Paradigm Persona series

(this is part of a larger post from another thread, but relevant to Paradigm 3F)

I found the resolution and soundstage of the Paradigms to be extraordinary. You can hear the wood of the solo viola, and the movement of cymbals when struck, the voices and locations of individual string instruments (even low strings) in ensemble, clear as a bell. I don't think it's a speaker for big bass, but that's not a huge priority for me. I like the impression of the ensemble or orchestra laid out in front of me, life-size as possible.

My only reservations were a) I don't find them terribly attractive visually, and more importantly, b)possible longer-term listening fatigue.  Doubting my aging ears, I looked up test bench measurements last night. Multiple measured (on-axis) frequency responses of both the 3F (and 5F) are certainly consistent with what I heard, showing a substantial bump from 5-12khz:

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/paradigm-persona-3f-speaker-system-review-test-bench

I listened to them toed in a bit, and if you look around you'll read a bunch of reviewers/users are setting them up facing straight ahead to avoid an overly bright presentation.  Apart from the brightness, I think the Paradigms are *very* stiff competition for the much more expensive Wilson Sabrina.

1. Music
The music I brought was part high-res and part Redbook CD rips (to FLAC), all things that I think sound good on all my own systems. More importantly, I know how they sound on other systems that I own or am auditioning. Finally, it’s all my kind of music. I think this is most of it.

• Brahms Trios - Vogt/Tetszlaff DSD
• Joey Alexander, Freedom Dance (HD flac)
• Ravel quartet- Sequoia String Quartet (redbook),
• Herbie Hancock - River (redbook)
• Bantock Celtic Symphonies (redbook - this piece has weird instrumentation, which makes for a fun listening test)
• Cool - Bill Charlap Trio (redbook)
• Brahms Viola Sonatas - Kim Kashkashian/Robert Levin ECM (redbook)
• Mahler songs of a Wayfarer - Jesus Schmidt & Cincinnati Symphony (Telarc, redbook)
• Mendelssohn String Quartets - Artemis Quartet (HD FLAC)
• Beethoven Symphonies - Karajan/Berlin (1963), DG high-res remastering (HD FLAC)
  

I don’t think they are particularly bright recordings as a group. All but the Charlap and Hancock recordings have great live-recorded information that allows you to hear instrument location. As we all know, location cues tend to be higher in frequency.

2. Sound impressions
My home system resided for 25 years in a room with a Steinway baby grand and frequent viola, cello, and quartet playing. I know well what those things sound like directly in front of me. I also used to do jazz gigs in my early twenties and attended Berklee College of Music. I also think I know what a big band and small ensemble sound like. Beyond that, I make no ’golden ear’ claims.

On the speakers, the word "bright" can mean different things to different people, and my ears are only a reference for my own wallet. Frankly, I struggle with the terminology people use for speakers. "Imaging" I understand, but when people start talking about "rhythm" the musician in me wants to scream BS. So we can always disagree on one of these loose adjectives.

However, I think the three separate bench tests available on line factually establish that the Paradigms would *all else equal* have a treble boost up to 5db, +/- 15 degrees to head on, compared to many other speakers. It very neatly explains what I heard, and with three separate tests confirming this sizable bump, I accept this as factual, or as close as we are going to get.

Of course, "all else" is almost never equal, which, like a high-spirited romantic partner, is both frustrating and enchanting.

I reiterate my gratitude to Dave for letting me audition. It may take more time, but I have a day job that pays for my habit! And it may be that I need an in-home audition of some things.

In the end, after two listening sessions, I was pretty sure that I would find the 3Fs fatiguing in long listening sessions.  What was intriguing was the way I could hear the wood and bow of the viola in one of my audition tracks.  But in my own listening the Harbeths were even more revealing, with a much less fatiguing sound, solid bass and a stunningly realistic sound of voice and small ensembles.  So Harbeths it is for me.

chacun à son goût

contuzzi:

Most of the stuff is here:  https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/2171605

hi-res versions.  Two things missing:

Bonus track on Joey Alexander's "Countdown", called "Freedom Dance", and Bantock's Celtic Symphony (Hyperion).

Neither are on Qobuz.

https://www.amazon.com/Bantock-Celtic-Symphony-Reivers-Hebridean/dp/B000002ZOF

https://www.prostudiomasters.com/search?cs=1&q=countdown#quickview/album/15096

(bonus track seems to have disappeared)

I heard the Kef Reference 5s at Dave’s with the tracks above, and I agree they give a very solid large orchestra presentation, and a lovely chamber music image as well.

Partly for reasons of size, they aren’t going in my LR. The Harbeths don’t quite do the scale of the Kefs, but I felt they were a bit more revealing of instrument timbre. I also thought they were better at low volume. And I will have some placement options in my apartment.

I had Maggies years ago. The image unsteadiness frustrated me, not to mention the obvious degradation problems with cats and sunshine.

It seems to me that differences in speakers swamp differences in amps, and introducing the even order harmonics from high end tube amps is a difficult and indirect way to try to EQ a speaker into sounding more natural.    I'm listening to an entirely solid state signal path now (Mahler 2nd Symphony) and it does not seem harsh in the least.