Speaker Asylum: REVIEW: Paradigm Studio/20 Speakers by danda

I bought the version 1 new with wood veneer for $580 from a dealer. The list says $850 (that's too much for these)!

I am a college student on a very tight budget who wanted to enjoy good music and HT (more so for my girlfriend) on the same system. So my system is extremely modest in quality and price. Also since I am driving these puppies with a HT reciever (which is bright in itself), I am not really bringing the best out of them. Plus my listening room is miniscule in size with not much room to experiment with speaker placement. Anyway, despite these serious deficiences, let's move on to the review of the speakers. I have had these speakers for 9 months now. Before break-in they sounded quite bright with the Yamaha but after they have broken-in and with use of some tweaks, they sound much warmer and pleasant than before. (better cables, room treatments, and power conditoner)

Bass - Low bass is not much, but the walls of my small room seems to reinforce freq. down to around 40-42 Hz. Pretty good. Slight hump in mid-bass quite I find pleasing for rock (my most common music preference).
Bass is quite tight and has pace.

Midrange - This is the strongpoint of this small speaker. Voices sound smooth and have air around them.

Highs - The highs are crisp and clear, but sometimes can be a bit grating especially on "hot" recordings. I notice that mostly on brass instruments and very high guitar notes. However, I want to note that my amplification is bright in itself. So I think I can make the highs a bit warmer by upgrading to better and more sophisticated amplification when my budget allows me to.

The speakers have great soundstage and impact, and the latter comes in very handy while playing explosive soundtracks during movies. Imaging is good, but not spectacular. I think I will get better imaging if they get more room to breathe. Also they rock (i.e. good pace).

I listened to quite a few good bookshelves in the 500-600 range and selected this from B&W, NHT, KEF, PSB, Pinnacle, Energy, Klipsch, Boston Acoustics, and Polk amongst others. I plan to enjoy these for a while and then give these to my girlfriend for her system in the bedroom. She listens mainly to feet tappin' rock and loves these babies!

REVIEW: Paradigm Studio/20 Speakers Review by danda at Audio Asylum