i traded up to the 3's v.3 about a year ago. the used ones i got were used for surrounds, so they were nearly only broken in and still had a years warranty.
the highs are clean and can honestly reproduce a virtual feel. the mids are full of detail and the bass is clean tight and clear in it's extention into 38hz. its typical rating is 55hz-20khz,with up to 100w, 1" titanium tweeter,
8" driver.
i love these speakers. i have traded and upgraded my speakers too many times in the past 5yrs. i always had complaints until i found these. i liked the paradigm 3se's an older pair i had only the highs were not clean and as crisp as i wanted. these remind me of thy 3se's only way more accurate and defined. there's nothing like the bass and punchyness of an 8" driver. the extension is so low i can turn off my sub's and still enjoy a well rounded sound. i've set my sub's to 40hz because of how accurate and developed the low end is on theses 3's. i listen to a lot of different types of music. so versatility is very important to me. i am still hearing parts in songs i had never heard before i got these. an added synth, soft tap on a snair, or an added singer to produce a harmony.
the only complaint i have is they are rear ported and thus cant be placed right close to a wall. they need briething room (4"'s or so away from the wall) or else they sound too punchy and muddied. other then that i may have found my speaker. i might trade up to the studio line if i had the money and they were redicuously cheap but other then that i am overly impressed with the 3's i have.
my system comprises of:
yamaha rx-v659 7.1 amp
paradigm monitor cc290 v.6-centre
" " monitor 3's v.3- mains
" " mini monitor's v.3- surrounds
" " cinema adp's v.3- rear surrounds

Excellent bass output. Very good value vs performance.

Plain black vinyl box a little uninspiring.

These are good, solid speakers. I was not really shopping for speakers when I bought these, but could not get over the value for the price. They are capable of prodiguous bass output given their size (and price) and do a pretty decent job of the treble and midrange as well, given the price point. I use them in a home theatre system, and while I first intended to pick up a sub, I have yet to do so. These are very efficient speakers, and do not require a heavyweight ampliphier. No frills, pretty plain box really, but anyone looking to put together a decent home theatre system on a budget, should look at these. I have connected them to my audio only system, and they performed well, very musical, although they are certainly not audiophile speakers. Note: purchase price is Cdn dollars.

-Imaging -price/performance ratio

None, at least so far.

I bought these to replace my old Pioneer CS-R2100 towers. I can't believe how much more (!!!) detail I'm getting out of them (in comparison to my old Pioneer's). System used: H/K avr 225 ,Marantz dv4300 dvd player, monster standard s14 cable, david 301 d-box subwoofer

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Athena AS-B1(use it for rear), Pioneer, Technics

Here are some very srong srenghts: 1) Price, you can not beat this product price wise if you tried. 2)Canadian made, this is starting to mean alot to Canadians now a days. Its nice to see Made In Canada not Korea!! 3)Sound, go ahead and buy some Energy, Polk, Mission, you won't come even close. 4)Distortion level, I realize you get alot of distortion from your power source but having Paradigm really helps. 5)Looks, It doesn't matter if there black or the red cherry they look great. 6)If you love a two way speaker like I do,this will satisfy your every need.

Sorry, I really don't have any weaknesses to talk about.

I must say I have owned alot of different speakers from cerwin vega, to bose,infiniti,akai,bsm's,energy and after all that,still not satisfied. In 1999 I had purchased a set of Acoustic Profiles which for the money sounded great (for a while)and then I went subwoofer shopping. I had been hearing alot about Paradigm so I went on line and read up on some subwoofers. I had almost bought a Valadine at future shop,but then decided to go to the local Paradigm dealer Jerry's TV. Jerry had demonstrated the ps 1000, I was impressed but you never really know until you get it home. Well WOW!! I could not believe what this sub could do, all the reviews were right.I was impressed so much I figured it was time to upgrade my mains to Paradigm as well. So back to Jerry's TV I go. I listened to some different sizes from the moniter series. I was really impressed with the moniter 3's. I purshased them and took them home. I babied them for about a month, which was really hard to do. Then I slowly started to play with them and make them dance. It has been 3 years now and they still have incredible sound. People phone me to come and watch a movie at my house because of the sound my system turns out. One day I would like to up grade my reciever and my mains, maybe moniter 7's. I have never been so happy with a speaker in my life and I have owned alot. Thank you Paradigm.

Similar Products Used:

Acoustic Profiles Mission Acusound

Inexpesive, built tough, sound good. They sound great when combined with the matching sets of Paradigms other lines. I would recomend these for home theatres.

none really... I'm happy with them.

These speakes were my first Paradigm purchase and I've had them for over 3 years now. They've done nothing but please me, enough so that I've built my entire speaker system around them. After getting them out of the box, my first reaction was "what have I done?"... they sounded terrible! But after a short while, they broke in and sound teriffic now. I used them with only the CC370 and my Kenwood Sub (garbage)and they worked great together. I thought they would be all I'd need for a stereo. It turns out that purchasing the Monitor 7's, was the best thing to do for my system. The highs are great, and though the bass isn't super low, it has lots of pop. There used to be conflict between my friends and I as to who's house we were going to watch a movie at, but now it's just assumed that it'll be at my place. When powered properly, and wired properly, the Monitor 3's are a great set of speakers for how much I paid for them. I can max out my Marantz reciever and the Monitor 3's won't distort. Thank God I stayed away from Best Buy, 2001 Audio Video, and Future Shop, and went to a good hifi shop where the salesmen actually know what they're talking about. MY MAIN AUDIO COMPONENTS: Marantz SR5200 reciever 6.1 channels Paradigm Monitor 7 v.2 towers (biwired) Paradigm Monitor 3 bookshelfs Paradigm CC370 v.2 centre channel Paradigm Cinema v.1 (use one as a rear centre) Kenwood 1050SW Powered Subwoofer

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no others really, just tested out store models and decided on these for sound, price, and looks. Canadian company too.

quality, sound quality, thy take up little space

for the price, none. might be a tad low on bass if you drive them with an underpowered amp,but for a speaker this size, bass is more than adecuate

excellent speakers, well built(heavy boxes)allthough these are considered bookshelf speakers they deliver very good,tight bass,not boomy,but tight.Overall they sound excellent for the price paid, they are very clear up high,very nice down low. I run them through an onkyo tx-8511 and the combination is just great,these are right now my only speakers running in that system. i highly recommend them. I am very doubtful you could buy a better set of speakers for the money.

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polk, technics.

looks, maybe bass

piercing hights

I've use this product for about 3 years. I bought them becase of very good opinions in one Polish audiophile magazine. First I used them as my main speakers for about one year. And do you know what? - I was slowly killing my ears. The sound they produce is like thousends of rasors attacking your ears. Hights are sharp, edgy, too much sybilants and sand. Just listen for 5 min any music which have more instruments + vocal and you feel tired and confused - total chaos!!! After one year I bought B&W 602 v2 and I coluldn't belive how could I stand using Paradigms?! The difference was like heaven and hell. Order on stage ,clearity and most important for me hights - everything was better, or maybe except amount (not quality) of bass. I moved Paradigms on back and only used them for my h-t. Recently I sold my B&W because I falled in love with Elacs 209 with Jet speaker. When I have heard them for the first time I could not breathe : O But that is different story. Now I wait for my Elacs and temporarly I must listen again Paradigms and after many trials of changing positions and using hights correction (10 kHZ - 4 dB) I can stand it. Of course the amp is important - now they play with Rotel RB1070, before with Sony 940. Summary - Paradigms are not very bad but for sure are not great. They are good if you want lot of bass and hight combined, and play loud. As the rears, they are OK.

Similar Products Used:

B&W 602 v2

Sounds, looks, soundstage

None

I bought these speakers after extensively listening to what''s available at that price range (Technics floor standers (yuck), polk, etc.), but none at this price offered such sound. I loved their broad frequency range and soundstage, on a well recorded CD the sound simply fills the room, and doesn''t seem to come out of the boxes. They are great speakers, considering how much they cost - it''s pretty difficult to beat their price/performance ratio. I know there are

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Old Fisher 3 way speakers, Paradigm Titans

lack of clarity in mids and highs

Hmmm... not too sure about my purchase. I had been using a 20 year old pair of B&W DM5's that I loved, but after the purchase of 40" wide screen I wanted to separate my home theater from my music. So I required a new set of front speakers and new sub.

After much looking, listening and researching I was stuck between the B&W 602's and the Monitor 3's. I didn't have a chance to compare these head to head, so I relied on many of these reviews which to my surprise often mentioned the 602's. Considering the price difference and the positive comments I decided to go for the Monitor 3's.

First order after the purchase was a head to head comparison with the DM5's. I wasn't pleased to hear that Monitors didn't even come close to the DM5's in clarity. I decided to use the Monitors for the Home Theater, but have since found that they are far to revealing. Separation between center and mains is clearly distinguishable (even though the center is a paradigm as well).

Not sure if its the break in period, my room or what, but I'm considering begging my local audio specialist to let me return them. I also bought the paradigm PS1200 at the same time. Great boomy rumbly bass for movies, but not great for music. Also doesn't blend well with the Monitors even after playing with the cut off frequency.

Amp: Yamaha 795

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Similar Products Used:

B&W 602's, old B&W DM5's

The overall sound is very hard to compete with for the money.

You need Power to make them sound their VERY best (If thats a weakness)

I've had these speakers for about 2.5 years now and I've been very happy. I spent a long time looking for a pair of speakers that would sound great to me, and also fit into my budget. I originally bought a pair of BW 602's. I had them for about 3 weeks, and I just couldn't get used to them. They had excellent highs and they weren't too harsh, but I was dissapointed in the low end. They also didn't seem to agree with my room set-up as far as imaging goes. I ended up returning them to a salesman who questioned my ability to pay for them. He actually asked me if I realized I spent too much for my budget. I was only 17 at the time, but what the hell? I wasn't pleased with this pseudo-high end chain in New England. I kept looking around and auditioning my wide variety of music styles. I finally ended up at Portland Hi-Fi in Portland Maine. What a store!! I finally felt as if I could really sit back and hear speakers for what they were worth. Anyways..you probably want to hear about speakers, not stores. I had been wanting to hear the paradigms for some time and I finally got to. They performed excellently across the whole range of music, handling everything from Tori Amos, to Guns n Roses, to Miles Davis. The bass was very tight, punchy when it was supposed to be, but not in your face. I ended up deciding on the monitor 3's over their smaller sibling (The Mini Monitor I believe?) I also got a nice pair of stands, which are essestial for any good imaging. The bottom line is you need to try for yourself. I like the monitor 3's, some people like the BW 602's. People are different and they like different things. Have fun and get what sounds best!!
PS If you're looking for some small speakers that image Very well, and have excellent bass for the size, check out the paradigm atoms. These are SWEET!!

Similar Products Used:

B&W 602