The right room and system matching and the Persona's will reward you.
I have a Cary DMS Streamer/player/dac mated with an Rogue RP7 w/ upgraded tubes and the Person 5F's sound fantastic!! . Not the least bit of edginess or fatigue. Still tweaking the swarm sub system. ( you may not need with the 7F)
The Persona's are great speakers but need to be carefully matched, but when you do you will be rewarded!!
I just added a few pics on the new listening room, still tweaking but like where its headed. |
I have now had the Persona 5Fs for 3 mos and after a cable loom change and some fantastic tuning footers from Combak Harmonix I can say these speakers are worth heavy consideration.
They are replacing a set of Magico S3. The Magico's weren't bad but just got a little boring after the year I had them. I wanted something a little more lively.
The Audience Au24Sx cable loom was a great match for the Magico's but not so much for the Persons. I went with Cerious Technologies Matrix line of IC and Speaker cables. Bob even made me custom jumpers so all was good.
All the upper midrange glare was gone and after the loom was broke in for about 3 weeks the Personas really blossomed. But when they really showed off their best in class midrange was when adding the tuning bases under the spikes of the Persona's. Vocals have unbelievable texture, Front to back layering of the players are some of the best I have heard anywhere. You can follow the piano players fingers down the piano in front of you. Notes just float away with fantastic decay. Bob's speakers wires are friggin awesome!!.
I have heard the Personas at Dealers and I would not buy them either.
They need to be synergized in your room, for your tastes.
I take professional reviews with a grain of salt but these guys have had the speakers usually for a couple of months and can tweak them. All the reviews are very positive.
I have always considered Paradigm a solid HT speaker and not much more. The Persona's have changed all that.!!
Aurender A10> Micro Zotl 2.0s> Hot Rodded Odyssey Kismets Monos> 5fs , Stillpoints under everything. |
If the Personas are matched with Cerious Technologies speaker cables you will get a glorious midrange and delicate highs. All the brightness will disappear.
The Personas take 300 hrs of break in. I highly doubt any dealer has them even broken in properly. Beryllium midranges are brutally honest and you need matching electronics and cabling. Tubes somewhere in the chain sure help.
This is a great speaker but needs time and patience to get the best out of them. |
The Personas and Mcintosh amps are a terrible match. Flat and Uninvolving. A lot of dealers have them matched up together.
I have had friends over that have Martin Logan Clx, Wilson Sophia, Merlin Mxm Black magic and they love the Personas . They absolutely kill the Magico S3 that I had. The cabling made all the difference in the world. Cerious Technologies Matrix is a world class cable that nobody knows about I am in north of Detroit a few miles of anybody would like to hear what a properly synergized pair really sounds like.
The speaker gets great reviews that has a midrange that is up there with the best.
To say you have heard speakers that cost 5% of the cost of the Personas sound better is just plain ignorant. |
I don’t think half of the dealers Persona’s are broke in. Paradigm will tell you 300 hours.
All I can say that with proper cabling and with tubes somewhere in the chain the Persona’s ( I have the 5f’s) are a great speaker. Absolutely kill my previous Magico S3.
Without a doubt out of the box with my previous cabling ( Audience AU 24 SX ) they sounded just as a lot of people describe, bright and uninvolving. With a more meaty cable loom of Cerious Technolgies graphene Matrix and a couple of months of break in this is a fantastic speaker. My friends have Martin Logan’s CLX, Wilson’s, Merlin’s, Revel Salons and the all love the Personas. Just have to have the right synergy. Probably some of the finest midrange you will hear in any speaker in its price range. I added Harmonix RF 909 spike bases and took them to another level. This really is a great speaker. Just needs a little time and effort to get there |
From Stevie Ray to Daft Punk the Personas Rock. I heard the 5f’s at Axpona with the Macintosh 600 watt monos do 1 k peaks and filled a 30x60 room with 14 ft ceilings without a quiver We where sitting 15 ft away measuring 100 dB peaks. The Personas have beautiful midrange and delicate highs. The speakers you hear demoed at the dealers(most) are not a true representation of how good the Personas can be. I sit in a pretty much near field with mine and the micro detail in these speakers are exceptional. With their high efficiency they will work with a number of amps, tube or SS |
Glad to see a few folks giving the Personas a chance. I am enjoying the heck out my 5f’s. Sound better all the time as they have a long break in time. Electronics on the warmer side and you will be rewarded.
Cabling is also very important. Cerious Technologies Matrix line is a great match. Replaced the Audience AU 24SX at half the cost and really a perfect cable for the the Personas. |
|
Ok. Let’s all agree that the Personas are on the bright side . Numerous test show the bump in the upper registers. Easily fixable I knew my amps and music server/dac where on the warmer side . Tube pre. Good to go.
I just swapped out the Audience Au 24sx that where on the lean side with a cable with a little more meat
I previously had Magico S3 that where lifeless.
Much easier to tame a little hotter speaker and still enjoy all the good things it brings than to try to liven up a boring speaker |
Nice review. Unfortunately 4 days are certainly not long enough for proper break in. I am assuming they where new? The Personas need 300 hrs per Paradigm and I can attest this to be true.
Beryllium takes a long time to settle. I would like to see measurements 6 mos later.
The owners are the only folks who know how good these speakers can be. And yes with their fantastic transparency the addition of tuning footers, the changes in cabling has a tremendous change on the speaker. Little bit of work but well worth it in the long run. |
"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."
Sorry I was not talking about brightness. That was gone with break in and a cable change. I sure nobody is using the rubber feet that come with. The Combak Harmonix 909 tuning footers takes these speakers to a new level in my system. I am on a crawl space with hardwood flooring and maybe it is just my floor but they do an amazing job of tightening up the bass and improving the focus of the midrange while taking the tweeters to a new level of delicacy.
|
Funny in my system I sold my Au24SX interconnects and speaker wire when I bought the 5F's . Just way to lean. |
Everything is system dependent. The Audience where a nice match for my previous Magico S3 The Personas in my room where a little on the bright side. I didn’t give them much time and if I let the Personas break in they probably would have been fine.
I really like the Cerious Matrix. Bob made me a sweet pair of jumpers that really helped the overall presentation.
Audience makes good stuff as I went up the ladder from E, SE,SX.
Still have a few of their power cords in the loom.
Now I am looking to integrate a sub with the 5fs. The bass is pretty good but folks say a good sub will open up the whole system. Looking for something with some kind of room correction. Always chasing. : ) |
How do the Persona owners have their jumpers set up? Speakers cables on the mids or the bass?
I am going to play around this weekend and see if their is an appreciable difference on the 5f’s |
