Slim, wife friendly design. Well made sturdy cabinetry. Bi-wire design. Extremely detailed highs and mids. Firm bass but may need a subwoofer if HT is a use.

Plain Jane in the Studio 3 version. The Platinum Audio Trio with the walnut veneer was schweet.

After making some adjustments to these speakers, their placement and my other components I now believe I may have been a bit "harsh" in my initial review. Unlike others who do not rethink their opinions over time I have. These speakers are nothing short of phenomenal. After tweaking them I find that, even when new, they represented one of the true great audio values of the last 20 odd years. Pick them up if you can, either the Studio Version or the Trio version will serve you well. Slim design has a high WAF as well. They are sensitive to placement and you may have to adjust to get the full benefit of their sound.

Similar Products Used:

None, my first and only "modern" speaker.

Slim elegant design, high WAF. Strong, well built cabinets. Easy to set up and dial in. Detailed and deep soundstage. Good bass for such small drivers.

Industrial finish of cabinets. Extremely bright and revealing of poor source material.

Sorry to post this twice. I posted this originally under the PA PT Studio One's because I didn't go to the next page and find the right place to review them. I'm reprinting this review here... This review is for the Platinum Studio 3's. Slinline, floorstanding tower with two 5s" and a tweet, rear ported. I bought these used off of a couple on ebay who felt that, although they loved em, they were too big for their Lower East Side Apartment. I picked these up for a price I couldn't resist. I had used some PT-801s in my bedroom Home Theatre and thought that if these were half as good I'd be happy. Am I happy, yes and no. The fit and finish of the speaker are fine if you don't mind the industrial flat black color of it all. The cabinets are heavy and well built. The speakers come bi-wirable but I built some jumpers and am running them straight. As for how they sound. They've a wide and detailed "sweet spot" that was dialed in with minimal set up. Decent mids and bass for a speaker running dual 5-inch drivers. When combined with my Onkyo 898 Receiver I find that the treble range is extremely "bright" I may have to really dial back the highs on these puppies. The sound is currently a little ear fatiguing and lacks the suble smoothness I like in my main speakers. The bottom line is I'll use them for a while but I'll probably sell them or use them in someone else's HT unless I can get them too my liking. Slim profile and design does have a high Wife Acceptance Factor however. Slim elegant design, high WAF. Strong, well built cabinets. Easy to set up and dial in. Detailed and deep soundstage. Good bass for such small drivers. Weaknesses: Industrial finish of cabinets. Extremely bright and revealing of poor source material. Similar Products Used: Platinum Audio PT-801s, Ohm Walsh Fs (ver.2), Ohm Walsh 4's, Ohm Walsh 2's, Epicure 15's, EPI 201's, 202's etc... Report this review >>

Similar Products Used:

Platinum Audio PT-801s, Ohm Walsh Fs (ver.2), Ohm Walsh 4's, Ohm Walsh 2's, Epicure 15's, EPI 201's, 202's etc...

Date:12/27/98 This is a review of Platinum Studio 3 speakers. The Studio 3s are the finest low priced "audiophile" speakers I've ever heard.However the Platinums will really sing with top flight associated equipement,They throw a wide and deep soundstage and posess the most articulate bass...no bloat, no one note sound but the Studio 3s allow one to hear very delinated, articulate bass.This bass underpins the music in a fashion which many other speakers are not able follow.The high end is all there, never brittle, never spitty...vocalists are superbly rendered.The most amazing quality of the Studio 3s is their ability to convey the sense and space of the recording environment. They require good amplification and will reward you with great dynamics, terrific bass and great vocals.However the tweeter is so radiant off axis that one must carefully tune one's room to get optimum performance...and that can take hours||| Judicious use of sound damping materials will alter the sound dramatically.This speakers offers a full range speaker at the lowly price of $1695 US; and offers a compliment of sonics unequalled at this price. Associated equipement: Aronov LS-9601 integrated amp/Electro Glide power cord/Shinon Pin-Point cones set on a home built isolation base(loaded with 50 lbs. of sand); Musical Fidelity X-PSU(power supply)/X-LP(phono stage)/X-10D(output stage)/Kimber Kable PJB & Hero interconnects;Thorens TD-125B Mk.II(Turntable)with Kimber 8TC(Spkr. cable used as a poer cord)/Premier MMT Mk.II(tonearm)/Grado tone arm cables/Shinon Turntable cones/Shinon Platter Mat/clamp/ 2.5mv/High output moving coil cartridge'RFI ferrite cores; Platinum Studio 3s biwired with Kimber Kable 8TC(bass)/Hitachi SSX-104 OFC(top end) and Michael Green speaker cones;loaded with 50 lbs.sand per speaker. Isolation base(60 lbs. sand) for turntable based on Bright Star concept,set on Shinon Pinpoints upon which the turntable is set.

Platinum Audio, the manufacturer of the Studio 3s, has been receiving a lot of ink in the audio press lately. This mini-review is my own two-cents (or in this case 300-words) worth on these surprising $1,700 speakers.
I first crossed paths with the Studio 3s while in the midst of a speaker safari about six months ago. I had a few criteria in mind while listening: musicality; neutrality, reasonably deep bass, and moderate (>87 dB) efficiency so that they can be driven by my 40 watt Jolida integrated. The Studio 3s fit the bill in all regards.

For a good description of the Studio 3s, check out the Platinum Audio web page. The fit and finish are excellent.

Now, the sound. The first thing that strikes you about these speakers is their bass. You not only hear well-defined pitches down into the lower registers, you feel the weight of the musical foundation. This creates a visceral reaction to the music that some speakers with the same specifications fail to achieve.

The second point I'd like to make about these speakers is their incredible neutrality. So many speakers in this price range add colorations that mask the differences in the software and hardware used with them. I had the opportunity to listen to the Studio 3s with a
variety of equipment and was dumbfounded at how different they sounded with each. A change in amplifiers would be akin to a change in climate. With the Threshold amp, I was in the desert: hot, dry and clear. With the Aragon amp, the seashore: sunny and breezy, with touch of humidity. The Jolida took me to the forest: cool, damp, and primeval.

Yes, I am in love with these speakers. Now if I can only scrape up the cash to buy them!

Equipment Used in the Review:

Front End:
Parasound C/BD Transport, Aragon D2A2, Resolution CD50

Electronics:
Sonic Frontiers Line 1, Aragon 8002 Power Amp, Threshold T3 Preamp, Threshold T-200 Power Amp, Jolida SJ202 Integrated Amp

Cables and Interconnects:
Illuminati Optical Digital, Nordost Flatline 1 Speaker Cable, Audioquest Opal Interconnects, Kimber Kable Silver Streaks, Kimber Kable PBJ, Audioquest Turquoise Interconnects, Audioquest Indigo Speaker Cable

Recordings Used in the Review:
Pictures at an Exhibition/A Night on Bald Mountain, Loren Maazel & The Cleveland Orchestra, Telarc
Pomp & Pipes, Frederick Fennell & The Dallas Wind Symphony, Reference Recordings
Amused to Death, Roger Waters
Animal Logic II, Animal Logic
Graceland, Paul Simon
Bela Fleck, Tales from the Acoustic Planets
Pat Metheny Group, Still Life (Talking)