Paradigm Speaker Design

[StateDJ85]

I'm a huge paradigm fan. Love the sound, love the value. But has anyone else noticed that for the most part, the styling of their speakers isnt all that great? I've got monitor 9 v2's and I just can't get over how plain they are. I'm kind of annoyed that an 800 pair of speakers isnt more stylish. I recently saw a set of sony speakers at a circuit city that were rounded on the sides and wondered why paradigm can't design them like that. I think the newer lines have gotten a little better, but even the reference studio series in my opinion isn't all that stylish for the price. Am I crazy, or do you guys agree with me too?

[kexodusc]

To tell you the truth, they use some of the nicer vinyl wood wraps I've seen. Consider that the minimal effort into styling helps keep the price down. Even round-offs on the edges would necessitate a change in the production phase and probably the crossover design. Personally, I think they look elegant and timeless...they aren't the best looking, but they shouldn't go out of style.

The new curved feet on the towers are nice, I'd love to get a set for the sub I'm building.

Anyway, who cares how they look, some of the best speakers I've ever heard were pretty ugly.

[N. Abstentia]

Yeah I like the 'less is more' look of Paradigm. I like the looks of my Active 40's even better without the grilles because you can see all that massive IRON sticking out at you begging to be fed some heavy duty signals so they can get to rockin!

I think 'timeless' summed it up...Paradigm does not fall victim of the 'gimmick of the week' thing. Those funky designs look neat at first, but six months down the road you think "What in the hell was I thinking that day?"

[StateDJ85]

Yeah I see what you guys are saying. unfortunately my opinion comes from having almost the largest speakers they make. I love the way the new ones look, but mine are just big boxes. Being a college student, they don't fit into small spaces as well as I think some others would. I really like the direction they're going, but unfortunately I got mine 2 model lines before the really cool looking ones came out.

[Woochifer]

"Annoyed" by Paradigm's styling? If looks are that important to you, then by all means trade them in and go for something more attractive. Generally, Paradigm is known for delivering good audio performance for the money. If you want the looks of the new Paradigms, then go ahead and buy the new Paradigms.

When I bought my Studio v.2 speakers, styling was far down on my list of priorities. Like Kex, I think Paradigm uses good vinyl laminates on their speakers, and simply picked the shade that best matched my hardwood floors. There are only so many things you can do with a box speaker, and the main variation is with the profile and the size.

[StateDJ85]

I completely understand what you guys are saying, and please don't think I'm saying their styling is bad or anything, I just thing that particularly with my line that I own, they could have done a little more. They have since then, but at the time I think that for an 800 pair of speakers, they could have rounded the edges a bit or something. I'm not saying that looks are the determining factor, but with speakers this big I don't think it's too out of this world to expect a little styling. I think that you can only truly understand what I mean if you have these exact same speakers (same version too). I think all the others look great, but these particular speakers being as big as they are, have trouble fitting into most of the places I've had them.