Thoughts Please

[Arry74]

Hi

During the last couple of weeks, myself and the missus have been listening to various systems

They are below:

Marantz SR7002 + Mourdant-Short 900 Series speakers (not a bad little setup)

Marantz SR7002 + Mourdant-Short Mezzo Series Speakers (better than the 900 series)

Yamaha 3800 + Whatmough (Didn't like it)

Yamaha 3800 + PBL (Didn't like it)

Denon 2808 + B&W 600 Series (didn't like it)

Rotel + Polk (didn't like it)

Denon 2808 + Elacs (Didn't like it)

Denon 2808 + Dyno Audio (didn't like it)

Cambridge 640R + Krix Phoenix + Krix Brix and Centre (very good for the price)

Yamaha 3800 + Richter (not bad)

Denon 3808 + Paradigm Monitor 11's (exceptional but expensive)

The list is longer but I cannot remember.

Basically I have determined that the best Receivers I have heard are the Marantz, Denon and Cambridge Audio and the best speakers are the Paradigm.

They are all floor standing speakers by the way as that is what we have decided on.

My budget is approx $5,000 - $6,500 (I have decided to up it a little).

I am in Perth by the way.

Any recommendations or good combinations that I may have missed in my price range?

Anyone here have the Monitor series of Paradigm? Would you go for the Monitor Series floorstander or a smaller studio series speaker (I have not heard the studio series to date)

Myself and my wife are both now confused on what direction to go so I guess I am after a little feedback from anyone who has been in the same predicament I guess.

We are primarily interested in Music DVD's followed by listening to CD's followed by home theatre.

Thanks

[50mxe20]

Focals? with the 3808?

[Juicester]

I suggest you audition the Monitor Audio RS6 floorstanders. Would pair well with the denon 3808 or the Marantz 7002. Very good for the money.

[Cooksta59]

Denon 3808 + Paradigm Monitor 11's (exceptional but expensive)

The list is longer but I cannot remember.

Basically I have determined that the best Receivers I have heard are the Marantz, Denon and Cambridge Audio and the best speakers are the Paradigm.

They are all floor standing speakers by the way as that is what we have decided on.

My budget is approx $5,000 - $6,500 (I have decided to up it a little).

Anyone here have the Monitor series of Paradigm? Would you go for the Monitor Series floorstander or a smaller studio series speaker (I have not heard the studio series to date)

Myself and my wife are both now confused on what direction to go so I guess I am after a little feedback from anyone who has been in the same predicament I guess.

We are primarily interested in Music DVD's followed by listening to CD's followed by home theatre.

Thanks

well you have certainly done your homework ...and the budget's gone up, we've all been there.

Of all the advice that is given here the most important is to "buy what you like the sound of", thus it seems that the Paradigm Monitor 11's are top of the list so far. Would the smaller studio series be better; imo combined with a sub undoubtedly yes; but then the studio series really open up with a power amp so there could be extra expense there.The studio 40 is a fabulous speaker and combined with a sub competes very well in a side by side with the studio 100's.

The Monitor series are a far more efficient speaker than the studio's and would be driven quite nicely by the Denon 3808.As for the studio's....do you want to up your budget again?

[richardweaver8]

Hi Arry,

hard to know what you didn't enjoy about the various set-ups, but I am guessing that a few of those set-ups would have been quite bright and harsh? (especially the rotel +polk!) I have a yamaha 2600 and find it WAY too bright with my pardigm speakers. I have not heard the Marantz with Paradigm, but have heard the Denon 3808 with the monitor 11's and think Denon is a much better fit with the paradigm's than yam. I first heard the monitor 11's with the Denon which set me out on my upgrade path..... When I finally tracked down some of the Studio series, I found them to be a significant step up from the monitors. However, bare in mind that the higher the resolution of the speaker, the more temperamental they become with your source and amplification....

I learnt this the hard way, and as such am still slogging my way up the upgrade path, many thousands of dollars further than I first envisaged....

good luck!

[Chill]

Hi

During the last couple of weeks, myself and the missus have been listening to various systems

They are below:

Marantz SR7002 + Mourdant-Short 900 Series speakers (not a bad little setup)

Marantz SR7002 + Mourdant-Short Mezzo Series Speakers (better than the 900 series)

Yamaha 3800 + Whatmough (Didn't like it)

Yamaha 3800 + PBL (Didn't like it)

Denon 2808 + B&W 600 Series (didn't like it)

Rotel + Polk (didn't like it)

Denon 2808 + Elacs (Didn't like it)

Denon 2808 + Dyno Audio (didn't like it)

Cambridge 640R + Krix Phoenix + Krix Brix and Centre (very good for the price)

Yamaha 3800 + Richter (not bad)

Denon 3808 + Paradigm Monitor 11's (exceptional but expensive)

The list is longer but I cannot remember.

Basically I have determined that the best Receivers I have heard are the Marantz, Denon and Cambridge Audio and the best speakers are the Paradigm.

They are all floor standing speakers by the way as that is what we have decided on.

My budget is approx $5,000 - $6,500 (I have decided to up it a little).

I am in Perth by the way.

Any recommendations or good combinations that I may have missed in my price range?

Anyone here have the Monitor series of Paradigm? Would you go for the Monitor Series floorstander or a smaller studio series speaker (I have not heard the studio series to date)

Myself and my wife are both now confused on what direction to go so I guess I am after a little feedback from anyone who has been in the same predicament I guess.

We are primarily interested in Music DVD's followed by listening to CD's followed by home theatre.

Thanks

Great to see such extensive listening, well done.

As you lean towards music, may I sugest you listen to Quad L series and Sonus Faber ( out of your price range for floor standers however)

but these have quite different sound to the MS Paradigm but are fantastic music speakers IMO.

Also, as you like the Mordant Short & Paradigm which are bright and detailed see if you can find some Kiplish Reference (not the cheeper range) and or some of the better JBL's,

love or hate speakers, but who knows you may love

[yamapro]

Hi arry,

Good to see you have got out there and testing - it's half the fun after all...

It is interesting that the Paradigms are stand out speakers for you, at least you seem to have that decision sorted - well kind of!

As you have asked... I would strongly recommend auditioning the Studio 40's. They are one of my favourite speakers in my realistic budget and incredible value if you have a decent sub (subs...) to handle the real low end.

I listened very carefully to the Monitor 9's, 11's and studio 40's and for my money, whilst the Monitors were fantastic performers for the money, offering good all round performance and heaps of bass weight, the Studios absolutely smoked them for imaging and general resolution/transparency...

IMHO the studio 40s are some of the best value standmount speakers readily available in Australia.

I found that they worked nicely off the Denon AVR i demo'd them with and they got even better when running off a power amp (future upgrade )

Of course the downside to going with higher end front L&R is that you would want to match it in with a Studio CC so more $$$ there...

Actually you didn't make any mention of centre and surrounds - are you planning a full 5 or 7.1 system?

[Juicester]

perhaps something along the lines of a pair of b&w 705's matched with an SVS PB12-NSD subwoofer and the Marantz 7002 - would be a sweet setup. Retails for 6k or something, but you'd get it well under that i imagine. Probably around the 5k mark.... leave you enough money for a nice CD player (if you don't already have one) and some good speaker wire/interconnects....

[50mxe20]

Further on my comment about the Focals, I would put the Monitor Audio, Focals and Paradigms all in the same basket in terms of imaging and detail. I am currently working through all of these at a slightly higher level than you and my next speaker will come out of that stable. As you had listened to the others and liked them, I felt the only one you had not compared them to were the Focals.

Steve at Eastwood Hi Fi also speaks very highly of the Studio 20's so jcjuice yamapro is on the money wrt Paradigms.

Someone else on the forum also has the 20's but I can't remember whom.

For myself I had the rare privilege of having the Studio 100's in my home for 3 weeks. There is no doubting the build and sound quality of the Paradigms. But you owe it to yourself to listen to all three of these brands and compare them.

I would put the B&W's in a different basket.

Same with Krix.

Reading between the lines, I feel you found the niche you like, so now compare like speakers in that niche,.

My 0.02 anyway.

[Jeffie1503561482]

However, bare in mind that the higher the resolution of the speaker, the more temperamental they become with your source and amplification....

I learnt this the hard way, and as such am still slogging my way up the upgrade path, many thousands of dollars further than I first envisaged....

good luck!

I think this is the best point with anyone looking at purchasing any hi fi gear. 100% accurate highly revealing components are good in theory, but in practice could be a pain...

[dantan]

Hi

During the last couple of weeks, myself and the missus have been listening to various systems

They are below:

Marantz SR7002 + Mourdant-Short 900 Series speakers (not a bad little setup)

Marantz SR7002 + Mourdant-Short Mezzo Series Speakers (better than the 900 series)

Yamaha 3800 + Whatmough (Didn't like it)

Yamaha 3800 + PBL (Didn't like it)

Denon 2808 + B&W 600 Series (didn't like it)

Rotel + Polk (didn't like it)

Denon 2808 + Elacs (Didn't like it)

Denon 2808 + Dyno Audio (didn't like it)

Cambridge 640R + Krix Phoenix + Krix Brix and Centre (very good for the price)

Yamaha 3800 + Richter (not bad)

Denon 3808 + Paradigm Monitor 11's (exceptional but expensive)

The list is longer but I cannot remember.

Basically I have determined that the best Receivers I have heard are the Marantz, Denon and Cambridge Audio and the best speakers are the Paradigm.

They are all floor standing speakers by the way as that is what we have decided on.

My budget is approx $5,000 - $6,500 (I have decided to up it a little).

I am in Perth by the way.

Any recommendations or good combinations that I may have missed in my price range?

Anyone here have the Monitor series of Paradigm? Would you go for the Monitor Series floorstander or a smaller studio series speaker (I have not heard the studio series to date)

Myself and my wife are both now confused on what direction to go so I guess I am after a little feedback from anyone who has been in the same predicament I guess.

We are primarily interested in Music DVD's followed by listening to CD's followed by home theatre.

Thanks

G'day arry,

You have most certainly auditioned a lot of set-ups, which is good, although it can get confusing after you have auditioned them all. Plus, when you factor in that all the rooms have different acoustic qualities, and not being able to for example audition certain loudspeakers with other different brands of A/V Receivers.

Based on my experience, I have found that Integra and Onkyo (Integra is a part of the Onkyo group) A/V Receivers partner well with Krix loudspeakers. Krix themselves recommend Marantz, but I personally did not fully enjoy listening to some Krix loudspeakers powered by a Marantz 7002 A/V Receiver.

All of us here have differing amounts of experiences with certain brands. Some of us are biased towards certain brands, and some of us are prejudiced against certain brands, so I would suggest that you don't take what we say as gospel, because it's your hard-earned money that you will be spending!

I think for your budget, I would second jcjuice's loudspeaker recommendation - the Monitor Audio RS6's. These are superb loudspeakers for the money, and go well with Denon A/V Receivers.

Dan.

[SlawMan]

Hi

During the last couple of weeks, myself and the missus have been listening to various systems

They are below:

Marantz SR7002 + Mourdant-Short 900 Series speakers (not a bad little setup)

Marantz SR7002 + Mourdant-Short Mezzo Series Speakers (better than the 900 series)

Yamaha 3800 + Whatmough (Didn't like it)

Yamaha 3800 + PBL (Didn't like it)

Denon 2808 + B&W 600 Series (didn't like it)

Rotel + Polk (didn't like it)

Denon 2808 + Elacs (Didn't like it)

Denon 2808 + Dyno Audio (didn't like it)

Cambridge 640R + Krix Phoenix + Krix Brix and Centre (very good for the price)

Yamaha 3800 + Richter (not bad)

Denon 3808 + Paradigm Monitor 11's (exceptional but expensive)

The list is longer but I cannot remember.

Basically I have determined that the best Receivers I have heard are the Marantz, Denon and Cambridge Audio and the best speakers are the Paradigm.

They are all floor standing speakers by the way as that is what we have decided on.

My budget is approx $5,000 - $6,500 (I have decided to up it a little).

I am in Perth by the way.

Any recommendations or good combinations that I may have missed in my price range?

Anyone here have the Monitor series of Paradigm? Would you go for the Monitor Series floorstander or a smaller studio series speaker (I have not heard the studio series to date)

Myself and my wife are both now confused on what direction to go so I guess I am after a little feedback from anyone who has been in the same predicament I guess.

We are primarily interested in Music DVD's followed by listening to CD's followed by home theatre.

Thanks

Hey Arry,

Another vote for the Paradigms with the Yammy 3800. Did a similar compare myself and I preferred this combination over others I heard.

[alcoop1503559994]

Seeing as your preference is for music have you considered a lower spec AVR, RXV663 for example plus a 2 channel amp to power your mains?

[yamapro]

Seeing as your preference is for music have you considered a lower spec AVR, RXV663 for example plus a 2 channel amp to power your mains?

Hehehe this is why i asked the OP about centre and surrounds...

...if he is only looking to buy the front 2 and wants exceptional stereo performance i would suggest steering away from AVRs all together and moving towards dedicated 2ch gear.

Not sure if this is in the OPs plans though... if it is then a whole new world of fun awaits

[Cooksta59]

Seeing as your preference is for music have you considered a lower spec AVR, RXV663 for example plus a 2 channel amp to power your mains?

The only problem I see with that is centre speakers of the calibre of the studio cc590/690 warrant good amplification as well. just my 2c

Makes me wonder why there aren't more 3 channel power amps out there.

Edited October 1, 2008 by cooksta

[richardweaver8]

The only problem I see with that is centre speakers of the calibre of the studio cc590/690 warrant good amplification as well. just my 2c

Makes me wonder why there aren't more 3 channel power amps out there.

agreed - I have a Pardigm C3 currently running off a yam 2600 and it is severely underpowered.

[Arry74]

Thanks very much to everyone who has responded so far, much appreciated.

I have read every comment with interest :-)

I just enquired and can you believe that Perth only has 2 places that sell Paradigm speakers.

Both do not have either Studio 40's or Moitor 11's in stock and even if I odered them today would not take delivery until Christmas.

I was told by the importer that Melbourne takes them all.

Dam you Melbourne people lol

No wonder not too many people in Perth seem to have their speakers as they are so difficult to aquire over here :-(

I was told this morning that the version 6 of the Paragigm Monitor 11's have been released but have not hit our shores as yet, will do in a few weeks but they are all pre-sold already :-(

[dantan]

Thanks very much to everyone who has responded so far, much appreciated.

I have read every comment with interest :-)

I just enquired and can you believe that Perth only has 2 places that sell Paradigm speakers.

Both do not have either Studio 40's or Moitor 11's in stock and even if I odered them today would not take delivery until Christmas.

I was told by the importer that Melbourne takes them all.

Dam you Melbourne people lol

No wonder not too many people in Perth seem to have their speakers as they are so difficult to aquire over here :-(

I was told this morning that the version 6 of the Paragigm Monitor 11's have been released but have not hit our shores as yet, will do in a few weeks but they are all pre-sold already :-(

You know what W.A. stands for - Wait A long time (or Wait Always).

Talk about waiting for stuff; I've been waiting on my Epic Twin cables for my Krix Neuphonix loudspeakers for about 7 weeks now!

[Arry74]

A couple of you have mentioned that the Studio 40's are far better than the monitor 11's.

I rang the AUS importer this morning and her personal opinion is that they are both great however the Monitor 11's would suit a bigger room like I have.

My lounge area is approx 4 metres wide by 8 metres long at a guess.

The review here is very interesting especially at the end where he compares both speakers.

Montitor 11 reviewed

Onto Receivers now, does anyone have a preference over say the Marantz SR7002 compared with the Cambridge Audio 640R and why?

Finally, a couple of you have mentioned the Monitor Audio RS6's. Have any of you had the opportunity to compare them to the Paradigm Studio 40's or Paradigm Monitor 11's? or are they in a different class all together.

If so I would be extremely interested...

Many thanks again

Edited October 1, 2008 by arry

[yamapro]

I'll ask again Are you planning to run, centre sub and surrounds?

If adding a good sub, it can negate the low end advantage the 11's have over the Studio 40's (which believe me are no slouch in the bass department!)

It's not that one speaker is better than the other - they are just different products aimed at different market sectors - which suits you will depend entirely on your own taste and what you want to achieve with a speaker system...

IMHO if you listen to many live recordings, anything with some ambience, or softer genres like classical (not always soft) and Jazz or anything close mic'd the Studios retrieve far more subtlety and detail... of course if your diet is more like RnB, Hip Hop or Metal then the larger Monitor series will have buckets more welly and low end slam (this is obviously where a sub 'may' come into play though)

Tell us a little more about your room, musical taste and preference in sound...as well as the exact size of the system you are planning to run (how many speakers, subs or not etc..)

Also if planning to drop around $6500 it may be worth a trip to melbourne or sydney...more range, more availability (by the sound of it) and you may offset a fair whack of the trip by negotiating a better discount than you could in perth???

[POV]

A couple of you have mentioned that the Studio 40's are far better than the monitor 11's.

I rang the AUS importer this morning and her personal opinion is that they are both great however the Monitor 11's would suit a bigger room like I have.

My lounge area is approx 4 metres wide by 8 metres long at a guess.

The review here is very interesting especially at the end where he compares both speakers.

Montitor 11 reviewed

Onto Receivers now, does anyone have a preference over say the Marantz SR7002 compared with the Cambridge Audio 640R and why?

Finally, a couple of you have mentioned the Monitor Audio RS6's. Have any of you had the opportunity to compare them to the Paradigm Studio 40's or Paradigm Monitor 11's? or are they in a different class all together.

If so I would be extremely interested...

Many thanks again

That review is for V4, they have been superseded by V5 now. See here for an Australian review of V5 11s:

http://www.avhub.com.au/ProductReview.aspx...uctReviewID=217

[Arry74]

i smiled when I read the part about the trip to Melbourne etc, my missus would love that as she loves the shopping in Melbourne.

With flights, accommodation, meals etc I highly doubt however the discount would be that great, I wish though he he

Yes, I am planning on getting a centre and sub and rear speakers and I want a 2nd zone to play music outside as well as I have a nice backyard, ie African Gazebo, spa etc so why not enjoy it even more I say !

My room is about 4 metres wide by 8 metres long, is my combined meals and lounge room. I have solid blackbutt wood floors, with glass all the way down one side, not great for music I know....

TV etc is at one end of the room so we sit half way back ie so that there is still say 4 metres behind us.

I like all music, mainly music dvd's such as Concert for George, The Eagles, Robbie Williams, U2 etc. I like a bit of everything really.

Edited October 1, 2008 by arry

[Arry74]

That review is for V4, they have been superseded by V5 now. See here for an Australian review of V5 11s:

http://www.avhub.com.au/ProductReview.aspx...uctReviewID=217

And now v6 is about to hit our shores as v5 are all sold out :-(

[POV]

And now v6 is about to hit our shores as v5 are all sold out :-(

I'm led to believe that this only csmetic changes though, with new grills and colours etc, but still the same enclosures, drivers, arrangements etc.....although this is unconfirmed

[POV]

And now v6 is about to hit our shores as v5 are all sold out :-(

I'm led to believe that this only csmetic changes though, with new grills and colours etc, but still the same enclosures, drivers, arrangements etc.....although this is unconfirmed