From Planars to Boxes?
Written: Oct 21 '02
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Pros: Neutral, good imaging, excellent midrange resolution
Cons: Extra for the stands which are a must
The Bottom Line: Non-fatiguing sound. Value for money speakers that portrays music with style and class.
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| quadophile's Full Review: Reference Studio/40 Speaker (Gold) |
When evaluating audio equipment, it is very difficult to convey how the equipment sounded; we all have different opinions and so can get mislead by a particular review. I have come across many reviews praising certain products and claiming that it is the best of best in its class, upon auditioning, to me it sounded DIFFERENT. I have made many mistakes, but I learned one thing along the way – audition before buying. I use reviews as guidelines and if I can relate to it, I shortlist it and take the next step of surveying and auditioning. I commit myself after I have had a good listen. TRUST YOUR EARS – they will tell you a lot more than the reviewer!
If you are still with me, spend a few minutes and read the following paragraphs about the Paradigm Reference Studio 40 v.2 speaker system and see if you can relate to it.
Paradigm is a Canadian speaker manufacturer. What sets them apart from most of the other speaker manufacturers is that they build almost everything that goes into the speakers in-house, be it drivers, cabinets, voice coils, trim etc. They claim that this has two advantages, one being quality control and the other being value. Paradigm appear to have succeeded in manufacturing speakers which in my view are good examples of products that out-perform the competition, at very reasonable prices
BUILD QUALITY AND SPECIFICATIONS
Paradigm Reference Studio 40 v.2 are actually 3 driver, 2-1/2-way design with a 25mm pure-aluminum dome tweeter which is ferro-fluid cooled having a die-cast heat-sink chassis. The midrange driver is a 165mm mica-polymer cone, again with a die-cast heat-sink chassis, and sporting a 38mm voice-coil. The third driver is having exactly same specs as the midrange driver except that is mineral filled polypropylene. The speakers are very well built with a very fine finish; the innards are even more impressive if you happen to study the Reference catalogue. I will not go into any detail here, since anyone can check it, if interested, from the Paradigm’s website at www.paradigm.ca and using the link to Studio Series. Even if you are not intending to buy the speakers the Reference catalogue will give you a good insight into the materials used and where the technology is headed.
The size of these speakers at 21-1/2 in x 8-1/4 in x 12 in is small, but, the fact that they weigh a hefty 40 lbs each will make you wonder what’s inside these babies.
The speakers must be placed on a solid stand to sound right, Paradigm’s own line of Premier speaker stands with spikes at the bottom and top to decouple the speaker from the ground are ideal for that.
The knuckle-rap test result: The 23-liter/0.8 cu ft (internal volume) enclosure is certainly solid, reflecting the enclosure's complex structure and form
Four gold plated binding posts allow for bi-wiring which is highly recommended since it adds to the clarity, improved bass response and overall imaging. The cost of an extra pair of wire here is perfectly justified. Available finishes include black ash, Rosenut and Light Cerry both in laminate and real wood veneer (add $300).
LIST OF EQUIPMENT USED:
Amplifiers: Perreaux 3150B 300wpc, Quad 606 MkII 140wpc, Quad 405 MkII 100wpc, Nad 3225PE 25wpc.
Preamplifiers: Quad 34, Quad 66, QED Passive Pre/CD Control Unit
Sources: Quad 67 CD, Marantz CD 63SE with and without Musical Fidelity X10-D Tube buffer amp, Rega Planar 3 Turntable
Cables: Monster Super Flat 12AWG speaker cable terminated with 24K Gold Banana Plugs at both ends. Also used Studio Powerline speaker cable of German origin. Cable Talk Monitor Interconnects and Monster’s Interlink Reference A.
Headphones: Sennheiser HD 580 Precision
Speakers: Magneplanar 2.5/R, Magneplanar MG 1c, Mission 760iSE and Celestion SL6
MUSIC USED FOR EVALUATION:
Suzanne Vega - Solitude Standing
Eagles - Hell Freezes Over
Sting - Soul Cages
Sting - Brand New Day
Sade - The Best of
Alan Stivell - Renaissance of the Celtic Harp
Vivaldi - Four Seasons (Seiji Ozawa conducting Boston Symphony Orchestra on Telarc Label)
Cassandra Wilson - New Moon Daughter
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Branford Marsalis - Trio Jeepy
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong - Porgy and Bess
Dave Grusin - Gershwin Connection (24K Gold Disc)
Tiger Okoshi - Two sides to every story (JVC XRCD)
Strunz and Farah - Primal Magic
Sting - All this time.... (his last album)
Marcus Miller - M2
Sonny Clark - Cool Struttin'
OUT OF THE BOX
I had made arrangements with the dealer to allow me to audition them at home and the moment they arrived I had a go at them to get a glimpse of what they could offer me in terms of sound quality. Just out of the box they did give an indication of the potential they had once “broken in". Therefore I went ahead with the purchase.
Paradigm recommends that the speakers be broken-in for several hours before any critical listening is done. I recall that the speakers when new were slightly harsh sounding and the low-end extension was not quite what the specs claimed compared to what they are reproducing now. I did not do any critical evaluation in the beginning so cannot say anymore with respect to other attributes. The actual evaluation was done after the speakers were in use for almost a month that included two or three very long sessions (6-8 hours). I would assume that the speaker’s mileage at the time of evaluation was about 70+ hours. Thus, I can say that they were properly "broken-in" and “come of age” before being put up on the test bench.
SETTING UP
Even though good speakers are essential to good sound, room acoustics are also extremely important. In many cases, the differences in room acoustics will be more noticeable than spending twice as much on speakers or ten times more on cables! It is not the question of large or small but it must be able to handle the acoustics well. THE ROOM is considered by many, as one of the components in the HIFI chain. An acoustically bad room cannot help the best system in the world no matter what. I found the guidelines of Paradigm in setting up the system to be very useful as a starting point. Paradigm recommends that the speakers should be positioned approximately 2/3 of the distance from each other (For example, if the listening position to speaker position distance is 3 m (9ft) then the speakers should be 2 m (6ft) apart, measured from woofer center of both speakers. The setup that I found to be suitable in my room turned out to be more or less very much similar to what paradigm suggests, give or take a few inches.
The individuals taste, choice of music, volumes that need to be achieved all contribute to the ultimate synergy of the system. Paradigm states that the speakers are suitable to be driven by amplifiers in the range of 15-180 watts. I used three amplifiers ranging from 100 to 300 watts. The Perreaux with very high damping factor of over 400 had fabulous control on the woofer, which I particularly noticed, barely moved even at high volumes. I was afraid that I might fry the tweeter or blow the woofer if I cranked the volume any higher. The 100-watt Quad 405 MkII (with a mere 3 ampere current) was not really able to drive them as the cone movement at high volumes (70-80%) I noticed was excessive. This time I had to worry about the woofer bottoming out too frequently and giving up. The 140-watt Quad 606 MkII (able to generate 12 amperes) proved perfectly adequate for my needs and listening preferences as it did have the oomph to drive these speakers with room to spare. For some 50 watts may be more than enough yet there are those who cannot be content with even 300 watts of power. I feel a good neutral amp (likes of Rotel, NAD and Musical Fidelity of say at least 100 watts, is needed to do justice in driving these speakers. If you like bottles, there is no harm in partnering them with that too.
SO HOW DO THEY REALLY SOUND?
While playing Alan Stivell’s – Renaissance of the Celtic Harp, the speakers were more than adequate in terms of reproducing the delicate sound of the instrument. I did not notice any resonance whatsoever at any frequency levels. The ambience of this beautiful instrument was conveyed very well. The high frequencies did not sound harsh and I felt that these speakers have the capability to satisfy those who tend to have long sessions of few hours in one go.
While listening to Strunz and Farah’s Primal Magic, one could hear the vibration of the strings as they were individually being plucked, the scratching sound as one moves swiftly from one fret to another. It was an exhilarating experience listening to the sounds being emanated from the flamenco guitar. You clearly hear the rise, decay, and interplay of the music.
The mid frequency is the most critical. Since we are most sensitive to these frequencies, very slight variation or coloration in the vocal range is easy to judge. In my opinion if a speaker cannot do justice to mid frequencies it is not a good speaker even if it has tremendous bass slam and crystal clear highs. The planar speakers excel in both high and mid frequencies but somehow lack in bass extension, not that they do not have any bass, they do, but not with the slam. At a friend’s place I had heard Cassandra Wilson’s “Strange Fruit” on the Alon Adrianna’s (mini monitors) driven by Cary Audio Design’s 2A3 single ended 5-watt triode amplifier with the source being Wadia’s 850 CD player and I thought I was sitting in Cassandra’s lap. While listening to the Paradigm on my humble setup, I felt I was hand-shaking distance away from her, which is good enough for me at this price point. Beware; Wadia/CAD/Alon system is more than ten times the price.
I was pleasantly surprised to note that the low-end extension was very good and much better than what I expected from these bookshelves. In fact better than some of the floor standing speakers I have had the experience of listening to. The low bass on few of the CD's like Sting's - Brand New Day (A thousand years) and Cassandra Wilson's - New Moon Daughter (Strange Fruit) was solid, clean and well damped. I was curious to find out if Paradigm's claim that these speakers have low frequency extension all the way down to 34 Hz was really true. After the listening session I popped in a test CD (RCA) and played the low frequency sweep (125Hz-20Hz). I could hear all the way down to just above 30Hz. The test disc has 1khz beep at 10Hz interval down to 50Hz and thereafter the beeps are at 5hz interval. The extra 3-4 dB's below 34 Hz is understandable as this is what the room adds. By this test I can say that Paradigm's claim of the low frequency extension is duly verified. The speakers are good enough for playing any type of music since 90% of all the music does not really go below 40Hz. The solid construction of the speaker does help in producing well-damped low bass.
Although the speakers were not quite able to match the lush sound staging of the Maggies, nor match the high frequency of the ribbon tweeter, but, compared to other similar designs Paradigms were better than any I had heard in the same price bracket and surprisingly better than some in high price category as well.
Having lived with planar speakers for 6 years and almost used to low volumes generated by them, in contrast the Paradigm's were very efficient at 91 db and at 8 Ohms were relatively easy load for amplifiers. This does not mean the speakers can be connected to any ordinary mass-market amplifier as they are very revealing, as a matter of fact I should say, ruthlessly revealing, of the source components and anything in the chain including the speaker wires. This attribute of the speaker makes things pretty difficult when one is trying to achieve synergy of the system. That's the challenge with components that are revelatory. At this price bracket there are few speakers that are so revealing of source components.
Technically, the Studio 40 is a very well balanced little speaker with a pleasing design. Due to its neutral balance and fatigue free sound, it was very easy on the ears. It doesn't have extended earth shaking bass, but the bass it does produce is sufficiently weighty, articulate, and tuneful. However, this description doesn't do justice to the sheer quality of sound produced by this humble speaker that is telling you politely that I am "value for money”.
CONCLUSION
I believe that most folks cannot have both quality and quantity at the same time. Why? Quality is difficult to achieve due to imperfections all along in the audio chain, quantity is difficult to get due to limitations of the pocket. However, majority of us are always striving for a product that is VALUE FOR MONEY. In the case of Paradigm Reference Studio 40 v.2, you at least achieve that objective for sure. I certainly have no regrets having acquired it to replace my aging Maggie’s and problems of room limitations in my new abode. If you are in the market for new speakers in this price bracket, DO AUDITION THEM. Paradigm Reference Studio 40 v.2 may be a small speaker with the label "value for money" pasted on its front panel, but it sure portrays music with style and class.
Thank you for dropping by and reading what I write.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 950 w/stands
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Epinions.com ID:
quadophile
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Member: Anis Jiwani
Location: Texas
Reviews written: 34
Trusted by: 37 members
About Me:
Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans - John Lennon
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