Paradigm Prestige 15B Review (bookshelf speaker)

[BYRTT]

A (hopefully not too dumb question):

Looking at this speaker and comparing it to say, the Revel M105, one thing that jumps out to me is that the sound power DI curves are relatively different, with the paradigm looking smoother overall. The Revel looks better on on-axis, listening window, and PIR, but has a much more pronounced dip in the sound power DI from 2-5 khz.

Could it be that paradigm is designing for this and/or prioritizing this over the on-axis response?

I lack the expertise to fully understand the trade-offs here (other than the relatively obvious more high frequency energy), but it seems like somewhere in there is an interesting discussion.

In my view Revel M105 looks much better voiced out of box compared to Paradigm Prestige 15B, should be clearly in below animation raw anechoic out of box verse a same EQ policy for both of them that Revel have baked their crossover filter string much closer to that ideal of whatever DI (directivity index curve) can dictate or say pull , probably it had cost multiple of expensive passive filter components to get there for Revel's engineers, in principle DI curve for Prestige 15B looks better than M105 but as Prestige 15B is voiced out of box it needs massive correction where M105 is so close to ideal and hard to improve using EQ..

Out of box Paradigm Prestige 15B verse Revel M105 static graphs side by side at same ratios should help study them..

 

[BYRTT]

Technically speaking:
According to the patent, the protective screen will elevate the frequencies between 5kHz -18kHz , as seen in the In-Room Response graph. The more the holes on the perforated region, the more even sound will be radiated. The region at the center of the screen (no holes) improves on and off-axis FR, showing very little difference when compared to conventional phase plug with abrupt edges.

With my Paradigm's, you don't need to toe-in the speakers. They are 8FT apart, 9FT from my listening chair.

Okay then forgive me joking a bit here .... that they "Technically speaking" missed bore a tons more of holes on the perforated region and probably need research if the no hole center need a few ones too, that is because the below comparison fact for two systems that have a very close same DI (directivity index curve) show another scenario of fact than that marketing so for DIY'ers get bored some supernice audiophile tweaking holes up there that said what could be missing for Prestige 15B to improve in tweeter domain could be some roundovers on front baffle and afterwards some new filter string work on crossover network...

EDIT directivity patterns below are normalized to reference axis (on axis)...

 

[Dennis Murphy]

So folks know what we are talking about:

Not as attractive, but more informative (Totem Sky Tower)

 

[Beave]

My not-even-two-cents-worth:

I'm a little surprised so many of you like the looks of these Paradigms. The walnut cabinets look fine, but I don't care for all the aluminum bling - specifically, the aluminum around the tweeter and the aluminum trim ring around the woofer. The woofer is already shiny aluminum; it doesn't need a shiny aluminum trim ring. Same for the tweeter. It's just too much for my taste.

As for Totems, practically every Totem I've seen measured has at least one, and often more than one, significant flaw - a huge port resonance, multiple cabinet resonances, crossover problems, etc.

As for Energy, they may still be making speakers under the Klipsch/Audiovox ownership, but I haven't seen any new models from them in over a decade. They made some good speakers back in the day, and at fairly reasonable prices, but I think their best days are long behind them.

 

[Dennis Murphy]

Yes, it is room mode in NRC's anechoic chamber. It has poor absorption when it comes to lower frequencies. My measurements are correct.

I've had some very frustrating personal experience with this issue, and it's actually more complicated than that. The bump at 100 Hz usually occurs with rear ported speakers. Many, and perhaps most, of the speakers tested at NRC don't show this bump, which pretty much rules out a room mode. I had a long email exchange with the NRC measuring engineer about the measurements I commissioned for a previous generation BMR. They were fine except for a 100 Hz peak that I was sure didn't really exist (and hasn't shown up on any subsequent 3'rd party measurements of the speaker). I never fully understood his explanation, but it dealt with the relative arrival times of the rear port and woofer response in the anechoic environment and associated phase interference and augmentation effects. The tests set me back $1700, and although they were useful to me as a designer, I could never publish them for fear that people would write the speaker off as a boom box. For the record, here's what I've been storing on my computer (I have no idea what the blank phase chart is all about):

 

[Beave]

The blank phase plot indicates that your speakers measured "off the charts."



(I'll show myself out now.)

 

[wjc]

Okay then forgive me joking a bit here .... that they "Technically speaking" missed bore a tons more of holes on the perforated region and probably need research if the no hole center need a few ones too, that is because the below comparison fact for two systems that have a very close same DI (directivity index curve) show another scenario of fact than that marketing so for DIY'ers get bored some supernice audiophile tweaking holes up there that said what could be missing for Prestige 15B to improve in tweeter domain could be some roundovers on front baffle and afterwards some new filter string work on crossover network...

EDIT directivity patterns below are normalized to reference axis (on axis)...
View attachment 107058

The sound power DI for the Paradigm looks very good off-axis with a slight excess energy around 1.3kHz-2.4kHz. It starts to get bright at 18kHz before falling off to 20kHz. IMO, Paradigm was aiming for a spacious sounding speaker if you are sitting off-axis < 30 degrees.

 

[Jdunk54nl]

The wrong picture is working for you Amir .

This was in my Google News "articles for you"

Also, this was the first time an asr thing was linked here.

 

[amirm]

The wrong picture is working for you Amir .

This was in my Google News "articles for you"

Well, I suspect the picture helps a lot more than hurt! I pleaded with my VP friend at Microsoft that runs part of Bing to work on better integration with forum software but it is hard to get them interested. While Google is better at searching and cataloging forums, it is still way too dumb. Often times it puts my reviews under the general discussion threads for example. And of course the silliness of showing page 2 in your google news.

Worst example of how dumb it is, is that it has never shown me an ASR link despite me reading Google news 10 times a day and searching for ASR info all the time.

 

[Davelemi]

I have the rose pair and they are gorgeous.They also sound great to my ears nearfield but with a few caveats- they’re DSP’d (Dirac); paired with a SVS SB2000; I can’t hear anything above 12k

 

[Billy Budapest]

Oleg explains..

Paradigm's Perforated Phase Alignment (PPA) Lenses

Reminds me of the funky driver cover on the Devialet Phantom. Not that they look exactly the same, but rather their emphasis on form rather than function.

 

[Rottmannash]

Well, I suspect the picture helps a lot more than hurt! I pleaded with my VP friend at Microsoft that runs part of Bing to work on better integration with forum software but it is hard to get them interested. While Google is better at searching and cataloging forums, it is still way too dumb. Often times it puts my reviews under the general discussion threads for example. And of course the silliness of showing page 2 in your google news.

Worst example of how dumb it is, is that it has never shown me an ASR link despite me reading Google news 10 times a day and searching for ASR info all the time.

I receive links to your reviews a couple times a week on average on my Google feed.

 

[A Surfer]

My analysis shows that the #1 speaker brand sold in all Canadian dealers/resellers is...Paradigm!
They are sold at 35% of all known resellers/dealers.

This is what we have to put up with?
I'm still waiting for at least one speaker from a Canadian company that's acceptable.

There have been several solid efforts. Energy before being acquired produced some pretty decent speakers that sold at reasonable prices. I bought a pair of Energy C5s (since sold to my brother who still has them) and they always impress me. Considering that new retail was $1000 for the pair and when the line was being cleared I managed to buy a set new for $499 I still think it was money well spent. This is but one example. I am a huge fan of and believer in objective data, but I also believe that even when a design deviates and becomes intentionally coloured, it can still sound wonderful, but that is certainly subjective. One person's food is another person's poison as they say.

 

[sweetchaos]

There have been several solid efforts. Energy before being acquired produced some pretty decent speakers that sold at reasonable prices. I bought a pair of Energy C5s (since sold to my brother who still has them) and they always impress me. Considering that new retail was $1000 for the pair and when the line was being cleared I managed to buy a set new for $499 I still think it was money well spent. This is but one example. I am a huge fan of and believer in objective data, but I also believe that even when a design deviates and becomes intentionally coloured, it can still sound wonderful, but that is certainly subjective. One person's food is another person's poison as they say.

I'm still hopeful, as I previously mentioned, about PSB.
I'd like Amir to measure my PSB Imagine XB bookshelves...but with closed-border (which rules out shipping from US forwarding office near the border) and shipping increases of 25% (to ship direct to US from Canada) that's been delayed indefinitely.

 

[amirm]

I'd like Amir to measure my PSB Imagine XB bookshelves...but with closed-border (which rules out shipping from US forwarding office near the border) and shipping increases of 25% (to ship direct to US from Canada) that's been delayed indefinitely.

Maybe I could drive up to the border and you do the same. Then you just throw it over the line! It is 3.5 hour drive for me. So if you put in some take out from your good Chinese restaurants, it would be worth the drive!

 

[sweetchaos]

Maybe I could drive up to the border and you do the same. Then you just throw it over the line! It is 3.5 hour drive for me. So if you put in some take out from your good Chinese restaurants, it would be worth the drive!

I can't tell if you're serious or not...

 

[amirm]

I can't tell if you're serious or not...

That is the charm of my writing....

 

[Doodski]

Maybe I could drive up to the border and you do the same. Then you just throw it over the line! It is 3.5 hour drive for me. So if you put in some take out from your good Chinese restaurants, it would be worth the drive!

The authorities are getting serious about those unfenced roads that run 3 feet apart on the Canada/USA border. You would probably be arrested under suspicion of being drug dealers.

 

[sweetchaos]

The authorities are getting serious about those unfenced roads that run 3 feet apart on the Canada/USA border. You would probably be arrested under suspicion of being drug dealers.

Can you imagine?
They'll be like..."What's inside the speaker? Take it apart!"

 

[Doodski]

Can you imagine?
They'll be like..."What's inside the speaker? Take it apart!"

I can imagine them boring a large hole in the side so they can insert their borescope and inspect the internals.