looking at paradigm studio 20

[madmax1]

I went looking at Paradigm studio 20's today, and loved the sound! Wanted to know what in the B&W line whould be comparable to them. Also wanted to know what other speaker in this size i should look at. But i did love the sound out of the studio 20's......NICE!!

[RGA]

From B&W the 602S3. Though you may be able to find a discounted CDM 1NT if you're lucky. Dynaudio Audience 42 are in here as well.

What is your budget and what do you want them for?

[Woochifer]

Try out both the B&W DM602 and the new 705. Pricewise, the Studio 20 is situated right in between them. The CM2 is roughly the same price as the Studio 20, but the Studio 20 is in a higher performance plateau than that particular model.

In my listening with the Studio 20 v.3, that speaker is up there with anything I've ever heard in that general price range, and a notable step up in sound quality from the Studio 20 v.2s that I use in my surround rig. The imaging and big soundstage are especially impressive with those speakers. Dynaudio, PSB, Energy, KEF, Mission, Boston Acoustics, Totem, Monitor Audio, Sonus Faber, and Vienna Acoustics all make similar bookshelf speakers in the same general price range.

[RGA]

Woochifer

When you auditioned the 20V3 do you remember what was running them? I have not listened but it seems every place has them hooked up to $5000.00 worth of Anthem equipment. I would want a direct comparison between that and the 20V2 before I sold your speakers short. I know you don't support ancillary equipment as making a big difference(if any) but IMO Yamaha and receivers in geenral are no where near as good as good separates (or separate like) units in the precise are of soundstage and overal control of the speakers.

I'm sure the V3 series are an improvement but have heard some mixed results of improvement in one area - the treble - and a lightening in the bass department. A store up the road is running the top of the line Pioneer Elite Receiver but only have the Monitor line in right now. I don't like auditioning with a receiver but it is $5k worth so I'm assuming it is at least half way's competant - and Paradigm obviously feels it's suited or they would not have the store sell their product.

Do the 20's have deeper response than the Monitor 5's?

[jasmit]

madmax1

I would echo what Woochifer said. When I was auditioning speakers, the ones that grabbed me were the B&W 705's. They are amazing and beautiful speakers -- but at a price that's almost twice that of the Studio 20's. When I listened to the Studio 20 v.3's, I was pleased to find speakers that sounded almost as good as the 705's for almost half the price. That makes them, to my way of thinking, even more amazing than the 705's. So, I bought them.

I also listened to the B&W 602 s3 and like them alot. But, in my opinion, they just didn't sound as nice as the Studio 20's.

FYI I heard the 705's through either Krell or Rotel (don't recall which), the Studio 20's with Sony ES (5000 I believe) and the 602 s3's with Marantz (don't recall which model).

If you haven't done so already, you should read the following review of the Studio 20:

http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/p...tudio20_v3.htm.

Good luck!

[RGA]

madmax1

I would echo what Woochifer said. When I was auditioning speakers, the ones that grabbed me were the B&W 705's. They are amazing and beautiful speakers -- but at a price that's almost twice that of the Studio 20's. When I listened to the Studio 20 v.3's, I was pleased to find speakers that sounded almost as good as the 705's for almost half the price. That makes them, to my way of thinking, even more amazing than the 705's. So, I bought them.

I also listened to the B&W 602 s3 and like them alot. But, in my opinion, they just didn't sound as nice as the Studio 20's.

FYI I heard the 705's through either Krell or Rotel (don't recall which), the Studio 20's with Sony ES (5000 I believe) and the 602 s3's with Marantz (don't recall which model).

If you haven't done so already, you should read the following review of the Studio 20:

http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/p...tudio20_v3.htm.

Good luck!

Was your audition in the same room? Marantz - I own and would not conduct any opinion of a speaker based off of a Marantz receiver - then again I would not use a Sony either.

[jasmit]

Was your audition in the same room? Marantz - I own and would not conduct any opinion of a speaker based off of a Marantz receiver - then again I would not use a Sony either.

No. I heard the B&W 602s3's at two different dealers, both with Marantz receivers. I heard the 705's at a completely different dealer from the first two. And finally, I heard the Studio 20's at two completely different dealers from the first three; at one, I don't recall what drove them and at the other, it was the Sony. The place that had the Sony also sold Anthem products too, but they just didn't have the Studio 20's & 40's in a room with any Anthem amps. This particular dealer was a big fan of Sony ES products and encouraged me to consider them. I politely declined. If money wasn't so tight, I would've really considered the Anthem; I understand they pair well with Paradigm products. As it is, I'm going with Denon.

I'm not a Marantz fan though I've read some good things about them, e.g., good for music, etc. Why would you not render an opinion of a speaker driven by a Marantz? Just curious.

[kexodusc]

I can provide my own answers to the questions you asked Wooch, based on my recent auditions of the 20v3's. I recently bought another pair of 20 v2's used, but I almost traded in my 40's and 20's to upgrade.

When you auditioned the 20V3 do you remember what was running them?

Mine were running of a modest Arcam Alpha 8 integrated. I must say, I agree with Woochifer's assesment in that the 20v3's do image quite a bit better than the V.2's (which I also use as surrounds). This was the only difference I noticed with between the V.3's and V.2's when I demoed both in store awhile back. I did find the Studio 40v3's to have a bit more control and authority in the low frequencies than my v2's but I didn't do a side by side, just a quick demo in store so that may be subjective.

I'm sure the V3 series are an improvement but have heard some mixed results of improvement in one area - the treble - and a lightening in the bass department.

With the 20's, I noticed no immediate differences in either area, just a more competent imaging, again I was fortunate to have A/B switching available.

Do the 20's have deeper response than the Monitor 5's?

I don't think they do, the Monitor 5's have fairly decent bass. But I believe the Studio's are a bit more accurate in the low end. The difference of 2 Hz isn't all that noticeable. I found the Monitor 5's tend to sound a wee bit boomy though. I really like the Monitor 5's for that price range except for at really high volumes I find they get a tad harsh. But I mean really high volumes, I doubt people can listen to movies for 2 hours at 100 dB or so. Before I bought my Studio's I actually bought a complete Monitor series setup with Mini Monitors in the rear. After a week of various DVD's I was fairly happy with them, especially the Mini Monitors. In the end I returned them and upgraded to Studio 40's and 20's in anticipation of multi-channel audio sources like DVD-A and SACD. That and I had a some signing bonus money left burning a whole in my pocket. Just wanted to be ready. A year later I still don't have a DVDA/SACD player. Go figure.

I would be curious to know if Woochifer's assessment is similar.

[RGA]

I don't think they do, the Monitor 5's have fairly decent bass. But I believe the Studio's are a bit more accurate in the low end. The difference of 2 Hz isn't all that noticeable. I found the Monitor 5's tend to sound a wee bit boomy though. I really like the Monitor 5's for that price range except for at really high volumes I find they get a tad harsh. But I mean really high volumes, I doubt people can listen to movies for 2 hours at 100 dB or so. Before I bought my Studio's I actually bought a complete Monitor series setup with Mini Monitors in the rear. After a week of various DVD's I was fairly happy with them, especially the Mini Monitors. In the end I returned them and upgraded to Studio 40's and 20's in anticipation of multi-channel audio sources like DVD-A and SACD. That and I had a some signing bonus money left burning a whole in my pocket. Just wanted to be ready. A year later I still don't have a DVDA/SACD player. Go figure.

I would be curious to know if Woochifer's assessment is similar.

I can listen to them here but I would rather listen in August at soundhounds becuase i can use better equipment. The place here has the flagship Pioneer Elite at ~$6k with an Elite DVD/CD player. They actually have a listening room that seems pretty good. Still I can't compare it against anything other than Mordaunt Short I believe. I have not been impressed with the Monitor V3 for acoustic music. The 20V3 apparently has been said to be a bit laid back even polite - so it may be a more well balanced design than previous incarnations.

[Woochifer]

Woochifer

When you auditioned the 20V3 do you remember what was running them? I have not listened but it seems every place has them hooked up to $5000.00 worth of Anthem equipment. I would want a direct comparison between that and the 20V2 before I sold your speakers short. I know you don't support ancillary equipment as making a big difference(if any) but IMO Yamaha and receivers in geenral are no where near as good as good separates (or separate like) units in the precise are of soundstage and overal control of the speakers.

I'm sure the V3 series are an improvement but have heard some mixed results of improvement in one area - the treble - and a lightening in the bass department. A store up the road is running the top of the line Pioneer Elite Receiver but only have the Monitor line in right now. I don't like auditioning with a receiver but it is $5k worth so I'm assuming it is at least half way's competant - and Paradigm obviously feels it's suited or they would not have the store sell their product.

Do the 20's have deeper response than the Monitor 5's?

I'm not selling my own speakers short, I was just noting the differences that the new v.3s made. Just based on my own listenings, they made nice improvements in all areas (except the bass extension, but even there it was a trade off with other improvements in the lows). My most recent auditions with the Studio v.3 speakers have been with Arcam and Parasound amps. All my prior Studio v.2 listenings in that same room were with Parasound amps. The separates do make an improvement, but what I heard from both the Studio 20 and 40 v.3s are very clear improvements in the imaging. The locational ability of the v.2 models in that same room using those high end separates was very good, but not striking like the v.3 models. And that dealer has marks on the floor indicating the proper placement alignments, so they set up the auditions identically.

The treble in the v.3 is different, but to me not as big as a difference as others have noted. It's subtlely smoother, but not to the point that it would be unrecognizable from prior Studio series models. The bass is really where the biggest change was made. It doesn't go nearly as deep as before and it's a bit less punchy, but the articulation in the bass with the v.3 is clearly improved. The bass is now more nuanced and clearly layered. I would doubt that it's all due to the amplification because when I auditioned the v.2 models, the bass characteristics were comparable whether I was using a receiver or separates.

Compared to the Monitor 5, the Studio 20 has always had less bass extension. The Monitor 5 is a good speaker, but the Studio 20 represents much higher performance. I remember the Studio 40 also less pronounced in the bass than the Monitor 5, but it sounded tighter and the overall refinement with the Studio series was a clear step up.

[RGA]

Well when I get the chance I will check them out. I need something to be able to recommend in this price range now that the CDM 1NT is gone. The only thing I really had left was the Dynaudio 52 and and even they have an SE version I need to hear. Still have not heard the 700 series and I'm hearing mixed opionions on them as well.

Gotta stay on top of this. Need to hear the Quads as well. Man when you move to a smaller city good gear is tougher to find. Seems like all the dreck is pushed out to the sticks.