You're one of few who aren't afraid to show speakers for what they are, I'm very happy when you find ones that are good and might benefit from a little tweaking, and a little sad when you find ones like these Paradigm, but it helps us customers and hopefully make some manufacturers rethink, Thanks.
A modder is only as good as he "hears." Don't assume someone has good evaluation, or so called golden ears unless you've heard their work yourself, and if you can "hear" and have so called real "ears." It isn't necessary to spend big money on equipment or mods. I have reasonably priced vintage gear, highly modded by myself. I do have a nice big room and I use nothing but great cables. In fact I have paid more for some of my cables than some of my equipment. There weren't any real good cables back when I started around 1980. Randall Research TX Flex was about the only one which stood above; some say Petersen Litz cables weren't bad. Even Randall Research for how clean and full of color its timbre was, seriously lacked in certain ways, like spatiality and focus. Like if your cartridge azimuth is slightly off But cables went from an afterthought to become something to be seriously considered; something that could greatly affect the sound. More advances have been made in cables than anything else I think. I've gotten 50 or 60% improvement with some expensive speaker cables. Funny that of all things people call snake oil, its the one thing that has advanced the most and offers the most in home trials. No one ever accused audiophiles of being very rational or logical.
Teach them Teacher! You have done a world of service to consumers. Now the influencers are pissed because more consumers want to see what they are they are getting for their money.
Yes, influencers get pissed off because Danny has balls to tell criticism about the same speakers they were paid for and raved like crazy. Also he is laying bare their technical ignorance….
This is why I always just start from scratch, choose my own drivers, my own crossover components, and build my own baffles, been doing it for 50 years and I'm not aware of any commercially built speaker I would have any interest in. Sometimes you just need to tell the person that sent you the speakers that they need to put them on ebay and then you build something for them. I've seen enough of your videos to know that you know what you're doing so in a case like this, you just have to do what you're doing, be honest with them and tell them there is nothing to work with here. Keep up the good work, you provide a lot of good information and help a lot of people find their way to better sound.
Paradigm was sold to an investment firm in Minneapolis years ago after Scott Bagby sold it. It began to change...now Scott and his son own it again and the new products are great.
@@drazenbabich I don't know what Paradigm has on the drawing board but the Prestige was released in 2015, perhaps there will be a version 2 with better parts due to the new ownership?
Excellent video Danny. Thank you for showing that more money paid does not equate to more value or more performance. Your shirt says it all about these Paradigms and so many others. Same cheese, higher price points. I'm so grateful for your efforts and guidance, Danny. I'm a big X-LS Encore fan here and enjoy mine every day. Cheers!🙂
Thank you for the video! Your style of video is very appreciated with explaining complex parameters in a very clear way. Besides, love the Danish accent! We got Copenhagen just 70 km from us. Greetings from Ystad, skåne.
I must say. Danny is spot on about stepping up in price. It doesn't mean quality increases. But, you have to know a companies history. $5,000.00 at GR Reaserach, Madisound, KEF, Creative Sound Soulutions, and maybe even Parts Express. Will buy you $10,000-15,000. or more commercially. We can argue parts quality, but there is no reason for sloppy cabinet construction, electrolytics used at all (unless in impedance compensation). Plated tin or brass connections anywhere! Nothing but solid copper or silver should be seen at that price point. Tight tolerance film caps, preferably film & foil, of any dielectric . If not tight tolerance, at least matched caps, etc. I would suggest a future show if it hasnt already been presented. That measures the components in the crossover to ascertain how far the measurements are off from each other in a right and left stereo crossover set.
I really appreciate everything this channel is doing. And it's depressing seeing speakers at such a high price and still needing work. Thank you for now my Addiction for speakers is done and over. .I'm just going to be happy with what I got and stop collecting and buying
Hey Danny, firstly I 100% agree on your comment about getting a kit. XLS encore kit sitting in my basement waiting for me to build a cabinet, now I have to stick up for Paradigm (Canadian and all ) the tested speaker is a discontinued mid range speaker, last price was $2749 Canadian each (edited to indicate individual price) so under $4000 us per pair. (edited to reflect corrected individually price) Excited to compare the XLS to my Paradigms. Keep up the good work.
@@cruzzeaudiochanel2581 that's to be expected from what we've seen. Even the $10K Wharfedale's Elysian 4 speakers have the same quality networks as their much cheaper Diamond & Evo towers.
I'd much rather spend $5K on your Bully kits. I haven't heard it in person, but Ron's Sound Shed source-speaker demos are the most accurate I've ever heard.
Without a doubt the Bully's reproduced the source more identical to the original than anything he has ever recorded, and just about anything I have ever heard.
A fine example of what I've always said. Price is no guarantee of either performance or quality. Sure there's a statistical general trend. But that does not translate to individual speakers or drivers. Just because a tweeter costs $350 does not necessarily mean it will spec, measure, or sound better than all $60 tweeters.
This makes me think of cars. Aftermarket modifications are a huge industry to take a car you love and make it better. To MANY customers, spending $10k upgrading a car is far more preferable than buying a stock car that’s $10k more expensive. GR Research is the Edelbrock or Garrett turbo of speakers.
This man knows whereof he speaks, and it's a very good comparison. A more expensive car is likely to be a heavier, less responsive car, not necessarily with a higher power to weight ratio. Better shocks and adjustable anti-roll bars, perhaps a slightly different cam, can transform a car. I actually advanced the cam in my CRX, reducing peak horsepower but adding plenty of torque down low, dramatically improving drivability. Making the rear sway bar adjustable, increasing rear roll stiffness by 7%, dramatically improved handling. It all cost me less than $100 and made the thing a pleasure to drive. Money well spent. So yeah, this is an excellent comparison.
@@mikearsenault8535 Researching before you buy is definitely important. And everyone has different tastes. I am very impressed with my Andrew Jones DBR 62s, but some people think this reference speaker is boring. It's all about taste I guess. I play real instruments, so I love the sound of Andrew Jones speakers. They are clearly a better speaker to me. But that's just me!
The Paradigm 95F speakers are discontinued. The Stereophile Review mentioned in the video was done in 2015, but not sure when the speaker was introduced. Might be interesting to get one of their current models, but not many people are going to buy a brand new speaker and then upgrade it. Some will, but not many.
Well said Danny ! my grandpa was an audiophile and warned me in 1986, when i wanted to buy my first serious hifi system, for the same sh.t . bad cabinets, cheezy filters and loudness curves as he called it. I guess this marketing strategy still works.
Nice review. Unfortunately at most retail stores 4k to 8k suggested retail for a floor stander does not go very far today. And completely agree with the comments that many audiphiles have this thought about spending more cash yields a better speaker. So seldom is that hypothesis actually true.
Well I am glad you reviewed these. I own the 85F with 55c prestige center channel that I bought few years ago for home theater at a big discount. it will likely suck as in parts. I was thinking of sending you center channel for upgrading as voices are not as clear, but probably not worth it, huh?
@@fonkenful if this speaker retailed for 5k…dealer cost might be 2500 at most…Canadian labor is pricey…so it freight and packaging…marketing…i think they needed to cut corners on parts not visible
We can easily understand exactly why DIY Speaker Designs are so very popular. When there is more hype than performance in Contemporary Speaker offerings many serious Audiophiles would much rather spend money and time in DIY rather than in overpriced products of suspect quality.
EXACTLY! I recently gutted out 2 different pairs of vintage Infinity monitors that had mint condition cabinets, but nothing else worth keeping. After a lot of research and reading reviews from happy DIYers, I purchased all new drivers for both pairs from Parts Express, I ordered all mounting and wiring hardware and awesome crossovers from Danny at GR Research. I did spend a descent amount of money when all was said and done but for what I spent versus speakers in the 5K to 10K range, these will absolutely outperform and simply stomp anything out there in that price range. I have critical listeners come over and they are blown away. For both pairs out the door I spent around 2K for everything, new drivers, crossovers, wiring, binding posts, mounting hardware and internal damping and bracing and they will rival or outperform speakers at ten times the price.
@@vegaslimoguy2376 yep as an experiment I had an old pair of KLH Model 32 speakers an inexpensive 2 way design with an 8” woofer and a cone tweeter. For 💩 and Giggles I replaced the iron core inductor with a similar value air core inductor and replaced the single capacitor with a higher quality cap. I added a brace inside the cabinet which was pretty solid and well made back then and added some dense insulation and resealed the cloth surround and it sounds really nice for a 51 year old speaker. I was pleased with the results of my efforts and experiment. It wasn’t really DIY but I can see why DIY is so satisfying and an appealing option that more audiophiles with even some basic skills could easily tackle.
A potential fix: 1. miniDSP Flex with balanced outputs + DIRAC room correction + mic (~$849) , 2. 2 x Topping B100 ($598), 3. 2 x Topping B200 ($1,198), + No-Res. Alternatively, scrap the box and implement a flower array with PVC pipe and acoustic fiberglass, which is where the 4 x woofer are arrayed about the tweeter at 90 degrees to each other. Driver distance is minimized, while directivity is optimized.
Corporate greed and consumer ignorance always amaze me. Paradigm is no longer the company it was. People offer unearned loyalty to these brand names. Keep on keeping them honest Danny!
@@johndavidson5075Paradigm is privately owned again by the original owner and his son. Hopefully they use better parts now. Their top end speakers sell for over $40,000 a pair.
One of the stereo stores that I have had a relationship with for over 40 years, had Paradigm speakers for a while. I never really got into the sound they offered. There were other brands that seemed to me, closer to accurate.
Stereophile's guy that did the measurements was surprised the person listening didn't notice the bix resonances, and as well how poorly it measured. He was confused especially as he knew they had tons of expertise and equipment at that company to do better.
very nice video sir, I appreciate when you call out these larger companies and their lackluster performance and parts quality. Maybe eventually more companies will be stepping up their game in fear of looking bad.. which they absolutely should! It’s awful to see well-known Speaker companies pulling this crap 💩
Danny, perhaps something to consider... you don't make a speaker quite like that, but this customer (and others) want speakers like this. It would be awesome to see a speaker with the new Neo 3 waveguide / back cup and an M165NQ driver... with 2 or 3 M165 drivers inline under it. A "regular", multi-driver, narrow baffle box speaker that will move air - and Done Right. Better yet, make it an MTM. Some people want a "tower of drivers" and they don't want / can't do Open Baffle. Could be a chance to make those people happy, and show outfits like Paradigm, et al., how to do it "The Right Way".
@@Kiwi_Col Yes, Danny does make a great range of speakers. I own several of his 2-ways and have visited his shop. Nothing quite like this exists. The LGK 2.4 Tower is a slim multi-driver speaker... but it's a different thing too. The Old School series is not the same thing either. It's hard to make speakers to satisfy everyone, but I suspect Danny's take on this kind of design would both sound great and be very popular.
@@mcgovernjimmyi believe he’s working on this new line with the launch of the NX-Bravo, we should see the release of the new centre speaker soon and perhaps the re release of the N3 tower
I sold my Paradigm studio v5 to upgrade to the Paradigm prestige new line, what à mistake I did. The tweeter was getting on my nerve, to crisp and clear. Sold them and went with Bryston model T 's and they are warmer and nutral sounding, alot more to my listening taste, and better match to my Bryston amps.
Good video, looks like you have a lot of knowledge of improving crossovers and such. What I wonder about a 2-way asymmetrical crossover, is it most common to have a steeper crossover slope on high pass or on low pass? For example 18dB/oct lowpass and 12dB/oct highpass, or 18dB/oct highpass and 12dB/oct lowpass. What is most common and why?
The Studio 20, 40, 60 and 80 V2's were very good speakers in their day. Im pretty sure the crossovers were built with in-expensive parts but they all measured very well. I don't know anything about the V4 series.
@@CashGravel I still have the 20 v2, the matching center and 2 v40's - one in standard ebony and the other with the incredibly attractive mahogany side panels. All in storage. I'm going to post them on CL and AVS classifieds someday.
I know how you feel Dan. My wife had the same reaction when she found out my touted 8 actually measured 6.5 from tip to tail. That said, this is a "ball earth" speaker. There is NOTHING that can be done. A less honest businessman would have sold you 10 sheets of Norez and tube connectors out the wazoo. But not Danny and that's why we keep coming back for more... MOOAAAAAARRR!
Especially helpful when you showed their own in-house measurements matched your measurements in the frequency domain. Surprising that a company would ship this speaker while publishing such a poor average power spectrum. Would be interesting to understand the culture behind that decision.
What´s going on here, this is what Thomas J. Norton @ Stereophile writes in that exact review 🤔 The Prestige 95F offers a ton of value and performance. While it may not satisfy all listeners, that could be said of any speaker at any price. But I strongly recommend that those looking for speakers in this price range give the Paradigm Prestige 95F a serious audition.
I heard some Studio 100s in the early 2000s, they sounded amazing. Later when I could afford them, around 2011ish, I bought a set of Studio 80s without auditioning them first, I mistakenly assumed they would sound similar if not better. Absolutely horrible! I felt like a criminal when I sold them. I think Paradigm is targeting the hearing impaired during the mid 2000s. Also, in the early 2000s, I bought a set of Model 9s at a garage sale for $22. They sounded great, I think they were from the mid 1990s.
Sometimes the marketing team hits a home run when the engineers are stranded on first base! Honestly, sometimes I read the fluff for speakers and wonder who wrote it! I just wonder what other speakers did the buyer audition against these to buy the Paradigms!
I’ve never been a fan of paradigm. They are real hesitant to send review samples to review their speakers and this is the reason why. I hope paradigm watches this video. The guy who owns these is going to be pissed when Danny tells him these are junk.
I guess my question vis-a-vis the other reviewers is why did your customers buy these speakers in the first place? Were they happy with them at the time? Did they cross shop extensively? Did they inherit the speakers? If they were happy with the speakers when they bought them, what changed? Many reviewers are helping people to decide what to buy now. Not to correct already existing speakers. I think it might have been possible for you and other reviewers to be on the same page if the manufacturers would be transparent about what's inside their speakers in the first place. Not many reviewers are going to be allowed to tear down speakers even if they wanted to. So you're providing an after purchase service and they're providing a before purchase service. Fundamentally different. There is some blending as your reviews may shy people away from certain companies. But that might not even be fair as who knows what paradigm's recent models actually look like. Some manufacturers do provide photos of their crossovers. Would be good if they all did
@@dannyrichie9743 so without listening to them first? Did he think you are some kind of insurance policy in case they performed poorly? I wouldn't buy speakers without either demoing them first or buying from a place with a decent return policy. I imagine this person was able to check out the stereophile review so why he bought them is a mystery to me
@@dannyrichie9743 what would your advice have been if he asked you for your opinion before he bought the speakers? Just knowing what you know from stereophile. Was their review a red flag?
Umm, no, they really weren't. A lot of the same guys who praised the Studios and Signatures from years prior were very lukewarm in their reviews but you had to see the old reviews to know that. The prestige was never truly well received and was the result of a design done after the original owner sold the company. The Founders series designed and manufactured after the original owner bought the company back is vastly better. Don't know what the crossover over looks like or how it measures but you don't have to to hear the difference.
Before my question i want to thanks you for your channel,,,i want to know what do you think about the martin logan xt f100 speakers ...thanks ... Pedro from Quebec , Canada.
Shin Jitsu audio. I’ve been looking at their videos and products and I thought of you, Danny. Not sure if you are familiar with their designs, but the guy seems to have some interesting ideas. Wonder if you’ve ever encountered any of their speakers
The consumer is really being deceived, well, there are these tests that this gentleman does, showing what really happens in this world of snake oil and greedy liars.
How come you do not offer a speaker kit like that? I know you have the nx oticas which are OB hybrids, but never a speaker like the x-ls encores but in a tower design...
Those are discontinued. I own the Premier series. They are great. Really great. I'm sitting in front of a pair of CSS's with bass module on an Akitika with topping D30pro DAC. This is my most listened to setup. I know what flat, clean, and adequately detailed sounds like. I'm telling you, my paradigm premier 800F's on my Avenge A6A are better. Even better when paired with the monolith subs. I keep hoping GR does like a Black Friday or something. I want to build a pair for Bully's for my shop but 3700.00 is a lot o spend on sound for a workshop. I need like a half off coupon though...
You need to show the failures as well as the successes to show people that you're not just out there to make a buck. Sometimes it's just not worth it. One of my favorite speakers was the Polk LSi9 and I was disappointed that you also passed on that one but it made me think about what you said. On the other hand, you praised the LSiM 703 calling it "legit!" and I couldn't agree with you more. Never should have sold them. 😟
95% of the owners will put these speakers in modern room with little to no sound treatment and a lot of hard surfaces. I'm pretty sure Paradigm knew that so they made the frequency response look like that to accommodate. If you stay with paradigm/anthem for amplification they have room correction ready anyway
Many of the best speakers in the world are two way designs. There’s no correlation between the amount of Loudspeakers and a guarantee of good performance sonically. A good quality two-way will walk all over a poorly designed and manufactured five-way. it’s far more difficult and challenging to design the crossover network and adding more drivers complicates the problem further.
Some reviewers are too arrogant for my liking, and think they know better than professionals with far more experience, and have listened to better designed speakers than what that particular 'reviewer' has. To criticise something you have never experienced is foolish, as is to ignore the reason why people send their speakers away in the hope of getting what they thought they had paid for.
Only thing worse then opening up that $5000 speaker and finding a grilled CHEESE sandwich was opening the hood of a 1977 Camero Z28 and finding an Oldsmobile 350 V8! They actually did that on some of them. They ran out of Chevy 350's!
@@photoguybrian No kidding. I'd always heard it was the Z28 that got a few Olds engines in them but it was a long time ago and I probably read it in some magazine. Anyway, I sure hope it wasn't the Trans Am as those came with 400 and 455's during the mid-70's.
You're one of few who aren't afraid to show speakers for what they are, I'm very happy when you find ones that are good and might benefit from a little tweaking, and a little sad when you find ones like these Paradigm, but it helps us customers and hopefully make some manufacturers rethink, Thanks.
"little" but not cheap
His purpose for showing us this is to steer us towards his own lines of semi DIY speakers. And I have to admit, he does have a nice lineup.
A modder is only as good as he "hears." Don't assume someone has good evaluation, or so called golden ears unless you've heard their work yourself, and if you can "hear" and have so called real "ears." It isn't necessary to spend big money on equipment or mods. I have reasonably priced vintage gear, highly modded by myself. I do have a nice big room and I use nothing but great cables. In fact I have paid more for some of my cables than some of my equipment. There weren't any real good cables back when I started around 1980. Randall Research TX Flex was about the only one which stood above; some say Petersen Litz cables weren't bad. Even Randall Research for how clean and full of color its timbre was, seriously lacked in certain ways, like spatiality and focus. Like if your cartridge azimuth is slightly off
But cables went from an afterthought to become something to be seriously considered; something that could greatly affect the sound. More advances have been made in cables than anything else I think. I've gotten 50 or 60% improvement with some expensive speaker cables. Funny that of all things people call snake oil, its the one thing that has advanced the most and offers the most in home trials. No one ever accused audiophiles of being very rational or logical.
Teach them Teacher! You have done a world of service to consumers. Now the influencers are pissed because more consumers want to see what they are they are getting for their money.
Yes, influencers get pissed off because Danny has balls to tell criticism about the same speakers they were paid for and raved like crazy. Also he is laying bare their technical ignorance….
Some manufacturers build for aesthetics and not acoustics. This is a big example of that. Great analysis, Danny!
I think they are ugly.
Danny overlooked a CRUCIAL element of these speakers; those woofers are REALLY shiny!
😆😆 Shiny isn't always bad though. Look at Triangle.
This is why I always just start from scratch, choose my own drivers, my own crossover components, and build my own baffles, been doing it for 50 years and I'm not aware of any commercially built speaker I would have any interest in.
Sometimes you just need to tell the person that sent you the speakers that they need to put them on ebay and then you build something for them. I've seen enough of your videos to know that you know what you're doing so in a case like this, you just have to do what you're doing, be honest with them and tell them there is nothing to work with here.
Keep up the good work, you provide a lot of good information and help a lot of people find their way to better sound.
Paradigm was sold to an investment firm in Minneapolis years ago after Scott Bagby sold it. It began to change...now Scott and his son own it again and the new products are great.
Yes back in Canada 🇨🇦
how long ago was it sold? when was it bought by the Canadian company and are they an 'investment company' too?
@@drazenbabich I don't know what Paradigm has on the drawing board but the Prestige was released in 2015, perhaps there will be a version 2 with better parts due to the new ownership?
Should we blame the GREEDY Investment firm??? Or, the GREEDY Owners selling their business selling to Private Equity? I blame the owner.
@@astrofog4638 I think it was sold around 2005 and bought back about 5 years ago.
Excellent video Danny. Thank you for showing that more money paid does not equate to more value or more performance. Your shirt says it all about these Paradigms and so many others. Same cheese, higher price points. I'm so grateful for your efforts and guidance, Danny. I'm a big X-LS Encore fan here and enjoy mine every day. Cheers!🙂
I’ve been rocking X-SLS, X-CS, and X-Statiks for over 10 years! Since I found Danny, major brands can’t compete.
Thanks Danny for this ongoing issue you expose in the audio market.
Thank you for the video! Your style of video is very appreciated with explaining complex parameters in a very clear way. Besides, love the Danish accent! We got Copenhagen just 70 km from us. Greetings from Ystad, skåne.
I must say. Danny is spot on about stepping up in price. It doesn't mean quality increases. But, you have to know a companies history. $5,000.00 at GR Reaserach, Madisound, KEF, Creative Sound Soulutions, and maybe even Parts Express. Will buy you $10,000-15,000. or more commercially.
We can argue parts quality, but there is no reason for sloppy cabinet construction, electrolytics used at all (unless in impedance compensation). Plated tin or brass connections anywhere! Nothing but solid copper or silver should be seen at that price point. Tight tolerance film caps, preferably film & foil, of any dielectric . If not tight tolerance, at least matched caps, etc. I would suggest a future show if it hasnt already been presented. That measures the components in the crossover to ascertain how far the measurements are off from each other in a right and left stereo crossover set.
that show would be exciting and sad all at the same time... ))
Thank you for posting this.
Wow. Looking back at old videos of the Prestige line. The focus is 100% on looks and talk about sound quality of PAST paradigm speakers.
a few devades ago, Paradigm Titans were absolutely fantastic. Atoms too.
@@calmic75 I love my Studio 100 v2’s. I bet a good crossover upgrade would really make them something special
The very first titans were my first pair of Paradigm speakers and they were incredible for what they cost.
I really appreciate everything this channel is doing. And it's depressing seeing speakers at such a high price and still needing work. Thank you for now my Addiction for speakers is done and over. .I'm just going to be happy with what I got and stop collecting and buying
This thing has that border crossing response. Two speed bumps before and after the border crossing. As always, hats off to Danny.
Aluminium cone material is hard to work with in speakers. It's relatively heavy and rings a lot.
Cheese-o-meter Alarm :)
Jak zwykle świetny odcinek 👍
Hey Danny, firstly I 100% agree on your comment about getting a kit. XLS encore kit sitting in my basement waiting for me to build a cabinet, now I have to stick up for Paradigm (Canadian and all ) the tested speaker is a discontinued mid range speaker, last price was $2749 Canadian each (edited to indicate individual price) so under $4000 us per pair. (edited to reflect corrected individually price) Excited to compare the XLS to my Paradigms. Keep up the good work.
These speakers were not $2749 cad a pair, that was for each speaker.
@seanlacroix you are correct, I never noticed the each, I have edited the comment, thank you.
Love the shirt. 😆
Many Paradigm fans have made it clear they didn't like the prestige sound. Check out their Founders, they rock.
That's the challenge .... Danny... do the same analysis of the newest models at this range.. Founder 100F... then tell us what you find.
@@psyphonyxaudio if someone sends us one, we'll take a similar look at it.
Founders had the same cheep crossovers...I already upgrades my Founder's 😉
@@cruzzeaudiochanel2581 that's to be expected from what we've seen. Even the $10K Wharfedale's Elysian 4 speakers have the same quality networks as their much cheaper Diamond & Evo towers.
@@cruzzeaudiochanel2581 What type of tweeter?
Great T-Shirt.
I'd much rather spend $5K on your Bully kits. I haven't heard it in person, but Ron's Sound Shed source-speaker demos are the most accurate I've ever heard.
Without a doubt the Bully's reproduced the source more identical to the original than anything he has ever recorded, and just about anything I have ever heard.
Ron is one of the few reviewers I trust. He listens for the same things I do, and his sound samples are better than any other I've heard.
A fine example of what I've always said. Price is no guarantee of either performance or quality. Sure there's a statistical general trend. But that does not translate to individual speakers or drivers. Just because a tweeter costs $350 does not necessarily mean it will spec, measure, or sound better than all $60 tweeters.
This makes me think of cars. Aftermarket modifications are a huge industry to take a car you love and make it better. To MANY customers, spending $10k upgrading a car is far more preferable than buying a stock car that’s $10k more expensive. GR Research is the Edelbrock or Garrett turbo of speakers.
This man knows whereof he speaks, and it's a very good comparison. A more expensive car is likely to be a heavier, less responsive car, not necessarily with a higher power to weight ratio. Better shocks and adjustable anti-roll bars, perhaps a slightly different cam, can transform a car. I actually advanced the cam in my CRX, reducing peak horsepower but adding plenty of torque down low, dramatically improving drivability. Making the rear sway bar adjustable, increasing rear roll stiffness by 7%, dramatically improved handling. It all cost me less than $100 and made the thing a pleasure to drive. Money well spent. So yeah, this is an excellent comparison.
Sounds to me like Paradigm should be “Dime a Pair”.
I hope Paradigm see this video and act on the findings
They probably won't.
I have the 95f's and I love them!! Lot's of reviews are saying How good they are!
@@mikearsenault8535 Researching before you buy is definitely important. And everyone has different tastes. I am very impressed with my Andrew Jones DBR 62s, but some people think this reference speaker is boring. It's all about taste I guess. I play real instruments, so I love the sound of Andrew Jones speakers. They are clearly a better speaker to me. But that's just me!
The Paradigm 95F speakers are discontinued. The Stereophile Review mentioned in the video was done in 2015, but not sure when the speaker was introduced. Might be interesting to get one of their current models, but not many people are going to buy a brand new speaker and then upgrade it. Some will, but not many.
Well said Danny ! my grandpa was an audiophile and warned me in 1986, when i wanted to buy my first serious hifi system, for the same sh.t . bad cabinets, cheezy filters and loudness curves as he called it. I guess this marketing strategy still works.
Nice review. Unfortunately at most retail stores 4k to 8k suggested retail for a floor stander does not go very far today. And completely agree with the comments that many audiphiles have this thought about spending more cash yields a better speaker. So seldom is that hypothesis actually true.
Well I am glad you reviewed these. I own the 85F with 55c prestige center channel that I bought few years ago for home theater at a big discount. it will likely suck as in parts. I was thinking of sending you center channel for upgrading as voices are not as clear, but probably not worth it, huh?
Paradigm has an anechoic chamber and Klippel…surprised to see the V shaped response.
Wore like a W shaped response than a V tbh, but this speaker was also from 2014-2015, so no telling what they were doing.
More like pear shaped, if you know what I mean.
Intentional?
@@fonkenful if this speaker retailed for 5k…dealer cost might be 2500 at most…Canadian labor is pricey…so it freight and packaging…marketing…i think they needed to cut corners on parts not visible
These vids are killer!!!
Great video ,,, very revealing .
We can easily understand exactly why DIY Speaker Designs are so very popular. When there is more hype than performance in Contemporary Speaker offerings many serious Audiophiles would much rather spend money and time in DIY rather than in overpriced products of suspect quality.
EXACTLY! I recently gutted out 2 different pairs of vintage Infinity monitors that had mint condition cabinets, but nothing else worth keeping. After a lot of research and reading reviews from happy DIYers, I purchased all new drivers for both pairs from Parts Express, I ordered all mounting and wiring hardware and awesome crossovers from Danny at GR Research. I did spend a descent amount of money when all was said and done but for what I spent versus speakers in the 5K to 10K range, these will absolutely outperform and simply stomp anything out there in that price range. I have critical listeners come over and they are blown away. For both pairs out the door I spent around 2K for everything, new drivers, crossovers, wiring, binding posts, mounting hardware and internal damping and bracing and they will rival or outperform speakers at ten times the price.
@@vegaslimoguy2376 yep as an experiment I had an old pair of KLH Model 32 speakers an inexpensive 2 way design with an 8” woofer and a cone tweeter. For 💩 and Giggles I replaced the iron core inductor with a similar value air core inductor and replaced the single capacitor with a higher quality cap. I added a brace inside the cabinet which was pretty solid and well made back then and added some dense insulation and resealed the cloth surround and it sounds really nice for a 51 year old speaker. I was pleased with the results of my efforts and experiment. It wasn’t really DIY but I can see why DIY is so satisfying and an appealing option that more audiophiles with even some basic skills could easily tackle.
A potential fix: 1. miniDSP Flex with balanced outputs + DIRAC room correction + mic (~$849) , 2. 2 x Topping B100 ($598), 3. 2 x Topping B200 ($1,198), + No-Res. Alternatively, scrap the box and implement a flower array with PVC pipe and acoustic fiberglass, which is where the 4 x woofer are arrayed about the tweeter at 90 degrees to each other. Driver distance is minimized, while directivity is optimized.
Corporate greed and consumer ignorance always amaze me. Paradigm is no longer the company it was. People offer unearned loyalty to these brand names. Keep on keeping them honest Danny!
Ever since Paradigm went public they wanted to appeal to the stock holders instead of their customers.
@@johndavidson5075Paradigm is privately owned again by the original owner and his son. Hopefully they use better parts now. Their top end speakers sell for over $40,000 a pair.
One of the stereo stores that I have had a relationship with for over 40 years, had Paradigm speakers for a while. I never really got into the sound they offered. There were other brands that seemed to me, closer to accurate.
Stereophile's guy that did the measurements was surprised the person listening didn't notice the bix resonances, and as well how poorly it measured. He was confused especially as he knew they had tons of expertise and equipment at that company to do better.
Love that shirt! 😂😂
very nice video sir, I appreciate when you call out these larger companies and their lackluster performance and parts quality. Maybe eventually more companies will be stepping up their game in fear of looking bad.. which they absolutely should! It’s awful to see well-known Speaker companies pulling this crap 💩
I have the 8000 Monitors, they are beasts and sound amazing.
Regarding crossovers, it's a great area to cut cost, what the customer cannot see, doesn't hurt !
Doesn't hurt the speaker companies' bottom line.
That is an awesome shirt 😂
Danny, perhaps something to consider... you don't make a speaker quite like that, but this customer (and others) want speakers like this. It would be awesome to see a speaker with the new Neo 3 waveguide / back cup and an M165NQ driver... with 2 or 3 M165 drivers inline under it. A "regular", multi-driver, narrow baffle box speaker that will move air - and Done Right. Better yet, make it an MTM.
Some people want a "tower of drivers" and they don't want / can't do Open Baffle. Could be a chance to make those people happy, and show outfits like Paradigm, et al., how to do it "The Right Way".
He already makes a great range of speakers. Check them out on his website.
@@Kiwi_Col Yes, Danny does make a great range of speakers. I own several of his 2-ways and have visited his shop. Nothing quite like this exists. The LGK 2.4 Tower is a slim multi-driver speaker... but it's a different thing too. The Old School series is not the same thing either. It's hard to make speakers to satisfy everyone, but I suspect Danny's take on this kind of design would both sound great and be very popular.
Ah, the X-MTM: gr-research.com/product/x-mtm-encore/
@@mcgovernjimmyi believe he’s working on this new line with the launch of the NX-Bravo, we should see the release of the new centre speaker soon and perhaps the re release of the N3 tower
I sold my Paradigm studio v5 to upgrade to the Paradigm prestige new line, what à mistake I did. The tweeter was getting on my nerve, to crisp and clear. Sold them and went with Bryston model T 's and they are warmer and nutral sounding, alot more to my listening taste, and better match to my Bryston amps.
Well... you can't save them all, can you?!
There is an R/C car racing facility in Monroe Wisconsin called Cheese City Extreme. Great guys to race with.
Thanks Danny 😢
Good video, looks like you have a lot of knowledge of improving crossovers and such. What I wonder about a 2-way asymmetrical crossover, is it most common to have a steeper crossover slope on high pass or on low pass? For example 18dB/oct lowpass and 12dB/oct highpass, or 18dB/oct highpass and 12dB/oct lowpass. What is most common and why?
like your educated lesson ,thanks
Very unique video.
Founder series was designed to remedy the issues of the Prestige series. Well, we can only hope.
Shouldn't even have been released
@@brainache555$5000 thank you very much 😅
@@brainache555 Agreed.
I’ve heard the founder are still using cheap parts in the crossover which sucks because they are not cheap speakers to buy.
@@seanlacroix most companies do. Consumers has to stop buying expensive speakers with crappy parts and construction
I have to agree with you spending more money doesn’t mean you’re getting better quality. You’re just spending more money.
Welcome to crapitalism, private equity company style!
There is one thumbs down on this video as of 4 hours after posting this person must own a pair of these.
.......but it looks so pretty it must be good and its light for easy mobility.
My Paradigm Studio Reference 40v2 and 60v4 sound terrific to me. Maybe ignorance is still bliss here 😅
The Studio 20, 40, 60 and 80 V2's were very good speakers in their day. Im pretty sure the crossovers were built with in-expensive parts but they all measured very well. I don't know anything about the V4 series.
I had their bookshelves back then and they were actually very good speakers, but this thing is not that thing
I have 3 pairs of studio 40 V2's I use em with my Founder 100's as surrounds. They match perfectly. I love my 40's v2.
@@CashGravel I still have the 20 v2, the matching center and 2 v40's - one in standard ebony and the other with the incredibly attractive mahogany side panels. All in storage. I'm going to post them on CL and AVS classifieds someday.
I have the Studio 100 v2’s and I love them. I bet a good crossover upgrade would make them amazing
I know how you feel Dan. My wife had the same reaction when she found out my touted 8 actually measured 6.5 from tip to tail.
That said, this is a "ball earth" speaker. There is NOTHING that can be done.
A less honest businessman would have sold you 10 sheets of Norez and tube connectors out the wazoo. But not Danny and that's why we keep coming back for more... MOOAAAAAARRR!
Especially helpful when you showed their own in-house measurements matched your measurements in the frequency domain. Surprising that a company would ship this speaker while publishing such a poor average power spectrum. Would be interesting to understand the culture behind that decision.
Our springer loves cheese.
What´s going on here, this is what Thomas J. Norton @ Stereophile writes in that exact review 🤔
The Prestige 95F offers a ton of value and performance. While it may not satisfy all listeners, that could be said of any speaker at any price. But I strongly recommend that those looking for speakers in this price range give the Paradigm Prestige 95F a serious audition.
I heard some Studio 100s in the early 2000s, they sounded amazing. Later when I could afford them, around 2011ish, I bought a set of Studio 80s without auditioning them first, I mistakenly assumed they would sound similar if not better. Absolutely horrible! I felt like a criminal when I sold them. I think Paradigm is targeting the hearing impaired during the mid 2000s. Also, in the early 2000s, I bought a set of Model 9s at a garage sale for $22. They sounded great, I think they were from the mid 1990s.
I have the studio 100 v2’s and I really like them
Sometimes the marketing team hits a home run when the engineers are stranded on first base! Honestly, sometimes I read the fluff for speakers and wonder who wrote it! I just wonder what other speakers did the buyer audition against these to buy the Paradigms!
I have a pair of Paradigm Studio 20v3 bookshelves that I’m planning on giving to my daughter. Have you ever tested and done an upgrade on this model?
Good one!!!😊
I’ve never been a fan of paradigm. They are real hesitant to send review samples to review their speakers and this is the reason why. I hope paradigm watches this video. The guy who owns these is going to be pissed when Danny tells him these are junk.
Actually he was okay with it.
Audioholics did a review on the premier series and they measured very well.
If the customer was insistent and really wanted to spend the money on the parts upgrade would you still design and provide the parts?
I would not at all recommend that, but in the end, I do whatever the customer wants.
@@dannyrichie9743 what were the deal breakers for these speakers the drivers?
@@Geerladenlad Yeah, it's the drivers. If the drivers were well designed then I could do something with the rest of it.
Sometimes, no matter how much carnauba wax you have. You just can't polish a turd
I guess my question vis-a-vis the other reviewers is why did your customers buy these speakers in the first place? Were they happy with them at the time? Did they cross shop extensively? Did they inherit the speakers? If they were happy with the speakers when they bought them, what changed? Many reviewers are helping people to decide what to buy now. Not to correct already existing speakers. I think it might have been possible for you and other reviewers to be on the same page if the manufacturers would be transparent about what's inside their speakers in the first place. Not many reviewers are going to be allowed to tear down speakers even if they wanted to. So you're providing an after purchase service and they're providing a before purchase service. Fundamentally different. There is some blending as your reviews may shy people away from certain companies. But that might not even be fair as who knows what paradigm's recent models actually look like. Some manufacturers do provide photos of their crossovers. Would be good if they all did
I think this customer bought them used.
@@dannyrichie9743 so without listening to them first? Did he think you are some kind of insurance policy in case they performed poorly? I wouldn't buy speakers without either demoing them first or buying from a place with a decent return policy. I imagine this person was able to check out the stereophile review so why he bought them is a mystery to me
@@dannyrichie9743 what would your advice have been if he asked you for your opinion before he bought the speakers? Just knowing what you know from stereophile. Was their review a red flag?
@@lsaideOK If I looked at the Stereophile measurements and review I would tend to think that they would need some help.
@@lsaideOK I think the owner may have bought them because of the low resale price.
Funny how all the reviewers were praising this speaker.
They can hear what we don't... the sound of money.
Umm, no, they really weren't. A lot of the same guys who praised the Studios and Signatures from years prior were very lukewarm in their reviews but you had to see the old reviews to know that. The prestige was never truly well received and was the result of a design done after the original owner sold the company. The Founders series designed and manufactured after the original owner bought the company back is vastly better. Don't know what the crossover over looks like or how it measures but you don't have to to hear the difference.
a peak above 20k .... GREAT...we can send all the dogs of the neigbourhood CRAZY :D
If you sprain your ankle, put some no rez on it. Haha
Before my question i want to thanks you for your channel,,,i want to know what do you think about the martin logan xt f100 speakers ...thanks ... Pedro from Quebec , Canada.
Martin Logan is owned by Paradigm. They are nice speakers though.
The bigger the box the more they cost, quite a mystery really.
Well done Danny. Carry on and continue the good work. Thrust you, not the TikTok wanabee hifi experts. Brgds
Incroyable !! ça pour 5000 dollars ??
$5K pour quoi?
you design your own shirt graphics ?
Hahaha Great Shirt!!
I think you generally do get more for you money at higher price points. You get more cheese.
👏👍🏆
Shin Jitsu audio. I’ve been looking at their videos and products and I thought of you, Danny. Not sure if you are familiar with their designs, but the guy seems to have some interesting ideas. Wonder if you’ve ever encountered any of their speakers
I have not.
The consumer is really being deceived, well, there are these tests that this gentleman does, showing what really happens in this world of snake oil and greedy liars.
I want a speaker that has a nice look with the grill off. As the aluminum is a turn-off, not a speaker i will audition with a view toward purchase.😉
How come you do not offer a speaker kit like that? I know you have the nx oticas which are OB hybrids, but never a speaker like the x-ls encores but in a tower design...
We have a large floor standing speaker that same size in the X-Series models. It is the X-MTM.
He does offer a tower version of X-LS. It’s called X-SLS.
Could you repurpose one of the woofers as a midrange to better control it through your crossover? It's not a GOOD fix, but would it work?
I couldn't. They all shared the same air space.
Those are discontinued.
I own the Premier series. They are great. Really great.
I'm sitting in front of a pair of CSS's with bass module on an Akitika with topping D30pro DAC. This is my most listened to setup. I know what flat, clean, and adequately detailed sounds like. I'm telling you, my paradigm premier 800F's on my Avenge A6A are better. Even better when paired with the monolith subs.
I keep hoping GR does like a Black Friday or something. I want to build a pair for Bully's for my shop but 3700.00 is a lot o spend on sound for a workshop. I need like a half off coupon though...
If you are into DIY maybe take a look into Paul Carmody "Pit Vipers"
@@alexdaciuk Looks like I can build those for around $600 for the pair. Thats what I’ll do.
Thanks man, you’re my new favorite person on the internet!
I own the premier 800f and I absolutely love them.
I believe Paradigm had a few bad years. But honestly most of them including the new ones seem to be pretty well designed. 🇨🇦
You need to show the failures as well as the successes to show people that you're not just out there to make a buck. Sometimes it's just not worth it. One of my favorite speakers was the Polk LSi9 and I was disappointed that you also passed on that one but it made me think about what you said. On the other hand, you praised the LSiM 703 calling it "legit!" and I couldn't agree with you more. Never should have sold them. 😟
Spike above 20k - humans aren’t hearing this.
95% of the owners will put these speakers in modern room with little to no sound treatment and a lot of hard surfaces. I'm pretty sure Paradigm knew that so they made the frequency response look like that to accommodate.
If you stay with paradigm/anthem for amplification they have room correction ready anyway
Good business strategy, buy our inaccurate speaker and correct it with our processor equipped with auto EQ 😂
EQ doesn't get all of the cheesy parts out of the signal path.
Who doesnt want to live in Cheese city !?
Are less components on a two speaker crossover better or worse?
Less is more.
@@dannyrichie9743 less is more, if the resulting frequency response is the same...
Many of the best speakers in the world are two way designs. There’s no correlation between the amount of Loudspeakers and a guarantee of good performance sonically.
A good quality two-way will walk all over a poorly designed and manufactured five-way. it’s far more difficult and challenging to design the crossover network and adding more drivers complicates the problem further.
I mean, come on, it has to be a good crossover. It's 2 stories.
Some reviewers are too arrogant for my liking, and think they know better than professionals with far more experience, and have listened to better designed speakers than what that particular 'reviewer' has.
To criticise something you have never experienced is foolish, as is to ignore the reason why people send their speakers away in the hope of getting what they thought they had paid for.
Does Andrew Robinson like these speakers as is?
He likely would say they sound fantastic. I don't think Andrew knows better.
He would EQ the s-t out them and then a review and an affiliate link.
Surprised. I recall many of Paradigms much older, cheaper speakers having better measurements than this.
This is called stealing from the customer! Unfortunately, I've seen this happen a lot.
I like the diy kits but there is no resale value and I like to trade up
Dogs must hate these speakers
You saw that massive ultrasonic peak.
Only thing worse then opening up that $5000 speaker and finding a grilled CHEESE sandwich was opening the hood of a 1977 Camero Z28 and finding an Oldsmobile 350 V8! They actually did that on some of them. They ran out of Chevy 350's!
They did that with Pontiac but not Chevy. No Olds engine was ever put in a Camaro.
@@photoguybrian No kidding. I'd always heard it was the Z28 that got a few Olds engines in them but it was a long time ago and I probably read it in some magazine. Anyway, I sure hope it wasn't the Trans Am as those came with 400 and 455's during the mid-70's.
The divers look like jewelry. You'd be surprised how many people buy expensive speakers just to flaunt wealth, not for the quality.