Paradigm Signature Sub 2 Subwoofer Review

[admin]

Usually whenever a company tasks their development team with creating a new product whether it might be a powered subwoofer, amplifier or speaker, there are some goals or restrictions outlined during the planning stage. Perhaps a certain price point, form factor, or feature set, or there may be certain performance goals that need to be met. Often the goals set forth may be a combination of some or all of the aforementioned. If the final product is in many ways a reflection of its design goals, in the case of Paradigm's Signature Sub 2 it appears that the design team was given directive to push the envelope. What emerged is a beastly subwoofer with an unusual hexagon shaped enclosure which bristles with no less than six overbuilt Paradigm designed 10" drivers sporting a collective 150lbs of motor arranged in a force cancelling array, an amplifier in need of a 240v line to produce its maximum continuous output of 4.5 kilowatts and an MSRP of a cool $8,999. Unsurprisingly, neither output headroom nor deep bass extension is in short supply here and achieving Audioholic's Extreme room size rating was no problem for Paradigm's top bass maker. However impressive the substantial output capabilities of the Signature Sub 2 are even more impressive were its top quality finishing, attention grabbing appearance, surprisingly compact size and squeaky clean sonic performance with its contribution always remaining implacably neutral regardless of material or output level demands. Paradigm's Signature Sub 2 provided a powerful, dynamic and engaging low end presence with reference quality and quantity, proving itself to be a truly statement level product.

Discuss "Paradigm Signature Sub 2 Subwoofer Review" here. Read the article.

 

[haraldo]

This is one impressive beast.... Is it not the same approximately as using two stacked Martin Logan Descent?

 

[Sputter]

Very good read Josh, thanks man.

 

[Ricci]

Thanks Sputter...It was quite the endeavor.

BTW please excuse my shoddy camera skills...I didn't notice until
I had the Sub 2 put back together that there was dirt on my lens causing a lot of glare. Most of my pics were not even useable. A professional photographer I am not.

 

[Hocky]

This is one impressive beast.... Is it not the same approximately as using two stacked Martin Logan Descent?

Yea, I'd say so. Nice of ML to let Daddy have their design. haha

 

[pbc]

I cracked up at the "feet" comment. I had the same thought when I was moving my brother's Sub 2 around. Very awkward to move around, especially if you try to tilt the sucker as I quickly found out! 3 Feet instead of 4!? I wasn't expecting that.

I don't know how you managed to bring that beast outside for testing.

In-room it puts out a frightening amount of bass. The Pods emerging scene was really cool, his wooden floors were vibrating like crazy and if felt like my feet were coming off the floor as I was sitting on the couch with them barely touching the floor at the time. I need to go back at some point and recalibrate, as I'm pretty sure it was a few db hot! But my mic and/or sound card must have been wonky that day given the measurements I was getting.

Great job as usual Josh.

 

[Sepen]

Josh, great review. I wish I could have experienced what you did. You have easily become my favorite reviewer. Again, top notch writing.

 

[gotchaforce]

Great review as always

do you feel that this sub is amp limited? Like what would happen if you did a low shelf filter and an LG clone? Clean 110db into the 10hz i would expect?

 

[Ricci]

Great review as always

do you feel that this sub is amp limited? Like what would happen if you did a low shelf filter and an LG clone? Clean 110db into the 10hz i would expect?

Yes the amplifier seems to run out of gas before the drivers. This is smart as you don't want the amp to have the chance to mechanically mangle a driver. With 6 heavy voice coils sharing the heat dissipation load thermal issues should be nonexistent as well.

This subwoofer already has a huge boost built in which is similar to a shelf boost. It is flat to 13Hz anechoic which is ridiculously deep for a sealed system or any other for that matter. Normally when you place a subwoofer in room the low bass receives a healthy amount of boosting from the room boundaries which can help extend the bass response. In the case of the Sub2 with its extension essentially to almost 10Hz outdoors, I suspect that what happens with the Sub 2 in room is that the low bass below 30Hz gets heavily exaggerated so that when you run PBK, Audyssey or a similar EQ system the low end actually needs CUT back to restore a flat response. This in turn should lower the stress on the subwoofer at very low frequencies and in effect give it some extra headroom. Certainly it had no problems quaking my room.


Pbc,
I could tell you how I pulled off taking the Sub 2 to the spot for the outdoor testing all by my lonesome but then I would have to kill you. (Or maybe I'm WSM competitor.)

 

[Irvrobinson]

Amazing product. Excellent review.

 

[haraldo]

You can try to hide it Josh but you don't fool me.....

It shines through everywhere how you enjoyed this review
And how you would want to buy this sub, or even two of them

It bugs me though that you crossed over so high as 125Hz and with only one sub you should be having location issues, but I can see no remarks about this.

They never seem to pay attention to themselves and that's a really remarkable feat because this is a sign of an extremely well performing product as far as I know......

Are these subs overpriced, to me it doesn't seem like this, the sub 2 must be as close as you can get to the "buy them and forget about them" mantra...
Once you get these sub(s) in the door the never-ending upgrade dilemma will be forgotten about forever, I believe there would never be a quest to upgrade from a sub2, so with this as a backgrounder they should be a real good future proof investment.

From that standpoint the price tag is not soooo bad

Let us know try to convince our wifes, fiancées, girlfriends and so on about this reasoning

 

[3db]

To all you detractors ... I told you so!! This is a beast and it delivered on it's claims. If I had the funds, this would be the sub I would own and I would never look back.

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/subwoofers/59385-paradigm-unleashes-289-lb-monster.html?highlight=Paradigm+unleashes+monster

 

[haraldo]

To all you detractors ... I told you so!! This is beast and it delivered on it's claims. If I had the funds, this would be the sub I would own and I would never look back.

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/subwoofers/59385-paradigm-unleashes-289-lb-monster.html?highlight=Paradigm+unleashes+monster

Agree 5000%

Well, the Sub1 is half the price of Sub2, and I certainly believe it goes way beyond halfway the performance of Sub2

Found this image too:

 

[haraldo]

Some more info about the subs here:
http://www.stereofil.no/produkter/images/paradigm/sub.pdf

 

[the_phew]

Josh, can we expect a Sub1 review sometime soon?

The Sub2 is the flagship, but very few people can justify $9k for a subwoofer. The Sub1 includes many of the same technologies, at a still high but attainable price.

 

[detroit1]

I don't understand all the excitement about this
I would like to ask everyone to name 1 sub in history at 9K that wasn't good ?
If the Sub 1 is half the price; 2 of them will almost surely outperform 1 of the more expensive one plus the advantage of better bass in more areas and more balanced bass throughout the room

also, 2 SVS PB 13 ultra would cost $2999; 1/3 the price of the Sub 2 !!!!!
knowing that, why would someone buy this sub for 9K or any sub for 9K for that matter

 

[pbc]

I don't understand all the excitement about this
I would like to ask everyone to name 1 sub in history at 9K that wasn't good ?
If the Sub 1 is half the price; 2 of them will almost surely outperform 1 of the more expensive one plus the advantage of better bass in more areas and more balanced bass throughout the room

also, 2 SVS PB 13 ultra would cost $2999; 1/3 the price of the Sub 2 !!!!!
knowing that, why would someone buy this sub for 9K or any sub for 9K for that matter

Fit and Finish.

Backed by Paradigm.

One sub vs many.

Pretty small footprint.

Incredible performance.

Because, well, someone can?

 

[templemaners]

also, 2 SVS PB 13 ultra would cost $2999; 1/3 the price of the Sub 2 !!!!!
knowing that, why would someone buy this sub for 9K or any sub for 9K for that matter

Actually, 2 PB13's would cost $3998, which is not 1/3rd the price. Though, I agree with you that I think that you can do better for $9K worth of subs.

But, if people are so inclined to spend their money that way, what do I care? Paradigm obviously thinks there is a market for them - otherwise I doubt they'd continue to sell them.

 

[its phillip]

Actually, 2 PB13's would cost $3998, which is not 1/3rd the price. Though, I agree with you that I think that you can do better for $9K worth of subs.

But, if people are so inclined to spend their money that way, what do I care? Paradigm obviously thinks there is a market for them - otherwise I doubt they'd continue to sell them.

Actually 2 PB13s would be slightly less than that, since you get 5% off your second sub

 

[3db]

Actually 2 PB13s would be slightly less than that, since you get 5% off your second sub

Yes but they won`t be able to send you to the bathroom like this monster!!