Front and Center, Paradigm? Open for suggestions...

[Mark512]

I am in the process of upgrading my front and center speakers and sub. I have just emailed both Hsu and SVS my room specs and am waiting on advice on sub size, my room is 21' X 17'. I live in Austin and have not found a whole lot of specialty HT shops. I have been able to listen to the Paradigm Titans and Paradigm CC-170, and was pretty pleased with them - also hard to beat the price ($229 for the pair and $199 for the center). My question is has anyone had experience with this line, or should I stretch my budget a little higher and consider something else. I have also looked at some Polks in this price range and was not pleased. FYI my receiver is Yamaha HTR-5560. Please advise...

 

[jaxvon]

There are lots of other brands that I would consider, such as:

Axiom
Polk
PSB
Energy
Athena
Ascend Acoustics

and others.

There is a very nice shop in your area with some expensive stuff, but they might also carry some items in your budget. If nothing else, it will give you ideas for how you can work with your system:

http://www.dyerelectronics.com/

 

[MDS]

Mark512,
Where did you find the Paradigm speakers? The only place in town that I know sells them is A&B TV on Anderson Lane. I haven't been to Dyer in ages because I thought they only sold car stereos.

I was quoted $1695 for 2 Monitor 7, 1 CC-370, and 2 ADP-370. I wonder how that compares to other dealers. I did like the way they sound and they are currently on my short list for purchase when I get around to upgrading after the holidays.

 

[j_garcia]

A&B TV? They treated me decently. I'd also recommend dropping in at Fry's to check out their offerings. They don't tend to have the most skilled A/V people, but they do have decent deals, particularly this coming Friday. The Performance line should work well with that receiver, but for the price, you might want to look into the Athena Audition series. IMO, they have better midrange than the Performance series and you can actually get them for less than the Paradigms. Check www.audioadvisor.com for the AS-B1.2 or 2.2 and the AS-C1 or 1.2 (.2 are the newer models, but they all match in timbre). I've owned Atoms and Titans as well as the AS-B1s, and for $99 the B1s were as good or better than the others for less.

There used to be a small independent shop just a few miles up the road from A&B that was really good. He carried mostly higher end stuff like Aerial, but also some mid level gear and unusual brands and he had some good deals. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the shop or how you would go about locating them...and I believe he moved the store about a year ago.

 

[Mark512]

The paradigms I saw were at A&B TV. After reading some review about the Axiom M22Ti and VP 100, I may think about stretching the budget. Especially if i spring for the PB12 or STF-3. I still am a little hesitant about ordering from Axiom w/o listening first, but it does appear to be a good buy. Any advice?

 

[j_garcia]

The Axioms are a definite step up from the Performance line; IMO, they are a bit of a step up from the Monitor line even. The M3s I compared to my Minis at the time had much less bass, but the midrange was more clear. The highs are similar, with the Axioms being just a bit brighter.