(I posted this same comment in an older, Paradigm-related thread)
I
want to thank Dave from Audio Doctor ("Audiotroy") for letting me
listen to KEFs (3R) and Paradigms (Persona 3f) last night, mostly with
the Naim Uniti Nova DAC/amp. There aren't many places where you can try a
lot of great brands (including schlepping heavy speakers around) in a
relaxed environment, and he offers that. If I buy something he carries,
I'll try to route the order through him. I think we have to support
places that let you listen.
I found the resolution and soundstage
of the Paradigms to be extraordinary. You can hear the wood of the solo
viola, and the movement of cymbals when struck, the voices and
locations of individual string instruments (even low strings) in
ensemble, clear as a bell. I don't think it's a speaker for big bass,
but that's not a huge priority for me. I like the impression of the
ensemble or orchestra laid out in front of me, life-size as possible.
My only reservations were a)
I don't find them terribly attractive visually, and more importantly, b)possible longer-term listening fatigue.
The Paradigms came off as a little hot in the treble, to me. Dave disagrees, in person and in this thread above.
Doubting my aging ears, I looked up test bench measurements last
night. Multiple measured (on-axis) frequency responses of both the 3F
(and
5F) are certainly consistent with what I heard, showing a substantial
bump
from 5-12khz:
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/paradigm-persona-3f-speaker-system-review-test-bench
They were toed in a bit, and if you look around you'll read a bunch
of reviewers/users are setting them up facing straight ahead to avoid an
overly bright presentation. I'd like to listen to them against the
KEF Ref 1 (and maybe 3), and try the off-axis set-up this time. Apart
from the brightness, I think the Paradigms are *very* stiff competition
for the much more expensive Wilson Sabrina.
The KEF 3Rs are a
really nice speaker. Not quite up to the resolution and soundstage size
of the Paradigms, but a great value for much less, and great looking
(in Walnut particularly). I think you could spend a lot of happy
listening hours with them, and I suspect it would be hard to do better
at that price point, at least from my limited experience.
I still
wouldn't mind listening to PSB T3, Monitor Audio, Vandersteen. The
latter is a longer drive, and the former two would seem to require mail
order trial, which is a schlep with such heavy units.
One possible wild card:
I
have a pair of JBL L830s in my country place. My son bought them for me
after blowing out their predecessors (Mirage). I am often very
pleasantly surprised with these little $400 speakers. There is no good
listening position in this (angular,open-plan, 1968, architect-designed)
house, but the horn covers a huge part of the frequency range smoothly
and sweetly (never really been a horn guy before), they throw a decent
image from a variety of listening spots, and they have surprising bass
response (I ended up getting rid of the subwoofer). It makes me wonder
what the $10k S3900s can do with a similar design. JBL is pretty mass
market now, but I have some fond youth memories of them....