New speakers

[A Reef Scene]

I'm looking at the Peradigm studio 60, B&W DM 603 S3, And the Quad 22l.
Any help would be great.

[Florian]

I'm looking at the Peradigm studio 60, B&W DM 603 S3, And the Quad 22l.
Any help would be great.
Hey buddy this depends greatly on what you listen to :cool:

This is the response from Stereophile from the Studio60 v.3
http://www.stereophile.com/images/archivesart/P60fig4.jpg
The speaker starts rolling off at 60Hz with decent bass output to aprox. 30Hz so its not really much into deep bass. But the midbass is there and is usually pretty punchy from Paradigm. Its pretty nice balanced and well build for the money. Overall a great little speaker for the money and its not shy when it comes to loud music as well.

The B&W are a great speaker for the money too. Well build and smooth sounding with the right amp. Think along of the lines of a tube hybrid here or something like the Musical Fidelity lines. The 603 is a little more bass shy then the Paradigm, altough not as much acording to the frequency response grpahs i have seen. I cant find the stupid link anymore, but its somewhere around. The Paradigm sounds more forward then the B&W and is not as polite and forgiving. Depends on taste here.

The Quad has the most bass output from the lot and looks like a nice build speaker too. Quad is known to make exellent speakers (ESL63, Quad 989) and gets the midrange right. I asume that the Quad is the most neutral and honest in the lot and would seriously consider it. They are 6ohm which makes them a tiny tiny bit harder to drive but still not a problem for any good amp, unless you have some single tube OTL amp.

From my experience i would place the Quad on the first place and the B&W and Paradigm both on second because they are a matter of taste really. The soft sounding and well rounded B&W or the more neutral and colder Paradigm.

Good luck on your purchase!

[RGA]

Being a 6 ohm speaker does not make them harder to drive - The impedence differential and minimum impedence is what makes a speaker hard to drive and a lack of sensitvity. A 6 ohm speaker with a minimum impedence of 5 ohms (like mine) is far easier to drive than an 8 ohm speaker with a minimum impedence of 2ohms.

If that graph is indeed correct of the 60 then you may be put off by the peaky response really right through the band and the mid upper treble spikes would cause me concern but you will never know until you actually go and listen to them.

You need to listen to all three speakers preferably in the same room with the same equipment and that is the only real way to know if the "kind of" bass you like is present. something that says it has bass to 30hz and one that actually sounds good there is another issue entirely. All three have their fans - i preferred the 100V2 over the 100V3 and that might be the case with the 60 series so if possible you could try the V2 series and see if you like it better (who knows but it would save you a lot of money).

The best help is for you to not read magazines - find a trustworthy dealer (not easy) who actually cares that you will be happy with what you select and not trying to sell you something they know will bug you in three months in the hopes to get you to feel you need to upgrade.

Many speakers are better suited to different music and that is a factor for you to consider-- because something does flute solos well does not mean it's going to Aerosmith, AC/DC or Albini or Allison Krauss well. And very possibly vice versa.

Really though you don't need help picking out your speakers. The best advice is to listen to as many speakers as you can - even ones that are well out of your price range -- then you will have a bearing to know which compromise in loudspeaker design you can live with long term.

[Florian]

Being a 6 ohm speaker does not make them harder to drive - The impedence differential and minimum impedence is what makes a speaker hard to drive and a lack of sensitvity. A 6 ohm speaker with a minimum impedence of 5 ohms (like mine) is far easier to drive than an 8 ohm speaker with a minimum impedence of 2ohms.

Arent you a clever little monkey? Like he doesn't know that. For starters, he knows that he has to listen to these himselfes, no need to tell him.

I know he will take the advie, and if you dare try to use one of AudioNotes tube amps on the Quad...and watch it smoke :cool:

[2bluechris]

The Quad 21L has better conrol in the bass than the 22L and no less extension , but it will not play bass as loudly as the 22L . I prefer the 21L , but I think you should listen carefully with the recordings you want the speakers to play , and in a room the same size as your listening room . regards , Chris .

[enrique]

It is a matter of taste as well as what electronics your going to be using.I listened to the paradigm 60's b4 i got my 603s3's and preferred the B&W with rotel rsx1056.I dont think you could go wrong with either.FWIW Stereophile did a real nice review of the B&W 603s3's not too long ago.