Value/fantastic uncolored sound

needs alot of burn in time

Fantastic speakers for the money. They do need alot of burn-in time though (2 weeks of daily play for me) but they sound amazing with truly neutral sound across their full range. Bass is also very good for such a small speaker.

Sweet, involing sound, Threw a nice sound stage

thier seems to be a bit of warmth in the upper bass range

I listened to these speakers at Park Ave, Audio (P.S. excellent sales staff)hooked uped directly no swith boards.
This system consist P-dimes studio 20 , Audio Refinement Complete, CD Complete, Cardas cross speaker cables and interconnects. This was hands down one of the must musical systems I have encountered. for the price this combination was ajoy to listen to, wide soundstage,. nice bass responce and a highly detailed top end. For the money I think the P-dimes deserves 5 stars and for the system described above a 10+ on looks and sound.

Attack and dynamics. Detail in the upper registers is great

Speakers can sound harsh; Placement is important. Also, there is a lot of bass, but the lower octaves are missing.

I first heard these speakers at a local store- I went in to listen to the minimonitors and then these just blew me away- I liked them better than the B&W 600 series. Dynamics and attack of these speakers are as good as I've heard. Treble response goes to supersonic. Detail is amazing.

In my home, placement is critical. I am using a sub with the Paradigms, since response in the lowest octaves is missing (there's lots of bass, but extension is not great).

If you like a hot speaker, these are going to be hard to beat.

Similar Products Used:

B&W 601, Mission 701, Pinnacle PN5+

Sounds like reality. Beautiful, clear, crisp, excellent imaging. Not bad bass for a small speaker!

Bass can be boomy if not placed carefully. Can sound bright and a bit edgy when not matched well to equipment.

I'm a real bang-for-the buck oriented guy. I'm always looking to find the kind of gear combinations that sound like I spent three times the money. These make up my front stage, along with their matching center channel speaker for theatre.

Gotta love that incredibly low crossove that amazing tweeter is capable of handling..I believe its at 1.100, vs. a typical 3,000-4000. With that hard dome, this gives you very quick response well down into the midrange, and excellent imaging. The waterfall chart on these speakers as published by stereophile is almost as perfect as I've seen from almost any speaker at any price.

I've tamed the edginess of my solid state electronics with use of the Musical Fidelity X-10D, a tube buffer and impedence stabilizer for my CD player, a nice match for the Marantz. This makes it overall much more listenable with much less fatigue over long listening sessions. After getting the electronics down pretty well, I went onto cables.

These speakers are very senstive and revealing of cable differences! Experiments with Wireworld Atlantis proved mushy, dull, and generally unsatizfying. Switching back to my cheap brown Kimber Kable brought the zing back, but was too zippy and thin. Once I bi-wired these things up with DH Labs Silver Sonic T-14, it all began to come together. Dumping not inexpensive Audioquest Quartz interconnects for DH Labs BL-1s...the all DH combo brings me shear joy. What were some pretty bright, edgy highs were now clear, revealing, smooth, and very liquid. There are few speakers I hear that sound so accurate, so close to they way things really sound. I've been checking out B&W CDM1se speakers at a couple different stores to try to hear what the fuss is all about, and though I haven't compared them in my home and on my equipment, I can honestly say I would MUCH rather come home to my lovely P'dimes.

As accurate as this speaker is, experimenting with placement is critical, and getting it right pays incredible dividends. Not only in taming what could be some bass boominess (makes me thankful for a bass tone control),, but in terms of nailing the imaging these things are capable of. Being slack in this regard will cause you to miss out on much of what they have to offer. Again, don't blow it on cable either. DH Labs silver content combines extreemly well with the speed and bell like capability of these speakers. You'll hear cymbals, bells, guitar string attacks and harmonics, female voices, etc, with brilliant, shimmering reality. Match it with a good sub.

Similar Products Used:

B&W 602, CDM1se, various other comparisons.

The 20's v2 are truly incredible for their size and price. Had to order mine, so not much room to deal off the new $750 price tag. They almost disappear if you close your eyes while listening.
In my townhouse they're great with no distortion whatsoever. I'm driving them with a Rotel 985 5/ch amp and a Marantz Av-550 pre/pro. HT is unreal and my neighbors say I should charge admission, music is great too.

I do a lot of studio work and it's nice to be able to come home to a set of speakers that approaches the abilities of the Tannoy and Yamaha monitors I use in the studio. These speakers do many things very well at about the cost of the studio monitors. They work very well in small rooms. If you're looking to throw a party, add a sub. Otherwise, they do well when pushed with enough power (100W/C does nicely). I like these better than comporably priced PhaseTechs, B&Ws and Energy speakers. Give them an audition. I doubt you'll be disappointed.

Keep in mind that this review represents my honest opinion. That being said, this IS best speaker you can buy under $1000.
I auditioned many speakers in the price range including many from B&W (601,602,CDM1SE,CDM2SE and 603), Mission (all of em' just about), PSB (Stratus Mini), Paradigm (Titans, Mini-Monitors, SR 100, LCR 450), NHT (Super 0&1&2, 1.5) and even the awesome Totem One. All the above may not be in the same range but the SR 20 bests all of them one way or another. The only real contender from the previous list that even makes me icth for an upgrade is the Totem One. True gems are hard to find in audio without breaking the bank. Paradigm has once again made a speaker that can truely be called a gem that redefines how bargin (relatively) speakers should sound.

When I first started putting my system together, I fully intended to purchase a full B&W speaker setup. The 602 was the speaker I had grown to love over many listening sessions. Anyways I auditioned anything that would fit in my room (and my wallet) and I came across the SR 20's one day looking lonesome in a corner. I asked the dealer to hook them up and I just sat there and listened to the beautiful music for almost an hour. At that point I assumed these speakers were way outta my range. I was pleasantly superised when my dealer told me I could take these home for $520 in a nice cherry laminate. Well after a bit of comparision to different speakers I took these babies home that night. I also purchased a PDR-12 subwoofer to augment the bass. The room I auditioned the SR 20's in was rather large and open.

After setting up these speakers in my dorm room I decided to spin some plastic. I took home the dealers demo pair, so they were already broken-in. I didn't feel the need to hook up the subwoofer after about an hour of listening. These little babies rock! They have bass punch like I've never heard in any bookshelf speaker. Some bookshelfs may have more bass (B&W 602, not by much) but it does not come anywhere close to the tightness and accuracy of the SR 20's. Tight, accurate, and you CAN feel it. Granted it will not break your chest, but it is more than you will need for most music. Now the midrange is what makes these speakers really shine. Sarah Mclachlan never sounded so good. It is not the last word on transparancy, being very warm, but nonetheless it makes beautiful music. Does wonders for female vocals. The highs are also excellent. Although they are a bit extended, they do not annoy. The soundstage thrown out by these speakers are incredible. Very wide and fairly deep. A good sense of air around instruments but again not the best. Yes this speaker has faults but they are extremely small when you consider the things that the SR 20's do well.

Currently I have the SR 20's on Premiere Stands with lead shot. They are blu-taked on. I use 6 foot runs of Tara RSC Prime 1000 bi-wire speaker cable. These speakers sound much better bi-wired or at least with quality jumpers. They are feed by an Adcom GFA-5500, AA DLC, and Rotel RCD-950. All interconnects are Tara Prism 33. I have driven my adcom near clipping with my ears about to bleed and the speakers came through just fine they didn't distort much and can handle more power than what paradigm suggests. Anyways if you are considering purchasing these speakers I really don't see how you can go wrong. They are the best you'll find. Also no respectable hi-end company will make crap. All the speakers listed above are excellent. It's personal preferances that pushes one to a certain component. However, everyone in the market for speakers under $1000 should go and audition the SR 20's, you just might end up taking a pair home and never leaving the house again. (;

These are quite simply the best bookshelf speakers I've listened to. And they are the best speakers I've listened to for under $1000, despite their small size! Excellent soundstage, flawless imaging, cyrstal clear highs, and a surprising amount of bass. As a matter of fact, this little guy had the lowest, cleanest sounding bass of any 6.5" driver bookshelf I've listened too. Absolutely amazing. Probably the only bookshelf speaker where I would consider a subwoofer to be optional.
If price is no object but space limitations are - then run out to your local Paradigm dealer and pick up a pair of Studio/20's. You won't be sorry. They may be twice the price of most mass market bookshelves from the likes of Bose, Infinity and Polk, but they are worth every penny. (Sadly, they were a bit out of my price range.)

Interesting note: For $690.00 USD a pair, you can get a video sheilded version of these speakers if you're forced to locate them near a TV. Unfortunately, the video shielded versions come only in a black laminate finish.

I have been searching for dynamic speaker that images well, has low distortion, flat response and good dynamics. The Paradigm Reference Studio 20 speakers have these characteristics in spades. Voices are a revelation with these speakers, especially female voices, the transparency of the midrange to the tweeter is excellent. The tweeter is exceptionally clean, cleaner than my Acoustat Spectra 22 electrostatic speakers and the fabric dome tweeter on my Rogers LS-7. The midrange is also extremely clean with both male and female voices. The bass is very good for a speaker of this size and the only downside to this speaker is that the bass will compress at higher levels, as will all speakers with a 6.5" midrange/woofer Some speakers will also have a bit more image depth, though the Paradigms have excellent imaging aside from depth.
All in all, this is an excellent speaker, especially for the price. I have not heard of any speaker near the price that has the overall sound, imaging, lack of distortion and flat response anywhere near its price. The NHT 1.5 and B&W 602 do not compare in my opinion.

The speakers need good stands, like any mini-monitor. Also, you should keep the back port from reflecting back into the room as it may smear the midrange a bit. The port has a sound that can be heard if placed too closely to the front wall. I placed the speaker as far apart from each other as to myself (1:1), and this setup provided a vast soundstage with no hole-in-the-middle, just excellent staging of voices in the center. The instructions say to place the speaker 2/3 the distance from you as they are apart from each other, but I prefer the 1:1 if there is no hole-in-the-middle.

5, especially for the price.

I paid $554 plus tax. My amplification for the speakers is an Adcom 5500 and I have a Velodyne FSR-1200 to supply the deep bass. I am very pleased with 5500, having replaced the Adcom 555.

Great detail & resolution without hardness or spit. Phenomonal bass extension, build quality.

NONE!

These speakers are are a steal, They are so good that I actually prefer them to $2000 Nautilus 805's, price notwithstanding. They are a very natural sounding speaking with no colourations, terrific detail and mids without harshness. The extension, accurracy and output of the bass must be believed to be heard.

They are built like tanks, with incredibly stout cabinets, gold buy-wire terminals and top notch drivers. before you get snookered into buying any $1000^ itty-bitty-Britty monitors please audition these!

System includes:

Studio 20's v2 on 24" stands
Velodyne FSX-12
Rotel RB-981 amp
Rotel RC-980 preamp
Rotel RCD-971 cd
Audioquest & Kimber cable/wire

Similar Products Used:

Various B&W,KEF,Dynaudio,ACI,Vandersteen, etc.