Since I wasn't able to take these speakers outside, I did a ton of different close-mic testing, and 1m windowed testing at different heights and different reference axis. I do see that peak that S&V shows but only at certain heights on the speaker's axis. In other words, some measurements can show that and others do not. Both my measurements and S&V's measurements are much too close to a tower speaker like that to get the full story, both our measurement methods have serious shortcomings for a speaker like this. A speaker like this needs at least a 2 m distance to properly see how the driver's integrate, and a greater distance would be better, and then there is the matter of reference axis and mic height that it is measured.
In this case, I would trust the measurements Paradigm has provided. Their methods are far superior than what I employed in this particular review and will be much better than S&V's as well. I originally asked Paradigm to send their measurements as a reference point to see if I could achieve similar results through close mic testing alone. After consulting with Dr. Floyd Toole on the degree that I could accurately measure a speaker like this in such limited conditions, I understood that I would not be able to fairly capture everything this loudspeaker is doing. I then asked Paradigm if they would allow us to publish their own measurements since my own abilities were hampered here. It took some doing, and I didn't expect them to allow us to publish that response chart, but they agreed. That chart wasn't meant for public consumption, and Paradigm has very graciously allowed us to publish it. It is not BS, it is real.
