Paradigm are great speakers . Customer aervice is top notch . Recently I had to replace a driver after 10years of ownership . Paradigm informed me I could buy a new driver or send it for repair. Some people will complain about the A.C. in Hell .
I own the Studio 20's. Bought them in '96 along with the Servo 15. Run them with the Adcom GFA 5802. Sound amazing still. Checked out your upgrade out of curiosity. I think the upgrade is more than I paid for the 20's. Wow, times have changed.
Awesome to see an upgrade on a quality older pair of speakers like this. Even with cheap parts inside, Paradigm's Studio line is still one of the best speakers you'll find on the used market for the price, and there are 5 versions of that model. The V2 are over 20 years old now!
It's not Signature model, but studio reference. And that bump up bass is made on purpose by manufacturer - that line is for people who want exactly that sound, recessed midrange and bump up bass.
A year ago, bought a pair of Paradigm 200B bookshelves for $1K, beautiful speakers and made well, sounded great for 15 Minutes, till the migranes started.... And this is with an Arcam AMP... I did everything, bought an EQ to turn down the treble, even put tissue in front of the tweeter, no go. Wound up returning and going with the Wharfedale Denton 80's. I can't do metal dome tweeters.
Interesting. I'm trying to move away from a pair of 3se MkIIs I bought new in '92. They have fabric tweeters. Very smooth. I'm very sensitive to overly bright & harsh sounds.
Another Grrrreat Result Danny. and Well done in Poland, Glad you enjoyed our side of the pond my Brother ! I'm trying Crossover mods in XSim to get ideas what to try in modifying the standard crossovers in my Linn Tukans for my Home Theater wall mounted Atmos surrounds. I got .frd files with REW (time gated at 2.83 V 1W@1m) and .zma files with DATS 3 - great fun applying my learnings from your videos in practice
At the price Studio 20's can be had, they're a fine speaker. They can be found easily for under $300/pr. I've watched a lot of Danny's videos, enjoyed them immensely, and have learned a lot from them. It would be interesting to hear the before and after versions and compare them. We all have different tastes.
It was great watching those races, ... I shared one, everybody dug it! Poland and Eastern Europe is powerfully alive right now, I'm certain it was fantastic. Appreciate the update.
Thank you for your enlightening contribution to the HiFi and home cinema fans.. I have just now watched your review of the Jamo center speaker and wish to get you opinion as the the jamo C80 series overall.. i use those speakers in my home Cinema and wish to upgrade them as I find the sound a little muffled and not really clear .. I have the c809 as front, the c 807 as rear, 2 of the center speakers you reviewed, 4 triangular side surround and 2 of the C80 subwoofers.. You may have had them in your shop, hence I hope you can recommend improvements as I don’t want to dispose of the entire set.. Thanks for your help Reg Manfred
Hello Danny. What I’m asking myself during watching your videos: What the hell are the engineers in the famous companies are doing? Are they so silly or is it stupid „Sounddesign“? It should not be possible to optimize a speaker from a highly sophisticated company normally. It is as it is: your work is fantastic! Great job!
Most people don't have Infected Mushroom or Nils Lofgren Live on repeat....the majority of buyers were more likely to be listening to the compressed, harsh recordings of modern music. The original output of these speakers probably made those crap recordings more listenable...these upgraded versions will more than likely just highlight how terrible the recordings are.
The design of the grille and the position of the drivers on the surface of the baffle instead of flush-mounted suggest to me that they were designed to be listened to with the grilles in place. Did you measure their frequency response with the grilles in place?
We did, but I think we only saved the stock with/without grill measurements. All of the "after" measurements were done with the grill kept on. This is one of the only times where the grill made a positive difference. In the other Paradigm models we've looked at, the grill would make some things better and others worse.
I have the Studio 60, auditioned the 20 but not much bass and the midrange seemed a bit fuller with the 60. They will give me listening fatigue after a couple hours. So I DIY the rest of my speakers now, with my speaker nerd bro with great results.
As a classical music lover who can't afford hi-end stuff (overpriced junk anyway), I'm really getting tired of the cheap parts manufacturers are using. There's no excuse for it, it's a fraud on the consumer because they're all in on it.
Can you recommend an exceptionally good quality nice sounding older speaker that I might be able to find on the used market for cheap? I know a lot of people on some of the forums like older Boston Acoustics speakers from the '90s and early 2000s, that would be an example of what I'm talking about. I'd like to put together a decent little home theater on a very tight budget so everything is going to have to be used and cheap! If you could give me some ideas I'd genuinely appreciate it.
I linked your video about the Wharfedale Linton to a guy in Britain pushing them and oh did it ever get him mad.😁 He said they were deliberately made to sound the way they were sold.
Some companies actually do the frequency response with a dip in the middle, because some customers perceive this response as "better bass" or "better treble". Please make the response as flat as possible and I can use an equalizer or tone controls to modify it if I please.
Some speakers are made that way ,,, the BBC used to mix on nasty speakers as thats how the average radio sounds ,, so it was right ,,, well maybe just not as wrong when it got to the listeners.
@@dannyrichie9743 actually , yes they did . LS3s were not that budget but the sound was tailored to sound a certain way low bass and a mid range hump ,,, lets face it NS10ms are not exactly musical , but for thirty years they have sat at manys a studio desk
Hi Danny, glad to hear you had a nice welcome to Poland and a great experience and competition. Better results next year! As I've been watching your videos for a little over 2 years and really appreciate your work, it has led me to this questions. It seems you bring a flat response and more balance to most of your upgrades, so my question is, does this make all these speaker sound more alike or do the speakers keep their signature sound but with most of the negatives removed? Thanks again. Bless you, your family, your business & the work of your hands & feet!
A frequency response is really just a measurement of amplitude over frequency. It measures accuracy, but not how it sounds. Two speakers can measure the same yet sound very different.
I hope that guy who sent them in wasn't enjoying the laid back and easy to listen to sound they had. These speakers were great for overly bright and compressed rock/pop of the past. Super enjoyable at their price point.
Come on. That response looks awful. It would be atrocious trying to enjoy a piano recording with it like it was originally. Even with what Danny did to it, I'd pass on buying some and then upgrading. Rather buy something more balanced to begin with.
@Ross Warren You should listen to them first. The older Studio 20's have a great reputation. Again as I mentioned it can be music preference dependent. Don't take word for it, read so early 2000's reviews.
@@dentman67 sure. I'd like to hear them, "as is" and after Danny's mods, but I know the piano music I enjoy some of the time benefits from a speaker that is as flat from ~30Hz to 5000Hz as possible, to better reflect the intended performance of the musician. Still enjoyable? Perhaps, for as you mention "music preference" material. To be honest, I've O.D. on all the small monitor reviews on RU-vid and only watched this one by Danny to give it a thumb's up for the RU-vid algorithm. Looking for something with a bit more weight and body. I know the reviewers aren't thrilled with heavy floor standers (or low, large stand mounts) being harder on their backs and the crazy shipping and insurance costs these days. Still, I'd like to see more reviews of such. As Danny notes he doesn't choose the speakers for mods, viewers do, so that assumes there is "something" about them the viewer wants "fixed".
@@kohnfutner9637 ah, but the Harmon Curve was for headphones, not speakers. Big difference. And it is more or less a compromise from about 300 Harmon employees of various ages and experience. One blog on it says, it also found that "Female listeners preferred less bass and treble than their male counterparts. Younger and less experienced listeners preferred more bass and treble than their older, more experienced counterparts. The older listeners (55+ years) were the exception here, preferring significantly more treble and less bass." For me, I want a FLAT response when listening to piano. For other music (rock, etc.) sure, turn up the bass and jam. But I like accuracy as much as possible when critically listening to how a performance was done and intended by the musician. Acoustic stringed instruments from guitar, to piano, harp, and others are finely controlled in volume by those making the music to communicate certain passages. I want to experience them that way.
I had studio 20 v3 and studio 40 v4... Great speakers! Very clear punchy sound the mid is a Little forward but for movies and voices they are really great! There are no perfect speaker. Paradigm has done great stuff with their Studio Line (especially v3-v4) for the Price you pay.
Dale C What do You mean?That speakers have great imaging, clarity and dynamic of every freq also voices. I think you got them pair with wrong set up and brighness cover upper voices so they sounded masked.. I almost sold mine pair, but I make them sing - I have changed from one signal out to another and treat my first reflection points. I also start using grills and position the less toe in. Work like a charm.
The Studio 20 V1s shown here could indeed use a liiitle massaging in the crossover dept, however this particular pair obviously has crossover issues due to age. Take a good clean pair of Studio 20 V2s and let Danny whip up a fresh set of crossovers using top tier components, and ladies and gentlemen, you have the absolute best pair of 2 way stand mounts in the world, PERIOD.
Question about inductors, do you use the same gauge all round or would maybe mix it up ie smaller gauge on the tweeter and larger on the midbass, and how does DCR come into account? Thanks
Interesting upgrade. I have owned several versions of their studio series. The metal dome tweeter used in the studio series can drive you out of the listening chair if used with solid state amps, its a bit more tolerable with tube power.
I think your thinking of the Sig line, they had beryllium metal tweeters, which are so bright, they can be used as sonic weapons. The Studios used a soft metal (aluminum) tweeter. Magicos drive me out of the room and the speakers Paradigm is putting out today prevent me from even opening the door to step into the room, they are some of the worst speakers I have heard! They are voiced for dogs or something, they are so tilted up! All those woofers and not an ounce of low frequencies. Very shrill!
@@hom2fu I don't have any brightness issues, I was just talking about the native voicing of the Sigs. As mentioned before, one must match speakers to electronics not only by specs, but by synergy. I'd bet real money that the Studios would sound harsh paired with bright electronics and/or an untreated or improperly treated room. Any speaker can sound bad and many can sound good regardless of native voicing, it is all in set up. That said, I have heard some speakers at opposite ends of the price spectrum that sound bad regardless of what you do. Same thing with Amps.
Sounds like you deserved at least an honorable mention. Paradigm has a good reputation, yet they can't create a frequency graph that even approximates the Fletcher-Munson curve? And that seems to be the norm. What's up with that Danny?
Anyone else have version 3 of the Studio 100s and want to go in on getting one to Danny to upgrade? Shipping him mine from CA might be cost prohibitive (80 lbs each)...
I've praised quite a few designs that have been sent in. Keep in mind though that these are sent in because the owners have issues with them, not because they're great. When people are happy with what they have then they don't send them in.
I don't recall when I bought my Paradigm Studio 100 v5s, but it was about 2 years before they stopped making them. I tried the Signatures and indeed found them to be too bright. I still use my Studios and will never give them up! They turned out to be the gold standard! A number of amp manufacturers used the Studio 100s to voice their amps. In my opinion, the Studio 100s are one of the most balanced speakers ever. Of course, they use an entirely different tweeter than the Sigs did. In fact, the only real difference between the Sigs and the Studios was the tweeter, but the Sigs were more expensive. I'm a tone and detail hound, which is why, after months of research and listening to countless speakers, I landed on the Studios. If you think the Sigs (or Studios) are bad, the speakers Paradigm is making today are horrific! I have heard both the "replacement for the Studio line" and the upper end line and you can't even step into the room they are so tilted up. I think they may have voiced them for dogs. It is a shame that companies can't keep a good thing going.
Eric Eliott I had Studio v5 and now I have Signature line.It's not the beryllium tweeter is bright, it's more about the voicing. Studio have recessed midrange, and aluminium tweeter is more edgy than silky berillium. But i have put some work to cut of the brightness from my Signatures. You need to pair that speakers with electronic whithout strong brightness. Secundo, you must treat first reflection points in the rooom. In my set and condition my Sign. doesn't even sound forward anymore. But studios 60v5 where resistant to brighter signal from electronics - but less reveling than Signatures. I dont even look back to studio line and i'm happy with my Signatures. And about new models, which line you heard horrible?
@@sheerenergy8602 That makes sense because for me, it is all about synergy. My electronics are just slightly on the warm side of neutral so the Studios are a hand in glove fit. I have heard the Signatures in a couple of systems back in the day and found them to be slightly too bright for my tastes, not bad by any means, great speaker, just not to my liking. One should always tune their room as best they can, it makes all the difference. With my set up now I have it so the Studio speakers disappear in the room, it is lovely. I find the Studios to not be shy about letting you know how good or bad recordings are. I'm a detail and tone hound myself, so the Studios really speak my language. Of course, had I not tuned the room and/or mismatched the gear, that would be far from the case. The new Paradigm models I have heard are Premiers (once) and the Personas (three times). I really wanted the Personas to be the next king of the hill, but they are at the bottom from what I heard in three different systems. Of course, that does not take into account the electronics being used or the room being treated or not. All the times I heard them were at shows so chances are the room was not treated as best as possible and synergy with electronics was not even considered by those setting up the room. They likely had one or both incorrect. Sadly, these days though there is no way to hear speakers anymore and much less in a shop. So I will not ever get to hear the Personas in a proper setting of some sort and I have never heard the Founder Series to date and never will. If my Studios ever by the farm, I'm screwed. I would have to get rid of my entire system as there is no way to shop for speakers anymore.
@@7966016 I hear that! When Paradigm discontinued the Studios (and Signatures), I called them and spoke with them about it. They said that they wanted "new blood" in speaker design and hired some young pre-grad in college to design new speakers, exchanging good design for pure marketing. I have not forgiven them for that. They were such a good company back in the day. The only saving thing is that their Founder, Premier and Persona lines are made in Canada. The Monitor line is made in China (that said, I have heard very good speakers out of China before, so that is not always a bad thing).
I've done an upgrade on my monitor Audio silver 100 7g's with new caps. I didn't go for any new binding posts or tube connectors and the wiring is as it was from factory with the spade connectors etc. How much of an improvement can I expect if I upgrade wiring and binding posts? Night and day?
Typically only on newer speakers, where they look nice, but cheap out on the internal nuts. With older speakers, it's pretty much guaranteed to be steel.
I have to recone these exact tweeters and wanted to do silk dome. Do you think this is wise or just stick to metal dome. Also consider, I have not done the crossover upgrade.
When you change material, you change most of the characteristics of the tweeter. You may or may not end up with a better tweeter. But you will definitely end up with a different tweeter. All the measurements you've seen would be out the window. jmho.
Any by-pass cap is going to cause a phase shift as its discharge rate is faster then the larger cap. So we use a .1uF or smaller value so that the phase shift that occurs is at or above 20kHz making any smearing effect inaudible.
Hi Danny! I have a pair of the next version of these Paradigms and I'm very interested in your crossover design for this pair of older Paradigms. Is it possible for me to buy just your crossover design for these older Paradigms so I can learn from it and potentially design and implement a better crossover in my newer pair? Love the videos as always.
@@dannyrichie9743 Thanks for the reply! I was just curious about your crossover design excluding the parts - just the actual design. Can I buy it in PDF format?
I'm interested in that new $10,000 box of rocks that you ground all of your equipment to made by Entreq. When the "magic grounding crystals" have used up all of their grounding powers, they have to be replaced. 😅
When speakers have dips and bumps in the response, how can it be considered a “studio monitor”. How can you call such a “reference speaker”? I assume that a point of reference used to make comparisons to a certain standard of quality (we might expect to have a level of “high” quality) to be able to distinguish between levels of reproduction. If there are any performance “concerns” can it realistically be considered as a “reference”? I know some famous stories of studios mixing recordings through inexpensive speakers to simulate a quality one might expect from inexpensive automobile radios & speakers that being said those speakers still cannot be referred to as true “studio monitors” or “reference” speakers. Spending 1k or more for lesser quality parts and drivers in the signal path but calling it a reference speaker is just advertising hype. That’s anything but a “reference” standard.
@@trevorbartram5473 Yep and the port also wasn't "blocked" on that model. Maybe someone DIY'd this pair or else the tweeter has an issue (though it was flat, just shelved) Everything else seems to check out
I am Canadian and have never I understood Paradigm speakers. Measurements aside they just continue to make the ugliest speakers ever conceived. I marvel that there are enough people buying them to keep them in business.
Danny, I suspect that is either a Paradigm Reference Studio 20 V1 (that had problems) OR it's a V2 & with a failed component in the crossover, did you check? Did you measure a second speaker? I have the V2's, it was measured (see below) by Stereophile magazine and shown to be flat other than 3dB boost at 150Hz (easily fixed using 1/4 wavelength placement from a rear wall). In 2002 I spent several months listening to speakers (using my CDs) at dealers in the Boston area before choosing the V2s. The use of a mineral loaded polymer cone produced a near perfect midrange but the aluminum dome tweeter was criticized by some for being a little 'hot'. These were popular speakers. My concern is your upgrade may be fixing the wrong problem! Later versions (V3-6?) had more bass boost & hotter treble & I didn't care for them. I'd appreciate a reply. Thanks. www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/508para/index.html
First of all, JA at Stereophile uses a a method of splicing in near field measurements (including the port output) and then adding that to the on axis response to get an extended lower end. This results in an artificial bump down low that really isn't there. Check his measurements of every other speaker he measures and you will see the exact same thing. Correcting the on axis response is just a fraction of the upgrade. Phase has been improved over a wider range and the vertical and horizontal off axis has also been improved. The big improvement though was in parts quality resulting is significant improvements in all areas.
Yes, you've mentioned splicing before, understood. Is the speaker a V1 or V2? Did you check for a failed component? Did you measure a second speaker (of a stereo pair)? The reason I ask, a recessed midrange & dull treble is NOT what the V2 is renowned for. I'm really concerned that for most V2s (not sure about V1s?) this mod is unnecessary.
@@trevorbartram5473 These are the V2's. The V1's flush mounted the drivers. There was no component failure. Besides, the new crossover is designed based on the response of the drivers themselves and has nothing to do with the old crossover. The mod is absolutely necessary to get any real performance out of these speakers as the factory version was being held back considerably by crap components.
I'm still troubled by the difference in measurements (GR vs Stereophile), is there anything about the crossover or drivers that could have aged? The most likely culprits are: tweeter ferro-fluid, electrolytic caps, open circuit caps, iron cores that have magnetized, poor solder joints or dirty connections. As I've said, the GR measurement does not reflect reputation or my listening impressions.
@@trevorbartram5473 I have measured speakers in the past for other companies prior to them being sent to Stereophile. My measurements and JA's have been spot on. So it is what it is. More than likely those cheesy electrolytic caps may have drifted some. Even if they measured perfectly, those speakers are still held back by the cheesy parts. So they were bad from the beginning regardless.
