I got back this afternoon from the dealer I use. I listened to the Paradigm Founders edition 70LCR's (used to model the Founder 40B), the Founders 80F (reference floor speaker), KEF R3, Revel M16, and the KEF LS50Meta, The MRX-740 in stereo mode was the AVR used to drive all speakers. I used the following sound tracks
Beethoven Fur Elise
Boston More than a Feeling
Fleetwood Mac Little Lies
I am going to keep this short. It is the feeling of the guy who has been in the business for decades that the Founders Edition line will give the Persona line speaker for speaker a run in clarity at 1/3rd the current cost between the Persona Edition and the Founders Edition speaker type for type. Given this I rate in this order the speakers I heard.
1. Founders 70LCR
2. Revel M16
3. Kef R3
4. Distant 4th Kef LS50 meta.
The extended thoughts are as follows.
1. The Founders 70LCR was far above the other speakers. It makes a very large bookshelf speaker and does well in either orientation. As a center, left, and right channel front stage speakers, Paradigm is NOT kidding around. IMHO the piano in Fur Elise was replicated well enough that I could hear both the string vibration and the sound board vibration of the Steinway piano used for the recording. NO other speaker I reviewed today came even close to this. I could in Fleetwood Mac's song Little Lies here both Stevie Nicks and Christy McFie clearly even when singing in duet as if I were there directly in the recording booth. And the song from Boston was equally as good in listening with clarity so good that you could hear the individual guitar strings played even though the guitars were the typical rock music distorted/overdriven that is typical of Boston. I will warn anyone else using the Paradigm Founders Edition 70LCR to use their best recordings. If the recording is substandard these speakers are unforgiving. You will hear the errors! Full retail for this is $3400 for the pair and from listening, if room (size) is a factor, for either the left and right mains or that coupled with a 3rd 70LCR as the center channel, these speakers would do well in any surround sound system. The 80F speakers in comparison were the equal but not better than the 70LCR IMHO. If the 40B's are anywhere close to this, the Persona B at three times the cost will be overpriced junk. The 40B pair full retail is $2200.
2. The Revel M16 was by far the best of the rest. The piano rendition was not quite as stark as the Paradigm 70LCR, but was faithful to the recording. This speaker also was almost as good but not quite also in the ability to faithfully replicate Little Lies by Fleetwood Mac and More than a Feeling by Boston. However make no mistake, for $900 for the pair they were much better than the following in every respect to the Kef R3. According to my dealer the Revel M16 is just as good as the Revel M106 at half the cost even though the Revel M106 is derived from and is possibly enhanced. The dealer told me the M16 and the M106 are so close that the Revel M16 is the way better buy. If you like the M106, you will like the M16 and your pocket book will not have to disgorge that extra $1K if you go the M16 route.
3. The KEF R3. If I would not have heard either the Revel M16 or the Paradigm 70LCR, this might have been my go to speaker. Honestly this was a very good speaker but was just a skosh muddy in every respect. Still way better than my Martin Logan LX-16's, these speakers honestly are overpriced at $2K. The Revel M16's exceed in every way the sound stage of the KEF R3. Do yourself a favor and if you can listen to both, you should all other being equal see a big difference between the two. IMHO the KEF R3 is good, but you can do better!
4. From the reviews of the KEF LS50meta, I expected a lot more out of this speaker. It was missing the high end overtones and the bass which just plain made it sound thin. For the sake of argument the dealer switched on the Paradigm X12 Defiance subwoofer connected to the MRX 740. Although it did sound much better with the X12 subwoofer, as a stand alone IMHO avoid. The Revel M16 is cheaper and way better at replication of audio than the KEF LS50meta.
All of the above speakers could benefit being in a 2.1 system with a subwoofer. However the KEF LS50meta was especially bad in comparison to the other 3. The reason for the Paradigm 40B Founders Edition speakers not being available was availability from the manufacturer. Without stratospheric pricing the Paradigm 70LCR Founders edition speakers are half the price of the Persona B and sound just as good. I did ask about the Revel 126 Be and the Revel Gem 2. My dealer indicated that the Paradigm 70LCR were in the same class if not better than either of those two Revel speakers, the 126Be and the Gem 2. Given those price points, and the audition of the 70LCR, even though expensive, the 70LCR is tempting to say the least. Sitting upright the 70LCR is a tall bookshelf speaker and if you have the money well worth grabbing. Interestingly the Revel M16's for their price point punch way above their price class in comparison to the two KEF lines I auditioned that were both more expensive. I am going to wait for the Paradigm Founders Edition 40B and listen to them before taking them home. I because of the time and effort, I want to give my dealer the chance to listen to the 40B speakers before I take them with me.
Given the above, IMHO the 70LCR is worth breaking a $2K budget. They are that good. That said, I want to hear the 40B first before making that final decision. If money is much tighter, go to the Revel M16. You won't regret the expenditure. If the Paradigm Persona line is your fancy and you have not bought yet, the Paradigm Founder's Edition speakers are worth considering and honestly may give the Persona line a run for audio fidelity at 1/3rd the price for the Founder's Edition equivalents.
I know a lot of this is subjective, I get that as only my ears were the measurement tools. But yet what I share here may be of use to others. It would be very interesting to get a professional unbiased review of each Founder's edition speakers, but IMHO they are worth the cost. Revel also has an excellent product, but I think you should check out the Paradigm Founder's edition before splurging on the Revel Be line or Gem series speakers. But as a budget speaker, the Revel M16 is a worthy contender at $900. All in all, if I had not heard the Founder's Edition 70LCR, I would have walked with the Revel M16. The Revel's are that good. Either of them easily based on the music I listened to beat my current Martin Logan LX-16's by a huge margin. Honestly I found the KEF LS50 meta wanting and just not worth the price and the KEF R3 is just not worth the extra grand in price as compared to the Revel M16.
