Paradigm Studio 60 V5 Fingernails on Chalkboard

The Studio 60s need a lot of current, plain and simple. No other way around it. If you're looking for a warmer and smoother presentation, an NAD 375/372/370 integrated can drive them pretty well without breaking the bank. NAD seperates may work a bit better, albeit at a higher cost.

I really like Rotel's seperates with them, but that'll give a bit leaner and brighter sound than I think you're looking for.

The Plinius gear as mentioned should sound fantastic too.

Again, I don't think it's the speakers themselves that ate causing the issue, and it seems like you've played with placement too. I'm very confident it's due to the Denon running out of gas. When amps ate pushed too hard (low impedance in this case), the sound gets pretty shrill among other things.

To elaborate on the replies regarding room acoustics I would like to share a piece of info I got directly from Paradigm years ago when I was having the same problem with a pair of Studio 40's.According to thier techs,Paradigm speakers are designed to have the flatest response in an Anochoic Chamber,thus when placed in real world rooms they tend to take on the sonic characteristics of said room.ANY tendancy toward brightness will most certainly be magnified by your speakers.Follow the advice of the members regarding your room acoustics & you may find you like what you hear.Good luck.

The AR91 arrived yesterday and I thought you all would be amused by what I found. I expected, of course that the silk dome tweeters would provide gentler though somewhat less detailed highs than the Studio 60. To my astonishment, the highs seem almost EXACTLY the same in both speakers - in fact the AR91 sound more like the Studio 60 than some other Paradigm models I listened to when visiting a dealer a couple of days ago! It's uncanny that these speakers, separated by 35 years of technology, sound so similar.

The Studio 60 seem to have mellowed a tad in the past couple of weeks - or maybe my ears have broken in, but they, and the AR91, still sound more bright than I would personally like. So I still have a lot of suggestions to follow up on!

I wasn't sure which speakers to sell - I certainly can't keep both. Being an old acoustic suspension system, the AR91 have the advantage of backing right up to the wall without a large effect on sound, an advantage in my small living room, but the Studio 60 would undoubtedly be more reliable being newer and with metal rather than cardboard and foam speaker drivers. The 60's also seem to carry a lot more detail in the sound.

In the end, though, I'll probably keep the AR91, not only because the tattered grills and the burns on the walnut veneer nicely match my bachelor decor, but also because I can get probably get enough $$ by selling the Studio 60 to actually try out some of your great suggestions. I do look forward to playing some more with 'real' audio and am grateful to all of you. The funniest suggestion was that I should just head to Best Buy - but think of the adventure I would have missed!

Thanks,

Bob

Sounds like your amplifier is the responsible party.

This seems like a reasonably priced tube integrated:

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?intatube&1293064678

Here is a solid state amplifier which was not fatiguing to me and is a bargain of a price:

http://store.virtueaudio.com/product-p/vrtu-ia-vaone.2-pbf-1.htm

The Virtue guys have a good return policy, so if it doesn't solve the problem, return it!

I've had the 60v5's for over a year now,they need a 100 hours breakin.I run a bryston b100 and have none of above problems,the highs radiate up in the air beautifully,the speakers disappear,no fatigue at all.I believe it's the amp as my yamamha dspa1 is unlistenable compared to the bryston.I wouldn't give up on the 60v5's untill you heard them on another amp,I love them.