I am looking for a pair of bookshelf speakers in the $1000 price range. A friend of mine swears than Polk is the best in this range but the local hi fi stores are trying to sell me Paradigms (Reference 40's). I'm in serious need of advice. I listen to classic rock and some newer stuff. Not any classical or jazz really.
J. Vigne
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Both are very good values. Try listening to a new pair of Polks in the RTi series. Also check out KEF.
B&W's are a bit too expensive and sound pretty bright to me, maybe they're more for classical type music. I am very interested in the Kef's now too. What a hard decision.
paradigms are great speakers better than polk and B&W
Jimvm
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For $1,200 MSRP (around $1,000 with a 15% discount), the Paradigm Reference Studio 40's are a great buy. That is not to say that the other speakers mentioned aren't. B&W, KEF, Monitor Audio, etc. all make good speakers. Ya gotta go listen!
Just a suggestion -- go listen to the Paradigm Reference Studio 20's. They're smaller, two-way bookshelf speakers and to my ears, imaged better than the 40's. With a sub, you won't need the depth of the 40's and they MSRP for $400 less.
I also like the Dynaudio 42 and my Monitor Audio Silver 2's. I chose the MA's over the Paradigm's last year when I bought all new speakers. I needed to match my Elite 45 receiver and the MA's are a much better match than Paradigm with Elite. These are my two favorite speaker brands and I would be very happy with either one,assuming I had the proper receiver to match with them. Mike, I don't believe you mentioned what receiver you will be using so that's something I'd like to know before final recommendation.
Mike, do yourself a favor and listen to the Green Mountain Audio Europa before buying any other speaker. I listened to them side by side with Paradigm,and they destroyed the Studio Ref 20, then the Studio ref 40, then the 60 and finally the studio ref 100's. Hands down, no contest. Better in everyway that is musical.
I heard from a guy who works for Green Mountain Audio that the new Europas are either coming out soon or are freshly available. He is selling his old Europas for the new versions that came out. the name of the new Europas are still called the Europas. I still have no idea how to tell them apart and their website is still under construction. mauimusicman do you know?
Paradigm speakers are excellent! They sound great with any type of music, dynamic, sensitive, detailed, great imaging/staging....overall they are awesome for the money! I had a pair of Studio 60 V.2 in my theater (front and rear)...phenomenal! Get what sounds best to you! If you can afford more, go Wilson! hehe
Ek/Esine, my understanding is that the new Europa will be slightly larger, therefore will extend slightly lower in the bass. Roy tells me they sound a tad better, but he puts it to me this way: If you were looking to buy new speakers, he'd recommend the upgraded version, if you had the original Europa, being as good as they were, you might not want to spend the additional money to upgrade. Also, Roy tells me there will be test reports from audio mags on the new Europa sometime in sept or so. Looking forward to that,personally. Perhaps quiet some of the forum's GMA critics (annonymous, you reading this?) Thanks for your interest.
BeerBudget
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Posted on
Two others worth looking at in the Thousand Dollar Range:
1. PCM DB1
2. Ohm Acoustics Micro Walsh Tall
The PCM is a Transmission line design and a spin off of their Professional Monitors.
The Micro Walsh is an omni-directional mini-tower with the Walsh Driver. They got a rave review at 6 Moons as "Best of Class" i.e., Thousand Dollar Loundspeakers.
Don't overlook the Athena AFS B 1 or 2. They may look budget priced but Stereophile was comparing the 1's to 2,000 dollar speakers. Lots of good choices at 1,000 - go listen and decide for yourself.
Listen to Maui and BeerBudget. Go for the hand-made, superior design of the smaller companies. Once you try designs like GMA or Ohm, you'll NEVER go back (and the prices are the same).
It's hard to break away from the usual brands. They're widely distributed therefore easier to demo, lots of reviews are available and the prices are low - but that does not make them better. Check out the 6 Moons review online. It's right on the money.
Since the title of this thread is about Paradigms - mind if I throw in this question?
I have some Titans - one step up from the bottom of the paradigm line. Would Focus or mini monitors be that much better? Or would one have to go to another make like NHT or Monitor Audio or Totem to get great sound for the 400 and less price?
The Titans seem to sound alright and the moderately more expensive Paradigm speakers at the store didn't sound that much better than the Titans (the cheaper atoms lacked bass).
''Go for the hand-made, superior design of the smaller companies.''
I don't suscribe to the myth that smaller companies take more care, have better quality control, and make overall better products.
Actually, B & W, Paradigm and the other large companies have a bunch of highly qualified engineers working for them, huge $$$ resources to spend on R & D, and dedicated quality control staff. I don't mean to say that what the smaller companies do is worthless, because I actually believe that this is just the opposite. They do happen to make great sounding stuff.
But to say that large corporations, just because they are big, cannot do as good or better, is going too far I believe. They do happen to be extremely innovative and competent, mainly as a result of the number of qualified and dedicated people working for them, and the importance of the various resources available, and also because they are forced to come with better stuff all the time to stay ahead of the competition.
