Paradigm 9se, just can't handle any power?

Ealyb11

Ealyb11

Well-Known Member
So my love for Paradigm is fading quickly. I have had 7se and now have 9se both the original series, and I am extremely disappointed in the bass response and in their capabilities. They have very little low end on any amp I have tried. But what really wanna know is, am I the only one who gets the volume last about 1/4 maybe to 1/3, and the woofers sound like they are clicking and bottoming out? I don't even feel like the woofers are moving that much to bottom out. Especially at this column. I've run them on many many different units and it does it the same in them all. Keep in mind I'm talking about two pairs of speakers too. Are these speakers just not made to handle any "cranking" of the volume? They sound so smooth but the poor performance of the woofers bothers me. Looking for others experiences....


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Have heard 2 reports recently of Paradigms breaking when pushed by larger NAD units.
 
I've run them on my Adcom GFA-555ii, my VSX9500s, my fisher CA-885, and now my new to me Hafler XL-280 just finished them off I think.

I can't lie I'm pretty disappointed I really enjoyed the smoothness of the Vifa tweeters.

Ben

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Mine have never done that, I've only ran them with my Technics SA-AX530 and Pioneer VSX-523. My Avid 101s will run out of bass but not the 9se's no matter what I throw at them. And they have great bass response, at least to my ears.
 
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Yes on tone control on my pre amp. I just added an EQ, but that was not part of this situation. No loudness switch.


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I had a pair of 9ses and couldn't get rid of them fast enough.
Dark sounding without any musical charisma.
 
The dark sound is what I like so much. I just can't crank these and have a rock the house session. Which I think is silly that a speaker like this can't take a little juice and volume without eating itself.


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Out of the se series the 7se is my favourite, they should actually play a little deeper than the 9se also. But they seem to lack some definition in the lower frequencies and will sound very thin if the room is very live or their placement in the room is wrong, even putting your listening chair in the wrong spot will yield poor results in the bottom end. In my experience they like a dead room and can sound good and well balanced with satisfying depth to the bass when everything is right...though the bass still remains a bit muddy.
 
Ealyb11 said:
Yes on tone control on my pre amp. I just added an EQ, but that was not part of this situation. No loudness switch.


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Click to expand...

If you're turning it up while adding bass on the tone control, yep, you're going to reach it's limits pretty fast. That will happen to a lot of budget speakers from yesteryear. Those Paradigms are, what, 27,28 years old? I'm not familiar with the bass response, but it's gonna be what it's gonna be and over driving them will only damage them. Too bad about that, perhaps the old Boston Acoustics A150 or A200 would have better bass? Or get some old Klipsch or Polks.
 
Yeah I think I'm going to part these out on eBay, I have 1 good woofer 2 good tweeters and some crossovers. And the boxes. Disappointing but I'll be sure to get a replacement that can handle some juice. Even with tone controls. Cerwin vega anyone ? Hahaha


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I have a pair of the 7s and they take just about anything that my Sansui 9090 DB throws at them , and budget speakers at a G -note , i guess some of us have less disposable income than others.
 
Yeah I don't agree that my 9se are budget speakers. They were like...1200$ or maybe a hair less in 1988 or so.


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I had a new pair back in the late 80s. Loved them.

Ran them with an Adcom 535 to good effect.

We considered them boderline/entry level high-end back then

I never used tone controls or eq (my pres had none of that)

I might suggest a less powerful amp - and more knob.
 
Yeah - that Halfer amp is way too powerful IMO.

And, if I recall correctly - the 9se are 6 ohm speakers...so consider that in your power thoughts.

A "less is more" situation.
 
They are 4ohm actually. Interesting thoughts here guys. I guess this is just part of the learning curve to this hobby.


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Ealyb11 said:
Yeah I don't agree that my 9se are budget speakers. They were like...1200$ or maybe a hair less in 1988 or so.


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Pretty sure 650, I paid 450 or 499 for my new 7se's in 87.

The first gen Esprit Monitor was around 1100 in 88 and Export Monitors were 900 a pair.
 
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mars_volta said:
Part them out? Put em on CL and let someone else enjoy.
Click to expand...

He mentioned earlier that he thinks that they are blown, or at least "finished off".

As for the above post on cost, I was wondering about that, my memory was that most of the line was under a grand. Don't get me wrong, they were great speakers for the money but Paradigm has come a long way since then.
 
That they don't have gobs of gut-wrenching bass isn't unexpected. The specs don't bear out that they would.

As far as power going to the speakers, volume control position is a poor way of gauging that other than "4" is more than "3". With a strong input signal and amp with high gain, you could easy send them too much power at a low setting. Especially if the music is naturally bass heavy and you crank up the bass on top of that.

Barring something like having the polarity backward on one of the speakers causing the bass to be diminished, it may simply be the speakers just aren't right for your application. That's not really a ding on the speaker, just that you don't bring a knife to a gun fight, so to speak.
 
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