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Paradigm Speakers

By, Amir Majidimehr

 

Being a guy that always researches what he buys, I spent a lot of time looking before outfitting my first dedicated theater some 14 years ago.  It was a super positive review of a set of powered Paradigm speakers in a magazine that led me to their purchase.  Since then I have upgraded every other component in that systems but those speaker are still humming and creating a great cinematic experience.  Indeed, no fewer than three processors and three projectors have cycled through there but the same speakers power the room.

The appeal of Paradigm then and now is the same: great performance that comes at a very reasonable cost. Even through there are hundreds of manufacturers of speakers, there are only a handful which have deep roots in science of audio and acoustics. Among them in this short list is Paradigm. Driven by research at the Canadian National Research Center, where large scale studies showed what consumers prefer in speaker sound, there is little guess work here as to how to make a speaker that sounds good.

Importantly Paradigm is part of even smaller subset of companies which perform double-blind tests of their speakers to make sure personal bias does not impact judgment of product performance. It is an old saying that “we eat as much with our eyes than with our mouths” and hence the reason high end restaurants plate their food beautifully. By the same token, people are easily swayed by superficial aspects of a speaker such is its looks, size, brand, cost, etc. Without objective testing such as conducted by Paradigm where speakers are judged from behind black curtains against competing products without the listener knowing which is which, it is very easy to convince oneself that the product is better when in reality its producing inferior sound. Such fixtures, combined with others such as anechoic chambers, are extremely expensive and hence the reason so few companies use them. But they are a requirement for producing a speaker that sounds good as a matter of science, rather than distorted belief.

The great price/performance comes from the fact that Paradigm is completely “vertically integrated” meaning they design and build everything in house from drivers to cabinets. Combined with high volume, they are able to sharply reduce the production costs and include higher end components than the retail price would normally dictate.

Elegant Design

More and more, our audio/video products need to blend into our lifestyles. Gone are the days where you could put big ugly speakers in your living room and get away with it. One look at the Paradigm speakers and you notice the diminutive speakers with very elegant lines especially as you get to mid and higher tier of their lines.



Beauty is more than skin deep here. See those curved cabinets? They help reduce diffraction. This is a physical phenomenon where sharp corners of the speakers become little speakers that produce distorted sound that then gets combined with sound of the drivers and reduce fidelity. It is expensive to produce such cabinets yet Paradigm presents them even in their mid-tier Studio line.

On Display in Our Showroom

Guess what? You don’t have to buy the Paradigm speakers blind as I did. We have wide array of their speakers on display, with superlative sources and electronics driving them so that you can see the best they can do. With prices starting at just a few hundred dollars, there is not only one speaker in the price range you desire, there is probably two or three!

Here is what we have on display as of this writing:

Atom From SoundStage Hi-Fi Review: "... the speaker sounds remarkably robust in the bass for its size, exceedingly natural from the upper bass through the mids, and lively but extremely clean in the highs. All told, Paradigm’s Atom Monitor continues to be one of the best deals in high-end audio, and the highest-value entry point in the company’s vast speaker line. Very highly recommended for those looking for a lot of music for very little money [$398/pair]."	Monitor 7 This is Paradigm's lowest cost floor standing speaker. It has superb fit and finish for its price.	Studio 60 From Stereophile Reivew: "The Pardigm Reference Studio 60 offers excellent measured performance for an affordable price...no speaker costing anywhere near this price has better integraation of all performance parameters than Paradigm's REference Sutdio 60."
Studio 20 From Home Theater Reivew: "The New Paradigm Reference Studio 20 occupies a sweet spot in the speaker market: the low end of the high end. If your only experience with loudspeakers is the mass-market junk sold in many national chain stores, stepping up to the Paradigms will give you a true taste of the high end – and you’ll never want to go back."	Studio 100 From Stereophile Reivew: "As we have come to expect from Paradigm, this is excellent measured performance at a very competitive price… if tonal neutrality is at the top of your list of priorities for speaker performance, and you want a speaker that can play loud without sounding stressed, then you really must listen to the Reference Studio/100. You may well decide that it is, indeed, the best speaker in its price range."	Signature S8 From SoundStage!: "The Signature S8 has all of the hallmarks of solid engineering and portrays music in a way that's always pleasing, due to its airy and detailed high frequencies, weighty bass and palpable midrange -- among other things. The S8s are at home in a system with cost-no-object electronics, and yet their price doesn't approach that of other top-of-the-line offerings."
Signature S1 From SoundStage!, 2007 Award Winner: "Exceptional build quality, great looks, fantastic sound, and a very reasonable asking price -- to my eyes and ears, the S1 v.2 is not just the new entry point but the jewel in Paradigm’s new Signature line."	Siesmic Subwoofer Lifestyle speakers -- those that melt into rather than dominate a room -- typically sacrifice some performance to achieve their compact size and good looks. But with the Paradigm Reference MilleniaOne speakers and Seismic 110 subwoofer, there was little such compromise. If I were looking for a compact lifestyle system, this one would be at the top of my list. The MilleniaOnes and Seismic 110 cost a little more than many small sat-sub systems, but cost a lot less than I would have expected considering their outstanding performance."	MilleniaSub From Sound and Vision Review: "I’m thrilled that at long last a speaker manufacturer decided to build a lifestyle system with all the care and quality it normally lavishes on its cost-is-no-object gear. After an hour, I was convinced that the Paradigm MilleniaOne/MilleniaSub combo is one of the best lifestyle systems I’ve reviewed. And after 4 hours, I was convinced it’s one of the best speaker systems I’ve reviewed."

Here is a shot of some of our display products in action. The source is the touch screen PC on the wall playing our library of music. It uses an external DAC (digital audio converter) which then feeds our amplifiers to power the Paradigm speakers.

 

Paradigm In-wall Speakers

Even though the Paradigm speakers are beautifully designed and built, sometimes the best design is one that you don’t see.  To that end, Paradigm makes a wide range of in-wall and on-wall speakers.  We have deployed these multiple ways in our showroom. One set is our theater showcasing the great audio quality you can get without the speakers being hardly visible. Same invisibility is put to use in our living room showcase where the Paradigm subwoofer adds a good bit of low-end muscle to our in-wall front speakers.

The models on display are:

SA-LCR 3 Left, Center and Right
SA-ADP, in-wall subwoofer
SA-15R-30 in–ceiling speakers
CS60R in-ceiling speakers
Cinema 100 Subwoofer

Paradigm Outdoor Speakers

Traditionally the idea of a high fidelity outdoor speaker was an oxymoron. Much was made of a speaker looking like a "rock" but not much of the terrible sound coming from them. Not so with Paradigm Rock Monitor 60s.

From Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity Review: What impressed me was the musicality of the speakers, something I'd expect from a good pair of monitors on stands inside. I sat myself about 20 ft back between the speakers towards the open yard. The soundstage (odd to say that outside) was again surprisingly wide and controlled.  Using a dedicated 55 wpc receiver, the Paradigm ROCKs handled low volume levels, revealing detail and fullness. At higher levels, to the dismay of many neighbors to the left and right of me, the SM units bellowed without complaint, and my neighbors enjoyed "live" music with clarity, one even suggested a different track on the CD I was playing, and he was two doors down. Audiophile quality outdoors. Who knew?

Learning More

As you see, Paradigm makes an incredible array of speakers and this quick write-up may not enable you to pick the one that is right for you.  So how about making an appointment to come in and listen to them in our relaxing setting?  At the end of the day, one can talk all day about how a speaker sounds but it won’t paint the complete picture until you hear it. Alternatively we are happy to answer any questions you might have via email or phone. Please see our contacts page.
 

Further Reading

Paradigm website: full product listing and specifications/reviews.