Paradigm Persona B Loudspeakers Professional Review

The 9H sounds completely different than the Persona B's.  Paradigm really compromised the magic of the Be midrange to become a woofer with the bookshelf's.  The crossover in the B's makes my ZOTL amp sound lifeless ...yet it sounds magical driving the 9H's.  Honestly the 9H is the best high efficiency speaker i've heard.

Nope, they are for sure too bright. People saying it’s better are most likely dealing with a placebo effect, which is 100% real, and will influence even direct A/B comparisons. I will not hesitate to say that every single speaker Paradigm makes today is not worth their price, it’s all marked up due to the beryllium.

Measurements: https://www.soundstage.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1788:nrc-measurement...

There is a 5dB rise from 5kHz to 10kHz, it for sure is a bright speaker. Also, in the off-axis measurements, you can see a drop in output in the crossover region (which is ~1400Hz and not the stated 2kHz), which shows sub-par crossover design.

Also, Paradigm gives BS specs. They state 60Hz-20kHz at +/-2dB on-axis, and yet if you go 100Hz-20kHz it’s already +/-4dB, and if you go to 60Hz it’s actually +/-6dB. I don’t respect any company that gives BS specs.

mzkmxcv...seems that you have an agenda against Paradigm, sorry but is what looks like.

I’ve never heard a Paradigm in my life ... the 9Hs are the only paradigm I know.

96dd sensitivity and ARC room correction was the keys for curiosity to heard them.

For me specs are not sound...I love SET tube amps and specs of this kind of amp are crap, but I don´t change for any transistor amp in the world.

What makes me a really uncomfortable is when someones said that I like bright speakers and that’s not the case ... I have 25 years of experience and I’ve had dozens of equipment at home. Marten, Rockport, TAD, Estelon are reference speakers that I had in the past and I know when a speaker is bright. I hate a system that is bright and lean...I like a full, natural and organic sound and at this moment is what I have here at home.

Mzkmxcv

Excuse me dude are you a loudspeaker designer/engineer?

I looked at the same plots you looked at and did not see many of the issues you mentioned. As per being overpriced compared to what?

Please mention a single loudspeaker on the market that uses a pure Beryillium midrange driver? Can you find a single loudspeaker that is under $40k that has a Beryillium midrange driver, even Focal, has not figured out how to make such a driver, and you have one here in a $7k set of speakers.

Aside from the remarkable clarity of the Beryllium midrange you have a 100% coherent sound because you have exactly the same material for both the woofer and the tweeter. This is a huge advantage.

Paradigm has a very large and talented engineering staff that spent $4 million dollars developing all the technologies present in this line of loudspeakers do you not think that they have the test gear to make accurate measurements?

Most home measurements are not the same as what you would get in a lab due to the wildly unpredicable effects of furniture and room construction which is why lab measurements are delivered by the manufacturer. If you have a sparse room without a lot of damping you may also get a high frequency rise, which is why lab measurements in an anchoic chamber are much more accurate.

As per value the Personas have been compared to much more expensive loudspeakers and are considered a value for the sheer amount and calibre of their engineering.

Last point any very high resolution loudspeaker may sound bright if the equipment or room is not working well with them.

Lastely we have sold and setup many pairs of these loudspeakers in clients homes and they sound fantastic.

One of our clients has the 9H with the remarkable T+A electronics and he plays a Steinway, we played the same recording on the speakers and it was very similar.

Dave and Troy, Audio Doctor NJ Persona dealers

audiotroy

I looked at the same plots you looked at and did not see many of the issues you mentioned.

Uhh, the 5dB rise from 4kHz to 10kHz, can you not see that? Can you also not see the dip at ~1400Hz off-axis? Paradigm can’t even do phase coherence in the crossover region.

Please mention a single loudspeaker on the market that uses a pure Beryillium midrange driver? Can you find a single loudspeaker that is under $40k that has a Beryillium midrange driver, even Focal, has not figured out how to make such a driver, and you have one here in a $7k set of speakers.

Exactly, so if it’s rare for <$40K, why would you expect it to be good for $7K? That’s like saying “This car looks like a Bugatti but only costs $20K!”; the looks are there, but the internals are not.

100% coherent sound because you have exactly the same material for both the woofer and the tweeter. This is a huge advantage.

That’s not that big of an advantage. You can use a RAAL ribbon tweeter, a ceramic midrange, and a woofer made of traditional material, which is exactly what Salk does in their higher end speakers. The only benefit Beryylium has is it’s lighter and faster than material like Aluminum.

Paradigm has a very large and talented engineering staff that spent $4 million dollars developing all the technologies present in this line of loudspeakers do you not think that they have the test gear to make accurate measurements?

I bet they do, but with the compromises of using Beryllium for that price range, no amount of tweaking (besides boosting some response via the crossover, which raises distortion) can help them. It’s like doing open heart surgery with rusty equipment, no matter how good the surgeon is, you’ll still cause damage.

Most home measurements are not the same as what you would get in a lab due to the wildly unpredicable effects of furniture and room construction which is why lab measurements are delivered by the manufacturer. If you have a sparse room without a lot of damping you may also get a high frequency rise, which is why lab measurements in an anchoic chamber are much more accurate.

These measurements are done by the National Research Center of Canada, in an anechoic chamber; it’s where Dr. Toole worked before he came to Harman.

As per value the Personas have been compared to much more expensive loudspeakers and are considered a value for the sheer amount and calibre of their engineering.

A decade ago they made good stuff for the price, not anymore, same with B&W. It’s like people who say REL makes the best subs, it’s not, ID brands like Rythmik/HSU/PSA are better, and by a large margin.

If it was a blind test and done with good brands (Revel and KEF, not Wilson Audio), then no, there is 0% chance they’d come out as superior. I’ve helped out quite a bit of people with large budgets, and every time they were considering a high end brand that’s not good, like Wilson, I told them to consider competitors like the KEF Blade 2 or Revel Salon2, and every single time they told me I was right and it blew away the other ones, which is 100% to be expected based on the measurements.

One of our clients has the 9H with the remarkable T+A electronics and he plays a Steinway, we played the same recording on the speakers and it was very similar.

If you played a G7 and then compared it to a B8, they would not sound the same, the B8 would be way too emphasied.

And again, a counterpoint you didn’t bring up was what I said about the specs. Sorry, but It’s hard respect a company selling high end gear that give misleading, sometimes even false, claims.

For less than half the price of the Persona B, you can get an Ascend Acoustics Sierra Tower with RAAL upgrade, and it will sound much better.

Not trying to sound like a prick, but I just don’t like it when people spend a lot of money and don’t get the best for the money (like buying a car made by GM instead of an Asian or German one).