These Reviews are assessed on a purely personal viewpoint and since nobody around here seems to agree with me on anything, I'd take these with a grain of salt. However, at least I don't have to worry about offending any manufacturer thereby loosing an advertising contract like the magazines you read!

Ask me about the reviews on the Bose Studiocraft model 200 sometime.


Paradigm Studio 20 v3

       I've been using Paradigm Studio 40 v2's at home in my main lounge for several years, recently we had an extension added to our bedroom which we call the Parents Retreat (no kids!). It's a relatively small room about 5 X 3.5 metres so I didn't need a large speaker to fill it. I figured this was an excellent opportunity to give the smaller Studio 20 v3's a long term test.

        Paradigm is a Canadian speaker company which have a reputation of producing speakers and subwoofers which perform way above their selling price. I discovered them around 4 years ago and have used them almost exclusively at home since then (especially now Electrovoice have discontinued their MS802 Monitors). Being a (bad) guitarist, I always look for a sound that reproduces the music as I hear it live and given the absence of my EV Monitors, the Paradigm Studio range are as accurate a speaker as I've heard given the modest dimensions of the room.

       These are a smallish bookshelf speaker 38cm (H) X 21cm (W) X 32cm (D) which weigh around 10 kgs each, retail price is $1500 pair. Finish is in basic black or a very attractive light cherry, I have mine sitting on some stands from Welling ($299 pair) and the whole look is very up market.

      I'm not a great believer in all this audiophile stuff regarding cables, bi-wiring, sand filled stands etc. however I did notice a difference in sonics after I'd run the speakers in for a couple of weeks (whoops, maybe I'm turning into a wanker). The top end seemed to soften and the bass extended down (I guess to around 45 to 50 Hz)

      It's very hard to comment on a speaker which is almost totally neutral and accurate, with a nasty speaker you can generally comment on things like "muddy bass" or "harsh top end" but with the Paradigms, the damn things are so good you end up listening to the music. The speaker cone material is mica/polymer with the tweeter being made of aluminium (not aluminum you peasants). Overall recommended amplifier power is from 15 to 150 Watts although unless you're running an A class amplifier, I'd recommend a minimum of 40 Watts. I'm running mine with the Marantz SR-7400 receiver and Marantz DV-6400 universal player.

    For movies I use a Jamo D4 Center (I know I should use the matching Paradigm CC-470 but it's too bloody big and the Jamo is tonally matched anyhow) and a set of Paradigm Atom speakers as surrounds. Result - very, very good.

    On classical and jazz, the speakers are so neutral as to totally disappear, quite an amazing feat. When playing my favourite type music (I am a child of the '60's remember) I find Led Zeppelin and Hendrix need a bit of help in the bass department. To that end, I've added a Paradigm PDR-10 subwoofer which blends in beautifully for bass extension and gives me the kick I need to live my dreams of on-stage adoration (which never occurred except one night at a gig in Picton back in '69, but that's another story).

    Bottom line on this one is that, given a modest sized room, for Classical and Jazz, the Paradigm Studio 20's are as good a speaker as I've heard (way better than the KEF RDM-2's I used to rave about) For larger rooms and modern music, just add a good musical subwoofer and you have reference quality sound for a (relatively) budget price.