Paradigm Question?????

[speakeroligist_38]

Hi people hope all is well. I have a question that I need some help with. Have an opportunity to purchase a Paradigm Reference Cinema Center channel speaker. It is brand new still factory sealed but is an older version of the Paradigm cc-470. Can get this speaker for about $375 so is this a good deal? Was told it cost $500 which sounds about right since the MSRP was $550. This may be an opportuinity for me to save some money. How would this work with my Paradigm Studio 20 v.3's? The drivers look to be the same to me but am not totally sure. Would it still be voice matched to my 20's? Please help if you can. Thanks for your time.

[kexodusc]

Different drivers than the v.3...however, voice matching is a lot more than just having the same drivers. Identical drivers can be poorly matched, and different drivers can be matched well.

Give it a demo with v.3's if you can.

[N. Abstentia]

Price is okay, pretty standard. They go used for $300-$350 so it's not bad for a factory sealed speaker.

[Woochifer]

Are you referring to the Studio CC speaker or the Cinema series center speaker? VERY different models. Sounds like you're talking about the Studio CC, but be clear about that (especially since you're noting that you cannot tell the difference with how the drivers look -- the v.2 drivers look VERY different from the v.3 drivers).

Personally, if I can help it, I would not pair a v.2 series model with v.3 mains. The v.3 revision made a lot of changes to the driver and crossover designs. Dispersion pattern is different, crossover point is different, crossover slope is different. As kex said, you should do a comparison for yourself, but since you're looking at a factory sealed unit, you won't know how it sounds until you've already bought it. $375 is a decent price for a factory sealed Studio CC, but it's not the best option for matching with the Studio 20 v.3.

[speakeroligist_38]

Kex and N.absentia I appreciate the advice BUT have gone in a different dirrection altogether. I just ordered the Athena S.5 MKII (5) piece speaker system from onecall.com for $199 plus S&H ($32) and I have also purchased (2) 8" Acoustic Research powered subs for only $199.99 delivered!!! I know this is nothing compared to the Paradigm Reference System BUT I have heard the S.5's at Best Buy and liked them. I will ONLY be using them for home theater and they are all timbre matched including having the same exact size of drivers. The LFE effect will be handled via the AR 8" sub. I have a former co-worker who owns one of these 8" subs and it rocks. For an 8" sub it has decent low frequency extension and is quite articulate sounding to me. The sub has a passive radiator and for the money is hard to beat. No it is know where near as good as my former Paradigm PS1000 v.4 sub BUT for what I paid I am not getting hurt too bad. As mentioned before, when listening to music I am more than happy with my Paradigm Studio 20 v.3's which is where my preference is anyways. IMHO, I believe this system will work well together and for my application it should work fine. Thanks guys for all your help.

[speakeroligist_38]

I agree wooch and as a result have decided on going in a different direction. I just bought the Athena S.5 MKII (5) speaker set and (2) Acoustic Research subs to finish out my home theater for now. Have heard these at Best Buy a while back and thought they were actually very good for home theater applications. A former co-worker has an 8" Acoustic Research sub and I was really impressed with it especially only being an 8" sub. He explained to me that by using an extra driver as a passive radiator allows the sub to extend a little deeper compared to most 8" subs out there in the same price range. Kind of makes sense BUT either way it is a decent sub for LFE. Not sure how it will do with respect to music. Thanks once again for your help. I figured you, Kex, or N absentia would know.