Paradigm Persona series

I had a chance to listen to the Persona 7F for a little while today, playing some audiophile-approved tracks.

Yeah, those speakers just leave me cold.   They certainly can sound clear especially in the high frequencies.  But overall I had the same impression as the last audition - they just don't sound timbrally organic or convincing to me.   Everything sounds "canned" or slightly glazed, and when I close my eyes there are all sorts of "clear/clean" sounding acoustic objects presented to me, guitar, drums, percussion, etc.  But they have the same grayish tonal "color" and my mind has to really work to untangle one instrument timbrally from the other.

A competent speaker, and I understand anyone else enjoying it, but my subjective reaction is just..."meh."

@prof  Excellent description!  Aligns exactly with what I heard/how I felt when auditioning the 5's.
Also, though to a lesser extent, applicable to my impression of the Dynaudio Contour 60.

twoleftears,
*bro fist*

@prof  What's up with the masochism? Despite the ongoing protestations, is it that you enjoy the self torture? : )

It's abundantly clear these speakers are not for you. The repeated insistence appears more an imposition and declaration of your experience as primary and superior to that of others. 

david_ten

I'm just fascinated with speakers.   When the opportunity arises to listen to a high end speaker, I take it, even if I've heard it before.

I'd been seriously considering the Persona's early on, with a somewhat positive first encounter (though with caveats), so I gave them another audition not long ago and it gave me a better handle on my feelings about them.   Though I noticed things in the last audition - e.g. about the tone - that didn't stick out the first time.  This was another opportunity to see how they sound in a different set up, powered with different amps etc, as another data point.  It solidified some of my impressions, and since this is the Paradigm Persona thread, and we audiophiles like to talk about our speaker experiences, I'll report mine in a thread like this.

And nothing I've said - zero! - implies my experience is "superior or primary" to anyone else's.  In fact I have been careful to say it's clearly my own subjective reaction.  The speakers leave ME cold, and TO MY ears they sounded X.   I clearly stipulated this was my SUBJECTIVE reaction, rather than just declaring some objective condemnation, like a number of audiophiles tend to do.    I said, as I've said before about the Persona series, I understand why  OTHER PEOPLE like them.   So I have no idea why you are imagining otherwise.