Paradigm Reference Studio 100 Floorstanding Speakers
Paradigm Reference Studio 100 Floorstanding Speakers
[Jun 24, 2003]
jdworiginal
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Price, full range extension, Bi wire-bi amp capable.
Weakness:
Power hungry, don't use second rate compmnents. Can be over powered if caution is not exercised. I can report that the studio 100 v2 speaker has a sound that is very natural from top to bottom. No frequencey stands out or calls attention to it self. The cabinet bracing is excellent for this price point. The midrange and tweeter are housed in seperate compartments keeping standing waves from compromising the cone movement. In my room, utilizing a Stereophile speaker test cd, the 100's dip down to 20hz! They are power hungry so make sure you partner them with quality amplificaion. Music choices: Jazz Classical and Live recordings sound best, Rock second best. You can set them up anywhere you want and they sound good. But if you take the time to tweek, you will reap great rewards. Be sure to use the spikes. And here's a free bee tip: when you have the speakers where you want them, drive 3" drywall screws into the floor and place the speaker spikes directly in the head of the screws. Associated components: Rotel RCD991 AE Classe CP 35 Levinson 334 Straight Wire Serenade (balanced) Audio Quest Python (balanced) Audio Quest (double run biwire) |
[May 26, 2003]
audio slave
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
-smooth treble, detailed midrange, pin-point imaging, wide soundstage, thunderous bass, cranks loud as hell
Weakness:
-heavy if you're a wuss (110 lbs.per speaker) Where should I begin? These are by far the best speakers I've ever owned. After owning and trading 5 pairs of speakers, in the past two years, (Klipsch KG 5.5, Energy C-8, Klipsch rf3II, Paradigm monitor 11)I've finally landed a perfect speaker. The studio 100's are clear and smooth in every respect. The treble plays clear and crisp without ever becoming ear piercing. Compared with Klipsch, (which loves its horn tweeter design) I found the 100's to have more detail and soundstage, without becoming irritating at high sound levels. The mid range on these babies is truly awesome. When listening to female and male voices, I'd swear that the singers were actually right in front of me. The BASS on these speakers is nothing short of a subwoofer. The bass response is never overly present, yet can react to any loud crash thrown at them. I've tested these speakers on various bass tests and could have sworn there were at least twenty woofers in the room reproducing the sound. Like I mentioned, I've owned many a speaker and when compared with my old Klipsch's, these speakers just kill them hands down in bass response and power handling. Though the klipsch's were extremely sensitive (98db), it may have been their down fall when played at high volumes. I found they were very harsh sounding when cranked and my ears tended to tune out the sound after a while. The paradigm's on the other hand can handle tremendous amounts of power and still sound great without every becoming harsh or annoying. In all, if you're looking for a speaker that sounds excellent, has good imaging, can crank as hard as jenna jameson for about 2 grand, go for the studio 100's and save yourself the hastle I went through to get the best value speaker on the market!!!!!SERIOUSLY!!!! Similar Products Used: B&W, Klipsch, Energy, Paradigm, |
[May 23, 2003]
A G
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Excellent highs (no harshness). Bass qaulity is equivalent to high end subs. Price
Weakness:
none I can think of. The studio's provided signficant improvement to my system. I've had them for about 2 years now. Originally they were hooked to a stero reciever - sounded excellent. But once I hooked them up to a real amp I found out what these babies were capable of. Similar Products Used: Kipsch (Auditioned: B&W, Mirage, Def. Tech) |
[May 15, 2003]
bobpaule
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Many. Too many to mention here
Weakness:
120 lbs. a piece Got these used/floor samples. This baby rocks the boat. Literally. Just like someone who posted earlier here we had the Polk RT800s before. The major differences are immediately audible. Smooth flowing tunes even at high volumes w/o the harshness and loss of clarity that the others had. Now i biamped/biwired the beasts on a Sherbourn 5/1500A 200x5 monoblock build amp and this is heaven. No external crossover, my case of upgraditis is not that advanced yet. Highly recommend the dealer. Gave me full warranty on used speakers. Bob Similar Products Used: Polk RT800 |
[May 13, 2003]
mofomonkeyjo
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Neutral character, wonderful midrange, great low bass if you power them right, wide soudstage
Weakness:
Long break in, Need ample amount of power. Maybe too cheap for certain people that believe a speaker has to cost ten grand to sound good and a $2000 speaker simply does not provide the prestige for them they need to compensate for certain other inadiquacys. Maybe too expensive for average family man. These are simply the best all around speakers I have heard. Some speakers sound better with different types of music. This is something I just don't find with the 100's. Vocals and guitar are especially excellent. This is the only speaker I have heard that sounds right to my ears with Hard Rock. They will go louder than you can stand without a hint of distortion assuming they have plenty of clean power. I am biamping them with Denon poa-2400 using both the A&B channels. The 100's I found to be especially eay to setup. I looked right on the directions, speakers distance from each other should be approx 75% of distance from listening area to speaker, slightly towed in and bingo got it the first time. Soundstage was enveloping and everything was as it should be after the breakin of course. I have heard these side by side with B&W 803's at the dealer and in my opinion and everyone elses in room the Paradigms simply played louder , cleaner , and had more bass than did the 803's. While I cannot comment on comparison with classical music or the like but assume they would do very well considering the neutrality of this speaker. People always talk about music sounding great on high end speakers only if the recording is great. When I played certain cds on the 803's that I had always considered to be very good recordings I found that they did not sound good. Then I narrowed it down to the fact that it wasn't the recording quality but the type of music being played because I could hear everything going on in the recording with the Paradigms and it sounded awesome not discolored or stuck in the box like the 803's. By the way don't judge them till after at least 70-100 hours playing at medium levels as they do sound like ass right out of the box. Similar Products Used: B&W, Mirage , PSB , JBL , Klipcsh , and others not worth mentioning |
[May 12, 2003]
George-Palo Alto
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Just a great speaker
Weakness:
Needs to be powered correctly Big (That's my wife's issue) I was using B&W Matrix 803’s and was convinced by a sales man to do a side by side comparison the studio 80 speakers, I packed up my speakers went, to the to the store hooked them up and was amazed at the difference. The sound from the Paradigm’s was just a bit better but was much more of a sound that I preferred. They seemed just a bit more open and the mids were not as flat. The sibilance was about the same from both yet the upper end was a little clearer on the Paradigm’s so I bought them. At home the low end seemed to be a bit lost but that went away after about 35 hours of burn in time. I have now upgraded to the 100’s and it is an improvement, The upper mids are a bit brighter and they are more punchy. They have agreat sound stage. It is a outstanding audio speaker and work incredibly well for video use in my home theater setup. Current System Pioneer SD-643HD5 16x9 HDTV Monitor RCA DRD485RG DirecTV Tuner B&K Reference 50 Preamp/Processor B&K AV2250 Power Amplifier Sony SCD-555ES SACD Changer MSB Link DAC 3 w/HDCD upgraded & Powerbase Panasonic DVD-RP91K DVD Player DVDO iScan Pro Progressive Scan Display Interface Monster HTS-3500 Power Conditioner Paradigm Reference Studio 100 (Rosenut) Paradigm Reference Studio CC Center Channel Speaker (Black) Paradigm Reference Studio ADP Surround Speakers (Black) Sunfire TrueSub MK2 Subwoofer Marantz RC9000 Color LCD Remote Control Sennheiser HD 590 Prestige Headphones Similar Products Used: B&W, JBL, Atlantic Technology, Monitor Audio |
[Apr 20, 2003]
1jmc
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Sweet Sound, huge soundstage, can go pretty low in the bass dept. A giant killer among speakers.
Weakness:
None, except heavy. If all that was allowed to describe these speakers was one word. It would be "AWESOME". I've owned or tried countless different speaker manufactures. Some good,others bad and rarely great. But for the money this speaker just can't be touched in versatility(Hometheater and Audio), and sound reproduction. As a matter of fact all of the Paradigm Studio Reference line is "AWESOME". I have the Studio CC center channel and Studio 40's and 20's for the rear and an SVS sub in a 7.1 system. The only speakers that I have experienced personally that had a slight edge on them were the B&W N801 and that was mainly on the highs due to the nautilus tweeter. But then we're talking about a speaker that cost several thousands more. These speakers should be matched with high current power amps, so they can perform at their best. They're ok using a receiver's amp but they're not at peak performance. Similar Products Used: Klipsch Ref.towers,NHT 2.5i,Definitive BP2000,B&W nautilus line,Bohlender Radia. |
[Apr 13, 2003]
dave101010
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
neutral-
Weakness:
neutral-if the recording stinks, so does the sound-if it is good-then they are amazing... I have had these speakers for a while now, and I have been fortunate enough to place them up against some very expensive speakers, Tannoy, Martin-Logan, B & W, and I have gone through lots of equipment changes since I purchased them. At one point, I seemed to be lacking any mid-bass, later they seemed to efficent sounding (I fixed that with a CA Labs cd player). Since I was comparing, I knew that the problems I was coming up with were from my components. Then you have some audio guy get on the internet and give a poor rating, and he never mentions what equipment he is using. He says that things sound muddled, buy he is probably using a receiver from radio shack, or worse from Sony. So he drags down a rating....... Since I have heard my speakers in an audio store on a Sunday afternoon up against 10 other more expensive speakers, all on Mccintosh gear, I can assure you that the weakness of muddled highs belongs to the source component, or the amp/pre-amp Similar Products Used: B&W-Definitive Technology-Wilson Audio - |
[Mar 21, 2003]
Steve
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Good bass, imaging,and dynamic range. Natural-sounding, articulate and an excellent value. Feed them clean power and passive bi-wire for best results.
Weakness:
Considering their cost to me and their age - no complaints - they still have a lot of punch. I'd think the latest versions would derfinitely be a bargain under $2K. I was very surprised with these well broken-in speakers that were recently acquired in a trade. Unhooked the Martin-Logan Prodigy's and bi-wired these old Studio's (no 100 designation - not certain about the model year either) to a Classe CA301 Amp(300w), Classe CP60 Preamp, Sony SCD777ES CD, using Straight Wire cables/interconnects. Even if I had paid for these, they really put out. The bass can rattle the soffit and gutters outside. They have a fair amount of low bass output, overall resolution and detail. Now I wouldn't put them in the same category as the ML's for sound stage, but if you feed them a high octane diet, they won't dissappoint much at all. I feel they lack just a little in the mids, need a little more upper-end presence and as mentioned before - their sound stage can't approach a good electrostatic, but I can see them being one of the best values around at their price point. They're not real fussy with placement either. My kids love them, and they'll prob end up in one of their rooms or an A/V system soon. Their prior owner had Parasound components and they performed flawlessly in that set-up too. I was mildly disappointed listening to them in a mid-fi set-up recently though, but that just proves the old saying, garbage in - garbage out. Similar Products Used: At this price point - Monitor Audio, Clarke, Pentagram, Speakerlab S-7's, DIY Speakers w/ Peerless CC drivers. |
[Mar 03, 2003]
Brian Webster
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Extreme Extensions, very low to very high, with excellent mid range. A very solid speaker. Excellent transparencies and depth. you can pound on them for ever. But watch not to put too much power in them or play them at max volume. I literly melted the crossovers. Lucky I didn't pop any speakers. I'll never do that again!
Weakness:
With these amplifiers these speaker can sound a little harsh on the ear after a couple of hours of listening Very heavy 97 lbs each When I bought these speaker I was looking for a surround sound setup, as well as just plain listening to music setup. I will admit I went a little crazy on components and speakers, but what an awesome sound. I have a: Harmon/Karmon 310 Receiver, which I use as a pre-amp (very clean).I know it sounds like a mistake but i just can't knock it. I was concidering upgrading to the anthem AVM 20, but i just can't justifiy spending $4000.00 when i can't find anything wrong with this amp other than the built in amp.(very poor) (Anthem) MCA 2 Amplifier (Anthem) MCA 5 Amplifier, (Anthem) which I bi-amp the 100's with. Servo 15 sub. holy smokin BASS Studio Ref. 40's for rears. (also used with 5 channel) Monitor 370 for centre channel I was looking for months for speakers, and honestly could not find a better speaker at this price range. Klipsh came close but changed the sound of the recording slightly. Probably because of the horns. Similar Products Used: Klipsh Bose |