Persona 9h vs S3 mk 2

The TAD ME1 is not as detailed as the 3F but rather close in that department. The ME1 maybe better for longer listening sessions. I know with the Luxman system + TAD ME1 demo I was totally satisfied with the sound and wanted to listen all day. I like the TAD ME1 more than the Magico A3 that I liked a lot at one point.

My assumption is that the 3F will have a bit more bass and can play in a small room. I will home demo this with the Luxman amp to see if that is true in my room. I also think that the coherence of the tweeter and mid on the 3F is a little better (one voice). A lot of folks have said to me that I would not like the 3F for long term listening sessions, I think they are wrong and my home demo will clear this up. A lot of folks like a softer top end and not like Persona’s, I am not one of them.

I want to make the 3F work in my small office because I want a floor stander but the ME1 is great and I can live with that speaker if the 3F will not work. I decided I did not want to introduce DSP into my sound chain so I only am relying on acoustic treatments. I went the non-DSP route after I fell for the all Luxman system demo. So I am buying electronics before the speaker. Maybe the Mola Mola pre/dac to lessen the component count.

That $15k - $10K - $15K oscillation in the TAD ME1 price was rather disappointing, I now feel a bit like you are getting less speaker for the price. The Persona 3F price seems to me like you get more for the price compared to some other floor standers I have demoed.

Main issue is my room.

I re-read this thread and there was a comment that said that the Persona 9H would work in ALMOST any room. So I went to google to see some photos of the 9H. This following photo seems close to my room size.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&id=7709C349CA7C92913622C1DE815D07AE186519BC&...

Would the 9H work in a very small 12’x11’x9’ room? I do not play too loud in this room and the speakers would eventually move to a bigger room (in 3 years).

There will be several people who have likely nevermind heard the personas, our dealers who don’t carry paradigm and want to down talk them... but there is literally no speaker on the market that will achieve such high performance TRULY FULL RANGE sound in a small to medium sized room like the 9H.
I now have two more friends who have gotten 9H’s and their rooms are both polar opposites. One is huge with a two story vaulted ceiling, one is a basement with 7ft ceilings. In both rooms the bass is astonishing. Extremely lean and tight, almost spookishly so. The skin on drums, etc is just so organic it’s just incredible.

And the best part is you get to start with lightning fast lean bass, yet if you want more, you can just raise the room gain a tiny bit and get a little more of the outstandingly flat non boomy room corrected bass.  I think the fact that the speakers have FOUR 8” woofers that are all quite a bit apart helps couple them to the room differently (as is the reason multiple subs are key) and you end up with super flat bass response even without the correction.  The ARC just takes things to a completely different level.

Can not recommend them enough.

Contuzzi, have to agree with you here. Especially in terms of bass response in adverse rooms you are right on the money!

Audio Doctor showcased the Persona 9H at the New York audio show in 2016 right after they came out. This was one of the first public showings of the speakers.

We were not in a ball room or a giant demo room just a regularly sized hotel room, the entire room from side to side was probably about 14 feet wide with the length of the room perhaps being 16-18 feet. We had the speakers very close to the side walls, toed in signficantly with three rows of seating. The speakers were setup on the long wall.

The local rep and Paradigms sales manager ran the Anthem Room correction in multiple locations. The dip in the bass response was dramatic from the before no room correction vs the post room correction plot. The ARC function allowed the bass to be deep and tight and not to over load such a small room.

The sound for a big system in a small room was breathtaking and was a perfect example to showcase how much a difference that the Anthem Room Correction software was creating a listenable tight tuneful bass reponse in a room that should have been boomy and bloated with a bass response that would dominate over the high and mids.

https://hometheaterhifi.com/features/show-reports-film-festivals-concerts/new-york-audio-show-2016/

https://www.facebook.com/audiodoctor1/photos/pcb.1322387171167826/1322378621168681/?type=3&theat...

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Persona dealers

So it looks like the link I posted above for the 9H was from Audio Doctor's NY Show room. I just did a web search for "Persona 9H and room size" and that photo came up.

Every time I climb the stairs of my home I see the big narrow empty space currently functioning as my toddlers play area. I have tried to figure out what speakers would fit in there, specifically seeing if the KEF Blades would work along the short wall. Unfortunately, some comments I read here, including by Audio Doctor, indicate that the sound would be compromised along the short wall. Sad times for this potential Blade buyer. The long wall setup is a no go (family wise).

However, today I learned after an email discussion with both the management of Vivid Audio and the profession sound technician that acoustically treated my upstairs office room, that the Vivid Kaya 45 will work in my room. The Vivid guys did not say for sure that it work but the sound tech and I deciphered the comments on the speakers dispersion pattern to figure out that it would work.  

To me, the Kaya 90 (which I heard) actually sounds a bit like the KEF Blade. I did like the Kaya 90 a bit more than the KEF Blade-ish KEF Reference 5 which was surprising. I am targeting the smaller Kaya 45 which has less bass.

https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/equipment-menu/865-vivid-audio-kaya-45-loudspeakers

Why mention this? Well I like the Persona 3F and the Kaya 45 EQUALLY.  However, I did not want to get a Persona 9H for my downstairs space if I got a Persona 3F for the small room upstairs. So in the past, I have not seriously considered the 9H.

Now I have a great sounding option for both rooms. Audio Doctor you will get a call from me on the Persona 9H. No dealer around me area that demos this one and likely knows it as well as you. Need some patience though.