The Paradigm Speaker Owners Thread

}Fear_Inoculum{

}Fear_Inoculum{

Senior Audioholic
You could always sell what you don't need. ;) I think you already know from here and AVS Forum that people seem to be split down the middle on Premier vs Prestige. As I get older I find myself leaning more towards more neutral or warm speakers but there are plenty that push the Prestige as being better. I agree that it would likely be more of lateral move but it's still fun to compare.
If these were the 95Fs, I'd be all over them. Even the 85Fs would probably be enough to make me buy them. 75F, I'm on the fence about.

Like you said though, I could sell what I don't want, but that involves more work on my end. Plus having to deal with the wife's displeasure. That alone is probably not worth the hassle :D
 
}Fear_Inoculum{

}Fear_Inoculum{

Senior Audioholic
I'm in a first aid course this week all week for work. Just out of chance, it's on the same block as the AV store that I've bought all of my Paradigm Speakers from. I've restrained myself from going in there all week, but today I had about a 1 hour break after my written exam this morning. So I made my way over there to check out the Founders speakers they have. All I can say is: wow (insert Homer Simpson drooling GIF here). Those are some damn nice looking speakers. Maybe next year..........
 
Eppie

Eppie

Audioholic Ninja
I'm in a first aid course this week all week for work. Just out of chance, it's on the same block as the AV store that I've bought all of my Paradigm Speakers from. I've restrained myself from going in there all week, but today I had about a 1 hour break after my written exam this morning. So I made my way over there to check out the Founders speakers they have. All I can say is: wow (insert Homer Simpson drooling GIF here). Those are some damn nice looking speakers. Maybe next year..........
I've been wanting to visit my local Paradigm rep as well, but they happen to have the 80F which is in my price range, so there's the temptation to get something new and shiny. The upgrade bug is hard to fight off sometimes. ;) After comparing the Monitor Audio Gold and JBL HDI-3600, though, I learned that my little Studio 20s will be hard to beat. Might be able to test the 80F in my home, which would be nice.
 
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keepr88

Junior Audioholic
Getting that itch again.....love my founders and avm70 but now looking to upgrade subs......anyone have or heard the monolith 13" thx ultra? Have the HSU VTF-3 MK5 HPs now. Would it be a step up or wud i need to go to the 16" monoliths??
 
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shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
Getting that itch again.....love my founders and avm70 but now looking to upgrade subs......anyone have or heard the monolith 13" thx ultra? Have the HSU VTF-3 MK5 HPs now. Would it be a step up or wud i need to go to the 16" monoliths??
The Monolith 13" would have more deep bass output and about as much mid-bass output as the VTF-3. The Monolith 16" would have a whole lot more deep bass and mid-bass output. The Monolith 16" is such an absolute monster.
 
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Danzilla31

Audioholic Spartan
The Monolith 13" would have more deep bass output and about as much mid-bass output as the VTF-3. The Monolith 16" would have a whole lot more deep bass and mid-bass output. The Monolith 16" is such an absolute monster.
I'm so fascinated with that Monolith 16... I'm getting tempted :D
 
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keepr88

Junior Audioholic
If it was 1 I'd have ordered it already....but u have to go duals and so it's at the very top of the budget.......damn gas prices! Lol
 
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Snuffie

Audiophyte
Hi everyone. I'm a newby here as a registered member but have been reading all the posts since I have the Founders 100F myself.

Up till now I have listened to music using the NAD T778. Now i'm planning to buy a stereo amp. Could be an integrated with a HT bypass or a poweramp. Not sure yet.

Cold use some new perspectives on what to do and suggestions on what would be a good pairing with the 100F's.

Thanks in advance.
 
Eppie

Eppie

Audioholic Ninja
Hi everyone. I'm a newby here as a registered member but have been reading all the posts since I have the Founders 100F myself.

Up till now I have listened to music using the NAD T778. Now i'm planning to buy a stereo amp. Could be an integrated with a HT bypass or a poweramp. Not sure yet.

Cold use some new perspectives on what to do and suggestions on what would be a good pairing with the 100F's.

Thanks in advance.
The T778 is already a very good AVR with decent amplification. 140W per channel should be enough to drive the 100F unless you have a very large room or like to listen at high SPL. Remember that a 3dB increase in SPL requires double the amplification so you would need around 280W per channel just to achieve a 3dB increase.

Members could probably use a few more details. Sounds like this is both a home theatre and music setup. Do you find something in particular is lacking when listening to music or do you just have the upgrade bug? Nice thing about the T778 is that it has a full set of pre-amp outs. You could add a beefy 2-channel amp for your mains and that will leave a little more headroom for the other channels as well.

If I was adding amplification I would lean towards a class-D amp using Hypex modules, like those made by ATI. Excellent specs and class-D is very efficient with much lower heat byproducts.

If you want to stick with NAD, Gene did a review on the excellent M23 here.
 
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Snuffie

Audiophyte
Thanks for the answer and sorry for replying so late. Phone broke down and had to get a new one. Budget wise not the best moment to have to buy a new one.

As I understand the T778 also has a Hypex on board. And maybe your right and I do have the upgrade bug but I am also looking for a different sound than the more ‘clinical’ sound of a class D. So I’m not sure the M23 is the right way to go.

I have been looking at some Rotel, Arcam and Musical Fidelity models. Any thougts on those brands and models?
 
Eppie

Eppie

Audioholic Ninja
Thanks for the answer and sorry for replying so late. Phone broke down and had to get a new one. Budget wise not the best moment to have to buy a new one.

As I understand the T778 also has a Hypex on board. And maybe your right and I do have the upgrade bug but I am also looking for a different sound than the more ‘clinical’ sound of a class D. So I’m not sure the M23 is the right way to go.

I have been looking at some Rotel, Arcam and Musical Fidelity models. Any thougts on those brands and models?
I'm in the camp that believes that most amps do not have a sound "characteristic". Manufacturers work very hard at achieving a super flat frequency response so most amps will sound the same. If they do not, something is wrong with an amp that colours the sound. What you gain with more power is dynamic headroom. That can clean things up a bit at high volumes. At moderate volume there should not be any difference. The 100F has a 90dB sensitivity, so not a particularly power hungry speaker but you can throw a lot of power at it.

You can achieve noticeably different sound by other methods. Speaker positioning and angles will have a much bigger affect than amp replacement. Maybe not what you want to hear considering the weight of the 100F. :) The room has a big impact too, like carpeting vs hardwood floors, side walls that reflect or absorb sound. Those things can be experimented with at little comparative cost. I assume the NAD has a bypass for room correction? Some prefer no EQ and just use the room correction for speaker distances. If you feel something is lacking, I would start with finding some really good quality recordings as a reference and see what you can achieve. Some material simply will not sound that great due to the mix or engineering.
 
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Snuffie

Audiophyte
I use Tidal so I think quality recordings should be available. Any suggestions on good quality recordings I can use?

I can turn off Dirac roomcorrection and see what can be done in the room to ‘change’ the sound.

Just hope the wife goes along with it

thanks for your advice!
 
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Eppie

Eppie

Audioholic Ninja
I use Tidal so I think quality recordings should be available. Any suggestions on good quality recordings I can use?

I can turn off Dirac roomcorrection and see what can be done in the room to ‘change’ the sound.

Just hope the wife goes along with it

thanks for your advice!
My collection has a lot of classic rock, so not the best examples. :) Depends on your taste as well. I have a few favorites in other genres, like Temple of Low Men by Crowded House. Great vocal tracks and the drummer uses brushes on a few songs, which is something to listen for. Ingenue by K.D. Lang also has some beautiful vocals if you like music on the mellow side. I'm a big Thomas Dolby fan and the album Aliens Ate My Buick is a great mix of pop and funk with some nice punchy bass lines. For progressive rock, most of Porcupine Tree's recordings sound excellent and their live stuff as well, like Arriving Somewhere and Anesthetize. Jazz is also a good test as the instruments are typically acoustic. I don't follow the pure jazz bands but Diana Krall for example has some great recordings. There is also a thread in the forums on good upright bass recordings here. There is a whole thread on classical music here. Paul Simon's Graceland has some a capella portions in songs like Homless that are good for evaluating vocals (the most important part of the hearing band). Some favorite live recordings are discussed in this thread.
 
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Snuffie

Audiophyte
Thomas Dolby…. I haven’t heard that name for quite some years. But I will sure have a listen. As to the rest of your suggestions

Thanks for all the advice. You sure live up to your ‘Audioholic Samurai’ status ;).
 
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keepr88

Junior Audioholic
Hi snuffed, as an owner of the 100fs how are you enjoying them? Any update on what you ended up doing? I have some outlaw amps running my front 3 and love my 100fs. Just curious on ur thoughts on them.
 
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Snuffie

Audiophyte
Still in love with my 100F’s. Even more so since I bought the Norma revo ipa 70b. Great amplifier. There are some reviews out there on this amp that you can read. I find that I can now listen for longer periods without getting fatigued.
Which Outlaws did you get?
 
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keepr88

Junior Audioholic
I'm using 3 of the outlaw audio 2220 monoblocks. I turned the volume up on the avm70 as loud as I could stand it listening to a song on 2ch music. The 100fs seemed like they were enjoying it. Put a smile on my face so I'm done upgrading for a long time. I'm in my happy place.
 
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Dhos4094

Audioholic Intern
I was set on the 100f and 90c but heard and found good deal on perlisten r7t. What should I do?
 
Cos

Cos

Audioholic Samurai
I was set on the 100f and 90c but heard and found good deal on perlisten r7t. What should I do?
Get the ones you like best! or the ones you can afford, not always the same thing. You already know my feedback lol.

Not really an apples to apples comparison, 10k vs 5k speakers. At least the bright side is that the matching center channels are about the same price
 
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Dhos4094

Audioholic Intern
Get the ones you like best! or the ones you can afford, not always the same thing. You already know my feedback lol.

Not really an apples to apples comparison, 10k vs 5k speakers. At least the bright side is that the matching center channels are about the same price
yeah I know for the r7t it’s a great deal 40% off couple hours of demo use.
 
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