Hello my fellow members. Just got home from going to my local Paradigm dealer and doing some extensive listening. Here is what I found for those of you whom are interested. Lets just say I got to listen to everything from the Atom, Titan, Mini Monitor, Monitor 3, Monitor 7, Monitor 11, cc-170, cc-370, and of course the Studio 20 and 40. The equippment used was a Yamaha RX-V2400 and a Mitsubishi cd player in thier sound room. The speaker that impressed me the most was the Studio 20. It is unbelievable just how much sound that speaker can produce. The Studio 40 added a larger sound stage but thats about all. The 20 was so open and spacious as well as remaining very precise. The tweeter was just amazing providing an excellent upper presence not sounding rolled-off. The midrange/midbass was tight and not over done while remaining exremely controlled. The next to really get my attention was the Monitor 3. To me is sounded very close to the Studio 20 but listening close I could hear that the mids were not quite as clear but excellent nevertheless. The monitor 3 was a bit more forward which did not surprise me considering it has an 8" driver vs. the 6.5" on the Studio 20. It was amazing that the Studio 20 was able to keep up with the monitor 3 eventhough the 20 has a smaller driver. The monitor 7 and 11 did not do much for me. What I mean is they did not add anything that was already there when compared to the monitor 3. I always thought a tower would do just that but not in this case. The mini was also awesome. Again, the mini provided a somewhat large sound stage but was not quite as detailed as the monitor 3 and the studio 20. There was a sense of strain while demoing using the same exact volume levels. However, the mini was a significant improvement over the Titan and the Atom. Don;t take me wrong both were nice speakers but were a lil more harsh in the mid area, not as controlled in the midbass, and a bit rolled off in the upper frequencies. For the money, the Titan and the Atom are GOOD speakers. For a little more the Minis made a significant difference in offering bang for the buck. I could not justify spening more money on a tower such as the monitor 7 or 9 when the monitor 3 to me actually sounded much better. Now the only other two I have not touched much upon are the cc-170 and the cc-370. Well, all I can say is there is a HUGE difference between the two. Sure there is in cost but there is also in performance. In fact, for the money I have yet to hear such an awesome center speaker. Paradigm has created the perfect balance of value and performance with the cc-370. The cc-170 has a small bit of boxiness to it and it sounded rolled off in the upper registers. Dialogue is not nearly as clear as it is with the 370. I now know which center I plan on upgrading to. Anyways, just thought I could offer this to other members and hope it is useful. I am by no means an expert but I been around long enough to pay attention to the finest yet smallest of details. If anyone feels like chiming in feel free in doing so. Thanks.
Phil