Quote Originally Posted by kexodusc
I do like most of their bookshelf models at the prices they go for, but the exception has to be the Signature series.
When I heard the S2 and S4 originally, I was floored at how great they sounded. I thought Paradigm hit a home run. But I was also under the impression that these were only a few hundred more than their Studio counterparts.
At double the price they're just not better enough IMO, not compared to other similarly priced speakers.
Paradigm's growing their business, maybe someday they'll tweak these speakers, or sell them cheaper, but IMO, right now, the speakers are selling to brand-loyal Paradigm buyers on names and looks alone. I think their success can be attributed to Paradigm owners graduating from product line to product line, looking for the next step up and always turning to the last place they bought first. And there's nothing wrong with that, I guess, might not get you the best value though.
To a large degree, I think that the Signature series came out in response to long-time pressure from dealers for Paradigm to come out with a higher priced model line. You might be right about Paradigm owners looking for the next step up, and if they already own the Studio series, where can they go next but to a different company? I guess having the Signature series available is one way for a dealer to retain a customer and keep them upgrading. But in a way, Paradigm might have botched the release on the Signature series. When I first saw pictures of the Signature prototypes over two years ago, it seemed that Paradigm was definitely moving upscale. The very different look on the new drivers, the more substantial binding posts, the pristine finishes on the new cabinets, all pointed to a higher level of quality.

But, after waiting nearly a year for the Sigs to come out, Paradigm surprised all of us by announcing the v.3 Studio series, which came out months before the Signatures did. I think that might have been a mistake, because after those photos of the Signature prototypes circulated around the internet for about a year, Paradigm comes out with the Studio v.3 series, and from outside appearances those models looks very similar to the Signatures. Turns out that much IS actually similar between the two model lines, except that the Signature series uses modified versions of those drivers and has better bracing in the cabinetry (which in actuality resemble what Paradigm used in the Studio v.2 series).

From what I've seen, Paradigm doesn't normally waste a lot of time between product announcement and shipping the new models to stores. Paradigm announced the Studio v.3 series last June, by July most of the remaining v.2 models were gone, and by August the v.3s were in stores. They displayed the Signatures in summer 2002 and the speakers didn't arrive in stores until last November. In the meantime, people had already heard the Studio v.3 series and expected big things from the Sigs. I'm not altogether sure that the Sigs met up to the hype. People who listen to them generally like them, but compared to the hype and Paradigm's own track record of performance value, it might not offer a big enough step up. As it stands, the perception is that the Signature series is basically an improved version of the Studios, rather than the Studio series being a value-conscious version of the Signatures. Because of this, it might have been better for the Sigs to come out first, and then roll out the new Studios.

Quote Originally Posted by kexodusc
As for the subs...well...with all the excellent DIY subwoofer kits on the market today, you'll have a hard time convincing me to drop $3000 on a subwoofer when I could run three or four, 1500 watt, 18" bad-ass subs for the same price, often with built in Parametric eq's, and have cash left over to buy U-571.
I was surprised when Paradigm updated the Servo 15 and bumped the price up by $700 (nearly 50% higher than before). I heard that the Signature Servo was a monster of a sub, but not a lot of people were willing to pony up $3,300 for that unit when the much more affordable (and comparably designed) Servo 15 cost $1,500. Unlike now, the Signature Servo had different hardware and a clear performance advantage over the previous Servo 15 at that time, but you're still talking about subs that can both go well into the mid-teen Hz range. At $1,500 I thought that the previous Servo 15 was expensive, but still an excellent value. It had plenty of depth, and not a whole lot of truly comprable competition in its price range (15" sealed subs with 400w and servo control). The new Servo 15 can go deeper, its amp is now 1,200w, and the driver can move a lot more air than before (about a 2" stroke, which is nearly double what the previous driver did), pretty much the same hardware that's in the Signature Servo. Of course, now you have to pay $2,200. But, it's still $1,100 cheaper than the Signature Servo (albeit w/o the gloss wood finish).

As far as DIY goes, you can build a 1,200w sealed sub around Adire's 15" Tumult driver for around $1,300. Still amazes me that they were offering the finished 300 watt 15" Daeva sub for $600, considering that the parts alone cost about that much. The only thing that would be missing is Paradigm's servo control, which does come in handy in a sealed box because distortion is an inherent weakness with sealed subs and the servo is designed to reduce distortion.