Paradigm Signature S-2, S-4:Good, bad, indifferent

I spent a lot of time listening to the 2's, 4's and 8's in the same room. There was a very audible difference betwen the 2 and 4 series, and careful blending with the sub is required to get a seamless transition, but the 4's are some of the best satellites I've heard. The S8's were, on their own, stunning. The only other demo I liked better that day were Maggie 20's, and the Paradigms humbled Vandersteen 3's. Had it been in my budget, I'd have gone home with the 8's. They really have a sonic winner here.

I posted here some time ago on my impressions of the two speakers. Since then I have had a third listen to the S-4's, again in comparison to the Revel M22's. The session was about an hour, again, and I went through different kinds of material. As stunned as I was when I first heard the S-4's, this time I concluded that the Revel M22 was actually the better speaker overall. It has the more accurate midrange. The S-4 may have slightly better imaging, but that was inconclusive because of the showroom's limitations. Male vocals were much more accurate on the M22. Surprisingly, the M22 doesn't lag behind the S-4 in bass extension or slam. My impressions: highs: tie; midrange: clear win for M22; lows: tie. Victory for Revel M22. I was in the process of purchasing a pair myself when I was persuaded by testimonial (by those who have heard Revels and Merlins) that Merlin TSM's were better yet, and bought a pair. I'll know for sure when they arrive. Unless you want to do something similar, the S-4 is an excellent choice, but the M22 is less expensive, and in my opinion, the better speaker.

Hello TheChair, others,

I noticed that your last post was in spring '05. It is now late autumn '05, and I'd like to hear what happened with you and the Merlins you purchased, in comparison to the Revel M22s and Paradigm S2s.

I'm getting ready (again...sigh) to try to upgrade my Revel M20s. I groan at the thought of it, because in the past yr to yr-plus, it's been the one still standing after long B&W 805 auditions, and in-home purchases of up to 3+ months at a time, of Dynaudio Special 25 and ProAc 1SC, side by side with the old M20 pair. And, trust me, I know about break-in periods and room positioning, etc... (I still have the ProAcs for sale, by the way).

In the end, what it has always come down to, as one sagacious audio Solomon once said, is the midrange. The midrange is where we live in human hearing, and it's where most of music happens. That's why bass and treble are called "the extremes" :) Once a speaker gets the midrange right, it's sometimes tough not to love, or at least mightily respect it, no matter what else its faults.

And so it is with the Revel M20s, a less-than-absolutely-transparent speaker with perhaps (perhaps...) too fulsome bass for its given size and overall voicing/tonal/frequency balance, and not the most sophisticated treble purity (though nicely laid back in the soundscape). But very, very nicely done midrange. It's been the one I've kept until now.

I've been wondering if the M22s are a true step forward in the areas of transparency and high freq delicacy, or if it's just another case of audiophilia nervosa incrementalism which, in the real world, wouldn't be worth the trade-up. It terms of pure number specs, (which sometimes don't mean a hill of beans), the M22 is actually a few cycles less extended at the bottom than the M20, but with what looks like a nicely voiced roll off curve.

After reading this forum started here in April, I'm now wondering about the Merlins, and the Paradigm Sigs. (Funny how you'd originally talked about the Signature S2 versus the M22, then came back later and gave the M22 the edge over the S4, not the S2. Could you clarify, please?)

Have you been happy with your Merlins (and specifically, which model did you buy?)

Thanks much!

I auditioned the 4's and 8's extensively and ultimately bought the S8 suite for a combo system like you. The 8's in my opinion bettered revel f50's and tiel 7.2's if you like a full range sound. The 4's are little bit of a problem because Para sends that one woofer a lot of bass and it can be overcooked easily. If you crossed them over high though, you'd be OK. IMO they should have sent that woofer less like many other companys do. The 8's are awesome.

I've owned the S2 and just sold in favor of trading up to S4's. I love the sound and IMO bettered the Studio 20 by a wide margin. Others get caught up on the $$ increase in the Sigs. To my ears I hear a big difference in sound quality and quantity over the Studios. Their apprearence is obviously better. Another reason for me upgrading to the S4 is I just love their looks on the J-stands. I'm using with a sub, so I'm not worried about over-driving them.