NRPavs SOLD items 2013 archive 1 Paradigm  Studio 100 ver2 front  speakers details
SOLD items 2013 archive 1 product details : 
Paradigm   Studio 100 ver2
front   speakers
SOLD
Paradigm  Studio 100 ver2 tower front speakers  :  brochure imagefont>
Paradigm  Studio 100 ver2 tower front speakers  :  grille on
Paradigm  Studio 100 ver2 front speakers  :  drivers  closeup
Paradigm  Studio 100 ver2 front speakers  :  image #4
Paradigm  Studio 100 ver2 front speakers  :  grilles  on
Paradigm  Studio 100 ver2 front speakers  :  size  scale
   SOLD March 2013, by selection from Oldies but Goodies, to Christchurch
S/Ns: 23893 / 25350   further new images soon
 
 
  Paradigm  Studio 100 version 2 front speakers  specifications                         Back to NRPavs Home  
  Paradigm  Studio 100   [version 2] tower front speakers - cherry :    Light cherry finish,  tower format on spikes, with black grille cloth
   4 driver, 3-way bass reflex, front vented
   Vertical array 2 x 216mm woofers, 1 x 165mm midrange driver and 1 x 25mm dome tweeter


Stereophile review [Robert Deutsch Jun 30, 2000] :
Description and Design :
   At first glance, the Reference Studio/100 v.2 seems to be merely a mild cosmetic upgrade of the original Studio/100, reviewed by Tom Norton in August 1997 (Vol.20 No.8). The enclosure's side walls are now curved, and there are a couple of pieces of plastic trim. The speaker is still a ported three-way, and its drivers look much the same
   But there's much more to the "v.2" designation than meets the eye. The speaker has gained 23 lbs : its new, 110-lb total weight reflects changes in cabinet construction. Previously, there was one vertical brace, interlocking with three horizontal braces; now there are a second and third vertical brace for added strength
   The midrange enclosure used to be a section of the cabinet partitioned off from the rest; now it's a separate MDF chamber attached only to the front baffle, providing better isolation from the woofer. The thickness of the side walls remains the same at ¾" but the grille thickness was changed from ½" to 5/8" to improve the tweeter's dispersion in the lower part of its range
   The tweeter itself has been reworked, with new damping material, a thicker sealing plate for the damping chamber, and a slightly altered magnet structure. The midrange driver has undergone a major re-design. The magnet weight was doubled, improving efficiency and reducing distortion. The voice-coil's diameter has been changed from 1" to 1.5", but the coil still weighs the same because of the use of copper-clad aluminum wire. High-gauss, low-viscosity ferrofluid was added to the midrange driver. Only the woofer was left unchanged; still, its tuning was adjusted slightly through changes in damping material and a 2" increase in port length
   The crossover is still a simple quasi-Butterworth design, with the same crossover frequencies, but almost everything else about it is different. In particular, the midrange crossover is all new, both high- and low-pass sections being revised to take into account off-axis measurements. Similarly, the tweeter high-pass was changed to blend better with the midrange, both on- and off-axis. The crossover's physical layout has been changed, with the midrange and tweeter filters moved to the top of the cabinet and the woofer filter to the bottom, reducing interference between the circuits. The crossover's inductors and resistors are much larger and are now placed farther apart for optimal cooling, and the quality of components is higher

Setup :
   Setting up speakers can be a difficult chore requiring endless tweaking of position, toe-in, and adjustment of the room's acoustical treatment. I've never encountered a speaker with which ¼" made the difference between sonic disaster and Nirvana, but speakers definitely vary in terms of how critical setup parameters are to optimal sound quality
   The Reference Studio/100 v.2s turned out to be exceptionally unfussy to set up. I plunked them down in what is my more-or-less standard position: along the long wall of my 16' by 14' by 7.5' listening room. With a bit of tweaking, I had the speakers form an angle of about 70 degrees from the listening seat, with the front of the speaker out about 40" from the back wall and the tweeter about 35" from the side wall. Toe-in was not critical; I aimed speakers almost-but not quite-at the listening seat. Once I was satisfied with the basic setup, I installed the spikes and locknuts. The speaker is provided with four spikes, which are hidden by what look like gold-plated feet but are actually large locknuts
   The Studio/100 v.2's five-way binding posts appear to be the same as the ones that Tom Norton complained about: able to be tightened only by hand and too thick for many audiophile spade lugs, they still worked fine with the Nordost bananas that I use
   Paradigm recommends biwiring, and that's how I listened to the Studio/100 v.2s. The grille is an integral part of the front-baffle design, so it's intended to be left on; I listened to the speaker with the grille off just long enough to confirm that the sound was, indeed, better focused with the grille on

Sound :
   According to Scott Bagby, head of Paradigm's design team, designing the Reference Studio/100 v.2 was, to a large extent, a process of elimination. The extensive measurements and listening tests were aimed at identifying problem areas, measurable and/or audible, in the speaker's behavior, with changes then made to reduce or eliminate these problems. Presumably, if you eliminate all the unwanted resonances and colourations, what remains is a speaker that just reproduces the input rather than having a sound of its own
   According to Scott Bagby, head of Paradigm's design team, designing the Reference Studio/100 v.2 was, to a large extent, a process of elimination. The extensive measurements and listening tests were aimed at identifying problem areas, measurable and/or audible, in the speaker's behavior, with changes then made to reduce or eliminate these problems. Presumably, if you eliminate all the unwanted resonances and colorations, what remains is a speaker that just reproduces the input rather than having a sound of its own.    That's pretty much what I heard when I listened to the Studio/100 v.2. In my experience, every speaker has some sort of distinctive sonic character that becomes evident sooner or later, but I had a difficult time getting a sense of the Studio/100 v.2's. Its top-to-bottom tonal balance was exceptionally even, with no part of the spectrum given undue prominence. The midrange, in particular, had a most pleasing neutrality, which allowed the distinctive quality of voices and instruments to be preserved. The treble was not quite as silky-smooth and airy as that of the $10k/pair Vienna Acoustics Mahler (see my review in the April 2000 Stereophile), but was at least on a par with such topnotch competitors in its own price range as the Hales Revelation Three ($2195, reviewed in February 1998, Vol.21 No.2), and beat the Hales in the avoidance of sizzle at high levels
   In his review of the original Studio/100, Tom Norton noted an occasional edge in the mid-treble; this seems to have been tamed in the v.2. Vocal sibilants-which I find to be the most revealing indicator of problems in a speaker's treble response-were presented cleanly, without exaggeration or noticeable softening. The top end was even sweeter when the speaker was driven by the Balanced Audio Technology VK-60 tube amp, at the cost of some loss of bass control
   The Studio/100 v.2's bass performance was also first-rate: extended and powerful, the quality of the bass approaching that of the $7995/pair Dunlavy SC-IV/A, which has dual 10" woofers in a much larger cabinet. The Studio/100 v.2 had no trouble coping with my usual bass test pieces. The synthesizer note at the beginning of track 7 of Mickey Hart's Planet Drum (Rykodisc RC-10206) energized the air most convincingly, and bass drums had proper weight
   My room's interaction with the Studio/100 v.2 was fortuitous: bass extended to the mid-20Hz range, and what I know to be the room's 50Hz standing wave was not noticeable as such
   Although there are still audiophile speakers that sound comfortable only up to moderate levels, one of the more positive effects of the advent of home theater has been that most speaker manufacturers are developing products capable of higher SPLs, even when the speaker is designed primarily for stereo use, as is the Studio/100 v.2. [The word from Paradigm is that more than half of the Studio/100s sold end up in home-theater systems]
   The Studio/100 v.2 not only sounded good at low to moderate levels, but maintained its composure at levels where most speakers sound strained. Assuming that the amplifier is up to the task (the best amplifier I had on hand for high-level listening was the Thule PA-250B in its 250Wpc stereo mode), turning up the volume - within reason, resulted in the Studio/100 v.2 just playing louder, but without audibly compressing or acquiring a hard edge. If anything, the speaker sounded a bit reticent at lower levels, becoming more lively when supplied more power
   As far as soundstaging and overall transparency went, the Studio/100 v.2s made a good showing without being in the very top class. Their soundstage was wide and deep (when the recording had this information), and the sound had a generally open quality, seeming to originate in space rather than being confined to the speakers. The Dunlavy SC-IV/As give even greater specificity and three-dimensionality to images within the soundfield, but the differences are fairly small - and the gap in price is wide. Listening position was less critical than with the Dunlavy and other speakers that specialize in pinpoint imaging, with a good semblance of a soundstage being evident even when I listened considerably off-center


Specifications :
  -:®:-   Studio 100 version 2 : vintage 1999 model
  -:®:-   Power rating : 210W RMS, suitable for amplifiers rated 15W to 350W
  -:®:-   Impedance : 8 ohms [low of 4ohms 100Hz]
  -:®:-   Cosmetic : light cherry colour
  -:®:-   Drivers : two 216mm [8.5"] filled polypropylene-cone woofers,  165mm [6.5"] mica-polymer-dome midrange,
  -:®:-   1 x 25mm [1"] aluminium dome tweeter
  -:®:-   Mounted on isolation spikes
  -:®:-   Frequency response : 39Hz to 22kHz +/- 2dB,  30deg off axis 39Hz to 20kHz
  -:®:-   Low frequency extension : 25Hz for -3dB in typical room
  -:®:-   Sensitivity : 88dB for 1W / 1m,  91dB room
  -:®:-   Dimensions: [ H x W x D ]: 1155.7 x 279.4 x 441.3mm
  -:®:-   Weight: 49.9kg each -  ~ 52kg packed


   SOLD March 2013, by selection from Oldies but Goodies, to Christchurch












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