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New member Username: EudesPost Number: 3 Registered: Jun-04 | I just bought a new pair of Paradigm Studio 100s (had them shipped from Canada to Switzerland, in fact !), as well as Paradigm PA-PW-2100C subwoofer. I would appreciate any opinions on how to amplify/cable them. I want to bi-amp, and the salesperson at the store recommended a NAD C-272 with a NAD C-372. He also recommended Rotel (no specific model). As for cables, he suggested Monster. I also read about Sextet Cables. Any feedback would be welcome. |
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Silver Member Username: GmanMt. Pleasant, SC Post Number: 597 Registered: Dec-03 | You are going to have a lot of bass. The Studio 100's have about the most powerful bass I have ever heard from a tower speaker. I have heard them on movies and deep organ music and was shocked at the depths and SPL's these things can plumb. Unless your room is enormous, I doubt you will even need the subwoofer. Due to the way Paradigm tuned these speakers (to take advantage of incredible bass performance) good and powerful amps are highly recommended to get optimal performance. The NAD's will be fine, but will not be powerful enough to take full advantage of what these speakers can do. If you are passively bi-amping, you should definitely use the same brand amps and maybe even the same amps. The internal gains need to be the same and many/most amplifiers have different internal gains. Let's say you have a brand "X" amp with higher gain than brand "Y" and "X" is powering the woofer/midrange. You will end up with unbalanced sound--louder bass and louder low midrange from the same signal. You probably don't won't to bother getting a preamp/amp with separate volume controls and balance them out--not when you will have zero concern or problem with amps that have the same internal gain. So if you buy the same brand but different amps, just make sure they have the same internal gain. I would get a pair of 200 or 300 watt/channel amplifiers. ATI, Aragon, Outlaw Audio, and many others make suitable amps. I would get a separate preamp, as it appears you are listening to stereo--unless you plan on buying other speakers later (or already have them now). You can get great deals on used stereo preamps at Audiogon.com.--unless you want a new preamp. PartsExpress.com sells excellent 12 gauge speaker wire at cheap prices. They also carry Monster Cable (if you want to pay more) they have an 11 gauge wire that sells at $1.29/foot. But the cheaper 12 gauge is plenty thick and is excellent and used by many people with speakers that cost over $10,000/pr. |
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New member Username: EudesPost Number: 4 Registered: Jun-04 | Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. I am quite aware of the fact I will get a lot of bass. That's one of the things I was aiming for when I checked out the Paradigms. Without the subwoofer, however, that extra zing always seemed to be missing. Can you please expand on what you mean buy "I would get a separate preamp, as it appears you are listening to stereo--unless you plan on buying other speakers later (or already have them now)" ? I do have another set of speakers which I plan to hook up in another room (all this is not set up yet), but I guess we're still talking stereo, since I am not talking HT ? Also, do you mean you recommend two identical power amps, and a seperate pre-amp ? And is two times 200 or 300 watts not too much, considering you are bi-amping ? About the cables, I guess you feel standard heavy gauge cables will work fine, and you do not believe in any specific brand voodoo ? Thanks for the imput. |
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Bronze Member Username: GioPost Number: 22 Registered: Jun-04 | I have a pair of Studio 100s and a Rotel RB-1090 (2 x 380w) to drive them, which it does in a great way. Great amp, at an affordable price. http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/power-amps/rotel-rb1090.html gio |
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Silver Member Username: GmanMt. Pleasant, SC Post Number: 599 Registered: Dec-03 | If you look in the supplied Owners Manual for the Paradigm Studio 100's, they recommend using amplifiers with identical gain to eliminate the imbalances I previously mentioned. Keeping in mind that the tweeter and midrange drivers are both connected to the top pair of binding posts on the Studio 100, I recommend using two amplifiers with the same power rating and gain. If you want to consider using differently powered amplifiers, it would be best to ask the amp manufacturers which of their models have identical gain. A 4-channel amplifier that has two power supplies/transformers (one for each pair of channels) should provide similar results to using two stereo amps. If the 4-channel amp only has one power supply, the performance improvements would be closer to those gained through bi-wiring, which is probably not much. These speakers reach a low impedance of about 3 db at 95Hz and gradually rise to almost 17 db's at 2.8 khz. Since the impedance phase reaches its maximum of -33 degrees (capacitive) at 55 hz and maximum of +50 degrees (inductive) at 600 Hz, there is little doubt that these speakers would benefit by well-built and powerful amps, as it would be a moderately difficult load for most commercial receivers and amps. Definitely don't wire these speakers in parallel. You might want to start with just one good and powerful stereo amp. Gio made a good choice with the Rotel as a single amp for this speaker. At a list price of $2K (in the US) it is a good deal--although it has rather sharp heat sink edges. ATI also makes a wonderful amp--their 3000 series, which are one of the only amps (particularly ones that are reasonably priced) that are double-balanced. Balanced on the input and the output--most amps that say they are balanced are usually only balanced on the output. Double balancing will definitely remove any fears of noise and interference in your amp hook-up. While the ATI 3002 (a 300 watt stereo amp with separate modules) is rather utilitarian looking, its performance is stellar. It lists at $1995 and I am sure can be bought at 20% less, more if used--although it is a fairly new model. An even better deal would be the ATI 3004, which has 4 separate power modules, as opposed to most amps that have a single or double large torroidal configuration. The ATI 3004 lists at $2795--if you can get 20% off you end up paying around $2200 to bi-amp both speakers. |
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Bronze Member Username: CorneliusPost Number: 34 Registered: Jun-04 | I went through the biamp thing and although it was a fun experiment, I finally settled on just getting one great amplifier, and skipping the biamp procedure. Simple is always better, and now my system sounds MUCH better (I moved from Arcam bi-amp to a single McIntosh amp). Those are pretty nice speakers, so don't go the Rotel/NAD route. Try Naim, or Auidio by Van Alstine (shipping might be difficult, but they are close to Canada!). Don't go crazy on cables and avoid Monster. I've been using Analysis Plus with good results, there are others, Signal Cables are supposed to be good. |
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New member Username: EudesPost Number: 5 Registered: Jun-04 | Well, I considered what you both have to say about forgetting bi-amping for a while and choosing one high quality amp. Yesterday, I went to Jean Maurer's house/workshop/showroom. He is a Swiss speaker and amp (Lectron) designer that does everything himself. I was blown away by what I heard. The amp was his biggest, a Lectron JH60 (tube). It only rates at 56W per chanel, though, so I guess it wouldn't be enough to drive my speakers with authority. His wife told me however that wattage on tube amp is rated differently then on transistor amps. So I don't know where that leaves this amp standing. The point is, however, that I am sold on the idea of investing more in a single high quality amp/preamp combo. Being in Switzerland, many products are hard to find (ATI, Aragon, etc.). What if I went all out and dished out the money to go with McIntosh ? Do you guys think that would be a good match for the Studio 100's ? Also, would the MC-252 (250 watts) be sufficient, or would going for the MC-402 (420 Watts) open up my speakers even better. Would I really gain significant improvement ? As for the pre-amp, does anyone have any comments on the MC-45 compared to the C-2200 ? Thanks |
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Bronze Member Username: CorneliusPost Number: 36 Registered: Jun-04 | I really dig my McIntosh amp, but I really can't comment on compatibilty to other gear. If you were to pick, I think the MC-45/MC-252 combo would be enough. The C-2200 is a big difference preamp-wise, but a lot more expensive. You really should try the McIntosh gear at a store to make sure you like their sound. |