Paradigm Persona series

Yes Ahofer, the Kef Ref 5 did sound very realistic, you could have gotten the smaller Ref 3 same sound but smaller in size. 

The difference between the two setups you heard is totally different electronics a tube preamp and a solid state amp is going to sound totally different than the integrated amplifier we demoed.

Was hoping you would swing back and then once we zeroed in on the speakers then we would have explored the range of electronics we have  which includes one of the best tube preamplifiers ever made the Manly 300b preamp with a suitable matching amplifier. 

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ 

With all due respect, as a dealer for Manley Labs I think they'd appreciate it if you spelled their name correctly when promoting their gear.

The digital artifact is gone. I also retubed the Aesthetix Janus tube preamp with NOS RCAs from Vintage Tube Services (high recommended) which helped alot. I still believe that the Personas were simply passing along whatever was in the signal...they are that revealing and neutral. I could never make those work in my room....because I’m easily able to pull the Maggies 5 feet into the room and still put my listening position at 12 feet I’m getting a really good smooth response from the Maggies. They measure in room slightly lumpy without dsp but I would only add some very light dsp bringing down the peaks, not punching anything up but to be honest with you they sound so good without EQ that I’m likely not to do any DSP on them. I think their dispersion pattern being more a line source (figure 8 dispersion pattern) keeps the room effects down. I have alot of depth in the room but only about 2’ on either side of the Maggies. I really do think part of problem with the Personas was their wide dispersion characteristics but problem may go deeper than that. I really respected the engineering and the build quality of the Personas. With the Maggies there is a sense of tremendous coherency across the range...the drivers blend absolutely beautifully.

It seems to me that differences in speakers swamp differences in amps, and introducing the even order harmonics from high end tube amps is a difficult and indirect way to try to EQ a speaker into sounding more natural.    I'm listening to an entirely solid state signal path now (Mahler 2nd Symphony) and it does not seem harsh in the least.

pwhinson

Excellent! Good to read that you can sit back and enjoy the music w/o any digital glare.  Happy Listening!