symphony orchestra (and choir). Crossovers are judged by their attention to detail, precision and speed. They must live up to an audio ideal: accuracy and transparency, and realistic frequency blending, all achieved by the perfectly engineered slope.
• Paradigm multi-element frequency and phase-coherent crossover networks are purpose-designed for each speaker model. They are handcrafted of high-power, close-tolerance components, like polypropylene capacitors and air-core coils, each selected for their superior performance and reliability.
• Our crossovers are specially "voiced" for enhanced mid-range clarity, with proprietary topology that produces vanishingly low distortion and achieves seamless dynamic integration.
• This kind of precision tuning preserves even the most microscopic sonic nuances, while easily handling the full audio spectrum of even the most challenging sources.
• Paradigm crossovers are engineered to deliver sound of unparalleled purity, precision, clarity, and openness — a sonic performance that virtually eliminates the speaker from the equation, leaving only the sound you want to hear.

Is that enough fire? :)

Respectfully,
Chris

Hi Michelle,

We pack a lot of science and technology in our Persona’s, but can’t speak to what the sonic differences would be relative to your current speakers?

Speakers are instruments and much like a piano, what brand it is and who is playing it and how they are playing it can affect everything. Your Electronics are the person playing the instrument. So, the instrument can either reveal how bad a player they have in front of it, or it can create some magical synergy that works really well.   The instrument will not, however, make up for a person who doesn't play well.  I can elaborate on that analogy much further if needed...

We make every part of the Personas in our Factory in Mississauga Canada with the exception of the Beryllium Tweeter diaphragm and Midrange cone which is supplied by the Materion Corporation here in the US. The Beryllium is mined in Utah and processed in Ohio and put into sheets and formed in California, then ultimately sent to us to mate to our motor systems.

The woofers are actually misleading in terms of output because we have a technology referred to as ART (Active Ridge Technology):

• Standard driver surrounds are unreliable rubber, glued or otherwise adhered to the driver and the chassis. Move too far too fast, and you risk a cone-destroying breach.
• Paradigm’s patented† Active Ridge Technology (ART) surrounds are "overmolded" directly onto the driver cones, and made of audiophile-grade injection-molded thermoplastic elastomer.
• This more durable, more tenacious union between driver and chassis allows for much greater excursion with no chance of breach, ensuring a long life of high performance.
• Added benefit: Drivers attached via ART Surrounds achieve an astounding, measurable 3dB gain in output and 50% reduction in distortion.
• † US patents: D654,479S and 8,340,340B2.

+3dB per driver is the equivalent of doubling the amount of drivers per cabinet from an output perspective, and reduces the amount of distortion due to that improved linearity. You can’t see it, but there is also a port that vents out of the bottom of the cabinet in the gap between it and the base plate.

Our PPA (Perforated Phase Alignment) Lenses which cover the Tweeter & Midrange:

• High frequencies tend to congregate, and can sound muddled, obscuring details and shrouding image clarity. A phase plug guides high frequency response to avoid interaction.
• Paradigm engineers improved on the standard phase plug with their distinctive (and patented†) Perforated Phase-Aligning (PPA™) driver lens.
• Situated in front of the tweeter and midrange drivers, the PPA acts like a phase plug, blocking the interaction of out-of-phase frequencies, smoothing output, and increasing the perception of details without coloring the sound.
• The PPA also serves to protect delicate drivers.
• † US patent: 10,003,869.

Having the Lens Covers adds approximately +1.5dB of added output due to the phase cancellations of the tweeter. These speakers have an incredibly wide dispersion as a result and will still sound really pleasant when moving around a room or sitting off axis. Obviously, when they’re dialed in properly from the main listening position, that is when it’s always the best!

Thank you again for your consideration Michelle and please don’t hesitate to direct message me if you need any further help!

Chris

My apologies Michelle, I wasn’t trying to slight the side-firing woofer design, because it’s certainly something we could end up doing down the road in future product. Also, I’m not trying to get caught in the weeds of low frequencies being directional and lower frequencies being non directional. Instruments that play low, like a kick drum, if you couldn’t see it, you can still identify where the sound is coming from like with most instruments that can play low. People’s definition of bass is like their definition of chocolate. How chocolatey do you like your chocolate?

This all comes down to the implementation of the design and reinforces the importance of the crossover. But, like with all speakers, driver material doesn’t matter till you mate it to a motor system. The size of the drivers don’t matter if the motor system is inadequate, the drivers don’t matter if you can’t control the uniformity from the crossover, and none of it matters if you put the drivers and crossover in a poor environment (the cabinet). It all has to work together, but at what price point or particular level of performance is the manufacturer trying to achieve? We have to determine target price points/levels and then execute our plan. It’s our vertical integration that gives us a major advantage over many of our competitors.

When we R&D new products, we still implement double blind listening tests and make our evaluations based on comparing our own products as well as against many of our competitors products.

When you can’t see any of the speakers, many Reviewers, Dealers, and so called “experts” have made some very interesting picks when they’ve visited our factory - many picking ours over significantly more expensive brands and models, but they don’t know until the perforated screen rises. The blind listening tests we do are simply the most fun and plays an integral part of our designs before our products come to market.

Depending on where you’re at Michelle, I hope you’re able to get out and experience many of the speakers people have suggested or what you’re most interested in seeing and hearing. If you’re interested in auditioning a pair of Persona’s and find a Dealer you’d like to visit, please let me know and I can help arrange an appointment if desired. Good luck with your search!