Persona 9h vs S3 mk 2

I’d take the 9H any day for so many reasons.  It’s not just about having good bass in any room.  It’s about having the best possible bass in every room.  The Magico can’t possibly have as good of bass when it’s all said and done.  
I’d say go listen to both, but usually Paradigm dealers don’t have them set up well, whereas a Magico dealer is more likely to have the Magico speakers set up decently well. Plus, every one on here will recommend Magico because of the psychological prestige the brand has, and how Paradigm isn’t “high end.”  So dumb.  
Oh, the Magico will also require massive amounts of power if your listening loudly, or listening to music with heavy bass content.  On the flip side, you can probably power the 9H with a button cell battery.  If you like the sound of SET amps, you can play the 9H in the 100db+ realm, with bass extension down below 20hz.   There is no tube configuration in the world that will do that with the Magico.

Anyway, another vote for the 9H.  If you are in the Chicagoland area I have two friends with 9H’s who actually have them set up properly that I’m sure would be happy to have you over for a listen.  I also have a friend in the area with the S3 MKII (and a3 in another room), who would also likely do the same.  

Keep in mind, Magico makes some of my favorite speakers on the planet easily.  Definitely in my top 10 if not top 5 brands.  However to deny the performance per dollar you get in the 9H vs the S3 MKII is just pure buffoonery.

I’m sure he hasn’t even been in the same room as a pair, or maybe popped into a room at a show and didn’t even sit in front of them.  

Sciencecop: do you happen to believe in speaker cable, power cable, etc upgrades?  Just curious.  

I’d take the 3F over the TAD ME1 any day of the week.  Local dealer had TAD and I think he got rid of them quickly for a reason.  Wasn’t impressed at all.  Nor was I impressed at Axpona.

There will be several people who have likely nevermind heard the personas, our dealers who don’t carry paradigm and want to down talk them... but there is literally no speaker on the market that will achieve such high performance TRULY FULL RANGE sound in a small to medium sized room like the 9H.
I now have two more friends who have gotten 9H’s and their rooms are both polar opposites. One is huge with a two story vaulted ceiling, one is a basement with 7ft ceilings. In both rooms the bass is astonishing. Extremely lean and tight, almost spookishly so. The skin on drums, etc is just so organic it’s just incredible.

And the best part is you get to start with lightning fast lean bass, yet if you want more, you can just raise the room gain a tiny bit and get a little more of the outstandingly flat non boomy room corrected bass.  I think the fact that the speakers have FOUR 8” woofers that are all quite a bit apart helps couple them to the room differently (as is the reason multiple subs are key) and you end up with super flat bass response even without the correction.  The ARC just takes things to a completely different level.

Can not recommend them enough.

Mike likes to go out of his way to attack them.  Definitely business related.  

That doesn’t mean that we should take his unprovoked bashing about Personas seriously.

Get a pair of carbon black 9H, and you will be immensely happy.  Report back if you do.  

I’ve heard them extensively with the following if it helps;

Audio research (not my top recommendation) 
Anthem STR integrated (great)
Anthem STR separates (great)
naim uniti (great)
Micromega (surprisingly great but in  different room)
Primaluna (even Prima Luna preamp with anthem amp) (unreal, maybe best, but almost too laid back for some?)
Luxman (wow)
T+A (wow pt2)
Parasound (painfully good value)
Hegel (great!)

that’s all I can think of now.

Yyz m: I heard 9H with the L-505 and 7F with the 509

amazing

Actually, the 9H has four woofers, opposed (literally) to two in the 7F. It also has completely room corrected bass, a sealed cabinet whereas the 7F is ported, and is dramatically easier to drive. It also plays lower due to the DSP the amp is able to employ on the bass.

As good as the 7F are, the 9H is a dramatic improvement and a steal for even the $10k retail difference.  In fact, not only is the 9H not “like having subs,” it’s even less like having subs than most speakers are because the ARC will make the bass response in room far better than most if not all other speakers available (7F included obviously).