Paradigm Reference Studio 100 Floorstanding Speakers

Paradigm Reference Studio 100 Floorstanding Speakers 

DESCRIPTION

3-Way Floorstanding Speaker - Two 8" Filled Polpropylene Cone Woofers, 6.5" Mica-Polymer Cone Midrange Driver, 1" Pure-Aluminum Dome Tweeter

USER REVIEWS

Showing 71-80 of 202  
[Feb 24, 2002]
Chaom
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Soundstage, detail, no harhness, smooth midrange, looks. binding post, Price!!

Weakness:

Heavy monsters but once placed they are fine.

After muc hdebate on wether to upgrade my Paradigm 70p''s I actually decided to stay away from Paradigm. It now has become my 3rd! set of speakers. They are simply outstanding. They have the energy for Pipe organ, the finese for Viola da Gamba and so on. I did look at speakers that were much more expensive, but when I seen them in person I was in love. The sound stage and 3dimensionality of an Ochesrta is what a speaker should do. They take a long break in period. An instrument like the Vila da Gamba had a bit if bite to it but no more subtle. I love Organ and the bass in solid and smooth. Equipment: Adcom GFP 750 preamp Anthem MCA2 poweramp Alphacore cable bal& unbal Sony Cd player older model but good NAD 711 receiver (as tuner) Audioques Crytal Biwired

Similar Products Used:

P70''s my older speakers B&W mcuh more expensive

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Feb 13, 2002]
bob53
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Imaging, Soundstage, Warmth

Weakness:

Can be bright with the wrong components, Big, heavy

This is a 1 year follow-up to my original purchase of these speakers... A few tips for anyone thinking about these speakers- System matching is important! With the wrong gear and wires, these speakers can sound harsh and ugly due to the metal dome tweeters... I have found that silver coated wire with solid state gear (DH Labs cable in particular) will accentuate the slight sibilance of these speakers so be warned! I think with tube gear and hybrid gear like Anthem the silver coated wire might sound ok, but not with my solid state gear. Break-in really does happen! My speakers did open up more with time (weeks to months) Placement is not essential, but does make a difference. I use some Q-sound recordings that are spectacular for showing off imaging. PIck up Madonna''s Immaculate collection and listen on track 17 for the storm. It sounds like the storm as coming from outside. Track 15 will make you think that Madonna is right beside you. The point is that this Q-sound effect will only work if the speakers are placed properly, and is a good tool. Bass is not like most speakers. These speakers weight in at 120 lbs each and are very rigid. Bass is very tight and focused, not boomy like many speakers and so most think that this is Bass weak - not so! Pick up an SPL meter at radio shack and be amazed at how low this speaker can go! Mine goes down to 22 Hz with very little decay in SPLs and 20 is still audible! These speakers are not ver efficient (despite what they claim) and need power!!! They are 3-4 ohm loads due to the woofers and so plan accordingly. These speakers will play with AV recievers but would really work better with separates (200 WPC or higher). The more power the better. If you do not want to have a more demanding speaker, take a look at the 60''s or 40''s and pick up a subwoofer. I love these speakers, with the right gear and cables (MIT cables agree well with my system) these speakers are incredibly dimesional and musical with a detailed yet involving sound that is hard to beat.

Similar Products Used:

Lots!

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Feb 12, 2002]
L5
AudioPhile

Strength:

Warm and sweet yet also tend to define the instruments very well without mush or coloring the sound. Great for guitar whether acoustic or electric. You can feel the music and forget about a sub in my opinion.If you like to have a few beers and really relax and get into your music these speakers are a spiritual experience. No..I do not work for the company but I buy and sell guitars at steve zook guitars.com.I know tone from being an accomplished guitarist and buying and selling high quality used and vintage guitars and you will love these speakers but you might need to train your ears on what to listen to depending on you level of ex-perience.Go for the big ones bro. The Studio 100 refenence series are one of the best speakers on the planet.

Weakness:

None except maybe mving them around a bit and the feet but part of the unqiue "Voice" and great tone comes from the cabinet size. I love them.

Accurate and defined yet also warm,sweet and musical.If you listen to a great recording the speakers sound wonderful but a lousy recording will not be colored to sound sweet like some speakers.Long break in time of at least 150 to 200 hours but they sound great for jazz and I am a jazz guitarist so I love the "Voice" of these speakers. I listened to my original CD Transporter on Reflection Records and it sounded unreal and I heard tones from my vintage guitars that only I would recognize and these speakers brought out what is naturally in my rare guitars and I used some great old vintage guitars on my cd. They sound good with a normal amp but I just up-graded to a Rotel 991 to get the full "Voice" of these speakers as they do like some power to come into their own.I am very impressed and the cabinet and wood helps create a great sound and let me tell yoiu folks the R&D really payed off and I would say buy these and forget about speakers for at least 5 years.I love them and they achieve that tricky balance between being sweet and musical while also being defined. Unreal for dvds even just in 2 channels in like an aux mode.I think you could spend thousands more and it would be a waste of money. Even if you are stinkin rich try these and give them a couple of hundred hours to come into their unique "Voice" and break in but I loved them right out of the box but they are just getting better and better.

Similar Products Used:

NHT 2.5s,Polk Audio and these are much more refined.Canadian companies get big money from the government for R&D and we the consumer benefit on this.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Feb 21, 2000]
j conn
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

High end sound with a wide variaty of music.

Weakness:

Very heavy, 110 lbs each.

Let me first say that these speakers take a ridiculous amount of time to be fully broken in. Around 700 hours and thats not an exageration. I listen to a wide range of music from clasical to rap and these speakers handle everything you through at them. For the first couple months after I bought them I thought they were good but not great. Then around the third or fourth month, after I thought they were already broke in, the belts on the drivers really started to loosen up and I was blown away by these speakers. They have that extra magic that I have not heard in any speaker costing under $7,000 or $8,000. Highly recomended !!! My current system: Yamaha DSP-A1, Paradigm Studio 100's V 2, Studio c-c, Rears-studio 20s, Servo 15 sub, Various other electronics.

Similar Products Used:

Arial Accoustics, B&W.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Feb 22, 2000]
Yee
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Great Bass and dynamics. Accurate Mids. Excellent price.

Weakness:

A bit bright and poor imaging.

The bass from these speakers is truly first class. Vocals, especially female vocals are very realistic. Considering their ability to play extremely loud and clean, these would be an excellent choice for the fronts in a home theathre.

For stereo though, these fall a tad short. For many people, short commings in imaging are not important, but It is my first priorty for stereo speakers. The Studio 100's are a bit forward. Depth is very poor. Instruments and voices are a bit homogenized; they don't seem to exist in a distinct space. For Instance, On one of the tracks in
Diana Krall's Steppin' Out album, both my Dynaudio's and Totems places an bass drum attack left and roughly 8 feet in front of the speakers. On the Studio 100's the drum was left and roughly on the same plane as the speakers.

If never listened to music in my home theathre, I probably would have kept these. Unfortunatly I had to spend a good deal more for something else.

Similar Products Used:

Nothing compares in this price range.

OVERALL
RATING
3
VALUE
RATING
5
[Mar 21, 2000]
Sean
Audiophile

Strength:

Wonderful soundstage, dynamic range, sound great at both low and high volumes.

Weakness:

Grills were slightly warped when new, ok now.

I've had the speakers for about 6 months and am thrilled with the purchase. Like others, I noticed that burn-in time was rather long. Even with regular daily use, it took better than a month before I considered them truly broken-in.

The soundstaging is incredible! Every instrument comes through clearly and in wonderul detail, without being too forward. Coming off of Klipsch speakers before these, to my ear the Paradigms sound warm.

The greatest challenge I have with them is their monumental size. The footprint of each speaker is rather large, and they need A LOT of room behind them for the sound to really open up. After playing around with placement in my listening room, I found that they need to be about 3' from the wall to sound their best. Negociating with my beloved housemate for so much floor space is an ongoing excersize in diplomacy and compromise.

For under $2K, I can't imagine a better set of loudspeakers. Be sure that you have a clean, ample supply of power and are running decent cable/wire. Even Kimber's low-end stuff will do the trick.

Similar Products Used:

Klipsh and KEF

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Nov 02, 2000]
David
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

They sound and look great at a very, very reasonable price.

Weakness:

I can only think of one...they are heavy.

I have owned a pair of light cherry veneer v2 of the 100's for about 6 months now and cannot be happier. I honestly did not compare with to many other speakers since I previously heard v1 one at a friends house and V2 reviews remarked how much better these sounded. I am not dissapointed, to say the least.

I am using them with a denon 3200 av receiver and am looking forward to purchasing a more powerfull amp to really push them. Even with this low power rating they sound excellent. Paired with the cc-450 and 20's for rears i am in my element while listening to music or a DVD.

I cannot recommend these any higher. They are simply a great speaker at a wonderfully low price.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Sep 26, 2000]
duke
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

price, size, wieght, bracing, flat responce

Weakness:

binding posts, front grill cover

These are 100's V2 in Rosenut wood. They take a wait to break in, they also take a while to warm up in day to day use. Still fine tuning there postion. They sound great where they are but I want to get the most out of them. They fill the room with sound. They image beyond their boxes, i've gotten a wrap around effect on some music. Detailed and clear top end, fluid mids and a clean tight bottom, that will extend into the lower 20's, not as much output as a power tower or a sub. Pleanty of inpact on movies, but a gain don't expect and you shouldn't, powered sub type bottom. I run them full range 200 watts each, biwire thru a Sunfire CG using the voltage & current taps. A M&K sub hanndles LFE. I'm also using a pair of 60's V2 and a CC V2 as my center, yes that's right 3 speakers, each gets it's own 200watts of power, the 60's run full range and the CC is passive high passed @ 70. I also have a pair of ADP V2 for the sides and 20's V2 for the rears, each also getting 200 watts and run as small c/o 80hz. Power is from 2 Sunfire Cinema Grands. A Meridan 568 7.1 handles all Digital processing. I listen to them constantly. I plan on an experimental biamp in te future. The 100's can play loud and clean ! I do think they sound better when they are pushed. I will be doing some work on my room and will update my review.

Similar Products Used:

Aerial, B&W, DefTech, Martin Logan, Polk

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[May 11, 2000]
Tom
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Very, very neutral, very good bass.

Weakness:

Cold, almost steel sounding.

Last night I spend a few hours compairing a pair of 100s against B&W 604s using an Acurus 150 amp and a passive pre-amp. A very good speaker, but with a few problems. This is a very neutral sounding speaker with very good bass. It is a much more powerful speaker which can play much louder. No contest here. The problem is that when compared with the B&W, the 100s seemed cold. Not quite as lush sounding. Also the speakers sound field seemed a little more narrow. We tried a few different amps. Acurus, Hafler, Adcom. The Acurus sounded the best with these speakers. Warm and the bass was very full. A friend of mine has replaced the internal wiring with a solid core type with excellent results. He says it make a big difference.

Similar Products Used:

B&W 604s

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[May 09, 2000]
mark palmer
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

bass and the ability to play all kinds of music extremely well

Weakness:

imaging

last speakers were Bose 901's-when I hooked these up, I knew I had a great loudspeaker! I compared to Martin Logan speakers running 3600 to 4800 dollars. While the Jazz and vocals were stunning on the ML's, they were completely unable to handle the rock and roll I threw at them! The Paradigm's handled everything I threw at them, classical,Jazz,heavy metal and they did it well. I do miss the openness of the ML's, but they are too expensive if I still need a subwoofer with them! I have a Carver TFM-55 amp with a Carver 23 Preamp, the 380 watts of power are needed with this speaker, I heard these with a 175 watt amp, and they were underpowered! Since they were a demo pair, they were broken in when I bought them and they sound fantastic!

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
Showing 71-80 of 202  

(C) Copyright 1996-2018. All Rights Reserved.

audioreview.com and the ConsumerReview Network are business units of Invenda Corporation

Other Web Sites in the ConsumerReview Network:

mtbr.com | roadbikereview.com | carreview.com | photographyreview.com | audioreview.com