April 2017 review of the Paradigm Persona 9H A home run for Paradigm!

One things also stands out to me.  Often when any of us talks about how great our gear is, we will talk about how great a reviewer thinks they are.  Personally, I've known many reviewers over the years and some I respect and like. Even if my tastes are different than theirs, I get to know HOW they listen and can sift through that to figure out what my thoughts may be on the product.  

What I like about the personal audio folks is that their reviewers will say what they paid for the product or if it was given to them for free or at a steep discount.  That said of all the guys I know (many) who review there, they are as honest as the day is long.  They will point out where the compromises were made by a dealer.  They point out good and bad and let you make your choices based on that.

That used to be the way things were in the 70's.  The Absolute Sound never had to run ads. You just paid and got a neat little 'magazine' every other month or so I think it was.  Then all of a sudden other 'hi end' magazines came in and there were ads taken.  You couldn't find really negative reviews at that point.  Also, brands that didn't buy ads in various mags wouldn't get reviewed much of the time.  Some reviewers care about the hobby as well as the customers.  Fremer comes to mind as do a few others.

One of the reviewers, Tom Gillet used to drive me nuts.  He's a creative writers, but he also is the Audio Cheapskate, Sam Tellig (Gillet spelled backwards).   I laughed when he left Stereophile a couple of years ago and went public about how advertisers would pay for ads and they could get good reviews. Again, not ALL reviewers are like that, but this is why you never see a bad review in that magazine or any of it's online sites.  Heck the ad manager of Stereophile is/was Atkinson's wife.  

Again, some folks I personally like and respect, buy all too many I don't, but that's just me.  Reading this thread made me think about that.

This is why it's so important to go audition at a few places an figure out your flavor. What do you like? Dont' let a dealer talk during the audition constantly.  Listen and trust your own ears.  Afterwards, you can invite the dealer in and get their thoughts.  Listen with them and have them point out all the things they love about the product and why you should buy it.  Just keep in mind that you are the one who has to listen to it daily, lol.  I'm sure everyone already knows all of this, but it never hurts to read it again.

Old time audiophile here. IMHO there are many excellent speakers available for all kinds of tastes. I personally would not buy Paradigm speakers in the price range being discussed in this thread. A lot of guys that can afford a $35k speaker wouldn’t even consider them regardless of sound quality due to prior marketing position. I’m making no personal judgement but have bought and sold too much audio gear to be comfortable trying to resell them at some point. Just an opinion and nothing more. 

I am interested in the Paradigm Persona 9H and am just wondering if anyone has any feelings about how they would mate with Pass on the power amp duties and Aesthetix on preamp duties (the rest of the system is a Direcstream, a microrendu and a nice vinyl rig). I’m thinking if anything the Persona’s sound like they would be a little clinical so maybe the Pass on the top end would warm them up a bit but obviously they don’t need that much power (its an x150.8 presently driving Thiel 2.4s.) Obviously I LIKE a slightly clinical highly detailed sound since I've been living with the Thiels about about 10 years. I like the idea of bass frequencies which you can room correct the same way I like the feature on Vandersteens but on the Paradigm you're dealing with DSP rather than analog eq.  Thoughts?

Pass are excellent amps.  As for using digital or analog to EQ, I'm in the camp of analog still being much better.  I've personally heard some of the top brands that use DSP in one form or another and I don't like it.  I do hear the difference and it changes the sound and ruins coherency. I'm not the only one who feels that way. I've spoken to dealers, manufactures as well as reviewers who also feel that digital EQ still isn't where it needs to be. Kind of like the way it's taken digital formats to sound close to vinyl.  

I moved up from Treo's to Quatro's due to wanting the bass EQ.  I have noticed a huge difference in my room with the EQ.  

I personally (I've done this) go audition the speakers you like and go with them.  When I audition, I totally tune out the salesperson.  I ask them not to speak during my auditioning and to give me the remote.  Too often they will play with the volume during the audition.  I've seen that at MANY dealers and it pisses me off.  

You seem to have a really nice rig going.  I love the Aesthetix pre amps.  Just a great value in tubes.  I owned their phono stage when I was able to play vinyl.  

My feelings on the Persona's haven't changed.  I've auditioned them at many stores now and they have always sounded the same to my ears.  They, like other Paradigm's are tipped up on top.  I own a pair as I"ve said many times.  They lack coherency.  Every dealer always says 'you haven't heard them in my store and my set up is the best".  I went to Dave's and they sounded that same to me as they have elsewhere.  Folks can always say things aren't set up properly for whatever reason they want, but in the end, I've found that gear has a sound signature no matter the set up.  Many folks love a highly dynamic speaker like Wilson or the Paradigm's and that's awesome.  I say go get them and enjoy your music as that's the only thing that matters anyways.  

If you love the Paradigm's, then go for it and enjoy them, but make sure you listen to others in your range.  JMHO