Paradigm?

[Deines]

Hello,
It's great to finally join the board I've been reading for two months.
So I've been demo-ing entry level hifi speakers, and most recently I listened to some Paradigm Reference Studio 100's. Long story short, I thought the sound was aweful. They definitely had a great sound stage, there was just no bass player on that stage. I felt confused and didn't want to tell the sales person what I thought. The speakers are not that cheap, and the sound came across as hollow to me with great details in the highs and upper mids but inaccurate bass and low mids. Perhaps it was my c.d. or my ears, but does anyone have any other ideas.
P.S. I did try some 600 series B&W's and was please with those.

 

[jcPanny]

Speaker Audition

Those paradigm studio speakers are pretty high end. One of the qualities of good trasparent speakers is that they can reveal a poor quality recording or other source components. I think that the B&W 600's are in a lower price and performance range than the paradigm studios so maybe the room and setup were also a factor.

Obviously, you should pick whatever sounds best to your ears on your systems.

 

[FierceTIMbo17]

Well my father has some paradigm sudio 100's v2 i believe but anyway hes is running them with and oldschool adcom 2 chan. and i have been nothing but impressed with them. The bass i feel is not only accurate and true sounding but definatly there. Possibly it was the cd because good speakers, much like was said reveal bad quality music. Any mp3 burned cds or old cds that have not been remastered sound bad, i would give them another shot with a cd you know it good, music that you like bring it in and give it a listen, but in the end like was said its what you ears like and also what your wallet can afford

 

[AVRat]

Deines, my perception of the Studios was similar when powered with a McIntosh amp and good bass demo material, however I really like the Signature line and my in-ceilings perform admirably. It's all in the ears.

 

[Rickster71]

I'd check the bass and treble settings at the source, and give them another audition. Perhaps try other CD's?
If possible, try another dealer. Maybe their listening room is set up better?

It almost sounds like they were wired out of phase.

I first bought the Signature S-4's and loved them so much, I got the S-8's also. (Or I should say... my wife let me get them)

 

[Deines]

I would guess that you guys are right about the conditions of the room/system effecting the speakers. Although maybe Paradigms just aren't for me. You know I did demo some Quad L series speakers recently and I fell in love The 22L towers have the best imaging of any speaker I've heard, and the 11L monitors at half the price of 22s were almost as dynamic. I was in that listening room for over an hour. I should mention that the Quads were running off Parasound's Halo system - solid state never sounded so good.

 

[krabapple]

I would guess that you guys are right about the conditions of the room/system effecting the speakers. Although maybe Paradigms just aren't for me. You know I did demo some Quad L series speakers recently and I fell in love The 22L towers have the best imaging of any speaker I've heard, and the 11L monitors at half the price of 22s were almost as dynamic. I was in that listening room for over an hour. I should mention that the Quads were running off Parasound's Halo system - solid state never sounded so good.

It's possible you were standing/sitting in a bass 'null' point in the room, where you auditionmed the Paradigms. Did you move around and find that the bass
got any better?