Paradigm Monitor 7 & 9 Auditioned & ........

[iaudio]

So the Klipsch are at the top of your list now! Which Energy speaker was it btw?
And how did the paradigms come across?
Detailed takes on all of these please!

 

[denom]

Second Side Note: (jeez, Kittu must be pulling his hair out by now )

Music Played during the Demo:

White Snake - Still Of The Night
CHRIS ISAAC - WICKED GAME
Devil Driver - I Could Care Less
Astarte - Mutter
ROLLING STONES - ANGIE (beautiful acoustics)
Coheed and Cambria - Welcome Home (awesome when blasted)
Eric Johnson - Cliffs of Dover
Halford - Resurrection
Eddie Van Halen & Joe Satriani - Top Gun Theme (must for speakers timing test)
Edwyn Collins - A Girl Like You
Megadeth - She Wolf
Enrique Iglesias Feat. Pitbull - I Like It ( 2o1o ) (yeah , yeah, I know but wanted to clean my ears - much like you smell coffee beans when you test various perfumes )
Guns n Roses - Sweet Child O Mine ))
Dire Straits - Money For Nothing (the opening drumming separates the men from the boys in the speaker world)
Audioslave - Cochise
Joe Satriani - Crystal Planet (pure speed & timing test)
Steely Dan - Bodhisattva (ditto)
Van Halen - Poundcake (special when the right speakers plays it)
Cradle Of Filth - Gilded Cunt (goose bumps achieved when the right speakers nail it)
Chris Rhea - The Road To Hell (what a voice)

Just a few of my special speaker demo tracks!!

 

[Kittu]

Spot on!:lol:

 

[denom]

So the Klipsch are at the top of your list now! Which Energy speaker was it btw?
And how did the paradigms come across?
Detailed takes on all of these please!

Energy RC50, though had an opp to listen to the RC70's too, but time was the constraint, left them for next time

patience dear brother! The Klipsch Sound has been mesmerizing till now but a challenger has arisen :clapping:

Remember this is the battle for in your face, aggressive, take no prisoners type of sounding speakers - not at all 'audiophile' grade

Mahasangram:yahoo:

 

[Kittu]

So now its head on collision between Energy RC 50 VS Klipsch Synergy F2/RF.

Thanks for braking the myth..

What was the price of Energy and Paradigms btw?

 

[denom]

So now its head on collision between Energy RC 50 VS Klipsch Synergy F2/RF.

Thanks for braking the myth..

What was the price of Energy and Paradigms btw?

Poor Kittu,

The Energy's were runner ups! The Klipsch Siblings will battle with the winners of this speaker shoot out. Have already revealed the winner but you've been affected by the 'pulling hair' & have not seen the winner

 

[denom]

Let me now in earnest start off with my views on the speakers demo'ed....

Martin Logan Motion 10 -

Appearance:
A weird design of speakers resembling the shape of a pyramid created by a drunk set of builders
Black finish nothing special to write home about/below average.

They are seriously tiny for FS & would pretty much disappear visually had they not being shaped as described above:lol:

Sound:
Tiny Looks apart, their sound too was small, feeble & thin. Could barely hear any clarity, lacked in separation of musical instruments & felt really dull. Non existant bass was glaringly obvious as well. Heard Wicked Games & Angie to see how they perform with these tracks but it became very obvious that these speakers just do not cut it at all.

Score: 0/10

 

[Kittu]

Poor Kittu,

The Energy's were runner ups! The Klipsch Siblings will battle with the winners of this speaker shoot out. Have already revealed the winner but you've been affected by the 'pulling hair' & have not seen the winner

Is it now between Titanium dome tweeters Vs Horn tweeters

 

[denom]

Next

Martin Logan Motion 12 -

Appearance:
Just nearly double the size of the Motion 10's, same wonky pyramid design.
Black finish nothing special to write home about/below average.


Sound:
Bigger drivers than the Motion 10's, yet sound is feeble & thin. Same issues of lacking clarity, separation of musical instruments & signature dull sound. Thankfully the Bass was present but was undefined & not very deep. Heard Wicked Games, Angie & Enrique feat Pit Bull to see how they perform with these tracks but it became very obvious that these speakers just do not cut it at all. Ideal for funeral homes to go with the looks.

Score: 2/10 (out of pity)

 

[denom]

Next

KEF IQ90 -

Appearance:
Beautifully finished in walnut veneer, curved at the rear side. The drivers appearance enhanced by the black circles painted around the drivers. Uni-Q driver right on top hits the eye immediately with the mirror like finish. Beautifully finished & pleasing to the eyes.


Sound:
Nice clean sound, with good instrument separation. True british laid back sound with bass very subdued & refined. Good Mids & Slick Highs. Excellent clarity & detailing of sound. Soundstage was not very huge but remained centered. Angie & Road to hell sounded fantastic, hard rock/metal sounded muted & lacking ferocity. Good speakers to listen to Acoustic/Folk/Country Music.

Score:6/10

 

[denom]

Will continue later as its time to take some rest.... Hope to wind up later in the day....

 

[iaudio]

Is it now between Titanium dome tweeters Vs Horn tweeters

Kittu, Titanium dome= Paradigm Monitor!
Horn Tweeter= Klipsch.

 

[denom]

Back to work

Next in line :

System Audio SA1550-

Appearance:
Beautifully finished in piano finish Satin White, tall slender towers, with matching white cloth grilles. Tightly packed drivers which i think were 41/2" in size do give a striking look.

Sound:
They Immediately drew my attention as far as their wide soundstage was concerned, which took me by surprise. Fantastic tight bass, great mids but disappointing highs as there was too much sibilance... Good instrument separation. Heard Audioslaves 'Cochise', chris cornell's vox were well defined but a tad too scratchy/screechy, marring the rest of the performance. Also found the sound of the cymbals way too distorted, screechy & resonating wildly without control. Overall the sound quality produced was agile, well spread & nearly perfect for the genre of music i listen too, save for the shrill highs..... Maybe they were brand new/not burned in fully, could not confirm the same as Pawan was not present to answer this query of mine. My pre-conceived negative notion of small thin towers with small drivers was totally blown out of the water, these babies can deliver the goods!

Score:7/10

 

[Kittu]

:clapping: continue continue :clapping:

 

[denom]

Now the 2 remaining Speakers are the Paradigm Monitor 7's & 9's

Monitor 7 -

I shall be lazy now & say the foll:
Pls refer to my review of the Klipsch RF52 speakers demo'ed some time back.
The similarity between the Monitor 7 & RF52 is quite surprising. In my view, they just mirror each other in all aspects, be it size/design/sound production, inspite of difference in no of drivers/type of drivers/tweeters. I just felt if I closed my eyes, I could not differentiate between the Monitor 7's & the RF52's. That close!

Score:6.5/10

Monitor 9 -

Appearance

Design similar to the Monitor 7's, just bigger. Both the 7's & 9's cabinets were in a matt black finish, with sober black grilles.

Sound:

Fast, in your face, wide soundstage, tight bass though not very deep but just about the right amount. Clear instrument separation, clean vocals, decent highs which I think were not very controlled, but then that could be to do with the amps too.

Score:8/10

I finally found a challenger to the Klipsch RF62's

Everything about these speakers felt great, be it looks/design/sound.
Yet again, these speakers were fresh out of a box, barely played for an hour or so as informed by Pawan. I keep demo'ing fresh/unburned speakers

1st impressions were not so great, bright being the key word here, but just kept feeding them track after track, throwing various genres along the way (please see my list in a earlier post) & they just seemed to be getting better & better. Tracks where they totally shined -
Wicked Game, Gilded Cunt, still of the night, mutter, angie, welcome home, crystal planet, poundcake.

Infact, they became the bench mark to test the others in the A-B comparison. Played the same tracks in bits where the special bit of that track was compared in the A-B test & the Monitor 9's kept winning each time. I tried this method with both, the Denon & the NAD amp to rule out the Amp playing a special hand.

I began to fall hard for the Monitor 9's, they have that ability to play my taste of music well & that is what counts

Side Note:
I was not at all happy with either the Denon nor the NAD amp, felt they both could not control the Speakers Tested as desired. Could be wrong but this was my gut feel. Could also be one of the reasons the SA1550 did not shine as much.

CONCLUSION:
The need of the hour is to have a proper A-B test of the Monitor 9's & the RF62's/F2's
with a amp that can have a total grip on them. Only after this can I be totally certain on which one will be the rightful Crowned Metal King!

Question is how do i manage to pull this off


So there you have it, the complete low down of my experiences with the speakers tested, please feel free to write your comments on the same.

Cheers!

PS: the perfect track to express how I feel right now

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okLDkcexiVg

 

[arj]

I used to own the RF3 many many years ago.. the NAD320 could not grip it enough in the bass region...a Sugden A21a controlled the woofers like no mans business .
you may find your bliss with any old Pure class A amps like the Sugden or the Musical fidelity A1.

 

[eddy_lepc]

I own Paradigm Monitor 7, and i am impressed with his sound. Paradigm are very good speakers for the money.

Now the 2 remaining Speakers are the Paradigm Monitor 7's & 9's

Monitor 7 -

I shall be lazy now & say the foll:
Pls refer to my review of the Klipsch RF52 speakers demo'ed some time back.
The similarity between the Monitor 7 & RF52 is quite surprising. In my view, they just mirror each other in all aspects, be it size/design/sound production, inspite of difference in no of drivers/type of drivers/tweeters. I just felt if I closed my eyes, I could not differentiate between the Monitor 7's & the RF52's. That close!

Score:6.5/10

Monitor 9 -

Appearance

Design similar to the Monitor 7's, just bigger. Both the 7's & 9's cabinets were in a matt black finish, with sober black grilles.

Sound:

Fast, in your face, wide soundstage, tight bass though not very deep but just about the right amount. Clear instrument separation, clean vocals, decent highs which I think were not very controlled, but then that could be to do with the amps too.

Score:8/10

I finally found a challenger to the Klipsch RF62's

Everything about these speakers felt great, be it looks/design/sound.
Yet again, these speakers were fresh out of a box, barely played for an hour or so as informed by Pawan. I keep demo'ing fresh/unburned speakers

1st impressions were not so great, bright being the key word here, but just kept feeding them track after track, throwing various genres along the way (please see my list in a earlier post) & they just seemed to be getting better & better. Tracks where they totally shined -
Wicked Game, Gilded Cunt, still of the night, mutter, angie, welcome home, crystal planet, poundcake.

Infact, they became the bench mark to test the others in the A-B comparison. Played the same tracks in bits where the special bit of that track was compared in the A-B test & the Monitor 9's kept winning each time. I tried this method with both, the Denon & the NAD amp to rule out the Amp playing a special hand.

I began to fall hard for the Monitor 9's, they have that ability to play my taste of music well & that is what counts

Side Note:
I was not at all happy with either the Denon nor the NAD amp, felt they both could not control the Speakers Tested as desired. Could be wrong but this was my gut feel. Could also be one of the reasons the SA1550 did not shine as much.

CONCLUSION:
The need of the hour is to have a proper A-B test of the Monitor 9's & the RF62's/F2's
with a amp that can have a total grip on them. Only after this can I be totally certain on which one will be the rightful Crowned Metal King!

Question is how do i manage to pull this off


So there you have it, the complete low down of my experiences with the speakers tested, please feel free to write your comments on the same.

Cheers!

PS: the perfect track to express how I feel right now

YouTube - Steve Vai - For the Love of God

 

[denom]

I used to own the RF3 many many years ago.. the NAD320 could not grip it enough in the bass region...a Sugden A21a controlled the woofers like no mans business .
you may find your bliss with any old Pure class A amps like the Sugden or the Musical fidelity A1.

where can 1 find such amps & @ what cost?

 

[sud98]

Denom, your choice seems quite good. I personally have stopped listening to metal a few years back so didnt demo it with them

My impressions of the various speakers -
ML 4 - small speakers will shine in a small room. Excellent high and mids, would need a good sub to complement them. cost 33k.

ML12 - I hated them both looks and sound, The bass was very bloaty. However, the dealer assured me that they were fresh out of the box and would have improved significantly after burn-in.

Paradigm Monitor 7 - Pretty decent speakers, give a good sound stage but nothing special. cost 42k

Paradigm monitor 9 - Nice speakers, nice built, and excellent bass. When I played a fusion track from Indian Ocean, the percussion reproduction was excellent. Somehow, I assumed they may not be good for metal because of the tautness of the bass. Cost 56k.

I listened to the paradigms in 'The shop' in Mumbai as the dealer in Bangalore does not stock them for demos.

An interesting note in the demos, I listened to the 7 and 9 with a denon cd and denon integrated amp and later listened to them with an avr in a treated demo room and I couldnt bear the sound when I listened through the avr. Just made me think how many of my opinions on speaker auditions were affected by the demos.

 

[zoso02]

Hi...I am looking at buying the Paradigm's and stuck between choosing the 9 or the 11. The 9 cost around 53K and the 11 will be around 74K. Looking at the specs do you guys feel it is worth it to go for the 11? I have only been able to audition the 11 here in Bangalore.