Audioholics 2021 Product of Year Award Winners!

[Replicant 7]

@Goliath, you got a response from Gene. What a nice Christmas gift Santa Claus just dropped.

 

[Goliath]

I had the equivalent inwall model of the Studio 20 V5 in the guest room of my old place. They were incredibly well crafted with excellent build quality. I did find them a bit bright. In comparison, the 800F are the most tonally neutral speakers I've ever heard from Paradigm. To answer your question, I'd probably sell the Studio 20s, and get the 800Fs. If you want to remove all reasonable doubt about the upgrade, then get the Founder LCRs and you'll likely have no regrets or buyer's remorse after.

Thank you Gene, appreciate your input as always! I'll definitely consider upgrading... I guess the only remaining question is regarding the center speaker. In your review, you had a few nitpicks regarding the smallish center - I'm not sure if the larger center in the line up would have been a better match and/or offered improved performance?

 

[Eppie]

Thank you Gene, appreciate your input as always! I'll definitely consider upgrading... I guess the only remaining question is regarding the center speaker. In your review, you had a few nitpicks regarding the smallish center - I'm not sure if the larger center in the line up would have been a better match and/or offered improved performance?

I'm running Studio 20 v5 with the CC-590 v5 centre and I really like the studio centre. Doesn't seem to have the same brightness that the 20's have. @stalag2005 in the Paradigm Owners thread has the 800F but is using the Prestige 45C centre. He might be able to comment on the Premier centre? The centre you have now might pair well with the Premiers if you don't mind non-matching exteriors.

The v5 Studios are good speakers already, so I was looking at the Founder 80F (the 100F is still out of my price league). Paired with the 70LCR that would make a great setup, although 3 of the 70LCR with a sub would work great as well. My local dealer has the 80F on display so I'm just trying to find the time to demo a pair.

 

[Goliath]

I'm running Studio 20 v5 with the CC-590 v5 centre and I really like the studio centre. Doesn't seem to have the same brightness that the 20's have. @stalag2005 in the Paradigm Owners thread has the 800F but is using the Prestige 45C centre. He might be able to comment on the Premier centre? The centre you have now might pair well with the Premiers if you don't mind non-matching exteriors.

The v5 Studios are good speakers already, so I was looking at the Founder 80F (the 100F is still out of my price league). Paired with the 70LCR that would make a great setup, although 3 of the 70LCR with a sub would work great as well. My local dealer has the 80F on display so I'm just trying to find the time to demo a pair.

Thanks for your response, appreciate it.

 

[Mikado463]

The Arendal speakers, nice touch offering their matching stands. Converting to towers.........

1723 Stand

arendalsound.com

 

[PENG]

I like the idea and it's what I do, an AVR with the latest everything in technology that has pre-outs and an external amp. That's what I do and it works quite well. Denon X3400H with a Parasound HCA-1205A 5 channel amp. All the tech, Audyssey XT32 and plenty of power from the Parasound amp.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

Just fyi, I tested the AVR-X3400H for about 10 days in 2017 but only in 2 ch stereo and listening only other than plotting a few graphs with REW. During that time, I was shocked it sounded no different than my Cambridge audio preamp and Parasound Halo A21 combination, even just sighted test. I sat about 10 feet from the big R900s, with volume no higher than -20 so the >60 lbs with 2.5X the output had no advantage.

DBT is important for those who wants to argue, but I have been around too long to be fooled by just the look, weight, price, and all those subjective reviews that flooded audio forums.

So I hope you will keep it for something else if and when you upgrade to something better. And by the way, it was much later than I found out the X3400H's preamp/DAC section looks identical to the X4400H, 6400, and Marantz SR6012, 7012 (except the HDAMs). That thing has the same design, parts and circuitry as the higher models except with less channels. Had Gene reviewed and measured it on his bench, I bet he might have it on the 2017's best product list.