The floor models have more bass, but a $600 books will be of higher quality since they are smaller. Books sound best on a stand, while the floor models can stand by themselves.
I like the sound of books + a sub. They have clearer sound since the bass is coming from far away - giving the pretty mid and upper sounds to shine by themselves.
It's a matter of preference - subjective. Some floor models having many speakers sound bigger and more satisfying - more expensive. If I had to choose between a $600 ones, I would go with a books.
I concur, in my opinion you should get the best drivers you can afford.... for instance, if choosing between paradigm studio bookshelves vs monitor floor standing, I would choose the studios. Of course, this changes for different circumstances... if you have an exceptionally large room, you might be better off with a bigger speaker simply because it will move more air....
Johnny Ness---Are you saying that the paradigms have better drivers than the monitors. I am going to drive about 70 miles this weekend to audition the paradigms. Any suggestions on which models for less that $800, or am I out of my league here?
I am saying that in my opinion the Paradigm Studio Series sounded better than the Paradigm Monitor series drivers.... I don't know enough about the quality of drivers to say that as a whole paradigm drivers are better than monitor drivers.... that said, for 800 bucks, how big is your room? do you need floor standing or would you be ok with bookshelves? If bookshelves are ok, you probably have the ability to get some decent quality speakers for that price... I got JM Labs 806S's to go with my NAD receiver (I am using them as rear speakers in my home theater) for a little over 800 and they would be awesome in a smaller room as the main speaker....
Of course the Paradigm Studio series sound better than the Paradigm Monitor series. They better sound alot better because they are twice as expensive. I really like the Studios also but if comparing the Studio 60 to the Monitor 7[same size etc] I do not think the 60's sound twice as good. All of Paradigms models are very good for the money and if $800 is your budget for a pair of mains the Paradigm Monitor 7 is hard to beat.[$699pair list]. Also listen to the Monitor 5 and the Studio 20 which is a smaller bookshelf that lists for $600-650 a pair. There is a new upgrade of the Studio's so I am not exactly sure of the new list on the 20's.
I didn't mean to overstate the obvious that the studios sound better than the monitors... I was just saying that if the room wasn't very big, I would buy the smaller Studios rather than the bigger Monitors for a similar price. I think with a 14x25 room (ceiling height?) I'd probably want floor standing speakers. And in that case, the Monitor 7, or the PSB 4 or 5T would be excellent choices.
gavin
Unregistered guest
Posted on
You might check out Monitor Audio Bronze B4's as an alternative to the Paradigm Monitor 7's. The Monitor 7's sounded great, but they didn't have nearly the bass extension that the B4's do - 45khz vs 36khz rated bottom end, and it shows. $100 cheaper, too.
i went to a local store today that carries marantz receivers(man are they hard to track down for an authorized dealer!) and i wasn't at all impressed with paradigm for all that i've heard about them?!