I bought these speakers for $530 a little over a year ago, and I'm very happy with them--at least in my present house. When I first got them I was living in a house with a small living room, about 15' by 15'. I was never happy with the bass performance of the 7's in this room--it always sounded boomy no matter where I placed them.
My current house has a large combined family room/kitchen, roughly 20' by 35'. And here the Monitor 7's really come into their own. They have no problem filling the room with glorious sound, powered by a 60w amplifier. They sound great with acoustic jazz, which is what I listen to most often. Bass is full, but controlled--never boomy in this room. Vocals are natural-sounding and very "present." Highs are detailed but silky-smooth.

I'm not as impressed with these speakers for rock. I guess I miss the low-bass whomp and high-end sizzle of my old Large Advents for this kind of music. Still, for the money, I think the Monitor 7's are hard to beat. (Obviously, adding a subwoofer would address the low-bass issue. But then, if I had an additional $500 or more to spend on speakers I'd probably rather invest it in higher-end main speakers--especially since I'm more interested in music than home theater.)

BTW, a friend of mine has pair of PSB Century 600i's, which are an obvious competitor to the Monitor 7's (same driver configuration and about the same price). Maybe if I listened to more classical music I'd appreciate the somewhat recessed sound of the PSB's. However, most of the time when I listen to the same recording on his system and mine, I like the added detail I hear with the Paradigm's.

In summary, I think the Monitor 7's are worth considering by anyone with $500-$600 to spend--and especially so if you listen mainly to acoustic music in a room that isn't prone to standing wave problems.

This speaker is amazing. I listened to almost everything in its price range, and it sounded better than AR, AE, Mirage, Klipsche, Mission, Energy, Boston, B&W, Magnepan, Totem, hands down, ands thats just a few that I tried. You get the best sound out of them if you place them carefully, and in combination with Bryston, NAD, and Nordost, these speakers are unbeatable unless you start to spend $15000 plus on a whole system. The first thing I noticed was the soft midrange, which was a pleasure to hear. The bass was amazing, and unlike the Monitor 9, it was controlled, deep, clear and not overly aggressive. The treble, even at high volume, was restrained and wasn't ear piercing. However, with Paradigm Refernece, the PAL tweeter has a nicer sound than this titanium one. For $700CDN, you wont find a better tower speaker, even if you spend hundreds more. An amazing product, with quality construction (unlike some guy further down in the post, I had never seen such a high quality case for the price!), amazing sound, perfect for any application. Just give them enough power, and you wont be dissapointed. A work of art!

excellent sound, great price($550 retail), quality manufactured

not sheiled

after two years, i love these speakers. i have went through three receivers and haven't even considered replacing them. i play everything from classic rock to light jazz, western to blues as well as DTS and DD dvd. i feel fortunate to have found them

Great sound, solid build quility and good value for dollar

none

I've own the Monitor 7s for a year now and they sound great. First and foremost they are a great buy for the money. Second they are well built and attractive. Third the soundstage is deep and wide. The highs are clean and the bass is impressive. To get the most out of the M7s they need plenty of break in time at reference volume levels to really show their stuff. I recently just found this out a month ago when I had my first house party. Before, I played them loud but not at "party level". Since the party the M7s seem to come alive with music and even more noticeablely disappeared into the background leaving one enveloped by good clean sound(even in stereo mode). At the price of $600 dollars(US) (which is what they cost me a year ago)they cannot be beat by anybody IMHO. For those looking for an excellent speaker at a price that leaves money left over for other gear you must give the Monitor 7s a listen to. For those of us who are already enjoying the Monitor 7s do youself a favor and break them in REAL good. Then sit back and enjoy the "live show".

I recently purchased the Monitor 7 speakers and run them with a Paradigm CC350 Center channel, Mini Monitors for surround and an M&K V-125 sub, all run from an Onkyo Integra DTR-5 receiver. I was blown away by these speakers both for home theater and music. The sound dispersion and clarity while playing in normal stereo is astonishing! The bass without the sub was better than expected. I look forward to bi-wiring them as I've heard that they get even better! The Bottom line is that for the money ($599 retail) they're extremely hard to beat, and they're the best value I've seen.

Open midrange,articulate deep bass,detailed treble,build quality,bi-ampable

I only wish they where a little-bit taller

I,m writing this review after several month's of owning these speaker's because I just got enternet service.I absolutly love these speaker's as most people would also,if they had the proper equipment.I read a lot of people say these speaker's are bright,when most likely their pre/pro, source,and room is the cause of the brightness they hear,in fact and even worse,I bet most people who own these use a reciever to power them,and dont take the advantage of bi-wiring or even better bi-amping them.Paradigm in my experience with them and other brand's sound the most realistic,not to much treble,open midrange,and realistic bass.these speaker's in my opinion excell in the mid-range(where 85%of music lives).I'm bi-amping them with an Arcam Alpha1 for the tweeter,and an Arcam Alpha8p for the mid-bass unit's,along with an Arcam Alpha7se cd player,and a Monster 2500 power line conditioner all wired with MIT T3 speaker and interconnect's cables.with the above electronic's the monitor 7's sing beautiful warm,but detailed music.OHHH I forgot,a couple of people said they had no bass.......they shake my love seat I listen to them on!!!!!.All in all when properly set up these are some of the best speaker's $630 can buy,and you can find the v1's forless than $450,and they are sonically and cabinet/driver wise as the v2's,the only difference is the speaker grill on the version 2 monitor 7's is rounded off at the top to add to the appearance,but they sound the same,and without the grill they are identical.

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other Paradigm product's,JBL,Apogee,EPI,Fisher,Yamaha studio,Advent,etc...

crystal clear sound best for price

does not come in woodgrain finish

Wonderful speaker for the money. Great for music and home theater.

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bose

Clear sound, good price.

None.

I use these speakers for playing CDs, as well as DVD
movies. I think they are great for both rock and
classical music. They have good highs
and lows, and a fairly even frequency response
across the whole spectrum. They have a good
crisp sound - I would say they are neutral, not
to bright, not too warm. They sound great at both low and medium-high volumes. (I have neighbors close by, so I can't
test them at ear shattering levels).
For the money, I doubt you can do better.

Midrange is nice and warm, alot of bass for 2 little 6.5" woofers.

Treble gets sharp at high volumes.

Purchased the Monitor 7's for about $520 US from my local audio shop with a Yamaha RX-V795a. The first 5 minutes of auditioning the speakers I thought they were awful, but it turned out the sales guy did not have the low-pass disabled on the receiver so the pair was not putting out any bass below 90Hz. This sounded awful, then he fixed it and I was blown away by the amount of bass from the 2 6.5" woofers(note: they're not 6.5", more like 5.75" of driver surface). These things sounded meaty in the bass regions and clean in the midrange. The higher end of the treble range sounded very clear also. I took the pair home and they sound infinitely better than my old Infinity SM-82's(I can't believe I paid $250 for those pieces of crap). The bass just amazes me, I've only found a few drum n bass tracks that can get these woofers to bottom out. They go loud and deep. All in all I believe I got the best pair of speakers for the money. I listened to Boston Acoustics VR series and Infinity Kappa's and some of the Infinity RS line, none of them come close to the overall quality of the Monitor 7. I contemplated returning the Monitor 7's and upgrading to the Monitor 9's, but then I realized that the 7's were perfect in the midrange region and the larger 8" cones of the 9's made the mids sound a bit recessed and the 100Hz region sounded a bit muddy. You can always buy bass(and I plan on doing so by picking up the Paradigm PW-2200 to go with the 7's...hehehe). I haven't heard a better pair of speakers for the money, yet.

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None.

Excellent, clean and clear spatially accurate speakers

None that I've found other than sounding good enough to make guests try and leave with them.

These speakers just keep on giving for the price. I've had them for over a year now and they just eat up everything I can throw at them. DVD, CD, even input from the computer (SB Live SPDIF connection). Before I purchased the speakers I tested Polk's, Cerwin's, Mirage's, and a couple of others. This was the only speaker that stood out from the group. I have a Yamaha RX-v795 amp, DVD (recently upgraded to top end Sony) using optical connects where possible (coax where it's not) hooked up via low guage speaker wire. The Monitor 7's are joined by a CC350 centre, and titians on the rear channels. The major thing that stands out about the speakers is the clean, clear sound. I've yet to have any of the mentioned tonality problems with the speakers when listening to (anything really, but more specifically) the 20 bit classical recordings that I own (Bach, etc); You can *hear* the acoustics of the sound studio on some of them (NOTE I am using the tone bypass on the amp ...). Flick the switch to DVD mode and these speakers _shine_. The spatial reproduction of the sound stage / studio that they provide is outstanding , enhanced by the CC350 match. Sound positioning is accurate with no "dead areas". Bass reproduction is excellent, I'm in an apt. and thus do not have a sub hooked up; The M7's let you have good clean bass, without blowing out the people 3 floors down. Sure, it's not as nice as the sub, but it is quite alright for DVD's and CD's when you don't want the earth to really move .

Overall the Monitor 7's are an outstanding purchase, and only get better if matched with the CC-350 centre (note the re, aye). I would recommend them without hesitation to anybody wanting a good set of front channel speakers at a good price. (Side note: The speakers do need the breakin time that others have been refering to in their reviews .... it makes all the difference in the world)

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Paradigm 3se, 5se