Paradigm Monitor SE Atom Speaker Review

[Kaiju]

Another speaker review. Thank you amirm.

 

[thefsb]

My point of view of Paradigm is that they know the research. But they have also survived in the brutal speaker retail market for decades. As such, they have sacrificed some of what research says to compete on the showroom floor with likes of Klipsch. So not a surprise that the highs are accentuated.

Iiuc, this is analogous to trying to compete in The Pepsi Challenge. If the test is just a sip or two then statistically more people prefer the sweeter drink. The story changes if you give testers a suitable amount of time to enjoy a whole can in a way and context typical of how they might enjoy a can of soda.

 

[thefsb]

I wonder if speaker companies deliberately "mis-engineer" their low-end products to avoid cannibalizing on the market share of their higher-end products.

Market segmentation. I'm inclined to think that some do because it would be foolish not to. A local dealer has the whole Paradigm line and is well prepared to let you compare. Playing the speaker inside the budget you initially mentioned and then a more expensive one must surely be a good sales technique but only if the more expensive one is really likely to be more pleasing to the listener.

 

[Bear123]

I heard some youtube videos of this speaker and thought it sounded thin and bright.

Wait, what?

How can you "hear" a you tube video of this speaker? I see this often but have never understood how "listening to a speaker" on a you tube video, on your speakers, would in any way resemble actually listening to the speaker that is being played on you tube????

 

[tuga]

I wonder if speaker companies deliberately "mis-engineer" their low-end products to avoid cannibalizing on the market share of their higher-end products.

"Regular" consumers seems to have a slightly different taste in presentation too, and I wouldn~t expect them to be as demanding as audiophiles or pro consumers.

 

[Pdxwayne]

Is the freq response really that bad?

Would it actually work better for those who don't use eq, considering hearing sensitivity?

 

[beagleman]

I would think a rising high end, is helpful to most audio minded people.
Reality, I doubt most of us have good high end hearing anymore.

I know my hearing is not what it was even 10 year ago. I am mid 50s now and what sounds okay treble wise, 10 years ago would have been a bit too much.

I mean who exactly buys passive speakers now? Not younger people.

Maybe the rising upper end trend is tied in to the hearing of people over 45, who tend to be audiophiles??

 

[Bear123]

Is the freq response really that bad?

Would it actually work better for those who don't use eq, considering hearing sensitivity?


View attachment 95790

No, because every sound we hear in real life is already subject to our hearing sensitivity, and sounds correct to us.

 

[Dmitri]

I would think a rising high end, is helpful to most audio minded people.

I know my hearing is not what it was even 10 year ago. I am mid 50s now and what sounds okay treble wise, 10 years ago would have been a bit too much.

I mean who exactly buys passive speakers now? Not younger people.

Maybe the rising upper end trend is tied in to the hearing of people over 45, who tend to be audiophiles??

Interesting point. Certainly probably true with me. Yet bottom end speakers like the atom wouldn’t seem to be the market for older audiophiles unless they were downsizing?
Short term listening on a sales room floor might be equivalent to that TV at Best Buy set to Vivid. Sure stands out, but when you get it home...you realize that people aren’t actually orange. Well most people anyway....

 

[Ralferator]

Wait, what?

How can you "hear" a you tube video of this speaker? I see this often but have never understood how "listening to a speaker" on a you tube video, on your speakers, would in any way resemble actually listening to the speaker that is being played on you tube????

I simply watched some different sound demos. With my headphones, not with my speakers.

One of them made by a guy who makes different sound demos of different speakers. He puts the microphones pretty close to the speakers. So when some speakers sound rather neutral with this setup and then the paradigm sounds thin and very bright, then i make my conclusions. So i listened to other sound demos of this speaker on youtube and it sounded thin and bright again. So i conclude that it sounds rather thin and bright. (It could be of course, that in a bookshelf, close to the wall they sound fuller and that they are even designed for it?) Of course i can't really hear how the speakers sound like, but i can hear the tendencies. For sure it didn't sound fat and dark.

With this i predict that the JBL Stage A130 will measure pretty flat in the midrange, have a slight bass peak in the upper bass and a slightly uneven treble response, that's slightly rising and has some peaks but is not too hard on the ear and less bright than the Infinity R162. I thought that they sounded pretty nice, with very good midrange, nice but not very deep bass and ok but not the best treble - but all together balanced - just missing some deep bass.
Let's see if my guess is right, when Amir measures them.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Interesting. When I heard these after much hype, I thought to myself, "Did B&W start making speakers for Paradigm?" Also like B&W, I really liked the Paradigm of ~20 years ago.

Funny you should say that. Around that time period, a friend of mine was going through budget bookshelf speakers like candy, buying up all of the stuff at Magnolia Audio: B&W DM600, Paradigm Atom, Wharfedale Diamond... They all sounded pretty much the same to me, maybe with slightly different seasoning.

 

[Pdxwayne]

No, because every sound we hear in real life is already subject to our hearing sensitivity, and sounds correct to us.

Yeah, but I thought high freq drop off more than mid and bass when listening distance from the speakers increases? With typically listening distance of maybe 8 ft, a speaker measured flat at 3 ft would sound duller?

 

[Angsty]

Market segmentation. I'm inclined to think that some do because it would be foolish not to. A local dealer has the whole Paradigm line and is well prepared to let you compare. Playing the speaker inside the budget you initially mentioned and then a more expensive one must surely be a good sales technique but only if the more expensive one is really likely to be more pleasing to the listener.

I think it is actually quite difficult to make a low-cost, great-sounding speaker. Every penny has to be watched at the low-cost end. What's interesting to me is that I cannot think of a low-cost speaker that has much of an aftermarket for improved crossovers to get better performance from the drivers. My naive assumption is that a good crossover might cost as much as the rest of the speaker.

I mean who exactly buys passive speakers now? Not younger people.

That seems to be true to me. Powered speakers are easier to use and to acquire online, and to return if you are dissatisfied.

 

[beagleman]

No, because every sound we hear in real life is already subject to our hearing sensitivity, and sounds correct to us.

Then why do I notice, upper sounds sound duller to me, than they did say 10 years ago?
I mean I am acutely aware I can not hear upper frequencies as well as I used to.......Speakers I used to reduce the treble about 2.5 db, I now can listen to at -1db and they sound correct to me, on music and pink noise....

 

[Robbo99999]

Sorry but I don't understand this - wouldn't the sound you hear on youtube depend on the mic used to record the speaker, and more importantly the speakers you are using to listen to the video?

I suppose you could get something out of it if you had a set of great speakers that were EQ'd horizontally flat at your listening position (ie no Harman Curve downslope) - you might be able to get some tonality out of it, but there's loads of variables at play on the side where the person recorded the speakers....I wouldn't imagine it's worth much for creating impressions.

 

[Kachda]

I suppose you could get something out of it if you had a set of great speakers that were EQ'd horizontally flat at your listening position (ie no Harman Curve downslope) - you might be able to get some tonality out of it, but there's loads of variables at play on the side where the person recorded the speakers....I wouldn't imagine it's worth much for creating impressions.

Still cannot control for the mics used for the recording, and any compression applied by youtube.

 

[Ralferator]

Sorry but I don't understand this - wouldn't the sound you hear on youtube depend on the mic used to record the speaker, and more importantly the speakers you are using to listen to the video?

Sure but if on all different videos that i listen to, the speakers sound thin and bright, then there is a big chance that they sound thin and bright in reality. Also one of the guys who makes speaker sound demos showed a lot of other speakers too so i have a comparison. I listen with headphones and i know how they sound so i can guess and at least hear a tendency.

 

[temps]

I've been running an older floorstander version of this for years. Can definitely vouch for the high end - it is very hyped. Running calibrations is hilarious - compared to my Martin Logans, it sounds like the Paradigms have response to 100,000hz. The sweep just goes on forever where the MLs roll off much earlier.

I think the Paradigms are vastly better than the more common big box retailer speakers you'd get in the same price bracket. The aesthetics sans grille are fantastic.

 

[GimeDsp]

I've been running an older floorstander version of this for years. Can definitely vouch for the high end - it is very hyped. Running calibrations is hilarious - compared to my Martin Logans, it sounds like the Paradigms have response to 100,000hz. The sweep just goes on forever where the MLs roll off much earlier.

I think the Paradigms are vastly better than the more common big box retailer speakers you'd get in the same price bracket. The aesthetics sans grille are fantastic.

View attachment 95883

Those look great! and it the tweeters have a solid phase plug too.

 

[Robbo99999]

Still cannot control for the mics used for the recording, and any compression applied by youtube.

Yup, those are just a couple of things included under "loads of variables at play on the side where the person recorded the speakers" that I mentioned.