Paradigm Persona B Loudspeakers Professional Review

Dear Ricred1, the issue with your demo might have been the demo setup, with that being said, the Personas are amazing loudspeakers if you value what they do which is creating a holographic soundstage, overall resolution and tight deep bass they are hard to beat especially for the price.

We told you that the Monitors in some ways are better, which is image size and overall impact, the larger physical size of your speakers makes for a big powerful sounding speaker.

It all comes down to what specific virtues you  value most image size, vs a smaller more focused yet still big sounding loudspeaker with a greater amount of overall clarity which is why we told you to keep your loudspeakers.

If you visit us and listen to our Persona 9H setup I think you will see the merits of what this design brings to the table vs many other similarly priced loudspeakers, with the voicing of the Personas they are very equipment setup critical, not more so then other similar high resoloution  loudspeakers but for them to really shine you  have to really have the right set of gear, or the speakers will not sound anywhere near what they can sound like when everything is right with them.


What equipment was on them when you heard them and how big was the room?

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

My opinion is a little different than yours. I didn't hear a "greater" amount of clarity compared to my system. I took several CDs that I'm very familiar with... Again, the 7Fs sound very good, but I didn't hear any details that I haven't already heard. Is it possible that even if the Personas were setup perfectly I could prefer another speaker? 

You may have a far better setup.

What electronics, source, and cables were they using?

Worth noting the guy who wrote the review (Jerry) was selling the Personas a few months ago and said some very different things at the time, that he thought the Personas were better than the Focal Sopra 1s. Quite a backflip he's made.

I have a pair of Persona B’s. I have a pair of KEF LS50’s. I love the sound of the KEF’s,  but after awhile they can sound harsh in my environment—high ceilings and hardwood floors. I ended up getting the Persona B’s after hearing them. These have all the detail and clarity of the KEF’s, but match better with my room. I can listen to these for hours. I’ve done AB comparisons with the KEF’s and prefer the Personas in this room. I just can't part with the KEF's, so the KEF’s will go to carpeted environment. 

 

Roger Kanno’s (SoundstageHIFI) review seems closer to my experience. So glad I heard the Personas before reading Jerry Seigel’s review.