Hello, my name's Chris and I'm the Western Regional for Paradigm and Anthem.
Woofer72; Not sure who you called at Paradigm, but I can clear up this confusion on Persona - The treble and mid-range is same from the 9H down to the 3F. The tweeter and the mid is exactly the same. The clarity, resolution and detail is the same. The difference lies in the size of the speakers and the crossover and the woofers. What changes is the size and scale of the presentation you're given with the 9H's being the most efficient and effortless. However, the 3F's are still incredibly efficient.
The 9H's are like a full symphony with the 7F being about the same, less the built-in amplifiers with Anthem Room Correction, and two rear facing woofers. The 5F and 3F are more like smaller chamber orchestras. The 5F is a little more efficient with a little greater output that the 3F. The 5F will sound like it's not working as hard as the 3F in a bigger room. Not any different than series of Mercedes or BMW's with varying engines taking you up a hill at 75mph - the bigger engine is going to do it easier.
To Helomech's point about 2-way vs 3-way, it's hard to get all those drivers sounding like they're working together and not here's the highs and here's the lows and we're trying to just make them work in tandem. Many manufacturers can't get that right, but there's a lot of factors involved in that - but we build everything in house. We're soup to nuts where many smaller manufacturers are at the mercy of what they can get and afford.
Many out there will say that they think our Persona B has the best mid-range, but I truly feel that the towers are superior. Depends on a person's taste though. Some people can't afford the towers or have space for them. It affects how they choose their words in what they say.
Speakers are no different than instruments really as they are the instrument in playback. You might prefer the sound of a Taylor Guitar over a Martin, Gibson, Fender, etc. Depends on who's playing it - that would be the gear you choose. Hand that guitar to several different people, it'll sound different, just like Tubes vs. Solid State. Not one more right than the other, just what do you like or prefer...
I don't think our products ever become obsolete. They're always good, just other technologies come along that allow for improvements. We have a team of engineers and that means there are a lot of different ideas along with materials and technologies we experiment with. There are some materials that companies use right now in their speakers that are well into the tens of thousands of dollars that we're looking at implementing into things that cost hundreds of dollars. We have the ability to purchase in quantities that other companies cannot. If more boutique brands were to build Persona, I'll leave them nameless, a model like the 3F would be more around the $25k/pair price range than at $10k/pair.
Please don't hesitate to direct message me and I'd be more than happy to help answer any questions or give assistance in any way I can.
Cheers,
Chris
