The Official Paradigm Speakers Thread

[Ryan Peddle]

Originally Posted by gates70

To get the maximum out of his speakers wouldn't he be better to get a 7 channel amp and bi-amp all 3 fronts ? Especially since they are the 100's I would think that you'd want to get the maximum out of them that you can. I did that with my 60's and WOW !

I agree, but it depends on budget. I am waiting for my Audioquest bi-amp speaker wire to come in then I will be bi-amping my 100s. Looking forward to hearing if there is an improvement.

[Twitch9]

Originally Posted by KK in CT

Hi Ryan,
Could you tell me what the approx. break in period is on the Monitor 9's? I've had mine about 3 weeks - can't imagine them sounding any better but I do understand there is a break in period.
Thanks.

The monitor series don't take as long to break in as the studio series mainly because of the midrange speaker, but your looking around 60 to 80 hours of use where the studios can take twice as long to get the mids sounding really sweet

Little tip, the best and fastest way to break in speakers is to get a pink noise generator or DVD disc and run it through the speakers continuously for 3 days at a very low volume before you ever listen to them, this will work the speakers in gradually without damaging them, it doesn't need to be loud to work in speakers, this will actually hurt them in the long run.

I have worked in many recoding studios and when ever we got new monitors or near-fields this is how we broke them in, but we would leave them for 1 week with continuous pink noise.

Don't want to step on your question Ryan but i thought you might have just missed the post.

[KK in CT]

Originally Posted by Twitch9

The monitor series don't take as long to break in as the studio series mainly because of the midrange speaker, but your looking around 60 to 80 hours of use where the studios can take twice as long to get the mids sounding really sweet

Little tip, the best and fastest way to break in speakers is to get a pink noise generator or DVD disc and run it through the speakers continuously for 3 days at a very low volume before you ever listen to them, this will work the speakers in gradually without damaging them, it doesn't need to be loud to work in speakers, this will actually hurt them in the long run.

I have worked in many recoding studios and when ever we got new monitors or near-fields this is how we broke them in, but we would leave them for 1 week with continuous pink noise.

Don't want to step on your question Ryan but i thought you might have just missed the post.

Thanks for the response. I meant for anyone who knew the answer to respond. Just asked Ryan because he knew about break in for the other models. So I have some more break in time then. I have been careful not to play them loud yet.

[GregBe]

Originally Posted by erict

Yes they were a tad brighter then my Energy's but not bad at all and I really enjoyed listening to them. To me they had a really good midrange and crisp highs but it wasn't fatiguing to me.

Cool...thats all that matters then. Good luck in your choice. I must have auditioned at least 25 different speakers before I made my decision. In my opinion, the auditioning is one of the most exciting things in this hobby.

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by GregBe

Cool...thats all that matters then. Good luck in your choice. I must have auditioned at least 25 different speakers before I made my decision. In my opinion, the auditioning is one of the most exciting things in this hobby.

Even more so when you actually have the money to burn!

[dobyblue]

Free pink noise generator = FM band between stations.

[gatomalo]

I need an amp that can bring out the midrange out of my studio 100's. Or maybe there's a break in waiting period for these speakers? I've spent a king's ransom on my existing system and I'm half way in the dog house, so I don't want to spend a fortune. I have enough power for loudness with my avr, so it could be that the emo might short change me, maybe! Any suggestions?

[Ryan Peddle]

Originally Posted by Twitch9

The monitor series don't take as long to break in as the studio series mainly because of the midrange speaker, but your looking around 60 to 80 hours of use where the studios can take twice as long to get the mids sounding really sweet

Little tip, the best and fastest way to break in speakers is to get a pink noise generator or DVD disc and run it through the speakers continuously for 3 days at a very low volume before you ever listen to them, this will work the speakers in gradually without damaging them, it doesn't need to be loud to work in speakers, this will actually hurt them in the long run.

I have worked in many recoding studios and when ever we got new monitors or near-fields this is how we broke them in, but we would leave them for 1 week with continuous pink noise.

Don't want to step on your question Ryan but i thought you might have just missed the post.

This is a great idea. It is usually trial by fire with my speaker as I simply play continuous music through them So I have grabbed my Avia disc and have the Wideband Pink Noise on repeat and letting it play for a few hours while I work on the basement.

What I am trying to get out of my speakers is a little more bass. Personally they seem a little light in the bass department right now. But I have only owned them for a week and probably only have 30 to 40 hours of major usage on them. I won't really count my wife watching soaps and stuff since it is just dialog.

Twitch, any suggestions on how to break in the woofers better? I have the bass cranked up on my NAD through pink noise to give the woofers a little more movement.

[Ryan Peddle]

Originally Posted by gatomalo

I need an amp that can bring out the midrange out of my studio 100's. Or maybe there's a break in waiting period for these speakers? I've spent a king's ransom on my existing system and I'm half way in the dog house, so I don't want to spend a fortune. I have enough power for loudness with my avr, so it could be that the emo might short change me, maybe! Any suggestions?

How long have you owned the Studio100s. I have had mine for 1 week with no more than 30 to 40 good hours played on them (in fact it truly is probably less). I know my Sub 12 took well over 1 month to realy shine. I am running some pink noise through them right now as per Twitch.

[gates70]

Originally Posted by Ryan Peddle

I agree, but it depends on budget. I am waiting for my Audioquest bi-amp speaker wire to come in then I will be bi-amping my 100s. Looking forward to hearing if there is an improvement.

If you're merely taking one channel and splitting it with bi-wires, I doubt you'll hear a difference. If you bi-amp with 2 channels to one speaker then you will hear a difference. Unless you have a very very powerful amp. But that's just my opinion.

[GregBe]

Originally Posted by Fors*

Even more so when you actually have the money to burn!

I hear ya.

I used to love going into high end stores and listening to things WAY above my price range. I have always found it to be a great way to figure out what things are supposed to sound like, so I can try my best to duplicate that with my system. (as best as I could with a limited budget )

[GregBe]

Originally Posted by Ryan Peddle

.

What I am trying to get out of my speakers is a little more bass. Personally they seem a little light in the bass department right now. But I have only owned them for a week and probably only have 30 to 40 hours of major usage on them.

I would mess with placement. I would be surprised if any break-in would increase the bass you are hearing. Maybe make it tighter, but not increase it. (at least in my opinion) Those 100s have great bass.

[Ryan Peddle]

This is the way my living room is set up right now. 10ft ceilings, above the garage.



But I am thinking that a change to this would be beneficial. Because everything won't be out in the middle of the room. Almost every system I have had has always been set up this way.

[Ryan Peddle]

I have talked to a couple of other Studio 100 owners and they mainly agree that the bass o/p comes on very slowly.

I was a bit concerned because I popped in my Empire Strikes Back dvd with the exploding THX squence, and there was no impact to the bass at all. I assume the bass is exceptionally low frequency and the 100s are not loosened up enought to push it that far yet.

I guess patience will be the key. I will keep running without my sub on for probably another month (except when people are over) and play the waiting game.

[-DLS-]

Originally Posted by GregBe

I would mess with placement. I would be surprised if any break-in would increase the bass you are hearing. Maybe make it tighter, but not increase it. (at least in my opinion) Those 100s have great bass.

I agree.. It took a bit of playing around with placement before I got them sounding the way I liked. I played with several angles of toe in but found straight forward worked best. I also pulled them out about the same distance from the wall as the speaker depth.. I would've tried them further out if I could move my first row seating back a bit more. The way I got it now works best with bass and imaging..

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by Ryan Peddle

This is the way my living room is set up right now. 10ft ceilings, above the garage.



But I am thinking that a change to this would be beneficial. Because everything won't be out in the middle of the room. Almost every system I have had has always been set up this way.

It is my understanding that you should be viewing the TV the way your second diagram is for better audio. The width of the room as it is now may be handicapping your audio performance (the reason escapes me now, but I think it may be due to reflections....) I definitely think you should move things around the way you have them in your second diagram though.

[dobyblue]

I've enjoyed going with a wider soundstage. My room is 12x19 and I found the fronts along the longer wall opened up 2-channel listening for me and with 5.1 the sounds is even more immersive.

[Fors*]

Here is one link I found as to what works best....but for the life of me i can't remember why this work the best......a few os us discussed this some time back in another thread, and I remember us concluding that length-wise works best.....I am trying to find that discussion now, as I hate the fact that I can't remember why.....

[gatomalo]

I'm using biwired wires and I biamped L-R/Fronts since I'm running a 5.1 setup and used the extra 2 channels on my 7.1, 140wpc sc27. Speakers are around 3mos old and sub about 2wks old. I'm using a portion of my basement, 19x24ft, overall it's 55x19ft openly. Hopefully gallery pics can help...I tell you what though, that svs is AWESOME! INCREDIBLE!!! Just wondering if I can get some more power out of the 100's without spending another fortune! So can Emo XPA3 do the job, or I won't notice a signifcant change?

[gatomalo]

nice link Fors