Value.

Can boom if positioned incorrectly.

First let me tell you that the minis are my second system. My first and primary system are psb stratus bronzes with a
psb subsonic 6. I use my speakers for mainly music only. The minis are not in the league as my main system, but let me tell you, I am never disappointed at the quality of sound produced by Paradigm. If the minis had to be my primary speakers I would still be a happy man. If you are in the market for speakers in 300 to 500 range, this product will be hard to pass on. Have fun shopping, and make sure you give this speaker a listen.

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I own PSB century 300Is and the mini are a better speaker.

Price/Performace

only 85 watts

I was looking for an apt set of speakers to provide good quality, rich sound from my denon receiver for theatre applications. I auditioned the Paradigm Active 20 ($1600.00), Studio 20 ($650.00) and the Mini Moniter ($225.00). Guess who won? Right the Active 20 is probably the most incredible speaker I have ever heard, but pricey--so pricey that I didn't want to waste it on a home theater system, but instead use it in a "listening room" only. This leaves the Mini vs Studio 20. Both excellent. I would recommend using the mini for home theatre applications over the studio 20 simply because of price. Bottom line...pick your price range and buy paradigm! (I also found that palcement heavily effects the "boominess")

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compact size, deep bass for its size, nice highs, detailed sound

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What an amazing little speaker, do NOT let size fool you. The Mini Monitors produce such a full range of frequency it is unbelievable. They are worth much more than what I paid for them.
The bass response is phenomenal, can be boomy, but that can be attributed to the recording. Normally, good and tight.
The vocals and other midrange sounds are accurate, clear, and detailed; the speaker can be driven quite hard yet still be distinct and not harsh sounding. Same with the high end. Cymbals, breaking glass and female vocals are really clear without overpowering the rest of the sound field.
These speakers were much warmer sounding in the studio where an ADCOM amp and NAD cd player were used with expensive cable. My Yamaha rxv496 with AudioQuest t4 are great quality, but no match.
5 stars for value, 4 overall because there does exist a better speaker if you want to pay four times as much money.

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Infinity sm65, celestion ditton 10

Very detailed, large soundstage, neutral sounding, deep bass (for it's size)

Rear port design (which is in part responsible for it's deep bass) means that the speaker must be placed at least 12 - 18 inches off the wall to stay neutral and avoid boominess. Needs a sub for ultimate deep bass.

Having lived with the Mini-Monitors for almost a year now, I can recommend them highly. The above stated advantages and disadvantages are self-explanatory. When I first started my search for "better speakers", I didn't know a Paradigm from a hole in the wall. I took my time auditioning and after much listening and comparing, the fog slowly lifted and it became clear to me that Paradigm speakers offer greater neutrality, detail, soundstage and (accurate) bass at every price point than their competition.

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NHT Super One, B&W 602, 601, PSB Century 300, 400 and various other speakers.

SOUND!, Size

none discovered

WOW!......Don't let their size fool you! These little speakers sound great. After replacing my cheap ($100) pair Yamaha with these, I popped "The Matrix" into my Sony DVD player and was totally amazed. I heard sounds in the movie I never knew existed! The scene where Neo opens up the mini-gun on the side of the building and the bullets are stiking the water on the flooded floor was fantastic, I could hear each bullet striking the water, where the Yamaha's kinda muddled the sounds together. These are great speakers, and the price makes them affordable (I paid 350.00 for the pair). Five stars by me, especially at this price.

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Yamaha A638 bookshelves

SOUND!, Size

none discovered

WOW!......Don't let their size fool you! These little speakers sound great. After replacing my cheap ($100) pair Yamaha with these, I popped "The Matrix" into my Sony DVD player and was totally amazed. I heard sounds in the movie I never knew existed! The scene where Neo opens up the mini-gun on the side of the building and the bullets are stiking the water on the flooded floor was fantastic, I could hear each bullet striking the water, where the Yamaha's kinda muddled the sounds together. These are great speakers, and the price makes them affordable (I paid 350.00 for the pair). Five stars by me, especially at this price.

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Yamaha A638 bookshelves

Excelent range of sound, perfect midrange

Harsh tweeters

My home theatre setup has the Mini Monitors and the matching Paradigm center channel up front and Def Tech ProMonitor 100's for the rear, and a Dennon AVR-95 amp. I have had them for almost a year and love the sound for DVD's. My favorite song of late is Blues Travler "Mountain Cry" from "Live from the Fall". I absolutely hate how this song sounds on the Mini Monitors. The high hat is this shrill tiss tiss tiss sound that overpowers the rest of the music. The CD recording is actually very high quality but as with lots of rock, the high hat and feedback guitar sounds are recorded very loud, and the paradigm tweeters are very bright. This is unfortunately forcing me to look for some different speakers. I will give my Mini Monitors to my parents, who most definitely won't be listening to anything that will touch on their fatal flaw. I only give a one star because I know how valuable a "negative opinion" can be in this forum where mostly people don't bother to post unless they are completely satisfied with a product. As per other posts I'm going to check out Acoustic Energy Aequis Ones and NHT Super Ones. If you have any other suggestions please e-mail me.

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Definitive Tech. ProMonitor 100, Dennon AVR-95

Build quality, see below

below

I have been in the saving to upgrade piece by piece for about a year now. My Titan's were moved to rear of my HT.
I first hooked them up and set the cd player on repeat and took off for the weekend. Came back and they sounded much better. The MM's sound very clean and detailed without being harsh or fatiguing in my set up. They throw a large soundstage when the best location is found, perhaps still looking. Imaging is very well centered for vocals,BUT, instruments are hard to place, could be a placement issue. Sound is somewhat laid back yet misses nothing. Mids, Madonnas Ray Of Light has beutifull vocals, maybe even seductive and sweet and has some pretty good depth to them. Took me be surprise. Treble, the upper freqs seem very detailed without the tizzy quality some speakers throw up,at, you and are smoothing out more as time goes on,40hrs on them so far. Cymbal taps are easily detected and not in your face. Some may feel they are too bright, not so in my set up. My speaker wire might be helping here. Bass, a little boomy if run full range, I set them to "small" and directed 90hz down to Paradigm PS1000 sub. Seemed to remove a bloated bass, some may like it though as is. Classical sounded very nice in the string sections. Value is superb and I suppose it's direct cometiters would be NHT,PSB and B&W. In my not so expert opinion I just liked these better. Your results will vary as will anything audio, enjoy!Associated equiptment
Yamaha RX V2095
Sony DVP-S330 upgraded to firmware v2.6
Paradigm Mini Moniters front
Paradigm Titan's v2 in rear
Boston CR6 for center temperarily
Paradigm PS1000 sub
MIT Terminater5 speaker interface for mains
MIT digital coax for DVD
Monster superflat for rear
Monster THX 201 sub cable
Monster 12 guage for center

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Paradigm Titan's v.2, Infinity LMPS, Klipsch2.1

price, compact size, great sound overall, efficient

Ported enclosure not as accurate as acoustic suspension, hard to place

I heard an awful lot of good things about these, and most of them are true. They sounded great in the store and at home. I got plenty of volume per watt. But they have to be placed away from any walls or shelves because thet're ported . This sucks. The bass seemed kind of boomy after a while, so I bought a pair of nht superones-seems like everyone compares these. I was much happier with the NHT's. Maybe it's because they're more accurate, but I definitely would only buy sealed enclosure speakers from now on.
The paradigms can give you MORE bass, but this is sometimes too much, and the bass from the NHT's is much tighter- they're a better balanced speaker for my money. Now I have to get a sub and the supercenter and zeros for the rear. MM's are nice if you want to crank high volume rock with reasonable detail, but I found the Superones more accurate, without the boom of the upper-bass.

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nht superones,psb alphas,

Incredible sound quality

None

A little history first. I used to be one of those heavy audiophiles oh so many years ago. Since then, other things have taken priority and must consider myself now only an enthusiast. Concentrate more on the music rather than the equipment.
Therefore, when I set out to find new speakers for a home theater system, I turned to audioreview.com to see what other listeners were saying. After arming myself with a few candidate speakers, I went to audition them at various audiophile stores.
These speakers were astonishing at first listening. They "disappeared" from the soundstage, yet were highly accurate in imaging. This is what I consider the most important aspect of any speaker: It must be a sound source, but it must not sound like a speaker. These speakers can handle musical subtleties with great finesse.
I have a wall unit where the speakers are actually mounted higher than ear level. Very minor re-directing was necessary to create an adequate sound stage. Despite the limitations of the listening area, the sound is powerful and I don't need to touch the dreaded tone control.
I recommend these speakers as part of any home theater system. I paired mine with the CC350 (see review for that one there) and have a truly wonderful frontal theater stage.

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Magnaplanars