Paradigm Persona,

[MarcT]

I am an amateur. I am not an expert.
My wife really likes the look of Persona 3f. She finds the color and styling appealing, and I find the sound quality excellent (at least, good enough for me), so that's why I got them. It should go without saying that tastes differ, but I don't think it can be said that Persona styling appeals particularly to one gender or another, or has a low or high WAF. For myself, I find it very difficult to accurately judge the quality of the finish on any product going only by an internet photograph. Things can look better or worse in real life, so if you haven't seen something in person, you probably don't really know exactly what that something looks like.
One question I have, considering 3F vs 5F, 7F, 9F. it seems to me the only differences between all of these is the woofers. All these models use the same tweeter and mid driver, right? So, only the woofers, and therefore the cabinets, differ. Of course, the 9F also has room correction and powered woofer built into the cabinet, which is admittedly a very big difference by itself. So, my thoughts are to have the 3f (which I bought used), add quality PC based room correction and 2 (or more) powered subwoofers of adequate quality, and hope to get as good or perhaps better overall system performance than one could get getting even the 9F's, for a lot less $$. In other words, you're going to buy those subs anyway, so why spend the extra money on the 5, 7, or 9F?
I am an amateur. I am not an expert.

I'd agree with your thoughts for your situation of using room correction and subs. In my case, I'm too old and too far behind on using those modalities, and have too little room for subs, so I tend to want big floor standers. And I'm aware of no local fellow audio guys who could help bring me up to speed on such matters, or even help me set up the programs.

As to the Persona floor standers, I see that the low frequency specs of the 5F are barely lower than the 3F. You have to get to the 7F to get markedly deeper bass extension, and I would consequently want to get into the 7F if I were to go with Persona. But then you are talking astronomical amounts of money. It seems like I could get as good, or better, low frequency performance with a nice used set of Revel F208 for ~$3,500.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I respect your experience and enjoy your reviews. Tho' I've owned a few excellent revel speakers I never went to their listening room nor been able to compare the 3f and 228be speakers in the same room or the same time so I probably need to consider that when posting my preferences.

I don't think you should hold back because, for the most of us most of the time, it is the same. Rarely do I get to hear a pair side-by-side (in which they are, of necessity, in different positions) and must usually suffer the relatively long interval it takes to swap them. Even more rarely, do I get to make a "blind" comparison. What we all must do is to be aware of the compromises and moderate our conclusions accordingly.

 

[Sal1950]

I am an amateur. I am not an expert.

Just like 90% of us here.

So, my thoughts are to have the 3f (which I bought used), add quality PC based room correction and 2 (or more) powered subwoofers of adequate quality, and hope to get as good or perhaps better overall system performance than one could get getting even the 9F's, for a lot less $$. In other words, you're going to buy those subs anyway, so why spend the extra money on the 5, 7, or 9F?

That's largely true but there is the issue of the extra/larger drivers providing the ability to play louder thru the lower mids/upper bass. In direct comparison to the larger units there will always be some limit on max SPL no matter how many subs you add. You will always need to take into consideration the room size and volume levels desired. Not saying the 3f's won't work out just fine for you, just pointing out there are limits to everything.

 

[JDragon]

But I also had the opportunity to have pairs of both the 228Be and the 5f in my living room and those observations are all consistent.

Curious, was room correction involved or just the speakers as is? Feels like all the positive reviews of the Paradigm speakers are with Anthem ARC as well.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Curious, was room correction involved or just the speakers as is? Feels like all the positive reviews of the Paradigm speakers are with Anthem ARC as well.

No and yes. I do my reviews mostly without EQ but I also listen with EQ. However, not Anthem ARC.

 

[steve59]

the dealer said he wasn't using roon eq with the pathos 50wpc int driving the 7f.

I saw a pair of 3f used locally I considered adding subs to make a poor mans 9h. Even paradigm's most affordable subs have ARC, but then a pair of 7f's show up at tmr for a little under $13k and the idea of not having to deal with subs is more appealing.

 

[stevenswall]

Dang, don't reveal his name !!


OUCH, Not saying the Paradigms are my favorite speakers but that's a pretty harsh rating? I've was very disappointed in the setup at the 2019 Tampa show, but their big 9's I gave top honors to in 2018.

Top honors for the wife acceptance factor? Sounds wise they may be great. Just too big I think for most non technical partners to appreciate them.

 

[Sal1950]

Top honors for the wife acceptance factor? Sounds wise they may be great. Just too big I think for most non technical partners to appreciate them.

Hi Fi & TV in the living room, and the car in the garage is my decision, the rest could be hers.

B B King sang,
"As long as I payin the rent and the bills
I'm payin the cost, to be the boss."

 

[stevenswall]

Hi Fi & TV in the living room, and the car in the garage is my decision, the rest could be hers.

B B King sang,
"As long as I payin the rent and the bills
I'm payin the cost, to be the boss."

So long as your partner has a living room, part of the garage, and choice for a car.

I'm more of the "equal partners" and diplomacy mindset, but sure, if partners consent to one being the boss in certain areas I'm not going to tell two consenting adults who gets to pick speakers.

 

[GTsmokeya84]

I picked up a Defiance X12 sub to pair with my 3F's and with a Rotel amp. Using the Arc for the subwoofer was easy and game changing. Not saying it will challenge 9H but be so damn good I cant help but smile no matter what I play now. Honestly I thought the Persona's were "picky" when i got them but I am glad I stuck with it. Nothing else compares for what I spent, and that's more than I should admit.

 

[yyzsb]

@GTsmokeya84 I like your taste in speakers. Can I get your advice on the Persona 3F's. Do you think they would fit in a treated room that was 13'x12'x9'. The length is a little longer with a removed closet door. Photos on the following link:

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/7605

 

[GTsmokeya84]

@GTsmokeya84 I like your taste in speakers. Can I get your advice on the Persona 3F's. Do you think they would fit in a treated room that was 13'x12'x9'. The length is a little longer with a removed closet door. Photos on the following link:

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/7605

I think you will be impressed. With the room being treated you can really appreciate them. A little over a year later I still find things impressive about them. For comparison I have the following speakers in my home now that I listen to on a regular basis.

Persona 3F
Kef R5
Kef R3 and the matching center
Paradigm Mini Monitor Atom
Paradigm Premier 800F and 200B
Kef LS50
Focal Aria 906 - Just sold those
Wharfedale Reva line - just sold.

So honestly I have had even more in my home recently so I can easily compare. Nothing comes close to the Persona's.

 

[steve59]

I bought a defiance sub and, not to be rude but if I was pairing with the performa's I would consider going up in quality, just a bit.

 

[GTsmokeya84]

I bought a defiance sub and, not to be rude but if I was pairing with the performa's I would consider going up in quality, just a bit.

No worry not rude at all. I paid 5k for my Persona's. So paying 1200 for a defiance sub was easier to swallow than buy the sub I really wanted. That being said when you have Arc turned off I do not care for the sub at all. With arc and crossover settings the way I want it sounds many times better and its like a different sub all together.

 

[steve59]

I think you got the 3f I was looking at. carbon black with black face?

 

[MarcT]

I've never seen a pair of 3F for $5K; you got a heck of a deal! They are asking $7500 for the set now available on us audiomart.

 

[GTsmokeya84]

I think you got the 3f I was looking at. carbon black with black face?

Mine are in silver, I would have paid more to get them in black. I bought a dealer demo. Sorry for the late reply I dont make it back here for a while sometimes.

 

[steve59]

I got to hear the 7f in the new building with 3 different sources and can say the new room is much more reflective than the old room and I could see where these personas are NOT plug and play, but need thoughtful placement. There's a song I like to use titled 'For someone special'. The Doobie brothers, The sax in that song is captivating and the persona tweeter makes it even more realistic. My concern would be that in a reflective room a forward balanced speaker will punish below average recordings.

 

[steve59]

Bump, I brought home the 7f last weekend. Going from the big meridians to these is a bit unfair and I did initially want to swap back, the 12 powered 8” woofers in them is hard to walk away from, but There’s something about the personas I like so I brought them home to figure it out.
The personas are connected to the Hegel h360 with a roon nucleus streaming tidal so I can get resolution up to 24/96. the hegel can drive these full range without any problem. Early days and I tend to gush over anything thats new and I need time to listen, but I don’t find them bright, detailed for sure top to bottom detailed bass lines, big kick drum, but I haven’t attempted to get that ‘room lock bass’ yet so balance is a little tipped up, like Nearly every other passive speaker I bring down here. if I can get the bass locked in here It’ll be worth talking about. Each speaker is 140 lbs and my equipment rack really sucks to move, but here goes. tbc.

 

[steve59]

If interested, the persona 7f in my 17’x27’x7’ room stud and drywall in front of 8” concrete. after 3 months I am thoroughly impressed with these and surprising to me is the bass. I figured with the Be mid and tweeter the bass would lag behind or something. I doubt anyone that tried the 7f would feel the need for the 9h unless the room is horrible . Front to back imaging is really something and I can hear mic spacing between tracks off an album, pretty cool. I guess I can understand why some find them bright since they reveal so much. I’ve always preferred speakers that have a dip around 3 kHz and while I have tinnitus the personas don’t bother it. Since I need bedroom speakers I’ll be selling or trading these for a pair of persona b and cash since I’m keeping the meridians the 7 f is overkill for a 2nd...Unless someone has $35k for those instead. The persona sound the same at 70 dB as they do at 90 which makes them easy to live with. Usually I find something about speakers in the first few months that breaks the spell something that makes them just another speaker with a different set of tradeoffs. My dealer recommended no toe in and no spikes and thats what I did. I wouldn’t pay list price for anything but -30% cash and I wonder what could beat them? ( I really like the salon 2 tweeter but top to bottom I think it may outclass The rest of the package). I wouldn’t suggest anyone with a complete hi rez system dump it to build a new one around the persona 7f, but someone looking to upgrade their old one or are starting fresh can get a great system that will perform as good as anything out there starting with these.