My Paradigm / Hsu / Adcom system

[pg_rider]

Bit of a work in progress. I'm considering swapping out the Paradigm Studios for Peachtree D5's or LSA Monitor 1's -- looking for something "warmer" and less "analytical". Critiques / recommendations welcome!

- Paradigm Studio 10 speakers
- Hsu VTF-3 subs
- Adcom GFA-6000 amp
- Pioneer VSX-815 receiver (pre/pro)
- WDTV Live media server

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[Adam]

Nice! The coloring of your components matches very well, and I'm jealous of that wood look.

Oh, yeah...and you need bigger subs.

 

[bikemig]

I'm with Adam, the wood looks great but the sub looks, well, kind of puny,

 

[Shrader]

Looks very nice, I like what you did with the subs, hmmm

 

[jliedeka]

Cool. How do you like the Studio 10s as fronts? I went with 20s in the front and 10s as surrounds. I think my room is smaller than yours.

Jim

 

[pg_rider]

I definitely prefer a wood finish to my system vs all black speakers, subs, etc. Kinda surprised actually at how many people go for basic black!

jliedeka, I'm continually surprised at the ability of the Studio 10's given their size. I demo'd them against the 20's at my local shop and heard almost no difference, so I went with the 10's. Assuming they're crossed to a sub(s), I doubt I could hear any difference between the 10's and 20's. You should swap your 10's to the front stage and try them out!

That said, I'm not crazy about them for playing music. They're incredibly capable and very clear/revealing, but to me they're fatiguing and a touch bit shrill for music. For movies and TV though, they're amazing.

 

[ImcLoud]

I love it. How's the bass sound my single vtf2 shakes the entire house with out trying, I can't imagine twin 3s. Looks perfect... Congrats...
Also nice poster
Are you building a theater system or keeping it just fronts. The paradigms are a little forward for me. I like stuff more neutral. How about a set of Sierra bookshelfs. They are less than the d5s and to me more laid back

 

[Grador]

Very nice looking setup!

That said, I'm not crazy about them for playing music. They're incredibly capable and very clear/revealing, but to me they're fatiguing and a touch bit shrill for music. For movies and TV though, they're amazing.

I actually had the opposite problem with my mini-monitors when they were used 2.0 for both music/movie. I'm going to reuse a lot of your terminology since I feel the same way. To me they were quite nice for music very clear and revealing for music, but I didn't find them fatiguing. For movies they just seemed to "analytical" and took a bit of the life out of things for me.

 

[Bryceo]

Fronts look a little small, that being a personal choice I guess but Adam is kinda right only 3 subs

 

[pg_rider]

I love it. How's the bass sound my single vtf2 shakes the entire house with out trying, I can't imagine twin 3s. Looks perfect... Congrats... Also nice poster

Are you building a theater system or keeping it just fronts. The paradigms are a little forward for me. I like stuff more neutral. How about a set of Sierra bookshelfs. They are less than the d5s and to me more laid back

The bass is great, although I'm still experimenting with subwoofer position / levels / xover / etc. The problem is my room -- it's 22' x 13' x 8' and "sunken", but the back of the room opens up to my kitchen which is similar sized. And the kitchen in turn opens up to the other family room. In essence, the entire 1st floor and sunken listening room is an open space and it's huge, so I think I'm losing out on the ability to truly pressurize the space.

In addition to the front stage you see above, I've got two generic Best Buy surround speakers that do an okay job. I listen to a fair amount of TV and movies, but my priority is getting the system set up right for music.

Not interested in the Ascends for one simple reason -- I can't stand "box" speakers. I want a cabinet with some character -- curved, multi-faceted, etc.

 

[westcott]

Love the look of the wood. Speakers should look like furniture IMO. And the AV rack has a great profile.

Have you had any chance to test your subwoofer placement(s)?

I think there is a lot of potential for better room coverage with two subs.

Is there a center channel?

Thanks for taking time to post some photos for us.

 

[3db]

Very sharp looking setup