Don’t get me wrong; I am not knocking the 9H, I would love them just as anyone else, but all I am saying is that they could of easily had a 9H and 9F version (for less money).
If everything the dealer told me is correct (he seemed to know his stuff), the 7F is the "9F" as you’re describing (take the 9H speaker but with passive bass instead of the 9H powered bass). But for whatever reason Paradigm called it 7F instead of 9F (maybe to save the coveted "9" designation for their statement version with powered bass).
I only had about an hour yesterday and spent the whole time listening to the 5F which was astounding in so many ways (Transparent audio cables and Meridian dac/pre/amp electronics). Perhaps a bit bright compared to "warm" sounding soft-dome speakers. But not bright in an etched or sibilant way... rather, open, extended, airy, and ultra-refined micro detail that never sounded harsh or irritating. Very listenable. I have a feeling this open/airy character may work well with my own Hegel amplifier (when tends to warm/neutral IMO... not a bright or edge SS sound at all) so once I save more $$ I plan to bring my own electronics to the store to do some serious listening.
I also look forward to hearing how close/far the 3F are in comparison (would love to hear the 7F which they don't have on display sadly as they go straight from the 5F to the 9H). And they also have KEF and Monitor Audio so i'll be able to hear some comparably-priced other brands that are also well regarded (would love to hear the Monitor Audio Platinum 300 IIs).
I want bass (which the Persona 5Fs have... tight and musical... it's sublime), natural mids (which sounded to me like they could be better but I wonder how my own electronic gear might affect that), open/airy/detail (5Fs have to perfection). And one other thing I want are speakers with wide dispersion so they sound good playing even when you're in the other room or walking around or dancing... and the 5Fs do that well.
I will say that the imaging on the 5Fs was phenomenal... wide, tall, low, and deep. It was like 3D IMAX with some recordings... not only "height" in some cases, but sounds came from below... like I was in a stadium IMAX seat looking up *and* down at music that filled my field of vision... not just a left-right horizontal spread. And some recordings with depth were astonishing. For "effects" audiophile recordings (think Pink Floyd etc) they are superb. They also sounded great with Holy Cole female vocals... and her "don't smoke in bed" album sounded like I was in the presence of a performance rather than a recording.
One thing that wasn't ideal though (and I'm very curious to hear in the future how this may or may not change with room and electronics) was that sonic images were "larger than life". This included close-miked pop recordings but also was true for more traditionally mixed stereo vocal-recordings... the "IMAX" analogy works here too as it was like everything was magnified. Now, this was playing loudly. When turned low things sounded life-sized, but that's not typically how I listen personally... when turned up for slam/impact, the music got "larger", not just louder.
It's not bad per-se, just not something I've experienced before. I'm curious if others have heard this too with the personas or other speakers... basically the effect that when the louder they are played, the *larger* the soundstage images become... as if they are being magnified like a projector that's zooming to create an even larger image. It's intriguing and I think it may be because of the purity of the highs/mids that remain completely clear and distortion-free even as they are played loudly... all of the ease and detail is still there, and the brain probably sees this as "larger", not just "louder".
Can't wait until I save some more $$ for a more in-depth audition with my own gear...
