Paradigm ADP-350, Surround Sound Ambience at it's best!
Written: Feb 02 '00 (Updated Dec 12 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Too many to list, see review
Cons: none
The Bottom Line: See above
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| Placidman's Full Review: Paradigm ADP-350 Speaker |
Paradigm ( pronounced Para " dime " ), a Canadian speaker manufacturer well known to audiophile, and audio reviewers alike for their quality, affordable, and ground breaking speaker designs. The ADP-350 is a dipole surround speaker which continues in the Paradigm tradition of excellence.
A dipole surround speaker is a unit that has drivers on both the front, and rear. The unit is mounted ( either on stands, or on the wall ), or positioned so that the drivers face the front, and rear of the listening position. The design of dipole speakers is to create a diffuse of reverberant soundfield, which envelops the listening position in sound, as opposed to having the pin point imaging created by monopole or direct radiating speakers. The reason this occurs with dipoles is because they are designed so that the front and rear speakers operate out of phase ( approximately 180 degrees in most cases ) which causes sound coming from the rear speakers on the unit to be delayed by milliseconds, from the sound coming from the front speakers.
The ADP-350 is a four driver, two way design ( A woofer, and tweeter on each side ), featuring a 1 inch pure titanium dome ferro fluid damped/cooled tweeter, and a 6.5 inch injection molded polymer polypropylene cone woofer on each side. It features a 2nd order electro/acoustic crossover, which does so at 1.8khz. The unit's low frequency extension is 55hz, with a rated room sensitivity of 90db. It's amplifier range is 15-175 watts, so it should work well with almost any application. It measures 13 inches tall, 11 3/4 deep, 8 inches deep, and weighs 25 1/2 pounds.
Technobable aside, this is one impressive speaker! The unit can be mounted on stands or on the wall. It comes from Paradigm with wall mounting brackets, which I used in my room ( its was a piece of cake ). I have a suite of Paradigm speakers in my room including the Paradigm Reference Eclipse/BP bipolar towers ( mains ), and the Paradigm CC-350 center channel ( see my review of that here at Epinions ). The ADP-350's sound absolutely incredible with Dolby Digital, DTS, and Dolby Pro logic movie sound tracks. I turned off my sub woofer and ran the speakers full range, which really put the entire system to the test. The ADP-350's handled the full range with authority, and plenty of punch. I listened to 5.1 channel surround sound music ( DTS CD's ) as well, and the ADP-350's presented an enveloping, broad sound. With movies it seems like you are right in the middle of the battle, or the forest. With music it feels like you are listening to the concert right from row 10. I know that there is some debate over whether or not dipole surrounds are as good as direct radiating speakers for music listening. I have had both, and I can say that my personal opinion is that dipoles put you where you want to be, right in the heart of the sound. The ADP-350 is capable of delivering truly fantastic sound, and if you are in the market for a pair of dipole surrounds, give them a listen you won't be disappointed. Any questions/comments please feel free to e mail me at placidman@about.com
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Placidman
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Member: Ralph Potts
Location: Middletown, NY
Reviews written: 22
Trusted by: 9 members
About Me:
I am an Audiophile who loves to read and write about Home Audio/Video.
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