Affordable step into the audiophile realm. Midrange and highs very clear without being airy or bright.

Power handling is lacking on some dynamic music formats to achieve a "desired" listening level. High bass generated early in power curve...(can be a good thing too!!)

In my opinion, the Studio 60 v.2's are very handsome in the veneer, and I liked the plastic moulding on the top of the speaker and on the bottom in front. My speakers were cosmetically perfect. The gold plated brass feet are very heavy and nice. The rear accept banana plugs well.
How do they sound you ask? I would reply, what are you using to drive them? They will deliver on the sound, but if your electronics are weak, then don't expect miracles. These speakers will sound good to the ear with any device driving them, however, they really need a seperate amplifier to reach their capabilities. I recommend a 150 to 200 watt amplifier with a nice dynamic reserve. I do not believe you should biamplify these speakers however, one good single amplifier is adequate. These speakers however will not tolerate large amounts of power with dynamic formats. If you like vocals, classical, jazz, and other formats that do not have maximum dynamics, you will be utterly pleased with the studio 60's. However, if you enjoy concert level alternative, rock, rap, or industrial music, a Klipsh or Cerwin Vega or larger version Paradigm etc. may be better for you.
I found the 60's reproduce most format well. They reveal much about the quality of the recording. I found that some music I liked in the past, I really did not want to listen to anymore because of too much reverb, and such. These speakers reveal so much that you crave really well mixed music recorded in DDD and such.
As best as I can describe, the midrange and high frequencies are smooth without being bright or airy...not even close to sizzly. One can soften some format by turning the treble down a bit. I usually bypass my controls however and find the more distinct highs enjoyable. The bass is generated early. These speakers have no problem generating distinct bass without the poppy or chuffy sounds you might encounter with lesser brands. However, as I stated in the weaknesses, the bass drivers reach maximum excursion early. If you want powerful, dynamic bass, option 1 is a subwoofer and an active crossover; option 2 is a larger speaker such as the studio 80 or studio 100.
After listening many hours to various format, I love these studio 60's. However, I am trading them in for a pair of studio 100's. The power handling is there for me and the added bass depth means I don't have to invest in a subwoofer for my 2 channel sound.
I hope I help you make the best decision, as the entire reference line of Paradigm are accoustically outstanding speakers at a modest price. Good luck and have fun.

My current system:
Yamaha RX 995 receiver
Yamaha MDX Minidisc Player/Recorder
Yamaha CDRW 1000 CD Player/Recorder
Yamaha 5 disc Changer
Yamaha M70 Power amplifier
Yamaha K960 Cassette Deck
Monster Cable BiWire 10feet
Monster Cable Reference Interconnects
Paradigm Studio 100's v.2

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B&W 600 Series, Cerwin Vega D-9, Vintage Polk Series, Cerwin Vega D-7,

Solid build, clear, accurate sound

Slight compression of female voice at high volumes

After reading countless positive reviews I was set to buy these speakers. The fact that they are Canadian made is a bonus (support the local industry). I auditioned them at Kromer Radio in Toronto, and they sounded great - very fast, accurate, with good bass. I was about to say "I'll take them" when the salesman offered to show me something else that cost $100 LESS. Out of curiosity, and in the interest of being thorough, I agreed.

He showed me a pair of Mordaunt-Short 906's in the next room; I had never heard of this brand before but he informed me that they were a new model from a respected British manufacturer. With dual 5.25" drivers, the speaker was quite diminutive compared to the Paradigm's, standing at only about 34" h x 7" w. Listening to my CD's, I fell in love with these speakers over the course of about 30 minutes of back and forth comparrisons. I went in the store virtually pre-sold on the paridigms, but the more I listened to each speaker, the better I liked the MS-906 over the Reference 60's. The MS handled high volumes better than the Paradigm's, with slightly better articulation. Bass was virtually identical.

I've had the 906's two weeks now and am very pleased. I have noticed in rare instances the treble can be a little strident, but this may be due to my low end Yamaha RX-V390 or secondary reflections, since the speakers are only 18" from the side walls. As I said it is only with exceptionally bright recordings, and can probably be cured with absorbing side panels (or turning down the treble a notch).

I would rate the Paradigm's just a little below the 906, but above the PSBs and Mirrage listed above (as I would expect, since these are considerably less expensive than the 60's). I'll give them good marks for performance, but slightly less for value.

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PSB 4T & 5T, Mirage OM-12, Mordaunt-Short 906

Price, construction, MADE IN CANADA and just about everything about them is a strength.

NOT

So I went on a quest a while back to hunt down a pair of loudspeakers to replace or shall I say upgrade the technology of my old B&Ws (which have served me well all these years). I took my time and auditioned several brands in a price range of aprox. 1000 to 2500 dollars retail up here in the great white north. Up here we are hit with an additional 15% on top of the price, they call it tax!!
After my several weeks of getting into this game I was starting to discover I could get something that sounded like the 2500 dollar speakers for less than half that. I fell in love with the Reference 60s and since I like to keep my money in my country well it wasn't hard at that point to decide. I picked a pair up for 1199 Canadian at my local shop, that’s before tax of course and after having them for a while I would have surely paid way more if they were more.
These are absolutely amazing when put together with high quality power etc. As long as you feed them nice pure watts it seems that they can handle an unlimited supply of it.
Soundstage is huge in a good audio room and speaker placement I have found is straight on out from back wall. Anywhere you are sitting you get clear sound and man it is clear. The brightness is starting to disappear since I have been putting on the hours and yes they are sounding better and better every day. You will literally have to listen to you entire CD collection all over again with these bad boys.
The only rather negative thing I could say is the bass could be bigger but what you get from these little drivers is awesome and I was going to hunt down a good sub anyhow.
Man if you want some serious bang for your buck you just have to audition these, they blow the competition away big time. Paradigm produce all the components themselves, a huge plus in my mind and hey they are an hour down the road from where I live.
Stop your search and go listen!!!

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magnapan MMGs, older B&W DM 2000s,

Excellent clarity and depth. Feels like you aren't listening but there.

Great speaker. Build quality is excellent and very attractive apearance. Surprisingly deep base for such a small woofer. Overall I am very pleased. No weaknesses at all. In a movie I was watching the other day there was a knock on a door and I stopped the movied thinking it was my own door. This is no lie!

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Tried sumilar priced B&W, Mission, and Paradigm's Monitor line. Studio 60's sounded the most realistic.

Clean,clear sound

Can be a little rough at the top end

I agree with most of the positive reviews below but careful system matching was a must in my case. At first a Nak AV-10 drove them. Too bright and not very good bass. Next I upgraded to an Acurus ACT3 and A125x5. I little better but still too much top end. Next went in the Rotel RM-1095. Better suited for the Paradigms than the A125x5, however the treble emphasis would not completely go away. My speaker cables were Nordost super flatlines. I moved both pairs of bananas to the lower speaker posts and ran a single twisted pair that was stripped out of a CAT5 cable to each tweeter. Much better now. For the first time, I can say that I like the sound of my setup. For those of you that have purchased these and have found the sound not quite to your liking, don't be afraid to experiment and be sure to try them on the equipment that you own.

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Owned:Polk RM5000, KEF C35....I have listened to many others

Overall sound. Pristine highs and solid bass. detailed mids.

Needs a little time break in

These are a great addition to any home audio or video system.
Recently switched to Nordas flatline speaker wire with very positive results. Recomend this wire for use with these speakers.

System:
Denon AVR3000 receiver as pre-amp
Nad 2600 amp as main L/R amp
Marantz Ma500's for centre and surrounds.
Paradigm studio CC
Toshiba DVD player
B&W asw1000 sub
RhinoCables.com interconnects (audio,digital and sub)
Nordost flatline speaker wire

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B&W 600 series

Transparent sound with no colorations. Versatile - Plays everything I've thrown at it accurately.

What?

Mission: Find the best speaker value for $1500.00 or less.

After reviewing and listening to speakers from Infinity, Polk, AR, Boston, and B & W, I had narrowed the field to 2 candidates: B & W 603 and a pair of Bostons. I can't recall the model of the Boston speakers (the ones with 10", side firing, powered subwoofers) I set up some auditions at 2 dealers in Oklahoma City to listen to these speakers. The dealers are located next door to each other so I was running back and forth between them. The B & W's were terrific with female vocals, classical music and most jazz, but a liitle weak when it came to heavy metal. Conversely, the Bostons did a terrific job of playing hard rock but sounded 'tinny' and flat with classical stuff.

I don't have a real preference for musical styles. I like just about everything outside of country music. This wide range in musical tastes makes it difficult to find a speaker capable of reproducing the finnesse of a violin concerto while at the same time able to blast through Talking Heads' 'Burning Down the House'.

It was beginning to become obvious that finding a speaker capable of satisfying such a diverse range of musical taste was not possible for the price I was willing to pay.

I had made up my mind that the B & W's teamed with a sub would satisfy my requirements until I found out how much one has to pay to get a sub capable of reproducing music. (Seems that most subs are designed to do nothing more than rumble)

Believing that if you can't pay cash, you can't afford it, I decided to delay buying a system until I had the bucks. This turned out to be one of the wisest decisions I ever made. The evening of the day that I spent reviewing the afforementioned speakers, I happened upon another dealer while driving to a friends house.

I walked in, told the salesman what I was looking for and he set me up to audition some Paradigm Monitor speakers. 10 seconds into the audition I stood up to walk out. That's when he 'flipped over' to the Paradigm Reference 60's. I stopped dead in my tracks. The sweet sound I was hearing was incredulous. I immediately got out my CD case and loaded up his 5 disc player with some choice sounds. Susan Tedeschie, Ella Fitzgerald, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Tune Your Mind, Stevie Ray Vaughn. I spent over an hour listening to these marvelous speakers in disbelief. I expected that he was going to tell me that they were $3000.00 for the pair. Instead, he told me that they listed for around $1200.00!

8 months have past since I bought these speakers and I can't get the smile off my face. I still go out and listen to various speakers and I have yet to find a pair for less than $4000.00 that can rival these. I don't know squat about the various terms you hear audiophiles spitting out to describe sound. What I do know is that while most speakers in this price range sound like someone's playing the radio, these Paradigms sound like someone's in my living room playing live music.

As for the ratings. I think people are inclined to hand out 5 stars because they want to justify what they spent their money on. In this case, these speakers really are "Far better than you imagined"

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JBL, AR-10, Advent, Boston, B&W 603

Clean, Acurate, SMOOTH!!!

In israel theres 45% tax on imported electronics, +17 vat, so I paid more than should.

I was looking for a set of HT speakers after purchasing an Onkyo 494.(see remark below)
So I went out and auditioned:

Mission M74(HT set) the best for that price, clear, detailed a bit bright.
" 782; also bright, didnt care for the mission sound.

B&W 603 S3; an improvement over the M74's, thoght I had my set, than I asked the dealer to hear the CDM7NT, WOW!(too expensive, around 7000$ in Israel!!!), but the sound of a CDM HT set is what I liked, I've had enough of cheap gear)

Klipsch Reference RF-3, HT set; good "american" sound, (loud, powerfull, good for HT), which I quite liked, but unlucky for Klipsch, I heard them after I heard:

Paradigm Monitor 11; nice, like the Klipsch, but, I was looking at the Reference series, wondering how they will do,...
Studio 60 ; Bang! A CDM NT killer at half the price!
They sound SO much better than the Monitor 11's, its amazing.
well, they put out a cleaner, "quieter" sound, which I thought was weak, compared to the monitor 11 scream, but after a few minutes of listening I started to see the difference. they are smooth. they dont hurt your ears at mid-high levels. they deliver the info without "addons".
(I'm new to this, so I don't have the vocabulary, but you know what I mean...)

I asked to hear Gladiator(!), Studio 60 vs Monitor 11, thinking they might loose to the imposing 5 driver 111 cm behemoth.
No way! the 60's kicked ass! so clear, clean, but also
loud(!), soft to the the ear, they simply are what speakers should be. (I went through my cd/dvd collection to hear what I missed...)

the 11's were churning out kakofony, everthing together, without definition, just loud noise.(well, still impresive, but now I know the difference)

Gladiator through the reference system is pure music.
Together with a reference ADP diapole surrounds, (dont setle for regular!...the diffused sound is much better), and CC center (Large!), all together this system delivers home-theater and music with ease, like a big luxary car, you feel it delivering effortlesly.
I give it 3 for being expensive (again, tax problems, not paradigm's fault), and 5 for quality.

Now, for a big screen tv...
Itai.

ps, I've learned that the Onkyo 494 is a litle on the weak side (55x5 watts), you need to crank it 2/3 of the way up to hear something(...), so I'll trade it in, probably for a Denon 3802 (DPL II is sweet) 6.1 box.

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non, these are my first good speakers...(graduating from a budjet Peerless & JBL prologic HT combo)

Crisp clean highs tight accurate bass. smooth mid-range

require several hours of listening before they are broken in.

I have owned these speakers for 7 months and I believe they are finally broken in therefore, sonically speaking they are at there best.

My first impressions of the 60's were that they sounded very bright perhaps even harsh at times. After reading several posts regarding their break in period I decided to spare a critical review until after I felt they reached their performance peak.

Here we are seven months later and I am completely pleased with how these speakers perform. The highs have become defined and accurate. While listening to music or Home theater, treble is smooth and defined maintaining just the right amount of emphasis where it was intended to be. The Studio 60's also have a very pleasing midrange in which the bass gently rolls off where the midrange ends creating a seamless full pleasent sound. Bass extends down to a very comfortable 30hz. I say comfortable because although these speakers are only equipped with 6 1/2" drivers they are very capable of producing tight low bass. A feature not commonly found in drivers this size!

I highly recommend these speakers.

Greg

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Paradigm monitor 3's, Atoms and other various speakers.

non coloration of sound reproduction
bass is not muddy or boomy

none, considering the size and price.
what do you expect from 6.5 drivers. although they do realy well at high volumes without distorting.

after the break in period i noticed that these speakers produced a warm even sound. The treble was not as harsh and the bass became more evident. The midrange continued on as usual. In contrast with certain reviews about bass responce i have listened to probably twenty different manufacturers in this price range. Yes some could produce lower bass extentions with larger drivers or amped setups. None of them produced the bass as acurately. (in my opinion). I would rather have speakers that can recreate the 35hz-20hz accurately than speakers that can produce 15hz-20hz just for the specification bragging rights with no regard to serious sound reproduction. If i want to go lower i'll buy a sub.

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Definitive Technology bp2006