Paradigm Personas anyone heard them

IMO made in USA means little, made in Canada means a lot .

Personally I find the whole Persona thing really really weird.

People should be flooding the posts with interest about wanting to audition the speakers, yet we keep on hearing the same litenany of brands, Magico, Wilson, Rockport etc.

I know of no other speaker system in recent memory that is offering this level of technology, build quality and sound for this kind of money and in the case of the 9H how many other loudspeakers have built in room correction?

What I don't find suprising is the polarizing nature of speakers with basically 0 coloration. I have seen many of the setups that people are hearing and they are not good, hence the speakers are not blowing away all listeners and some of the comments are the speakers are bright.

We have found that if you spend the time to setup them up carefully the speakers can sound magical.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor

I heard either the 3F or 5F at the Los Angeles Audio Show. They were paired with Rogue Audio (tubes I believe). The sound was full top to bottom but a bit harsh even with the tubes. I freely admit it may have been the electronics did not synergize well with the Personas. But you'd think that every effort had been made to put their best foot forward at this West Coast show. I was there with a Paradigm owner and he was not impressed either.

I think most would admit that synergy is very important. I heard that with the Wilson Sabrina/Audio Research gear, Mbl - with its own gear, Marten and Zesto I believe, Hegel and KEF Blade 2, and maybe a few others. I was there all day Saturday and certainly did not  have the time to hear/see all rooms. But Paradigm was on that list. I know my friend had high hopes. I don't mention these brands to bash, but rather to show that some rooms that I heard were exemplary while many others struggled. I can also say that a few of the pairings I mentioned above have sounded very good every time I've heard them and I've heard them a number of times in different venues. Maybe I just heard the Personas with gear that didn't suit them well.

It was the Persona 5F. The problem with the speakers was that the room was way too small. I also did not like the tube electronics used (not a tube fan) nor did I like the long wall placement of the speakers. The drivers were way too close to your face. A shame they could not have gotten a bigger room such as the Magico S3 MKII room. I had the same feeling about the PMC speaker room. The only rooms I liked were the medium to large sized rooms. My favorite being the KEF Blade 2 room.

A few years back I heard the KEF Reference 1 at dealer and it sounded pretty bad. The reviews in the mag and internet were glowing. The dealers room I heard it had a large glass window in the back. So I put it up to a terrible room.

I heard the KEF Reference 1 again with the new Wired4Sound monoblocks at the show in a room I liked (it was circular where the speaker was setup). Now I could see why people raved about the KEF Reference 1. It was awesome and a real fun listen. So there you go,

mofojo, I went into more detail here in a previous Persona thread and was immediately schooled by the Audiogon's resident Paradigm retailer who has at least thirteen responses in this thread alone. I should applaud him/them on his sales persistence and wish him success within our little industry.  

I feel Paradigm has a terrific business plan and has the potential to offer sensible quality at an affordable price which is why I owned three different Paradigm products and auditioned their S8s in home. 

In MY opinion the Persona's sound way better than any other previous Paradigm offering and their technology is interesting but they're plagued by what I now consider to be the Paradigm house sound. They go high and they go low and I'm sure they'll measure perfectly. Along with the brightness or harshness others have mentioned I was still able to hear every driver discreetly as with my previous Paradigms consequently they didn't make music for me.

This is my personal opinion and opinions vary.