Quote Originally Posted by frenchmon
I have been told and read in some professional reviews that paradigms are bright. I own Paradigms and like what others call "the brightness of the Paradigm tweeters." Its not one that wears me out. They are unbelievable speakers that don't color the music, but presents it the way it was meant to be...they don't "cheat" in my opinion. I suspect that a few other speakers either give to much brightness or not the correct highs that one would hear as if it was music in person. This may lead one to think Paradigms are bright.

Two months ago I sat and listened to Theil book shelves and I found them to be to laid back in the tweeters. It was as if it was a dark coloration of the tweeters that made the music sound un-natural to me. Thats not to say the Theils sounded bad..they had great detail and clarity. They where being driven by Cary amps. I then also listened to some Dali full range Mentor 6 speakers being driven by those same Cary amps, I found them, the Dali's to be overly colored in the tweeters, and more natural in the bottom end. I also found them to be lacking in the mids. This was a distortion of the true sound of natural live in person music. They had two tweeters, one traditional soft dome and one ribbon, and two bass/mid drivers. To my ears the brightness of the two different tweeters, which by the way covered to different frenquency ranges, out performed the rythm of the mid drivers, thus they colored and distorted the music of the natural sound of live music as if being in person if one was to close their eyes.

I also a week later had a chance to listen to the Classic Four speakers by NHT after listening to Revel Concerta M12's book shelves and Concerta F12 Full range speakers. The book shelves where unbelievable...they where being driven by a Marantz SR 7002 in direct mode. I had my own music with me. The Book shelvs where clear and very detailed and had better sounding mids than my Monitor 7 Paradigms...and the Revels where book shelves, only two drivers, one tweeter and one bass/mid. I would say the M12's sounded a bit more greater than my full range 7's.

I Next listened to both full range speakers...the NHT Classic Four's and the Revel F12's side by side through the Marantz PM 7001 integrated amp. While I hate the way the F12's look and the size and foot print of the F12 speaker, the sound was out standing...the much smaller NHT Classic Four's where out classed in sound and size even tho the NHT's where Marketed in a higher class.

I say all of that to say we all know that this is a subjective hobby and no one has what they think is a great speaker covered. We all have our own preference...thats what makes this hobby interesting and fun.

frenchmon
Yep... pretty much... audio products are aimed at different consumers... not everyone hears the same or likes the same thing... Many people actually like speakers that are generally classified as 'bright'.... What I find interesting is when people claim their speakers are 'neutral', based on the fact that they like the sound... IMHO, neutral is all about measured response, not subjective... so very few manufacturers (such as Revel) can claim neutrality... but being Neutral doesn't mean everyone will like them... I really like Revel (Neutral) but I love Monitor Audio (which tend to be regarded as bright)....

Glad you liked the Revels, there is a reason why the F12s are raved about by so many critics...