Paradigm Persona series

Interesting read.  One of the most polarizing speakers I've kept up on in recent memory.  Lot's of parallels with the older Wilson's (when David was in charge and his team used that metal dome tweeter) that everyone always claimed need the perfect electronics and cables.  

Just very interesting.  

Speaking for the masses that will look at the measurements of a certain speaker and decide without even listening to like them or not, and there's plenty out there as this thread has shown.

I have heard the Persona 9H and prefer it to the Vandersteens I have heard. I don't own either and have no dog in this fight.

@audiotroy

"Most truly high resolution loudspeakers will only come alive with the right group of components."

Says the guy who sells crazy expensive cables, iso-footers etc.

Will a better source, amp, pre-amp and ROOM make a difference, sure. But that goes for just about any speaker above 2k.

But a "great" speaker shouldn’t need uber-expensive everything to outperform a "less resolving" speaker.

Take say, a Focal Sopra 2 and a Persona 7F, and something mid-fi, say a paradigm Halo A21, and a reasonable pre-amp, similar source, room etc.

The 7f should outperform the Sopra 2 hands down at almost 2x the price, without needing uber expensive everything.

In fairness, I don’t care for either speaker. (I think the Focus SE wipes the floor with both to take speakers in your line-up).

Keep shilling bro.

Trudat, your naivity shows through.

There are many speakers above $2k that will sound good with most electronics, however, most $2k to $10k speakers don’t have the same level of resolution, how do we know we sell many of them:

we sell Elac Adantes, PSB T3, Legacy Signatures, Kef R Series, ATC, Cabasse and a few others.

when you reach into the uber high resolution loudspeakers especially speakers in the $10k and above price range from Paradigm, Magico, Rockport, Rahido, and others they will not sound good on just any set of electronics, they must be matched with the right gear to sound good.

The Sopras are tuned a bit warmer and are a bit more forgiving then the the Personas, we have heard the Sopras and they are very nice speakers they don’t have the same degree of clarity nor do they image as well, they are lovely musical speakers.

As per the Focus Se wipping the floor we have them as well, and they don’;t wipe the floor over the Kef Reference line nor the Paradigm tney sound distinctly colored and veiled compared to either the Kef’s or the Paradigms, not saying that is a bad thing they are tuned to be musical.

The Focus are fantastic speakers but they are tuned warm in the midrange, a slightly recessed top end and big warm full bass, they are very easy to setup with almost anything because they don’t have the same level of clarity or soundstage specificity that the Paradigms do

In fact the Focus tend to sound better on brighter electronics

We heard Wilson XLF on Boulder with DCS and Nordost and the sound was unlististenable, we heard the less expensive Wilson Alexx with Krell and Nordost cabling and the sound was fantastic, so yes pairing is everything.

Just the same way when we tried out electronics with the Paradigms and the Polymers, we tried CJ, Electrocompaniet, Manley Labs, Devialet, Chord, Thrax and finally T+A which sounded the best out of all of these products.

A great system requires careful setup with the right matching components.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Paradigm, Legacy, Kef dealers