Paradigm PS-1000 / PS-1200 Sub Versions?

[i300i]

Howdy:

I'm in the market for a PS-1000 or 1200 and I'm looking for advice from those who have the PS series subs.

From what I've read, it sounds like the musical abilities have been improved in the version 3 and 4 PS subs. I'd like to know how I can identify the different versions. It looks like the PS has been manufactured with 3 different box styles, varying by the design of the top.

I've seen one style with a square edge around the top, one with a chamfered (45 degree) bevel top and another with a more curved taper at the top.

Any advice on which is which version is appreciated. Also, any way to ID the version by serial number.

Thanks in advance,

Dan

Harmon Kardon AVR-201
Sony DVP-NC685V
Paradigm Monitor 3
Paradigm CC-350
Paradigm ADP 170
Paradigm PS-???? v?
Home Theater Master MX-500

[cam]

Howdy:

I'm in the market for a PS-1000 or 1200 and I'm looking for advice from those who have the PS series subs.

From what I've read, it sounds like the musical abilities have been improved in the version 3 and 4 PS subs. I'd like to know how I can identify the different versions. It looks like the PS has been manufactured with 3 different box styles, varying by the design of the top.

I've seen one style with a square edge around the top, one with a chamfered (45 degree) bevel top and another with a more curved taper at the top.

Any advice on which is which version is appreciated. Also, any way to ID the version by serial number.

Thanks in advance,

Dan

Harmon Kardon AVR-201
Sony DVP-NC685V
Paradigm Monitor 3
Paradigm CC-350
Paradigm ADP 170
Paradigm PS-???? v?
Home Theater Master MX-500

The 45 degree angle all around the top should be the v3. The v4 is tappered at the top all around.I used to have the ps-1000 v3 175 rms 525 peak sub. when I was demoing it I was completely amazed at the output this 10 incher was putting out. The sales guy was recommending me not to buy it because he referred the output as to being sloppy. I had my blinders on because I was still awestruck about the output. I took it home. Now after awhile of getting used to it, I ran into a few problems. To me this sub seemed to bloat, it was one notey, it seemed almost impossible to blend with my other speakers. Also, the ps-1000 was horrible stuffed in a corner. All the time I had everything crossed over at 80hz on up to my speakers and 80 hz on down to my sub. 80 was my lowest setting on my receiver and I feel I could have got better results if I had a 60 hz setting on my receiver. I will never know now because I could only handle the ps-1000 for a year and half, and now have a pw-2200 v2 and all those problems I had before are gone now. I have heard the v4 with 200 rms 750 peak is much better on music but I doubt it. Movies is where the ps series shines. The bandpass design is designed for one purpose, output. If you become a more critical listener over time then the ps series will eventually aggravate you. If you want big output at the expense of quality output then get the ps-1200 now but if you think you will be leaning more towards a good sounding sub now then look elsewhere. Pw-2100 or pw-2200.

[i300i]

The 45 degree angle all around the top should be the v3. The v4 is tappered at the top all around.I used to have the ps-1000 v3 175 rms 525 peak sub. when I was demoing it I was completely amazed at the output this 10 incher was putting out. The sales guy was recommending me not to buy it because he referred the output as to being sloppy. I had my blinders on because I was still awestruck about the output. I took it home. Now after awhile of getting used to it, I ran into a few problems. To me this sub seemed to bloat, it was one notey, it seemed almost impossible to blend with my other speakers. Also, the ps-1000 was horrible stuffed in a corner. All the time I had everything crossed over at 80hz on up to my speakers and 80 hz on down to my sub. 80 was my lowest setting on my receiver and I feel I could have got better results if I had a 60 hz setting on my receiver. I will never know now because I could only handle the ps-1000 for a year and half, and now have a pw-2200 v2 and all those problems I had before are gone now. I have heard the v4 with 200 rms 750 peak is much better on music but I doubt it. Movies is where the ps series shines. The bandpass design is designed for one purpose, output. If you become a more critical listener over time then the ps series will eventually aggravate you. If you want big output at the expense of quality output then get the ps-1200 now but if you think you will be leaning more towards a good sounding sub now then look elsewhere. Pw-2100 or pw-2200.

Thanks for your quick response, Cam. There are a few issues that are now troubling me:

1. My HK receiver crosses-over at 100Hz. It's either that, or full range to the fronts and the sub line level. Should I even consider using the speaker level inputs to the sub for better crossover control? (Do they even function as a high-pass out to the L/R main speakers?) The monitor 3 is rated down to 56Hz, I believe.

2. I was planning on stuffing it into a corner...

3. I had to talk myself up from the PDR series of subs to the PS (I'm replacing a Sony SA-WM40). I think the PS-1200 v4 is about the top of my price range, for now.

Thanks again,

Dan

[cam]

Thanks for your quick response, Cam. There are a few issues that are now troubling me:

1. My HK receiver crosses-over at 100Hz. It's either that, or full range to the fronts and the sub line level. Should I even consider using the speaker level inputs to the sub for better crossover control? (Do they even function as a high-pass out to the L/R main speakers?) The monitor 3 is rated down to 56Hz, I believe.

2. I was planning on stuffing it into a corner...

3. I had to talk myself up from the PDR series of subs to the PS (I'm replacing a Sony SA-WM40). I think the PS-1200 v4 is about the top of my price range, for now.

Thanks again,

Dan

You will have to try both the rca sub line in and try the speaker line in and fine tune to your liking. I never tried the speaker line in, I used the rca sub connection. I set all my speakers to small and tried 80, 100, and 120hz crossovers and I will honestly tell you that it was terrible at 120, not very good at 100, and only barely acceptible at 80. If I could have tried 60 I'm sure my old ps-1000 would have sounded best. Remember that this type of design is designed to pound out the low notes. When you start introducing 80hz on up it sounds terrible. With my new pw-2200 i tried 80,100,120, and even 150hz just to see how it would perform and I must say that it pounded and did it musically at all those settings.You can set your surrounds and center to small, set your mains to large and dial your sub around 60 to 70 and see how that sounds. You might like it. But by setting your mains to large you will put added strain onto your mains and also onto your receiver. They say setting to small means big sound. My results may not be the same as yours but having 100hz as your lowest setting is not ideal. The pdr-12 v4 which is 150watt rms will sound great crossed over at 100hz, sound very musical, and pound at HT. I have recommended this to other people, if you are looking at the paradigm line-up I would start with the pdr-12, by-pass the ps-series and look at the pw-series. You may do exactly what I did when I took home my ps-1000, be stunned at the huge output that the ps-series is capable of, and second look the quality of the sound. Remember that I do not like the ps-series, thats not to say that you can't set all your speakers to small, crossover at 100hz and get a great result with your brand new ps-1200 stuffed into the corner. Good luck.

[Lafferman]

Cam is know for hating the ps series i happen to like them but i don't listen to music on mine it's really about 99% movies and then some music with parties. also mine ended up in the middle of the room because my roomate has a stupid tree in the corner so i can't comment on corner load problems. i think it comes down to a simple fact that paradigm makes a good product you can't go wrong with any of there speakers it's just what do you like for the money you can spend.

[cam]

Cam is know for hating the ps series i happen to like them but i don't listen to music on mine it's really about 99% movies and then some music with parties. also mine ended up in the middle of the room because my roomate has a stupid tree in the corner so i can't comment on corner load problems. i think it comes down to a simple fact that paradigm makes a good product you can't go wrong with any of there speakers it's just what do you like for the money you can spend.

I was not always a ps-series (bandpass) hater. I think what happened was that over time I just became a little more critical of what I was listening to, music or movies, it didn't matter. I will tell you that if I was about 15 years younger the ps-series would be just what the doctor ordered. BIG OUTPUT and nothing else matters. I have started to read a few more favourable comments on the ps v4 so maybe they some how over came some of the bloated, boomy, hard to blend so it doesn't draw so much attention to itself traits.

[Lafferman]

that's cool i was thinking last night that age may have a factor in some of it. i mean if i had the money to buy a pw i sure as hell would buy it in a heart beat but with what i can spend i'm happy maybe some time i will be able to buy one.

[kexodusc]

Lafferman, if you look hard enough you can find a decent used PW-2100 for what you'd pay for a new PS-1200.
I know because I bought a 2nd PW-2100 in May. The difference is worth it in my opinion...try ebay and audiogon.com for starters.
If your local dealer accepts trade-ins, give him your name. You can be sure he'd call you to sell a PW to you so he makes the deal at the other end.

[cam]

that's cool i was thinking last night that age may have a factor in some of it. i mean if i had the money to buy a pw i sure as hell would buy it in a heart beat but with what i can spend i'm happy maybe some time i will be able to buy one.

Over the years I have developed a good relationship with the guys at audio/video. They let me trade my ps-1000 v3 (even though the v4 was already out). Usually they will only trade up if the model is still current. Even though mine wasn't they still gave me 80% of what I paid even after 17 months. And on top of that they took off $100 off my pw-2200 purchase. Pw-2200 retail $1100, minus $100, minus 80% for my ps-1000, and then the taxes were added on. How could I have said no. What a deal as far I was concerned.

[cam]

Lafferman, if you look hard enough you can find a decent used PW-2100 for what you'd pay for a new PS-1200.
I know because I bought a 2nd PW-2100 in May. The difference is worth it in my opinion...try ebay and audiogon.com for starters.
If your local dealer accepts trade-ins, give him your name. You can be sure he'd call you to sell a PW to you so he makes the deal at the other end.

Are you running two pw-2100's in the same system, if so what do you think. I have been contemplating getting another pw-2200 but I'm definetly not going to be paying for a new one.

[kexodusc]

Are you running two pw-2100's in the same system, if so what do you think. I have been contemplating getting another pw-2200 but I'm definetly not going to be paying for a new one.

I have a PW-2200 and a PW-2100...both purchased in the last 12 months (ie: current model)...I had the 2 subs in my HT room running at once, and still do that when I have friends over and want to show off a bit, but in all honesty I found it unecessary. The deal on the PW-2100 was too good to ignore. One's black, one's the rosenut or rosewood colour, but oh well. I didn't notice any "stereo image" improvements with 2 subs, and moving the 2nd sub to the rear didn't really make any huge improvement to frequency response. Just volume.
The PW-2100 is actually the better sub for music, IMO. It's downstairs in my studio room used in a 2-channel setup sometimes.
I also have a 12" Titanic MKIII from Parts Express that is really impressive.
I would suggest you save 800 bucks or so and buy a Parametric Equalizer from Parts Express or somewhere. Smoothing out the frequency response in your room will make a bigger difference in bass purity and response than adding more power. The PW-2200 is plenty of sub-woofer unless your room is absolutely huge.

[cam]

I have a PW-2200 and a PW-2100...both purchased in the last 12 months (ie: current model)...I had the 2 subs in my HT room running at once, and still do that when I have friends over and want to show off a bit, but in all honesty I found it unecessary. The deal on the PW-2100 was too good to ignore. One's black, one's the rosenut or rosewood colour, but oh well. I didn't notice any "stereo image" improvements with 2 subs, and moving the 2nd sub to the rear didn't really make any huge improvement to frequency response. Just volume.
The PW-2100 is actually the better sub for music, IMO. It's downstairs in my studio room used in a 2-channel setup sometimes.
I also have a 12" Titanic MKIII from Parts Express that is really impressive.
I would suggest you save 800 bucks or so and buy a Parametric Equalizer from Parts Express or somewhere. Smoothing out the frequency response in your room will make a bigger difference in bass purity and response than adding more power. The PW-2200 is plenty of sub-woofer unless your room is absolutely huge.

I have only been contemplating getting two, hearing about your results is information that I will keep in the ol memory. Thanks for the reply.

[kexodusc]

I should add that 2 subs didn't work for MY situation. I leave open the possibility that some rooms really call for 2 subs. However I will stand by my earlier claim that a parametric equalization is a much more efficient allocation of your finances at this point.

[BC Dave]

I have owned both the version two and version four of the PS-1000. I got rid of the version two because it was too boomy and sloppy on music, but later missed it for its prowess with movies. I heard a version 4 PS1000 a few months ago and couldn't believe how much more articulate it was with music. The salesman told me amplifier and driver improvements had made the sub much tighter. His information was confirmed by a product specialist at Paradigm. I am totally happy with the PS-1000 in both music and movie duties. It is corner mounted and provides a tight, solid foundation in a very large room that opens into a kitchen with 14 foot vaulted ceilings. No regrets there at all.