On other hand, if you are Do It Yourself type of person and you have got some spare time and money in your pocket, you actually can finish this cinema centre speaker into descent made. I did it.
1) Retiling back and all sides of box with proper sound absorbing acoustic tiles
2) Rewiring all wires with proper OFC wires by VDHull
3) Upgrading crossovers to 12dB/ octave with phase of 90 degrees of sound.
(actually 12dB crossover is even better for your tweeter, you won't burn it so easily).

You will be surprised how much improvement this kind of upgrade can do to your speakers and of course to the sound.
Good luck to you all. Alexander

1) Design - in Platinium finish all do look like 1960's style
2) Sound- very poor compare to the other speakers of Paradigm's range
3) Crossover- only 6dB/octave= very basic, phase of sound is in 45 degrees only!
4) Inside of the box- wiring in very basic of china's made style wires, 2x very small economy sound absorbing acoustic tiles not even evenly stuck in box and their rectangular shape didn't look right at all.
5) Connectors terminal- Out/ golden plated, IN/ silver color plated terminals(too cheap)
6) Speaker box- very well made in 13mm MDF board
7)Drivers- 2x Mid/Bass range drivers- very well made!, 1x Tweeter

Well, if I would have another go to buy this CC 170 v4 serial number 80123, I wouldn't even think about that, thank you Paradigm. I think you can do better.

smooth smooth and did I mention smooth?

none as yet.

ok, I have been listening to this center channel for several weeks now and I must say that those who say it sounds like a tweeter are either tone deaf or their speaker is broken, inop, or blown. This is a fine addition to my system and Im glad as heck that I bought it. got it for a great price as a second chance offer from an e bay seller. I was using a yamaha nc-a2 before this which was not bad, but there is definately a difference with the paradigm. It works far better with the 3se's that Im using for fronts.
I highly recommend this speaker especially if your on a tight budget. they are on e bay all the time from people who think they can do better and maybe they can, but will spend lots more cash for little improvement.
very very good speaker.

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yamaha
bose

Clear, not boxy sounding, great build quality, and a great value. Once again, way to go Paradigm!!!!!!!!

Can take the grille off but really no complaints here. The 370 is gonna play lower and louder but I am using a 10" Paradigm sub crossed over at 90 HZ. The 170 has no trouble playing down to 90 HZ. If you are using a bigger sub then by all means go with the 370 beucause it will play deeper and as a result can be crossed over at 80 or even 70 Hz.

Well, I bought the cc-170 and it is a nice improvement over my Cerwin Vega. I can actually hear dialogue much better. Voices are much clearer and the sound is not boxy. I could have bought the cc-370 which is a much better speaker but I needed to save a lil money. Besides my interest is more with music than HT. I do plan on upgrading in the future to the 370 when my budget allows. Until then, I am content with the 170. If your preference is on HT then you are better off buying the 370.

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Cerwin Vega, Audiosource, Optimus

Inexpensie, clear dialouge, wide effective "sweet spot" that covers the whole couch.

The driver aray is designed at an upward angle (speaker was designed to be under the screen parhaps?) and you'll need to raise the rear of it up if you mount it over your screen. Fabric cover gets filthy easily.

I purchased this center channel to accompany a pair of Paradigm Atoms (v3) that I bought to replace the main L/R loudspeakers from an all-kenwwod setup. I ppurchased the cc-170 instead of the cc-70 that is normally recommended for using with Atoms because I wanted all my speakers to use the same 5&1/4" drivers. The center channel works well, provides for clear dialouge, and realistic on-screen effects. I think it is an excelant value for the money.

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Kenwood HTiB speaker. An obvious upgrade :)

Value, Value Value

none

Just bought the CC170 and I love it. I have the working man's home theater setup. Harman Kardon AVR125 receiver, CC170 center, Paradigm Esprit v.3's in front, Atom's in back, and the Paradigm 10" powered sub. Totals cost of about $1200. I don't know why anyone would spend more. I've been watching the Band of Brothers dvds and the effects are great, sound is clear and loud, dialog sounds natural.

Mids and highs

Bass

I've had a few different centre channel speakers and haven't beent his happy with one until now...I find it very resonsive and well sorth the $215 Canadian dollars I spent...I would recomend it to anyone wanting something that peforms well and isn't gonna break yeah!

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Performance for Size. Good voice matching. Reasonable timbre match with Monitor 3 or 7 series (for those on a budget). Much better than CC-70.

Bass a little weak (not bad, just weak)

Matches well with the Monitor 3v.3 or Monitor 7v.3 for those of us with size constraints (CC-370 wouldn't fit in the entertainment center). The speaker does not match the timbre of the Monitor series speakers - but it seems difficult to notice the difference during movies. If you can afford the space and money - get the CC-370 to match the Monitor series fronts. Current System: Fronts: Paradigm Monitor 7v.3 Center: Paradigm CC-170v.3 Surrounds: Paradigm ADP-170v.3 Receiver: Pioneer VSX-D810S DVD Changer: Pioneer Elite F07 301 disc Hitachi 43" HDTV

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Monitor 3 and Monitor 7 CC-70

excellent for usage with atoms and titans.

does not measure up to higher order paradigms. For focus-legend try cc-270. For monitor series, cc-370. If you EVER plan to upgrade, go straight to studio cc's!

This speaker should best be used with atom rears and titan fronts (or equivalaent). This is why I am writing this review. The sales man at sound company reccomended the cc-170 to match with my 11se's. Maybe perhaps so that I would have to come back and upgrade later! While I agree that this center is a blast for the $$$, I must say that it is not up to the job when it comes to matching with the larger pardigms. The drivers are too small, making the speaker suffer in midbass. The midrange is also not as subtle and refined. In short, the timbral disparity is too great. For anyone with reference series, larger monitor series and older mkIII's, my advice is to go big and head straight for the studio CC's. Whatever your setup is, %80 of movie sound comes from the center...SO DONT SKIMP

great overall performer

Laks a little openess in tweeter but only a little

Great for small HT systems used together with Paradigms Monitor 7's for the front and monitor 3's for the rear puts sound in it's place and doesn't sound harsh at loud levels like so many speakers these day's do. Good cable made a big differance the tweeter could be a bit more open sounding but mostly it sounds fine. managed to remove box sound by putting more wool into cabinet also improved bass response. PS. Running it of a Marantz SR5200 with seperate power amps for the front channels. Great value and much better than speakers twice the cost like JBL Energy B&W. recomended

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I got it instead of the cc70 for free. Dialogue is clean.

Very harsh as compared to my atoms

I actually was going to get the cc-70 center, but the shipment was delayed and the dealer upgraded me to the CC-170 for free. I am so VERY VERY glad that he did, and I probably would have returned the cc70. At first I was quite impressed with this center. It worked great with my Atoms. But as they started to break in, the Atoms just got better and better, but the cc-170 never got any better. Now they don't match properly. The center channel has very harsh highs as compared to the more fluid atoms.