Of all the floor standing speakers you just mentioned, I think the Energy C7's have the most potential NEW. They DEFINITELY need WARM GEAR TO MATCH WITH THEM! Infact TUBE GEAR(not likely) would be ideal. The Paradigms are kind of AVERAGE, WARM, AND "just OK sounding" in the monitor 7's, and the AE's about the same.
Are you talking ONLY about $850 NEW? or is used factored into the equasion? Also, how are you planning on running the speaker for HT or Music? I assume you're looking for full range for music, yes? However, you WILL NOT be playing these speakers FULL RANGE FOR MOVIES, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE USING A RECEIVER FOR POWER! They can't handle it! They'll sound weak, distorted, strained, mushy, and blown out if you do! For music, you might get away with running full range from your receiver(?). But you'll still do better with these kinds of speakers with heavy percusion, rock, and heavy dynamic stuff if you run em as "small", and let the POWERED SUB handle the bottom register in the bass.
If you are going FULL RANGE speakers at that price range, may I suggest THE USED MARKET!?! You will get much more value for your money, get better speakers potentially(making wise decisions of course), and be in another QUALITY league! At that price range of $850 used, you can get better speakers in FULL RANGE models, starting at the bottom(although still excellent for the $), with something like used Energy C6's(c2's are a steal), NHT Super Two's, PSB stratus Bronze or Silver(much better!) at $850 used or so, POWERED Definitive BP2006's-BP2002's used(use warmer sounding receiver or gear), Paradigm Studio 100's used(pretty nice, if a little warm sounding) at $850 range, etc.
have fun...
Are you talking ONLY about $850 NEW? or is used factored into the equasion? Also, how are you planning on running the speaker for HT or Music? I assume you're looking for full range for music, yes? However, you WILL NOT be playing these speakers FULL RANGE FOR MOVIES, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE USING A RECEIVER FOR POWER! They can't handle it! They'll sound weak, distorted, strained, mushy, and blown out if you do! For music, you might get away with running full range from your receiver(?). But you'll still do better with these kinds of speakers with heavy percusion, rock, and heavy dynamic stuff if you run em as "small", and let the POWERED SUB handle the bottom register in the bass.
If you are going FULL RANGE speakers at that price range, may I suggest THE USED MARKET!?! You will get much more value for your money, get better speakers potentially(making wise decisions of course), and be in another QUALITY league! At that price range of $850 used, you can get better speakers in FULL RANGE models, starting at the bottom(although still excellent for the $), with something like used Energy C6's(c2's are a steal), NHT Super Two's, PSB stratus Bronze or Silver(much better!) at $850 used or so, POWERED Definitive BP2006's-BP2002's used(use warmer sounding receiver or gear), Paradigm Studio 100's used(pretty nice, if a little warm sounding) at $850 range, etc.
have fun...