The Mini Monitor v3 (this looks like the first review for v3?)
Written: May 20 '03 (Updated May 20 '03)
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Pros: very clear, natural, "flat" sound.
Cons: need decent power to push them, long break-in period
The Bottom Line: The mini monitor v3 is an excellent, natural-sounding speaker. Highly recommended!!!!
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| babyfootchamp's Full Review: Paradigm Mini Monitor Main / Stereo Speaker |
This review is for the mini v3, and, based on the dates posted, it looks as though every other review listed was for the original mini, or the v2...
I do not know what changes the v3 brings to this wonderful speaker. I heard that at some point a new tweeter was given to the mini, handed down from the paradigm reference line... But this might have taken place for the v2...
Anyway, this is an amazing speaker, especially for the price. I set out to find a pair of tower speakers to start my home stereo. My primary focus was clarity and overall quality of sound. I was willing to spend $400-$500, and I was entirely open to whatever speaker sounded best to my ears.
I quickly discovered that I preferred the crisp, clean sound of a nice set of bookshelf speakers to the louder, and lower-extending sound of towers. I realized this during my first stop in my speaker hunt. I auditioned several psb speakers, and found that the 6.5 inch bookshelf from the psb image series stood out, at least to my ear, over every psb tower that I listened to. Something about the idea of a single 6.5 inch driver and a tweeter producing all of that sound just impressed me. As impressed as I was with the psb, I decided to shop around.
After checking out polk audio, energy, and infinity, I came across paradigm, and the mini monitor. The differences between the psb and the mini seemed to be that the mini was more natural and transparent, while the psb was more in your face... This, of course, was just my opinion, and if you are considering one or the other it is definitely worth your time to audition them both. I preferred the mini, so i eventually took a pair home.
I paid $360 for the magnetically shielded version, which is a $30 option. I don't know if a speaker this small really needs to be shielded, but I figured I would rather part with the 30 bucks than face a possible future problem.
I was told that paradigms require a decent break-in period, and this is definitely true. The salesman told me that in the store they have a quick method of breaking them in: They place them face-to-face and hook one up out of phase. That is to say that they hook one speaker up correctly, and the other they hook up the positive wire to the negative terminal etc... This causes the speakers to in effect cancel each other out, so while one pushes the other pulls. He said that they run them like this at a medium level for a couple days and that usually does the trick.
I, on the other hand, was too eager to hear them play, so I just played them as usual. It took about two weeks of consistent play, but I did hear a definite change in them. Most noticeably, their reproduction of mid to low frequencies changed for the better... So don't judge them fresh out of the box. They do get better with age. That's not to say they sound bad out of the box, but they sound even better once broken in.
They produce a crisp, clean sound, and their imaging is excellent. If you are accustomed to listening to bose, or any number of common-name run of the mill speakers, the mini's will open up a whole new world of listening enjoyment to you. This is especially true with live acoustical recordings. The live version of hotel california from the eagles "hell freezes over" cd is amazing. You can close your eyes and place each performer on the stage, not just left to right, but front to back as well. You can easily pick out every instrument being played. If you are unfamiliar with speaker-related terms such as "flatness" and "transparent," listen to a set of mini's with these terms in mind and you will soon understand. They seem to play all frequencies at an even level, and they play much lower than one would generally expect a speaker of this size to play. If you listened to the mini's blind-folded, I would be willing to bet you would not guess that they were nearly as small as they are. They just produce so much sound...
While i am sure that most high-level speakers generally have all of the qualities that I have mentioned, I cannot imagine that there are a pair of speakers for less than $400 that bring them all to the table at the level of the mini monitor.
My only complaint about the mini is that you do need a decent amount of power to push them. I am running a denon 1803 (80 watts per channel rms) and it barely has enough. I think that another review mentioned that 80 watts was the minimum, and I would strongly agree with that. The 1803 will make them sing, but they will not ring your ears, and more power would likely make them perform even better.
After all is said and done, I would go back and buy these speakers a hundred times over. If you have not yet experienced a set of quality speakers, they will change the way you listen to music, and make you pull out all of your old cd's so you can hear what they are supposed to sound like. Keep in mind though, that their accurate nature will also bring out the bad in poorly recorded music...
I would recommend the mini monitor to anyone, and if you are in the market for speakers of any size, they are surely worth a listen. If you need more bass, add a sub....
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 360
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Epinions.com ID:
babyfootchamp
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Location: Oregon
Reviews written: 2
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