Dynamic, top to bottom. Good lower end extension and good highs. Good imaging. Crystal clear midrange. Minimal coloration.

All minor things: Binding posts. A little beamy. Soundfield could be wider. Upper mid range a bit sharp.

Great bang for the buck ! Sound a little cool compared to the PSB or Vandersteen's but great clarity. Bass is good and tight with good definition. Ultraclear midrange. Fantastic setup for home theater.

The 100's are good enough to reveal shortcommings of source equipment. So if think you don't like them it could be something else. I bit the bullet and went for mega speaker cables (Kimber Bifocal XL's). A substantial jump over the excellent 4/8TC's. However if you don't have high resolution source components or amps its a waste. The 100's responded with more depth, layering and detail. To repalce the 100's with something subsatntially better would require mucho more money. I can wait. I won't sell them since they would make great rear surrounds. Enjoy !

Current system started as stereo only but intended to expand to home theater.

Mains: Studio 100's with Bi-focal XL's.
Center: LCR-450 4TC/8TC
Rears: Stdio 20's Bi-wired 4TC/8TC
Subs front: 2X Velodyne FSR 18's.
Subs rear: 2X Cizek dual 10's.
Preamp:Adcom GFP-750
AMPs:For front left right and center, 2X Adcom 5802
Rear-Adcom GFA-555II for thq 20's and GFA555I for the subs.
Processor-Sherwood
DVD-Toshiba 3108 and Pioneer DV-05
CD-Rotel RCD-990
Powerconditioner-Tice Power block Signature series.

Similar Products Used:

70's vintage 2-way Cizek Model 1's. Listened to PSB Stratus Gold's i's, Wilson Watt Puppies, Vandersteen 2Ce's.

Incredibly rich, detailed sound top to bottom
Classic great looks (rosenut wood finish)
Best sound for under $2500 a pair

None

I've spent the last 18 months listening to various speakers with $2500/pair being my budget limit. Nothing I listened to (B&W, M&K, Monitor Audio, PSB, and too many others to list) came close, in my listening tests, to the Studio 100s. These speakers play clean and full, and have a neutral tonality to them. Every CD I have (except for poor-quality recordings -- these speakers are VERY revealing) sounds terrific, and I spend a tremendous amount of time just listening and grinning like a lunatic.
If you're in the market for nice, but affordable main speakers, be sure to give these a listen.
Also -- the rosenut "real wood" versions are gorgeous, although the wood color is slightly red. These speakers are as solid and aesthetically pleasing as anything in this price range, although I did have to wait 8 weeks for them to arrive, as everyone else seems to have the same idea.
They are the best purchase I've ever made.

My system:
Denon AVR-3300 receiver (hopefully to be replaced by a Bryston someday)
Denon DVD-1500 DVD player (plays CD-Rs too!)
Paradigm Reference Monitor 100s
Paradigm Recerence CC-450
Paradigm Reference Servo-15 Subwoofer (also in rosenut)
Polk Audio 5jr+ (until I can get reference 40s) as surrounds
Audioquest Midnight speaker cable

Can't wait to get matching Reference 40s for surrounds!

Articulate bass, smooth mid-range, imaging, seperation, sound stage, depth, presence, transparency!

For this price?

I have a dare for all you audiophiles, i dare you to find a speaker that performs better than this one for the money!!! Its a challenge, which i believe is impossible.

This is my second review, since my first review, my speakers have deffinately broken in, over days and days of constant use. I had to come on and tell you that they have only improved 100%! What a difference. These speakers deffinately take a long time to break in, somewhat around 100 hours i would say, possibly even longer. One thing i have to earge with these speakers, is high grade speaker cable. When i first got these i was using cheaper cables, bought from a local audio store. About a week after i bought them i upgraded to Audioquest cable, there high effinciency solid grade wire which sells for around $5.00 a foot, wich isn't all that bad. What a difference that made, i also bi-wired them with the new cable, and that was a major improvement aswell. HERE IS ANOTHER IMPORTANT FACT! When you buy new speaker cable, this cable also needs time to burn in properly just like your new speakers. When you first hook up your new speaker cable, you may notice it acctually sounds harsher and brighter than you old cable. Give it time, in a week or two you will deffinately notice them impoving dramatically. This is because the copper wire inside the shielded cable needs time to adjust its characteristics to suit your stereo. Some audio cables also have arrows on them in the direction you are to install them, be sure to pay special attention to these arrows. This means when the cable was manufactured it was drawn in this direction, causing the properties of the cable to carry a signal better in that direction. If the cable does not have arrows, try switching around the wire and listen to it in different directions, you'll notice that it will sound better in the direction the cable was drawn out when it was manufactured.

Anyways, the mid range has gotten silky smooth, the high range is so gentle, even when you crank them up, these speakers emmit such a gentle well timbred tone. And as for bass, well, it is so articulate, and well defined, you can actually tell the bass notes apart, not just, boom, boom, boom. I have not been dissapointed in any way with these speakers, i just smile and think of the money i saved. I am a serious audiophile, and pay very special attention to evey detail with my entire stereo set up. I'm exceptionally pleased with the the studio 100's. Well, enough talk...must listen..... ciao

Similar Products Used:

B&W, Def-tech, Vivid, Energy, Infinity....etc etc

value. great soundstage. deep bass. neutral mids.

binding posts dont readily accept spades

i have had these speakers since 12/98. wow!!!!
they are the best speakers i have found in its price range.
i have been into audio since the mid seventies,(my first receiver was a 25 watt hybrid from sansui. how far we have come.)and have heard many different speakers and none come close to "doing it all" as the studio 100's.
full range (ok almost) for $1700.
my last setup was an nad pe 7575 with gorgeous sounding
infinite slope 1.2's. cloth dome tweeter. 6.5 woofer.
and rich moddaferi's infinite slope crossover. this set up was a little bit of heaven. smooth highs,tight tuneful bass. one can sit for hours and listen. but i needed more!
shop til you drop time.
my test disc was dylans; time out of mind.
i tried this on many different speakers. the only ones that came close were speakers from b&w. model dm??? cant remember the rest. they had pretty much the same configuration but had the bass powered by an internal amp. but was close to a thousand bucks more. plus the b&w's were a little too polite. actually a lot too polite.
when i auditioned the studio 100's in the same store as the b&w's (maggie's were there too), i just fell in love.
crisp highs, very neutral mids,deep tuneful bass.
i went home worked the prerequisite overtime and bought them. i paired them with a marantz sr680 home theater receiver (very good and on sale). and a marantz 63se cd players. monster cable 1.4 bi-wire speaker wire tied these together. yuck at first thought i got ripped off.
but over the course of a week the speakers broke in and sounded better. and were at least listenable.
things improved on and on. i know many wont believe me but
i think they are still breaking in.
these are as close to full range i can afford. and i think i hav gotten much value for my money. i am simply amazed by these speakers. so clear,imaging very good. mid on voices
so neutral and pure. the bass is funny though. not a harddriving gut wrenching bass. but deep and tuneful,i find myself listening to bass lines ive ignored for years.
but you just dont know its there until its needed. i thought they were anemic at first. but its all there.
on home theater ive mated the studio 100,s with jamo's concert center. 2 four inch woofers,1 three inch soft domed mid,1 one inch tweeter. i use some old bose 301's as the surrounds. mr budget strikes again.
the final part of the story is the interconnect and cabling.
i had picked up a single center channel speaker wire from
audio advisor on sale. an mit t-4 bi-wire for the jamos
what a difference. when i recently saw a sale at audio advisor for the t-2 i had to have them. back to ot.
actually i replaced all the interconnects in the whole
system. i just couldnt believe the difference. all for the better. imaging,separation,mid clarity,and bass deepened.
depth and soundstage both increase. i couldnt beleive it. realy its not a stereo pile.
next i will upgrade the receiver by using the pre outs.
hey can anyone answer me. is the version two realy all that better then version 1. and if the answer is yes. how can i get an upgrade.

Similar Products Used:

b&w dm???. smaller maggies. jamo.

These speakers are amazing! With the new 'Reference' series, Paradigm must have the high-end competition fearing for their lives! For less than $1,800.00, no other speaker can come close to the Studio 100's deep, clean bass, transparentmidrange, smooth highs, and detailed soundstage. Don't let Paradigm's reputation for supplying mid-end speakers at incredible prices fool you. These are truly 'audiophile' speakers with high-tech drivers in a very attractive, solid
cabinet (almost 100 lbs. each). I've heard several so-called 'audiophile' speakers
in this price range with much less detail and clarity and they were the size of
shoe-boxes. With these speakers you definitely don't need a subwoofer!

I got a chance to audition these at my dealer the other day & I have to say that they are pretty impressive, especially for the price. Bass is well extended & pretty tight, mids are nice, and highs are only a little bright. Are they the best speaker under $6000? Hardly, but they are very good in their price class. If you are looking for speakers around the 2k price range, definitely check them out. Others you might want to consider are the NHT 2.5i's and 2.9's, Meadowlarks, Hales Revelation 2, or the Monitor Audio Silver Series. I have listened to all these (and more) and each has their strengths and weaknesses. I have a pair of nOrh 7.0 loudspeakers shipping to me within the next couple of weeks (should be here just in time for my birthday). While I have not heard these speakers myself, they do have a 30 day money back guarantee. Plus, from what I gleam from their web site, these are incredibly built speakers - enclosures hand carved from 20 inch diameter tree trunks, top of the line scan speak drivers, pure silver wire and silver solder internally, MultiCaps in the crossover and a shape remniscient of the B&W Nautilus midrange enclosure. I am told the sound is a cross between teh open and detailed sound of the Nautilus Series, and the warmth & musicality of the Sonus Fabers. Sorry to have gone on about these speakers, but I think this is a company that people would benefit from being exposed to. Check them out at www.norh.com - Anyway, back to the Paradigms - since they have such strong bass, you really need a bit of a larger room for them. Shockingly, I think speakers like this are a much better value as music speakers than as home theater speakers. With home theater, if you already have a sub that is going to pick up the signal sub 60 or 50 hz, why are you paying to have bass in your main speakers? with stereo, the bass is already nicely integrated with the speakers without having to fiddle with a subwoofer. Anyway, just my $.02

wonderfully clear, powerful

lacking in sub 40Hz bass, fairly large

I've had these for about week now, and the smile on my face has still not worn off :) These are wonderful speakers. I upgraded to the 100's from my previous Paradigm Legend speakers - quite step up for me. The Legends were pretty good, but I began to tire of the boomy powered sub sound. The 100's to me sound much more even across the sound spectrum. Perfect accuracy, tight clean bass, tweeters sound smooth, but the real shiners are the midrange drivers. I'm picking out instruments and sounds in songs that I've never heard before (including on high-end heaphones like Sennheiser).

Mine are not broken in yet, so I'm definately not hearing the best that speakers are capable of yet - they do not sound quite as "full" as the demo's in the audio shop. But even so, right out of the box they do sound incredible.

The lobby shooting scene in "The Matrix" is spectacular! DVD's come alive. But 2ch stereo is where these speakers really show off their stuff.

My system is composed of:
Paradigm Studio 100's (main)
Paradigm Atoms (rear)
Paradigm Studio CC (centre)
Yamaha RX-V595 (reciever)
Yamaha CDC-675 (cd)
Pioneer DV-525 (dvd)
JVC 20" TV

The 100's and the CC are both bi-wired with generic 12gauge and 14gauge speaker wire for the bass and tweeter/mid drivers respectively.

I'm likely to upgrade my reciever to a higher model Yamaha (995 or 2095) or a comparible model from Marantz. Cause the 100's could certainly handle more power (and they deserve it :)

The 100's have a bottom-end around 40Hz. Which is right where a subwoofer such as the Paradigm Servo 15 would fill. For stereo it's debatable if a sub is necessary, but for that real bang in movies it would definately help.

The only other speakers I would consider buying that are in the price range and value/price of the Studio 100's are the B&W 802 and PSB Stratus Gold. I went with the 100's because I got a great deal on them and will use my saved money to buy a nicer reciever.

I would encourage you to shop around a bit for prices. If you're near the Canadian border I would strongly suggest you take a drive and buy them here. I managed to buy a pair of brand new 100's that were sent to an audio shop direct from the Paradigm manufacturing plant that were "slightly blemished" for an absolutely unbelievable price of $1800Cdn (no I'm not kidding). And to boot, these are the 100's with the real wood finish which regularly retail in Canada for $2800!! When I opened up the boxes I laughed when I saw what was the so-called "blemish". There was a very very small amount of glue on the top edge of one of the speakers, on the other there's a tiny spec of white again on the top edge. It's only noticeable when your face is 1 foot from it. If you're interested the audio shop is Natural Sound in Kitchener, Ontario (100km SW of Toronto), their website is http://www.natsound.com - I would move quickly cause they only had about 10 or so blemished pairs (and those won't last when priced lower than what used 100's sell for). And no, I don't work for them - just letting other AR fans know of the best deal you will ever find for a speaker.

Similar Products Used:

nearly every other Paradigm model, Klipsh, PSB

TOO MUCH TO LIST!

Wife won't let me turn it up to hear every note!

Paradigm did it's research on these bad boys. Labatts Blue and Paradigm speakers,Thanks eh Canada. These speakers kick serious ass! Crystal clear high's,Midrange not found in most speakers in any price class and bass found in only the best of subs. What a deal for a mere $1750.00 I can enjoy all this and my Labatts Blue! Please if you have not heard a pair of 100v2 do it soon,you will be glad you did!!!!!!

Similar Products Used:

PLEASE!

I feel that they are a very well rounded speaker. The High, mid range, and low....all good. They are crisp sounding which is what like. I use mine for both music and surround sound theatre purposes. Great for both...although I think they show off their talents more with music. I think that they are a good looking speaker...I have the black painted ones...nice and simple. I have had them for about three years...with no problems...and that is all good.

None!

These are great, quality speakers!!! Loud or Soft...Movies or Music...It just doesn't matter...they sound excellent all the time.

Similar Products Used:

Infinity, Klipsch, Definitive

Solid bass, deep soundstage. Attractive look. And they keep sounding better!

Size and weight, but forgiveable because of solid construction

While I am finally able to afford speakers in the $2000-3000 speaker range, this was still a very serious outlay for what is, after all, pure entertainment. Therefore, I was resolved to spend a fair amount of time both auditioning speakers and researching them.

Over the course of about 5 weeks, I listened to many speakers in this price range and in the end it was simply no contest. The most memorable also-rans included Tannoys, ProAcs (man, they are bright!) and NHT, a company I respect a great deal. The Paradigms had by far the most solid bass, clearest treble and sweetest mids of anything I heard. (I tested every speaker with a selection of classical, jazz and rock.)

As some have said here, these speakers are unforgiving of poor source material. In my view, this is a strength, but I was still disturbed to find that several of our most favorite recordings (Marshall Crenshaw's first album among them) sounded too bright and were even painful to the ears.

However, I was pretty certain that it wasn't the speakers that were the problem with CD's that were on the nasty side of bright. I suspected that the real problem was in my two weakest components: my amplifier and, most especially, my CD player.

I've upgraded both those areas, having added an McComack DNA .5 amp, a Cambridge Audio D300 as my CD transport, and MSB Link III as my DAC.

The Link, especially, created a "paradigm shift" (I couldn't resist, sorry)in my listening experience. I never really respected Paul McCartney's "Mother Nature's Son" from the Beatles "White Album" until I heard what it sounds like in my current system. And that was recorded in 1968!

Now, all of my CDs, even those with poor transfers from vinyl (has anyone else noticed how poorly the Stones old recordings went to CDs? It's a disgrace...)sound good, and the high quality recordings are pure magic.

Others who have heard this system comment on the depth of the soundstage which is both wide and high, especially when one is standing or seated within about 15 feet.

Does it sound like a $20,000 system? Of course not. But I've heard such systems and with the Paradigms I feel like I'm within sonic shooting distance of them. These are truly worthwhile products.

If you are interested in these speakers and, like me, are upgrading from mid-fi gear, keep in mind that you may also have to think about upgrading your CD player. Again, these speakers will expose weaknesses in that area of the system.

Finally, these speakers are the first to pass the wife test. Like many others, my wife finds spending money on audio equipment to be pretty frivolous, especially when it runs into the thousands of dollars. Not in this case. She likes the way the speakers look, though she was dubious about the size at first; she loves the sound, as I do; and most important, she appreciates how much joy they give me.

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch, NHT