Paradigm Reference Studio 60 Floorstanding Speakers Reviews

Price Paid:  $0.00 from GNT Audio, Camp Hill

Summary:
60 V.3's. Beautiful, svelte little things. Made to be clothed in black. Two lovely ladies in little black dresses. You can almost smell the perfume. I listened for decades before settling on these.

Been in studios and small venues with real violins and pianos and guitars and astonishing classical and popular artists. Sit back, close your eyes, and you're there with the other drunks in that Philly club with SRV. You're there in the studio with that violinist. All you Easy Music listeners, that's not shrillness that you hear. That's what a REAL violin sounds like up close and personal. It isn't Easy. It's raw and sensual. Nuf said.

Strengths:
Transparency, imaging. Outstanding bang for the buck.

Weaknesses:
Perhaps could use a bit more bass extension. But, then again, why?

broodlinger

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
2.00 of 5, 8.00 votes

Price Paid:  $1100.00 from a paradigm dealer

Summary:
I've had the Studio 60's for a few years now to the point where I'm starting to get bored. However, I still haven't met anyone who owns speakers even remotely close to these. From the standpoint of home theater or studio recording work , the Studio 60's will blow you away. Crisp, rich, bassy, hard to believe.

HT/Studio work: Perfect. Utterly perfect.

Dance/Rap: A little underpowered on the bass.

Strengths:
* Extremely accurate, powerful tweeters. I wouldn't stand any closer than 20' to these screamers if I had the choice.

* Wonderfully detailed midrange. Makes everything you play sound like silk.

* Punchy and detailed bass response, reaching all the way into the subwoofer range. Unless you have a very nice sub, you're going to muddy the water adding a sub to this system.

* Big sturdy wooden cabinet and quality cones are certainly part of the magic.

* Can support a large 14' square living room at minimum and probably a 20-25' square room (see my note on the tweeters...)

Weaknesses:
* Let's face it, the Studio 60's have fullrange bass but there isn't a lot of it. These speakers pull out all the stops to get subwoofer performance from measly 6" drivers and ultimately, for dance/rap you're going to want more bass.

* Because of this, the speakers can be overdriven searching for those magic room-filling dance beats. I've pushed these speakers to the limits a number of times in very small rooms. Not that they should be used in small rooms....

But hey, if you want bass get the Studio 100's. They are frighteningly powerful speakers.

* I suspect the crossover is weak because I see the midrange and the bass drivers vibrating similarly when the cone materials are very different. (Admittedly they are the same-size cones though.)

Similar Products Used:
Not many, but I do home theater work so I've seen a fair number of other people's systems.

Price Paid:  $1000.00 from Eds TV

Summary:
I listened to many speakers at this price point, Energy C-9's, Kef Q-7's, Klipsh Reference and a few more.These speakers are the full package. You feel like you are in the room with the entertainer. They have bone crushing punch if your into Metallica or a tremendous sweet spot if you are into Sarah McLachlan. I spent countless hours putting these speakers through the paces and I found that they perfomed exceptionally well. I also listened to a "high end speaker" named Totem they were more than twice the price and they sounded great. They had a nice wood finish but the Studio 60's sounded so close to them that I couldn't justify the extra $1500 for a nice wood finish.

Strengths:
Great build quality, Great clean, crisp range

Weaknesses:
Havent found one yet

Price Paid:  $1080.00 from Sound & Cinema

Summary:
Unbeatable. When I first started looking for some new speakers for the home theatre I was putting in my new home, I laughed when someone mentioned Paradigm. I actually hadn't heard about them at all save for a few ads. They aren't sold at many dealers and you almost have to go looking for Paradigms to end up buying them. Boy was I glad I gave them a chance. I listened to nearly ten sets of speakers aside from these, ALL of which cost at least as much and most of which cost 2-4 times as much. In the end, I had to put vanity aside and listen to my ears. The Paradigm Reference speakers really and truly did sound much better than speakers costing four times as much. In the world of stereo equipment, the law of diminishing returns tells me that I'd have to spend 50-100 times what I did on these speakers to MAYBE dillude myself into thinking I'm hearing better sound. I won't ever buy anything but Paradigm Reference. I could listen to every movie and song on these speakers from now til the day I day and be a content man. Don't take my word for it.

Strengths:
Rock-Solid Build Quality Utterly Transparent\Nuetral Sound like they cost a fortune

Weaknesses:
Heavy (see rock-solid construction) Hard to find in some states Not a lot of wiggle room on price (see above)

Similar Products Used:
Denon AVR-3802 Denon DVM-4800 Mitsubishi VCR Paradigm Reference Center, ADP's, PW-2200

Price Paid:  $950.00 from Codell (Montreal, Ca

Summary:
I've had these speakers for a couple of years now. They were an upgrade from the Paradigm 7SeMkIII, which were very nice. I want everyone out there considering these to know that they are they best speakers one could ever hope to find under a few grand. My background in audio sales has allowed me to work with such speaker brands as B&W, NHT, Sound Dynamics, Mission, Boston Acoustics, and many more, and both in the showroom and in customers' homes. I can honestly say that these Paradigm Reference speakers are one of the most dynamic, sonically transparent speakers around. I would take them over B&W 804's anyday! The build quality, materials, hardware, and especially the sound really set these apart. You can't go wrong!!!

Strengths:
Sonic transparency Solid bass Precise mids and highs creating an extremely accurate soundstage Top quality Everything else that can be good about a speaker

Weaknesses:
*chirp chirp*

Similar Products Used:
Denon AVR3802 Paradigm Reference Studio 20's, Studio CC Paradigm PS-1000