Calling All Paradigm Owners - Present and Past

musichal

poet emeritus
I love Paradigm speakers, and miss the old Performance Series a lot - budget friendly designs that provided good sound quality for the buck. Love the old Monitor Series, too - a bit pricier but good value nonetheless. I believe that Paradigms will become / are becoming highly valued in the future / now by vintage speaker lovers due to good sound quality and the large numbers sold.

I have owned early Atoms and Titans, the 3se Mini, Mini Mk II, 3se and 5se. I currently own the Mini Monitor and 7se Mk II, as well as a center channel for which I always forget the model designation, and a PS-1000 subwoofer. All had good bass extension for the size, if a bit soft. Very respectible mids, though not outstandingly glorious (Monitors better), and a non-fatiguing top end, slightly laid back, but with more sparkle in the Monitor line. That is how they shake out to my ears.

So which Paradigms do you / have you owned? What did you love about them, and what did you hate? If you upgraded, what to? Any comments invited by those who owned and spent time with them, good or bad. And for pics, show 'em if you got 'em...
 
I bought a pair of 3se minis for my son(he still has them) Used them in my office for a while. Clean, accurate, well balanced sound. I have nothing bad to say about them. Sometimes wish I had them back:rolleyes:
 
I got a pair of the first gen Micros in a "take all or nothing" purchase. I didn't think to much about them. After sitting on their stands for a month or so, I brought them down to my little work area and gave them a listen.
I was blown away by the sound of them! Very clean, detailed sparkly highs, more bass than they have any business reproducing, and they sound huge!
Anything I have played through them sounds good.

I would like to find a much larger version of these from the same era or line.

I am also an owner of a pair of PSB's.....I guess I like Canadian speakers!:thmbsp:
 
I have two pairs of Paradigm's. First ones I got were the Atom's V4, bought them for the den system. They sound great! Next pair is the Micro's, first version. When I hooked them up they sounded bad, I was about to sell them and all the drivers worked. After a some thinking I decided to recap the crossover. I replaced the $.27 electrolytic cap with a Solen of the same value. It made a huge difference! Now these speakers sing! At the moment I am using them powered by a Luxman R404 receiver connected to a Sony CA70ES CD player and a Muse TDA15431 DAC.

When I decided to recap the Micro's I emailed Paradigm to ask what was the value of the cap in the crossover. They were of no help, claiming it was a complicated design and that I did not have the knowledge to understand it. Gee I must be an idiot, can't see or replace a single cap.
 
In the mid 90's I owned a pair of 9se's and frankly they were very good all around performers. What stood out most about them was...nothing, and I mean that in a good way. They weren't overly transparent, or silky smooth, but they sounded pretty darn good with whatever I played through them. Unless you're a bass head you won't need a subwoofer either, all in all a nice speaker for someone who just wants to listen to some tunes and watch movies and not fret over their equipment.
 
I currently have a set of early Paradigm Reference series Studio/60 towers in my main A/V setup. They are by far the best speakers I've ever heard much less owned. I can't imagine what would ever replace them...
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I guess if it had to nitpick them to find a flaw I could complain about how heavy they are or the fact that they're fairly power hungry. Nothing major or unusual.
 
I own, and still use the following Paradigm speakers in my secondary system:

One pair of V2 Atoms

One pair of original Titans

Two pair of original Mini Monitors

And - One center channel that I haven't used in years and have forgotten what the model number is. It was bought when I bought my first pair of Titans and was the second from the top model at that time.

I think Paradigm is one of the "best bangs for the buck" in a mid priced speaker. Granted there are many, many speaker brands out there that offer good quality and sound that complete with Paradigm in this price range but for my ears I chose the Paradigm sound. I must however also admit that I was not all that impressed with their Signature S8 series. For that kind of money I have heard several speakers that will blow them away...........
 
I currently have a set of early Paradigm Reference series Studio/60 towers in my main A/V setup. They are by far the best speakers I've ever heard much less owned. I can't imagine what would ever replace them...

I guess if it had to nitpick them to find a flaw I could complain about how heavy they are or the fact that they're fairly power hungry. Nothing major or unusual.

Those are indeed excellent. My 7se Mk II pair, however, are even better, and I'm such a nice guy that I would trade you even stephen and pick up both shipping costs. :) I'd bet you're such a nice guy that you'll decline - not willing to take advantage of me, huh?
 
Those are indeed excellent. My 7se Mk II pair, however, are even better, and I'm such a nice guy that I would trade you even stephen and pick up both shipping costs. :) I'd bet you're such a nice guy that you'll decline - not willing to take advantage of me, huh?

Hey, sure! Why not? Maybe I'll throw in an extra $500 or so while I'm at it? :p
 
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I bought a pair of 9se Paradigms brand new and always liked them, sounded great and just sold them recently after the crossovers failed, also had a pair of 9se mkII that sounded really good which caused me to buy a pair of Studio 100V2 Paradigms. No matter how many WPC or what I used to drive them I never liked them, the top end was just too much and I could not listen to them for any extended period of time and sold them after a couple of years of wanting to like them, but never did. So my experience was good then not so good.
 
I've owned Atoms and Titans, including originals, late model originals, Performance series, a center channel, and later Atom V5s.

While I feel the later V5s were a bit too excitable, they still were a very nice speaker.

My favorites were the late model originals- when Paradigm Titans first went to a cast frame woofer.


Would love to stumble across a pair of the "SE" or Reference models.
 
I have Studio 100s (along with a pair of Servo 15 subs, BTW). I also have Thiel CS 3.6.

They're both pretty good and I listen to the Studio 100s more because they're in my double-duty main+HT system, but I'd probably say the CS 3.6 is a little better overall.
 
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I currently am running 4 Mini Monitors along with a CC290 in my home theater. I have been very happy with the results so far. I picked the entire package up for 200 locally on CL last summer.
 
Right now I have a pair of Mini Monitors in the family room. They previously did surround duty in my audioroom until I completed my all Usher setup. Just got the new Center 3 to go with the Mini Monitors. Had a pair of Atoms, but moved them to the shore house when the MM moved to the family room. My brother-in-law liked the Atoms at the shore house so much that he asked for a pair for his home rig to replace a pair of Sony floorstanders. Previously owned Monitor 9's ver 2 and a CC350 center channel.
 
Paradigm Monitor 9s here. V3s to be exact.

Not crazy about how they look, but they sound incredible. For some reason, alto sax sounds especially good on these.

They look great to me - I meant to say they are hideous, ship 'em to me and I'll run 'em to a landfill for you at no extra charge. :D
They look great. :yes:
 
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