I absolutey love my Monitor 3's. I have found Paradigm to be an exceptional company at producing superior speakers at superior prices. The sound is excellent, with clear, crisp highs and midranges and deep rich bass to spare, in fact I have to turn down the bass to keep them from overpowering the midrange and high frequency. I looked at JBL, Klipsch, Boston Acousitcs, and Polk; the Paradigms won hands down. If you can afford the jump from Mini Monitors to Monitor 3's, it is well worth it, though the Minis are still excellent. I would reccommend these speakers or about any other Paradigm product. For the price these are the best speakers I've ever heard, buy a pair for yourself and see!

About six months ago my beloved infinity RSB6's took a flying f--- at a rolling dougnut. Crossover on one went south and in order to fix it I was advised that it would have to be sent to the left coast and have a custom one made at the factory. So with dead presidents in hand I went in search of another answer. Funding at the time was rather limited so I thought I would just pick up the best pair I could find with my limited capital and upgraded within a year to something more"high end". I ended up at an audio/video dealer I had been going to since Christ was a Corporal. I castrated myself with my long tale of sorrow in front of the one co-owner with whom I had always done business. He listened to my sad tale, made alot of sympathetic faces along with alot of warm mother hen clucking sounds then promptly kicked my south bound end into the listening room. I had friends who had always described Paradigm as a bunch of "kanook" upstart speaker maker wanabees. When I first heard them I was very impressed with their sound. After paying just over $300 bills I took them with me and found them a nice home. After approx. six months I feel I would have been hard pressed to find another pair for that price that sounded that good. They produce a very tight but not to harsh sound. The base is a little lacking for my taste, but due to the size of the drivers that was no surprise to me. Besides, it gives me a reason to go out and by the PS-1000 sub. I also plan to upgrade my receiver to poss. a kenwood VR-2080 which may help the base a bit. At this point I do not think Ill be getting rid of my monitor 3's. In fact I'm going to use all Paradigm's for my surround sound. Folk's all in all it was well worth the cost.

These speakers are not as good as the Reference series and I use them as fronts in a home theatre.The bass is good,mid and tweeter excellent.Get the Stands for them and place them along a wall to optimize the bass.

I was looking for a quality speaker for little $ before I headed off for college. It came down to the Monitor 3's and the B&W 602's. I finally decided that the B&W's were not worth the extra $100. I am very happy with the soundstage they produce and find the bass adiquate in my 10' X 7' cinder-block dorm room. (OK, so what if a clock radio produces bass in here?)

Please can someone let me know if the Monitor 3 together with a power subwoofer PS100 will go well with my recently purchased Harman Kardon AVR85 receiver.Hope to hear from you soon.

During my 15 month relationship with the Monitor 3s, I have come to realize that greater things exist. Although I have been thoroughly impressed with the clarity of these black boxes, evolution has taken place. Why? Well, to put it simply, the Monitor 3s have served as a stepping stone to higher levels of meaning, complexity, simplicity, sincerity, and responsibility. Enjoy these symbolic jewels, oh, for possibly three years at the most then, after acquiring more powerful and refined electronic treasures, source components that spin so effortlessly those shiny discs, steel-framed towers, and life-giving, blood-carrying cables, upgrade as we all really must do and want to do.

I've owned a pair of monitor 3's for about 10 months now and they still sound as great as they did when they came out of the box. I listen about two hours a day and they get their workout the whole time. The bass is good enough and the mids and highs are exceptional. The bass can get a little punchy at high levels but the higs stay smooth. I would reccomend these speakers to anyone who greatly loves music and are looking for the best speaker for the money. These speakers are no.1. in my book for value and sound, especially for the dollar.

These are serving as surrounds in my HT, with Paradigm Studio 60 mains and CC450 center. Before the 60's came in the 3's were up front and offered 85% of the performance of the 3 times more expensive 60's. They have the extra bass the mini's lack. For under $400, I know of no other speakers that come close.

Recently upgraded my DPL reciever w/a budget DD reciever. My speakers were terribly matched:KLH mains, JBL Flix surrounds and center so it was time to upgrade. Shopped around in the internet and found some really interesting speaker products like B&W, Klipsch, Def. Techs., NHT, and countless others along with Paradigm. B&W 602S2 had good soundstage for small speakers, but I like the 802s better and couldn't compare the two when considering prices. The Klipsch horns were very fatiguing to my ears. Def Techs were nowhere to be found in my area. NHTs were very impressive but can't live with their style. Then Paradigm was last on my list during my 3 week search and regreted putting it there.
I was so impressed with performance, I purchased them on the spot. I'm actually using the Monitor 3s as rears, but when I ABd them with my Monitor 7 mains the two were very identical. They are cheaper than the 7s so if your budget doesn't allow for Paradigm higher end stuff, the 3s will perform well as fronts and you can always use Minis or ADPs for rears.

Back to the Monitor 3:when watching DVDs, the 3s are very clear and precise. Good bass performance while soundtracks are playing. Tweeters are very clear. In the FV1 scene (I think is the chapter's name) in "The Fifth Element" bullets are flying all around you, and the sound was close to real, and nowhere near being bright. Throughout "VIRUS" I really felt as if I were on a ship. They really enveloped my listening area. The sound of ripping metal was so real and eerie, I had to look around and make sure I was still in my living room.

Now that I have these wonderful speakers in my posession, I am very curious how they would perform with separates. These are great speaker built by a knowledgeable company. I highly recommend Paradigm. Big Bang!! for the buck$!

Kenwood AVR-209
Sony 32'' Trinitron TV
RCA5210-P DVD
Sony SLV-770 VHS
Paradigm Monitor 7 mains ($584)
Reference CC-450 center channel ($450)
Monitor 3 rears ($349)
Velodyne CT-100 (for the WOW! effect in my HT)
(B&K/Outlaw/Anthem/Sherwood/Parasound/Bryston : who knows in the future?)

I just got a pair of Monitor 3's about a week ago and am VERY impressed. The highs are so clear and the mids come through as never before. The ONLY downside to these speakers are the bass response. I don't know if its my room, my taste or what but the bass is seriously lacking in my opinion. Soon I will add a PS1200 (if $$ allow, a PW2200) and hopefully that will boost the bass. My dad's 25 year old KLH's will out thump the Monitor 3's but get totally blown away in all other respects. Very satisfied with imaging and clarity and of course, value! I give it only 4 stars because of the bass.