Elf Sized Speaker, Giant Sized Sound
Written: Jun 09 '00 (Updated Jun 09 '00)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Size, Easily mounted, Great Line response, Good Low End Definition for the Size, Outstanding Imaging
Cons: I Wish the Grilles Came Off. . . .
|
|
|
| AVaddict's Full Review: Paradigm Titan Main / Stereo Speaker |
Background
The speakers these were replacing were a pair of Yamaha 636's. The Yamahas were substantially larger and heavier, but didn't sound good at medium volume levels when any bass was introduced, they tended to flap quite a bit, but what do you expect for $99 4 years ago. I was looking for a couple of key features for the new speaks: 1)I wanted acoustic suspension. I am not averse to porting, but I believe I hear a tighter response from a/s. 2)They had to be mountable and smaller than the Yamahas. 3)They had to be under $300. 4)They had to have decent binding posts, Dr. Goodsound sez, "Springclips BAD!!" 5)I wanted the flattest response I could find from about 80hz to at least 18Khz within the above parameters. There turned out to be quite a few brands, sizes, and enclosure types that fit this description relatively closely. Some of those brands included JBL, NHT, BIC America, Paradigm, PSB, and even Polk! Needless to say the only thing to do was to go out and listen to the different brands to see what fit. The only drawback to all of these options was that none of them had acoustic suspension models within that price range, which was the key determining factor, I wasn't going to spend more than $300 after tax. In reality I would like to get floorstanding rears from AR, Martin Logan, or Thiel (a LOT of $ variance in the brands I just mentioned, the Thiels I'm thinking of are about $4200/pr).
Listening Experience
The first place I went was Circuit City, if only for the purpose that I knew I wouldn't be harassed by commission-grubbing reps, because they're so understaffed its not a problem. I listened longest to the JBLs; my frontlines are JBL TLX 181s. They had good response, but for a speaker of that size, they were WAY too bright. The NHT's I wanted weren't in my range, and the ones that were were too small. I went to A&B here in Austin to listen to the BICs and Paradigms. The BICs were too small and could handle NO bass. I put in Paul's Boutique (I hope I didn't really have to tell you that's the Beasties) to listen to for the demo of the Paradigms. All it took was about 30 seconds from about three tracks and I was sold, it was that easy. The low end was strong, for their size, and the definition was outstanding. One might think how can a few seconds off a couple of tracks be enough to asses the sonic value of these speakers or any for that matter. Well, two things were driving the decision. For starters, if you have EVER listened to the Beasty Boys you will know their music is about as varied and unusual as any out there, so I heard everything from violins to what sounds like 45hz warble tone, 2 minutes was enough. Secondly, if a speaker is worth its salt, you will know, even that quickly, if you've ever heard the high end stuff from B&W, you know exactly what I mean.
Home Theater Experience
There are brackets made specifically for this model, its not Paradigm and I forget the name, but it doesn't take a genius to see that they are purpose specific, they fit perfectly with no rattles. I mounted these on my ceiling with point source at about 7 1/2' above the carpet. They are directly to the sides of the listening area, about eight feet away from the prime listening/viewing location. They are extremely musical and bright, but not nearly as bright as the Northridge(?) series JBLs. They are bright without be fatiguing, I could listen to them all day. They do require very precise direction, it took several days and many movies for me to find the proper swivel point to direct the high end so it wasn't misleading directionally. Generally, as long as you point a speakers tweeter in straight line of site w/ your ears you should be good, not so in my application. Because they are essentially located in the corner of the room up by the ceiling I create, through their location, a lot of early reflections that I don't hear in the proper location. So what it really came down to was find the point at which the reflections were acceptable and non-detrimental to imaging (apparent location). Once I had this done, these speakers really started to sing.
The ability of these speakers for the price paid is a clear demonstration in the relationship between available location (a local high end store as opposed to Best Buy), MSRP, and nature (2,3 way and relative size). My point is, to clarify, these are extremely capable speakers from a company with a substantially smaller ad budget than say, Cerwin Vega, with a price tag which is relative to the quality. In other words, compared to the JBL S26 which retails for $300-$350 (which is a capable speaker), the Paradigm is heavier, is just as musical without being as irritatingly bright, and though its rated at a lower nominal and max power input, has less of a tendency to flap under heavy bass load. I made a reference to weight for the simple reason that even though internal bracing isn't necessarily good for predictable sound wave patterns IN the cabinet, it does cut down on resonance and accepted vibration. Now, as I have not, nor do I plan to break open the Paradigm to see if that is the cause for its weight, it is a good bet that a heavier speaker suggests, not necessarily a better speaker, but one that will resonate less internally and will probably have less coloration to the sound as a result of cabinet vibration. The lesson here is this, you do not need to spend a lot of money to get a great speaker for the purpose, whether its frontline, rears, sides, or subs. Believe me, there ARE crappy speakers out there that cost over a grand, if not more. For about $200 I got a very capable speaker with excellent response, that's musical, clear, with a good low end for its size. Well done Paradigm. I will make this point however, if I could have been able to budget for the model I wanted, I would have bought Polk. I also don't want to seem like I am trashing JBL, I'm not, I've got a set of frontline JBLs I love.
Conclusion
If you take the time to do your research, take the time to listen to the speakers in an appropriate environment, and bring music or movies you actually enjoy chances are you end up more satisfied than if you were to walk into Sears and pick up a set of "audiosource" or "king" speakers hoping they'll work well in your listening area. These Paradigms are everything you could hope for in a good surround. I will point out though if you plan to use them as frontlines, I strongly recommend not sending anything below 150hz or so. If you try to drive them like that, especially with todays highly dynamic 5.1 soundtracks, and don't regulate the frequency (whether through a sub, a good EQ, or a really good external crossover) you definitely run the risk of "blowing" them. For means of comparison, my SONY STR-DA555es puts out 120 watts per channel. Granted this isn't the wattage all the time, but its dynamic power is close to 200 watts which would definitely compromise if not melt the coils on these speakers. As is, they are rears and I have a hard time believing that even at volume levels at which I watch movies they would ever get more than about an eighty watt peak at any given time, which should be safe enough. If you find them for less than or about $200, give them a listen, you will be pleasantly surprised.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
AVaddict
|
 - Top 200 |
|
Location: Texas
Reviews written: 139
Trusted by: 134 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.