Paradigm Persona series


I'm beginning to poke around and gather opinions and information about a "super speaker" to replace my aging Thiel 2.4s.  I like the idea of bass dsp room correction and I am a bit of a point source type imaging nut (thus the Thiels).  So among other choices I've been looking at the Paradigm Persona series specifically the powered 9H with room correction for the bass.  However I'm skeptical of the "lenses" i.e. pierced metal covers on the midrange and tweeter specifically because of Paradigm's claim that such screens "screen out" "out of phase" musical information.  The technology in the design seems superlative but I just can't get past the claim re out of phase information and the midrange and tweeter covers.  What could possibly be the science behind this claim?  It just seems like its putting a halloween moustache on the mona lisa given the fact that the company is generally a technology driven company.
pwhinson

Showing 3 responses by bill_k

The Persona speakers seem to be a very polarizing design, with some loving them and others finding them to be too forward and objectionably bright. I've seen both user comments and reviews reflecting this dichotomy with extremely strong voices on both sides. There's no substitute for an in home audition when it comes to selecting speakers, and I think one would be particularly well advised to arrange one before purchasing the Persona speakers.
@audiotroy - With all due respect regarding your post above, an anechoic chamber (an-echoic meaning "non-reflective, non-echoing, echo-free") is a room designed to effectively absorb any reflections of sound. So any "normal" (non-anechoic) listening room even with acoustic treatments will inherently have more reflective surfaces and therefore be more lively (brighter) than an anechoic chamber, not less so. If you’ve ever been in such a chamber it is an eerily quiet and dead sounding environment, so if a speaker is measured to have significant peaks in response anechoically it will only be exacerbated by the additional reflectivity of a non-anechoic room.
With all due respect, as a dealer for Manley Labs I think they'd appreciate it if you spelled their name correctly when promoting their gear.