That doesn’t mean that we should take his unprovoked bashing about Personas seriously.
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Again have to agree with Contuzzi, Mr. Boviard, is a rather brilliant businessman who started his own forum which he is the owner and head moderator. Sure anyone can post but in most cases the discord is hardly unbiased. We answered a post about the Personas and of course were quickly shot down with the same post as Magico is way better etc, too bright same stuff. The reality is that the Personas are a total challenger to any of the $60k-100k uber boutique brands such as Rockport, Magico or Wilson. We demoed a $120k pair of Kharmas with a Diamond tweeter, custom kevlar midrange and a 12 inch Eaton midrange the speakers weighed about 400 pounds they sounded good but in no way was a superior sound to the Persona 9H at 1/4 the price. Also have to agree with Yysantabarbera, the Persona will sound good or bad depending on the electronics which you pair them with. We have heard different Persona models at stores in CA, at two different stores in MA, a store in NJ, and most of the demos were hardly convincing in demonstrating just how remarkable the speakers can sound, none of the demos the speakers sounded bad but none of the demos were wow demos either. This is a very high resolution line of loudspeakers and the tweeter and midrange drivers do not hold anything back. When we were seaching for electronics for them we tried: Conrad Johnson and Manly Labs Tube amplifiers, Electrcompaniet, Chord, Devialet, Thrax and finally T+A before the speakers really started to sound amazing. The Persona 9h can reward you will breathtaking realisim at a price far below their competion or they can sound bright, flat and uninvolving. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ Persona dealers |
Audiotroy, "The reality is that the Personas are a total challenger to any of the $60k-100k uber boutique brands such as Rockport, Magico or Wilson." That's your opinion and your reality. I've heard them and just don't agree. They sound good to my ears, but seriously. As a matter of fact, one of the Paradigm dealer's that I went to prefers several speakers in the same price range over the 7Fs and 9Hs. |
I listened again to the Personas today - 3F. (Bryston amplification) Also the B&W 803D3. I found myself underwhelmed. The B&Ws sounded more refined (even if they too have a sculpted frequency response), the Persona's sounded somewhat opaque to me, and even though the B&W's upper frequencies actually sounded a bit hotter, I actually found myself getting fatigued faster with the Personas high end. I found the same when I did a longer audition last year. I guess I just don't care for those speakers. And they sure didn't sound a competitive as I'd hoped with even the B&Ws. (And I'm not even much of a fan of the B&W sound at all!). |
Ricredi which dealer and what speakers and how were they setup? Compare how we run our Persona 9H and the equipment we use them with: https://www.facebook.com/audiodoctor1/photos/a.1114621131944432/2414413985298467/?type=3&theater You will notice T+A electronics, a Critical Mass Rack, Acoustical Treatment, power conditioning, no other speakers in line, high end cabling, Isoacoustic footers. Not shown: State of the art digital: T+A PDP 3000, Light Harmonic Davinci, Aqua Hifi Formula XHD, Innous server. One dealer in another state was showcasing a $17 pair of Persona 5F in a room with many pairs of speakers on all three walls, no room treatment, and the best electronics were a few $3k Musical Fidelity pieces and an Anthem STR intergrated. Another dealer we visted had three Personas all crammed together on the back wall with many other speakers on top their best electronics an Nad preamp with a Parasound amplifier. Compare our sound room where we demo the Persona 3F https://www.facebook.com/audiodoctor1/photos/a.122499441156611/1884269391646265/?type=3&theater Electronics from $1k Rega, Peachtree, Nad, to $30k Naim stack. Intergrated amplfiers: Naim, Sythesis, Unsion Research, Krell, Micromega, Cables from $3,400.00 for speaker cables, power conditioning. etc. Part of this issue is dealers showrooms and not having the care and matching equipment to showcase the Persona to their utmost. They sound fantastic on warmer electronics: Krell, Naim, Micromega they are not going to sound fanatastic on brighter or leaner electronics. Please understand we are not trying to say we are better and any other dealers are not good, the issue is how well are some of these dealers setting up their Personas? Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
- 151 posts total