Paradigm Personas anyone heard them

Vitop we sell both lines so keep this in perspective.

The Personas only start to compete with Legacy in the 5F vs the Focus.

We have the Signature Se the Jr Focus in the same room as the Persona 3F and it is a very interesting comparison.

The 3F sound smaller, which they should they are smaller, their image focus is better and they are more transparent also their bass is tighter although not as much.

The Signature Se have a more prounced bass are warmer thow a bigger soundstage and have a wamer midrange.

I would have to say that the larger 5F is going to be more of a match even though is is more expensive than the Focus or the Signature as the larger version has more bass and an even larger soundstage.

The Aeris vs the Persona 9H will be a more interesting comparison.

We are getting the show pair of Aeris so we will have both speakers in the same room.

There is no denying the Aeris are world class loudspeakers if you prefer their presentation that is a good thing. Personally our store feels that the Legacy speakers are nearly unbeathable for the money.

The Persona 9H are also a bargin for what they do, they have greater transparency than the Legacy’s but also have less of that famous Legacy bass warmth and midbass warmth.

So the Legacy’s would fit in that hyper musical class of loudspeakers in the Vandersteen, Harbeth type of sound with the Pesonas fitting into the Magico, Focal, Rockport, type of sound

I would also say that is does depend on where you hear these speakers.

The Personas have a disadvantage vs the Aeris in that the Aeris comes with a pretty good preamp/dac that means for many setups the amplifier and speaker cables are the only variable.

The Personas are totally at the mercy of everything used with them and considering that the Beryillium drivers have greater resolution then the Heil AMT drivers which are a bit more laid back means the Personas are harder to get right. With greater transarency comes a greater chance of making a system sound too detailed and less musical which is why we tend to demo the Personas with warmer gear such as Naim or T+A with the Light Harmonic Davinci or the Aqua Hifi digital, rather than our older reference the EMM Labs Dac 2xse. 

If you are ever in our neck of the woods New York metro, we would invite you in to listen to both sets of these world class loudspeakers.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

I have heard both the Signature and the 3f but I didn't feel it was really a fair comparison... but that's just me

My use is home theater primarily.

The most accurate (and best price performance) I have heard were the Tekton speakers but at this point in time they don't have the HT lineup that I would like. I don't think they are warm, bright or anything but accurate IMO. They do not have the openess of the Aeris though. The Aeris is magical there. But again, that's just me.

The 5F's are very good IMO ...but the 9H's are just stunning. when calibrated to the room, they produce so much low end information without any boom or drone.  I auditioned with my own amp (ZOTL40 @ 35w) and the synergy was spectacular.  The active woofer is a winner.  I listened for three hours ...there is so much richness and effortless fullness to the sound when the lows are present and controlled. 
And the dealer margins must be good because I was quoted a great deal - which I am now seriously considering.  Compared to other high end speakers they are are steal and probably end-game for me.

I've heard the Persona 3f and was very impressed.  Going back tomorrow to hear the 5f in comparison.  As I posted elsewhere, I will then try to decide between one of the Paradigms, the KEF Reference 3 and the Monitor Audio pl300ii.  I'm wondering how each of these will sound with my equipment--Audio Research VT130SE amp and LS22 pre amp.   Also wondering why neither Srereophile nor Absolute Sound has reviewed the Personas (A/S did review the Persona 9).  I called Paradigm for some information and learned that they soon will be offering grills for all the Persona speakers for an extra charge (important in my case for WAF).  

Dmance-sounds like you were offered a discount on the Personas.  I've had so little luck getting a discount on new high end speakers that I usually don't even ask.  Don't want to pry but I certainly would be interested in any additional information you could share.