Really good bargain....fairly accurate sound for little money

Somewhat depressed upper midrange and treble, glued-on grill

I've have my Atoms for almost 4 years now....they still sound as good as they did when I purchased them. I've used them for music, for fronts AND surrounds for home theatre, and have generally enjoyed them. I've relagated them to our bedroom system now, replacing them with Polk RT55's.

The sound speaks very well for such an inexpensive speaker; one wouldn't expect much low frequency extension from such a tiny cabinet, and you sertainly don't get it. What you do get, however, is a FAR MORE HONEST reproduction than typical bargain speakers give. I understand that Paradigm switched to a better tweeter sometime shortly after mine were produced; perhaps this would help ease my concern over their "overtly subtle top end"...I would hope so.

My biggest beef with these speakers is the unusual method of attaching the grille to the cabinet by adhesives, rather than the traditional removeable grille. The woofer and tweeter are both rear-mounted, for replacements sake, but both of my Atoms had run-in's with my cats....outcome: CATS, 1, ATOMS, zip! Had to very carefully remove the grilles, patch the damage to the wood underneath, re-grille them, then reattach. Very time-consuming and frustrating. They look fine now, and sound the same (yes, I removed the drivers during all this), but my point is, you shouldn't have to.

Otherwise, quite the handsome little bargain.

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Polk RT-15

great midrange, crisp and clean highs

bass response

Read Corey Greenberg's review of these "canadian miracles" on AUDIO, then listen to it yourself and you would definitely find no better speakers in the sub-$200 price-range. Tried it with these CD's:

1. Michael Franks' "Dragonfly Summer" from the same album of the same name. Great imaging/soundstaging. The voice of this guy from these speakers were awesome!!!!!!

2. REM's "What's the frequency, Kenneth?" Can handle the kick-ass distortion-effect guitars on this track
magnificently.

3. Solti's Marriage of Figaro "Overture" with the LSO: Sublime Mozart reproduced with depth and clarity.


4. Brand New Heavies "Dream on Dreamer REmix" on the Remizes album. Great groove, bass slightly thin though.

How could you go wrong if the Atoms can handle these diverse recordings? Lacks some bass yeah, but that's nothing a Velodyne CT-80 wouldn't cure.

Stunning clarity and prescence.

At this price and size, none.

I use these for bookshelves in my living room. It is hard to believe that a speaker in this price class sounds so good. I think the tweeters in these are probably better than in my Paradigm Monitor 7's in my home theatre setup in my listening room. Close your eyes and you could be fooled into thinking you are listening to a larger, more expensive speaker. These are an astonishing value at $200.00.

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DCM KX6, Cerwin Vega.

Quality bass and highs. Stereo imaging.

Lack of depth.

Those speakers represent a really good value and sound way better than what their retail price may suggest.
Actually, I believe that the Atom's are more likely to sound harsh with average poorly recorded mass market kind of cd's than the B&W (which may come from the fact that B&W speakers tend to be rather laidback) but they aren't harsh or boomy by any means. I listen to a lot of jazz music and the Atom's really sound effortless and musical with real high quality records (Patricia Barber cd's for example).
Overall, I would say that folks who find that the Atom's have irritating highs didn't listened to those with a good cd or with decent electronics unless they try to compare them to some significatnly more $$$ speakers (let's remember that those Paradigm retail for about 180$)...

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some entry level B&W (doesn't remember the specific model)

Great sound, amazing value

None

I LOVE these things. I got them to replace (ugh!) Bose Am-5's I foolishly bought 8 years ago. They were on a great deal for $199 Canadian per pair.

Sound is fanstastic - smooth and clear, with sparkling highs and tremendous mid-range. As good as I've heard for a speaker this size. Sounded better with music than the Titans (which were a little muddy), and way better in everything than the Energy Take 5's front speakers. The sound, when tested side-by-side with my old Bose made me wonder why I ever wasted so much money on those things.

All in all great sound. 5 stars for performance in this size class, and 5+ for value. If you want bookshelf speakers, you need to listen to these.

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Compared to Tannoy and Energy, Paradigm Titan

Price, imaging, midbass, off-axis response, good binding posts.

Low frequency extension, irritating highs

The atoms are a great BUDGET speaker. They don't excel by any means. On the plus side, they have pretty good imaging, midbass (expected from a 5.5" driver), and off-axis response. On the down side, there is no low frequency extension (expected, of course) and the highs sound...irritating (have to agree with Anthony) in some intangible respect. Spend a little more and get some better speakers if your after great sound. If your shopping for a cheap, entry line speaker, the atoms are great. They work well for HT as well; mains and surrounds for 350 is a steal. Just decide whether you want audiophile speakers for $2000 (low end) bucks or some competitive low budget speakers for cheap.

To be fair to other speaker reviews and the goal of this site, I will try to truthfully rate the value and performance. Value should take price into heavy consideration. Overall should not rely heavily on price; more performance oriented.

You cant get a better bang for the buck than the atoms. But they are on the low end overall.

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NHT Superzero, Paradigm Titan, Others

Great sound for such an inexpensive little speaker. Great tweeter and nice soundstage. Can handle lots of power.

Okay, for a speaker that lists for $179, and can be had for less, you've got to be kidding. The price alone covers up any weakness for me.

These speakers are great. Yes they have some weaknesses and they might not be up to par with some other "Audiophile" speakers, but for what they list for and what I paid for them, I think that the price alone erases any weakness they have. You can not compared this speaker to ones costing much more, However you can compared it to others in the same price range.

When I first brought this speaker home I thought to myself I wonder how it does as main speakers. Since I am using them as rear channels in my home theater. So I plugged them in and said, WOW! As my jaw bounced off the floor. The soundstage is HUGE, the bass is great for the little 5 1/4" woofer. And the highs are sweet and some what laid back. This speaker I thought at first was that it was better than my Mini's. However after close listening I found that the midrange isn't as natural, some boxiness, and the highs can be bright at times. Also the overall tonal balance isn't as good as the Mini Monitors.

Comparing them to other speakers in the price range, the B&W 302's don't hold a candle and either does the LM1 series. In my opinion.

Looking for a great pair of speakers, Atoms all the way!

Happy Listening!

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Paradigm Mini Monitors

See my review of 5/23

Ditto

To follow up on my review of 5/23, I've made the following upgrades:

1) Yamaha HTR-5150
2) Kimber 4PR speaker wire with gold-plated IXOS bananas at each end
3) Handy-Tack between speaker and stand
4) Spikes between stand and floor

Just wanted to follow up by saying that I've improved the sound of my Atoms significantly with the upgrades above. The wire made a difference with midbass clarity, while deadening the speaker stand with spikes and Handy-Tack (a yellow version of BlueTack available at craft stores such as Michael's) really focused the imaging. Meanwhile, the HTR-5150's active Xover @ 90 Hz relieved the Atoms from trying to reproduce low bass -- they try mightily but just can't quite get it done -- has made the midrange even silkier. Coupled with my Paradigm PDR-10 sub, I can't believe the sound I'm getting for $400 total!

For a recent review of my exact setup (minus the high-end electronics, of course) see:

http://www.soundstage.com/audio_frame.shtml

I've upgraded my overall rating to a "4" because these are an insane value for the $$$ . . .

-Clean and strong bass that you just doens't expect from such a small speaker (actually it goes down to 45 hertz according to a test that I have done with a testing cd).
-Good midrange.
-Crystal clear yet not harsh trebles.
-Overall depth and imaging.
-Make the well recorded cd's really life like.
-Diminutive price tag
-Seem really well built, nice finish
-Fairly analytical so you can clearly hear difference betwen various cd's and radio stations.

-Fairly... analycal so some cd's and radio stations may sound quite bad.
-Slight bass coloration at high volume (which may come from the way some cd's are recorded, not quite sure about it)

What a great speaker! I have very little experience with speakers of the same price range but I have to say that the Atom's doesn't sound like I thought an entry level speaker would. They aren't perfect but give life to music and make me want to listen to them again and again and again!!! I don't think that you can expect anything more from a speakers of this price range. In fact they already do so much more. I totally agree with the review of mr Cassat below.

(i actually use my Atom's with a NAD L40 that I have also reviewed here)

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I have listened to a wide variety of bookshelf speakers over the past 2 years (most of them being higher end than the Atom's). Actually, I tried Paradigm micro and mini-monitors, NHT super one and 1.5, Totem Mites and Rokks, JMLab Tantal 505 and 507, B&W dm602.....

Outstanding sound for the price and size.

Weak bass.

For the price you can't beat it. In fact, it sounds better than some speakers 100-200 dollars more than it. They are small so you can't expect the sound to be really loud. But it is impressive. I've auditioned alot of bookshelf sized speakers and the Atoms sound superior. The only thing is the bass is lacking. This goes very well with a subwoofer, and I'd recommend you get one. Works well for music, computer games, and movies.

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Aiwa minisystem speakers.