Paradigm Studio 100 v.3

[Eric]

<font color='#000000'>After a very deep GULP I decided to dive into high end loudspeakers. &nbsp;I was simply floored by the Studio 100 v.3’s performance during A/B tests against the Legend. What a vast improvement over my old Legends. It’s one of those “I never knew what I was missing” type A/B tests.

These guys aren’t quite as heavy as the old 100 v.2’s at 81 lbs each, but defiantly left burses on my arms from pulling them out of the car. The cabinets appear very well constructed. I had to thump on them! You can hear a change in tone when you’re over a baffle but other than that there were no weird noises or echo’s.

The weight of these units makes adjustment a bit cumbersome for one person; this is especially true after spikes are installed. Two folks would make things easier.

I’ve listened to these guys for three days now. Some of the media I’ve used in my DVD-2900 was:

Yes- Classic Yes – CD
Yes - 90125 &nbsp;- CD
Metallica –Reload –CD (got to break in the woofers ya know!)

The 100’s reproduced the dynamics of Yes with out a flaw. Normally, on my old Legends, the high frequencies get a bit tiring after a short time. The 100’s played without tiring my ears in the slightest.

The image is sharply defined and very deep. It’s as if you could reach into the sound field and tweak the signer’s nose. &nbsp;

The bass response of the 100’s was instantly evident when playing Metallica. The 100’s produce extremely clear and precise bone shaking bass.

Over the whole range the 100’s are very flat. As hard as I tried I could not hear any over emphasis of treble, mid range or bass. This seems to validate what I read: 44Hz – 22Khz +/- 2db (on-axis).

A few gripes:

The finish is a bit on the plane jane level. Not bad, just not as nice as some of Paradigms prior offerings in the Studio series.

The grille is made out of plastic with a complex wave like pattern over the drivers. Some math was done here (no doubt) but they are a bit flimsy.

There’s not a lot of room to tighten the nuts on the spikes.



I am very impressed that Paradigm has been able to produce such an outstanding loudspeaker and keep the price under control. At $2,200 the Studio 100 v.3’s are a fantastic value.

Give‘em a listen!</font>

 

[gene]

<font color='#000000'>Thanks for your mini review of the Studio 100vs's Eric. &nbsp;They do look like nice product and based on Paradigms past track record, I am sure they are good performers. &nbsp;One comment however, ditch the 90125 Yes album and replace it with &quot;Talk&quot; &nbsp;

&nbsp; IMO, &quot;Talk&quot; is some of their best modern stuff and most underrated.</font>

 

[Eric]

<font color='#000000'>Thanks Gene. Funny thing is I just looked and ‘Talk’ the other day and put it back in the shelf.  I’ll go pick it up again.

BTW:

Do you suggest the limited [import] edition ?</font>

 

[gene]

<font color='#000000'>Eric;

I wasn't aware of an import version? &nbsp;I have seen Talk at Circuit City for $2. &nbsp;How sad

&nbsp;People rather listen to 2 chord rock/rap so called music in today's MTV &quot;Real World&quot; mentality.</font>

 

[TjMV3]

<font color='#000000'>Thank you for this review, &nbsp;it was very helpful.

One thing, &nbsp;when you said they were flat, &nbsp;did you mean that the 100v.3's don't favour any one frequency range? &nbsp;The Highs, &nbsp;Mids and Lows are all distributed evenly, &nbsp;without one overwhelming, &nbsp;or over powering the other? &nbsp;Is that what you meant?

I'm still new to a lot of these terms used. &nbsp;So please forgive me.</font>

 

[Eric]

<font color='#000000'><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>

TjMV3 : Thank you for this review,  it was very helpful.

One thing,  when you said they were flat,  did you mean that the 100v.3's don't favour any one frequency range?  The Highs,  Mids and Lows are all distributed evenly,  without one overwhelming,  or over powering the other?  Is that what you meant?

I'm still new to a lot of these terms used.  So please forgive me.

Yes, that's right. The 100's don't appear to reproduce one frequency very much louder or softer than another.

Edit:
A better way to say this may be that the loudspeaker does what it’s told to by the amp without adding emphasis on a particular sound (unless the amp says to).


I've been listening to them for several weeks now and could not be more pleased.</font>

 

[TjMV3]

<font color='#000000'>Thank you. &nbsp;I'm seriously considering ...and leaning towards the Studio 100 V.3 !!!!

Just waiting on the sit-in-listen.</font>