True to the reviewer's text in "The Absolute Sound", the top end on my new Light Cherry Paradigm Monitor 5's v3 is indeed prominent -- but never glaring. To justify the $290 local dealer trade-up, the 5 v3 FULLY outperform my FOCUS v3, which were nonetheless well worth $330, even though the midrange was a little under detailed. The Monitor 5 v3 high-end is revealing, all-telling and shows a welcome natural extension,(esp in a $620 speaker), without resorting to metal dome hissy highs, tinny sound or showing obsessive tweeter detail. For an ordinary square edge cabinet, the anti-diffraction gadget surrounding the titanium tweeter works wonders in reducing annoying edge diffraction. I don't hear any crossover driver-to-driver smearing and the stiff driver materiels are free from wiggling, ringing and wobbling and any audible or visible distortion modes. The midrange is fully competent, (easily outpacing the FOCUS) and I don't detect any "nasality" as mentioned in TAS review of v2. Instead, the midrange is clean and natural, nicely detailed, creamy smooth (esp at $620) -- is never boxy and gives satisfactory detail of musical instruments. Midrange detail not quite approaching high-dollar electrostatic detail ($20K Martin Logan Prodigy) or the abundant mid-range detail of Gallo Nucleus 3 my ears drooled over ($2700), but these 5's have the tight "punch" often missing with stats. Comparatively, I didn't hear $1100 more midrange or voice or soundstage improvement when auditioning the Martin Logan Aeon ($1600) and these Paradigms are much less fussy in placement than MLogan Clarity ($2200) esp with the Clarity's rear firing rather hissy "ambience" driver. I also didn't detect $700 worth of sonic improvement as I was giving the otherwise virtuous Studio 40's ($1200) a listen as the salespeople were loading the 5's in my trunk. Nor did I find the thrummy cabinets on recently auditioned meager performing KEF Q7's ($1600) to be anywhere as free from knuckle-rap hollowness as the sturdy cabinets on these smaller Paradigms. The new Paradigm carbon-lite bass unit does a fine job of most bass/lowest midrange, but does not drop to subwoofer depth or have window vibrating output. The cruel low notes on the CD's I routinely use to audition bass performance demonstrated perfectly clean and acceptable bass, with very good extension and bass quality and quantity -- esp from a 6.5 inch bass driver/rear port, again keeping the price point and cabinet volume in some sort of reasonable perspective. For example, they did not approach ANYWHERE near the low note over-achieving Gallo Nucleus Reference 3 dual 10inch woofer at $2600. Also absent is the sluggish oval-woofer bass the KEF Q7 demonstrated at three times the price of these Monitor 5 v3s. Initially, I acid-test auditioned these with my Straight Wire NEW Symphony CABLES and found the set-up fully sufficient for $620 speaker and $150 cable. On my NAD system, I have bi-wired them, having purchased additional cables PRIOR to obtaining these speakers (Straight Wire Sextet) and when bi-wired, I find the spatial, dimensional and timbral properties to have improved considerably. So, as is my style, I have splurged on cables, attaching $250 worth of cables to $600 speakers (and $140 Rhapsody interconnects) and find it worth every penny and sonically quite satisfactory. I've heard speakers for MORE than twice the $950 invested here, that I wouldn't even consider owning and these 5's better some of my older $2100 KEF & $2800 Thiels speakers in several areas with updated driver technology. Cable bashers and bi-wire non-believers flame away!
