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Paradigm Persona,

joefig44

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I ended up ordering the 3F + C yesterday and take delivery next week.

My electronics are a Monolith 9x amp + Monoprice HTP-1 processor, but I also have an Anthem AVM70 I could use too.

Any feedback on how the Personas will pair with this gear and also if the HTP-1 vs. the AVM70 (which if course is Paradigm too) is better?
 

steve59

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Congratulations, the 3f once you position them right will have plenty of tight bass
 

Pdxwayne

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I ended up ordering the 3F + C yesterday and take delivery next week.

My electronics are a Monolith 9x amp + Monoprice HTP-1 processor, but I also have an Anthem AVM70 I could use too.

Any feedback on how the Personas will pair with this gear and also if the HTP-1 vs. the AVM70 (which if course is Paradigm too) is better?
Listen to both and select the avr that sounds best to you. Remember your room plays a big role too.

Anyway, congrats! I have Persona B and I really like them with a pair of Paradigm subs (with room eq capability).
 

joefig44

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Congratulations, the 3f once you position them right will have plenty of tight bass
What have you found as best positioning for them? My dealer had said 1' away from rear wall and side walls with a slight toe-in and I'll be fine.
 

joefig44

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Listen to both and select the avr that sounds best to you. Remember your room plays a big role too.

Anyway, congrats! I have Persona B and I really like them with a pair of Paradigm subs (with room eq capability).

Have you found a need to eq any high frequencies down at all?

I was just blown away by their sense of imaging and detail, mind-blowing compared to my Studio 60.

I also have had concerns about replacing my CC690 v5 with at minimum a comparable center, and I never actually listened to the Persona C, so I'd hope that will blow it away too if it sounds like the Persona 3Fs do over my Studios. Any thoughts?
 

steve59

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Mine are the 7f so pulled way away from the corners, like 5' from sides and 4' to the front wall leaves me 8' apart with articulate bass thats fast and clean
 

Pdxwayne

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Have you found a need to eq any high frequencies down at all?

I was just blown away by their sense of imaging and detail, mind-blowing compared to my Studio 60.

I also have had concerns about replacing my CC690 v5 with at minimum a comparable center, and I never actually listened to the Persona C, so I'd hope that will blow it away too if it sounds like the Persona 3Fs do over my Studios. Any thoughts?
No need so far. I sit about 10 ft away from my Persona in a big room. I also measured it about 9.5ft away with REW and the highs were not elevated (not like the elevated highs as measured by Soundstage). Maybe it is due to distance and the room.

The imaging and details are great. I can't go back to my Studio nor other speakers.

Oh, I don't know what to say about the center.....As I have been using small Studio and small Signature series center so far and haven't tried bigger center. But I am pretty sure you will like it a lot.
 
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joefig44

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Mine are the 7f so pulled way away from the corners, like 5' from sides and 4' to the front wall leaves me 8' apart with articulate bass thats fast and clean
Oh wow, I can't afford that much space. Would you have any experience re: how close to the wall you can have them before they start to change their tone?
 

joefig44

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Listen to both and select the avr that sounds best to you. Remember your room plays a big role too.

Anyway, congrats! I have Persona B and I really like them with a pair of Paradigm subs (with room eq capability).
Yes, I'll likely keep my AVM70 for a bit and do some HTP-1 comparisions since I have both.
 

steve59

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The personas are sensitive to first reflection points so if you can put diffusers at the first reflection points you should be able to make them work. The dealer had roxul in the corners and had the 3f pushed in 12×12" from the corners.
 

joefig44

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The personas are sensitive to first reflection points so if you can put diffusers at the first reflection points you should be able to make them work. The dealer had roxul in the corners and had the 3f pushed in 12×12" from the corners.
Hmm, diffusers eh? I have those GIK 24x48 6" thick 244 bass trap acoustic panels at all first reflection points (including the ceiling). It was recommended by GIK in my room, and now locked into those with the WAF so hoping they will be sufficient.
 

steve59

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I'm not the expert and every room is different.
 

joefig44

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Just wanted to revisit this months later after running the Persona 3F + C in my 5.2.4 setup.

First off, I find the 3Fs fantastic, but they did take a bit of work to get them to sound right - most of it was amp matching, but in the end was happy with either the Krell XD or the Anthem STR (with Parasound JC5 a close 3rd). I couldn't justify the Krell cost for it's sonic improvements so opted for the Anthem STR + MCA525 + MCA225 setup. Just so solid, smooth and powerful - pure power.

However, the one thing I've never been able to get right is the Persona C. In HT, as it carries most of the dialog, I hear this grittiness (I guess?) you could say or kind of almost like a different sound in the mids like a kind of wispy reverberation and it varies by content.
DTS movie tracks bring it out, and so do low male voices especially if doing commentary (sports, etc.) I can hear it in the mids and while I'm not running my center channel through my 3Fs of course, I have never really heard it on my 3Fs.
Maybe best I can describe it is in this narrow freq range where it comes up, it sounds like the dialog is being spoken through an intercom...but it's very subtle, but still there - like a metallic reverb.
Maybe another way to describe it is a bit nasally sounding on certain mid-range voices, again, like they're speaking through an intercom.
The JC5 plugged into my C seemed to diminish it a bit compared to the Anthem or the Krell.
Again, not sure if I'm just rationalizing it but it's like I envision the Be mid driver's metallic like sound, but like I said I don't really hear that on the 3Fs, only the C.

Side story: within a few days after buying the 3 speakers I was measuring the them with REW and noticed a big drop in SPL output on the C in the mid/tweeter xover range, while also measuring distortion in that range.
Paradigm took it into their lab and determined the xover was in fact faulty and swapped out the entire tweeter/midrange xover assembly.

I still wonder if what I'm hearing is some side-effect of that, but I don't really want to send it back to Paradigm just to have a look.

Anyone else with a Persona C notice something like this?
 
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Pdxwayne

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Just wanted to revisit this months later after running the Persona 3F + C in my 5.2.4 setup.

First off, I find the 3Fs fantastic, but they did take a bit of work to get them to sound right - most of it was amp matching, but in the end was happy with either the Krell XD or the Anthem STR (with Parasound JC5 a close 3rd). I couldn't justify the Krell cost for it's sonic improvements so opted for the Anthem STR + MCA525 + MCA225 setup. Just so solid, smooth and powerful - pure power.

However, the one thing I've never been able to get right is the Persona C. In HT, as it carries most of the dialog, I hear this grittiness (I guess?) you could say or kind of almost like a different sound in the mids like a kind of wispy reverberation and it varies by content.
DTS movie tracks bring it out, and so do low male voices especially if doing commentary (sports, etc.) I can hear it in the mids and while I'm not running my center channel through my 3Fs of course, I have never really heard it on my 3Fs.
Maybe best I can describe it is in this narrow freq range where it comes up, it sounds like the dialog is being spoken through an intercom...but it's very subtle, but still there - like a metallic reverb.
Maybe another way to describe it is a bit nasally sounding on certain mid-range voices, again, like they're speaking through an intercom.
The JC5 plugged into my C seemed to diminish it a bit compared to the Anthem or the Krell.
Again, not sure if I'm just rationalizing it but it's like I envision the Be mid driver's metallic like sound, but like I said I don't really hear that on the 3Fs, only the C.

Side story: within a few days after buying the 3 speakers I was measuring the them with REW and noticed a big drop in SPL output on the C in the mid/tweeter xover range, while also measuring distortion in that range.
Paradigm took it into their lab and determined the xover was in fact faulty and swapped out the entire tweeter/midrange xover assembly.

I still wonder if what I'm hearing is some side-effect of that, but I don't really want to send it back to Paradigm just to have a look.

Anyone else with a Persona C notice something like this?
I am kind disappointed with Paradigm's quality control. My Signature C1 also had issue with one of the crossover boards. Don't they do tests before shipping out?

Did you try using their website to ask for technical support yet?
 
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Pdxwayne

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Just wanted to revisit this months later after running the Persona 3F + C in my 5.2.4 setup.

First off, I find the 3Fs fantastic, but they did take a bit of work to get them to sound right - most of it was amp matching, but in the end was happy with either the Krell XD or the Anthem STR (with Parasound JC5 a close 3rd). I couldn't justify the Krell cost for it's sonic improvements so opted for the Anthem STR + MCA525 + MCA225 setup. Just so solid, smooth and powerful - pure power.

However, the one thing I've never been able to get right is the Persona C. In HT, as it carries most of the dialog, I hear this grittiness (I guess?) you could say or kind of almost like a different sound in the mids like a kind of wispy reverberation and it varies by content.
DTS movie tracks bring it out, and so do low male voices especially if doing commentary (sports, etc.) I can hear it in the mids and while I'm not running my center channel through my 3Fs of course, I have never really heard it on my 3Fs.
Maybe best I can describe it is in this narrow freq range where it comes up, it sounds like the dialog is being spoken through an intercom...but it's very subtle, but still there - like a metallic reverb.
Maybe another way to describe it is a bit nasally sounding on certain mid-range voices, again, like they're speaking through an intercom.
The JC5 plugged into my C seemed to diminish it a bit compared to the Anthem or the Krell.
Again, not sure if I'm just rationalizing it but it's like I envision the Be mid driver's metallic like sound, but like I said I don't really hear that on the 3Fs, only the C.

Side story: within a few days after buying the 3 speakers I was measuring the them with REW and noticed a big drop in SPL output on the C in the mid/tweeter xover range, while also measuring distortion in that range.
Paradigm took it into their lab and determined the xover was in fact faulty and swapped out the entire tweeter/midrange xover assembly.

I still wonder if what I'm hearing is some side-effect of that, but I don't really want to send it back to Paradigm just to have a look.

Anyone else with a Persona C notice something like this?
I wonder if the back ports' air movements of the Persona C could be causing something behind it to vibrate.

Is it placed close to something that could vibrate?

Try plugging the ports with cloths/foam, etc and see if that helps?
 
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ahofer

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First off, I find the 3Fs fantastic, but they did take a bit of work to get them to sound right - most of it was amp matching
An easier route would be to EQ the huge treble hump out with multiple shelves starting at 6-7kHz.


I found them impossibly bright, and zero toe-in didn’t help.
 
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