smooth sound very good bass from such a small speaker

the looks are nothing to brag about but not ugly by no means and I wish the grill was removeable

First thank you to everyone who posted reviews on these speakers second everything is true (all positive). I am happy to tell everyone I have had these speakers for around six mounths and I love them. I have had a lot of different speakers and I must say these are the best so far. for sound and price you will not find a better set of speakers. you have read all the reviews now just go get a set and hear what everyone is raving about. I bought two sets one for frount and rear center is a cc-170 and sub is PDR-10 all thanks to the nice people who took the time to write reviews like this THANK YOU

YOU WILL LOVE THESE SPEAKERS

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BA, klipsh, infinity, and many more

Clarity, value, big sound for small size

Considering price and size, none.

This is for the Atom version 2.

These speakers produce a bigger sound than you would expect from a small box. Their primary strength is in the quality of the tweeter, and the solid construction of the box. The price is kept low by not offering features that don’t improve the sound (ie. non-removable grill). Of this Paradigm product line (Micro, Atom, Titan...) The Micro is the one with a lesser tweeter; compare the two and you will hear the difference. My wife, who has a very musical ear, insisted on the extra $40 for the Atoms. The atoms excel in natural reproduction of voice and strings and all those tweeter dependent things. Within this price bracket this is a high performer.

The bass sounds nice for a small speaker. It avoids much of that hollow plasticy thump that comparably priced speakers have and doesn’t generally sound strained. Other comparable speakers probably go lower but I doubt they go there better. The binding posts are large, generous, and solid. The cabinet is solid and tight, and the veneer is reasonably attractive.

Speaker placement effects the quality of sound dramatically, as you would expect from a small speaker. To close to a wall and they can get boomy. The Atoms do well all by themselves and do not sound anemic when out in the open away from the wall (a sounding board).

Out of the box, they need a break in period of a few hours of solid play. People claim they improve over 100 hours, which may be true, but the real noticeable difference takes about an hour.

These are bookshelf speakers. You shouldn’t expect them to pound bass. They deliver well in that area for their size. For the price they are very musical throughout their range. They make great rears for HT. Great Value (5), definately a potential 'Giant Killer' Overall (4). If '5' is better than you imagined...well, I imagined that they would be very good, and they are!

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Infinity bookshelves, Paradigm Studio 20's

price/preformance, balance, stage

lack of air, true bass, non-removeable grills.

I purchased a pair of first generation Atom's back in '97. I'm still in love with them. I truly consider these the best over all speaker in the under $300 range. They have a better balance with less "boom" in the mid-bass than any of the more expensive Paradigm's that I have heard, and they are MUCH better than the Titan's. In my room they do have a soft upper mid-range and lack the "air" you will find in some more expensive designs. Still, their mids and highs have plenty of detail and you will very rarely get the feeling you are missing something.
Considering their size the bass can not be faulted. In small rooms they will give you amazing bass (after a good break in) with plenty of punch. In a larger room you had better pull that sub out. With the right sub hook-up these little guys sound better than most speakers in the $500 range, you have to move all the way up to the Magnepan MMG to get much better sound. The Atom's are on my short list of my favorite speakers and feel they can't be touched by anything near their very low cost. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. I give them 4 stars in the overall rating only because their are better buget speakers to be had, like the MMG's.

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canton, NHT, polk

Great performer for the price. Surprising bass for the size. Clean sound.

A very slight huskiness to male vocals. No deep bass. (what do you expect?)

I've had these for five years now, and should note the new Atoms have a new, presumably improved, tweeter. However I am very pleased with the sound coming out of my Atoms, the high end is very good even with the old design. Bass doesn't go very deep, but the upper bass is strong (without being bloated) and tight. Male vocals don't sound quite as good as with my (much larger and originally more expensive) ADS L710 speakers though. Integrates well with a (discontinued) Paradigm SB-90 sub (reviewed separately), together they yield a very satisfying sound. For five years I'd been running them from a Yamaha RX-385, which I recently replaced with a NAD 7020. I heard new detail in several recordings. I was impressed that these bidget speakers were high enough quality that amps could make a noticeable difference.

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ADS L710s

As listed below.

As listed below.

Can't say anything that hasn't been already except to say that the bass on these continues to improve over a long time. I'm an engineer and I'm solidly grounded in reality, no green marker for me, but a speaker has mechanical parts that run in and it's very noticeable with these. After ~100 hours I'm still hearing improvement. While they still could use a sub, bass has gone from deficient to acceptable.

I'm using 4 of these plus a Paradigm center in a home theater setup.

clarity, tightness, punchy bass, imaging, size, price... all

none

i'd searched a bookself speaker for listening music and found the paradigm has something.
after considering between titan and atom, i brought both of them home.
now i'm completely satisfied at atom.
atom and titan sound very similar, but i think atom has more tight, clear, punchy & all-round.

incredible value, it's atom. 'hearing is believing'

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So much bang for the buck

Almost none

Our Bose 901's (including pedestals), are 20 years old and after moving from our house into a condo, I could no longer use the 901's effectively. They need to be cranked to get anything out of them and my neighbors don't appreciate my musical taste. We have given the 901's to my daughter and went shopping. My favorite audio store had the Atoms on sale and hooked them up for an audition. He also hooked up the PDR 8 subwoofer and bingo!! Wife and I took the whole system home including the paradigm 3 foot pedestals, with us soon after. After 20 years, we finally have a system we can listen to at reasonable sound levels and still hear great sound, and thanks to the subwoofer, bass as well. I'm happy, wife's happy, neighbors are happy, end of story. We didn't audition but a few speakers so I can't attest to the Atom's quality versus others. We heard them (with subwoofer) and simply knew immediately they were for us, "especially considering price!" We paid less than $500 for pedestals, Atom's, and the subwoofer. In our smallish living room they sound fantastic. For amp power we have Kenwood separates with the M-2 amp rated at 220 watts RMS per side. I hope we don't accidently blow-up the system with all that power. I've had the system cranked up to over 100 watts (neighbors gone) and nothing blew and the sound was perfectly clear and crisp. Bose 901's no, but a better listening sound overall, especially bass with the PDR 8 subwoofer. For those of you with just the Atom's, start saving for a subwoofer, I'm sure most all are OK but the PDR 8 can be bought for about $250 and they make a dramatic improvement in overall sound quality. Buy the pedestals as well for looks. Your system will now sound and look like a very expensive set-up. What more could anyone ask for?

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The fullest sound I've ever heard from a two-way speaker of this size!!

For the price and size - NONE!

Read all the reviews of the Atoms on here last night and couldn't wait to hear them. So, I ventured out to the local authorized Paradigm dealer to hear them. They set me up in a room that was maybe 10' x 20' and had the Atoms on 2' stands about 10' apart. Even after reading all of the stellar reviews of the Atoms, I was still blown away when I heard them for myself.

Although some people say that the bass is lacking, I think that the amount of bass that these little speakers are able to put out is mind-boggling. As mentioned, the little 10 1/2" high Atoms were on 2' stands, but when a bass-laden track came on from the test CD, these little speakers were actually shaking the floor!! I couldn't believe it! Not to mention that, even with that much bass in the track, the mids and highs were not muddled at all! I turned down the volume on this track just to make sure before turning it back up. Again, unbelievable.

Yes, you do miss out on very low, rumbling bass, but, again the amount of sound you get from a speaker of this size is incomparable to anything I've heard in the Atom's price class.

I bought these as monitors for my home DJ set up and I couldn't be happier - they're small enough for the space that I have to work with, they're less than $200 for the pair, and they sound unbelievably good. I've been listening to them constantly all afternoon. I have to keep looking at them to remind myself that that big sound is coming out of those little speakers.

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Do not let the price fool you, these are NOT cheap speakers. If you are considering getting these, do youreself a favor and make sure you have a good quality receiver and inputs first because the atoms will show you exactly how bad your other equipment is. Cheap speakers (KLH, Yamaha, low end sony and JBL etc) have a way of covering op cheap components by not being very detailed.

If you want to get the most out of your atoms since they cannot be bi-amped, at least get some good 4 or even 8 strand braided cable and don't even think about using bananna clips. Bare wire is the way to go.

Give the atoms the quality components they deserve and you will be well rewarded, give them crap and you will be greatly dissapointed.

sound, build quality. ease of placement

nothing

These are hands down the best speakers you will ever here in this price range!

I first bought these speakers about 4 years ago and used them as my main speakers and as my surround speakers in my very first, very modest home theater setup. These speakers were used in a room approximately 12 X 12. They always filled my listening area with full clean sound. Imaging was always very good, sometimes even unbelievable considering their small size.

I have since upgraded all of my equipment including my speakers. I am now using Paradigm studio 60's. I could never part with my Atoms though so I am currently using them for my surround speakers where they perform flawlessly.

If you are looking for an incredible speaker below the $200.00 mark then these speakers aree for you.

Greg