Paradigm Persona 5F and 7F vs Salon 2s

I've heard the Persona series at shows and my experience is similar to Mike's, finding them to be uncomfortably bright. Some may find them 'extremely revealing' but they sound completely unnatural to me. Don't know if you have any experience with the 10Audio review site, but you might want to check out his review of the Persona B monitors. 10Audio is a relatively small scale one man review site, but he doesn't often pan gear in his reviews with several products being awarded 10/10 LPs. His rating of the Persona Bs at 2/10 LPs is quite telling.
 
Iansr said:
I'm in the market for some new speakers. If nothing else comes along then I'll be buying some Salon 2s. However I'm very intrigued by the Personas, not least because Paradigm use the same design parameters as JBL / Revel (based on Toole and Olive's research). There are no Personas in the UK where I live, so I'd be interested to hear from anybody who has heard the 5F or 7F as well as the Salons . . . .
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Hi, I'm a speaker manufacturer, so take this with a grain of salt...I would strongly recommend you audition whatever speaker your eyes desire, with your own music.
Bass response will be heavily influenced by the room/placement etc, but the the mids and highs characteristics should come through regardless (barring shenanigans by demonstrator), especially with familiar music, so you have something of an anchor. Do not judge solely by new, unfamiliar music. In the end, after all the friendly advice perhaps steering you to audition X, Y and Z, it should be your own ears that are the final arbiter. I understand that auditioning is not always easy, especially if there are no dealers around, but the audiophile road to nirvana is littered with those who rued the day they bought without auditioning. The price level and differences of speakers mentioned surely warrant the cost of a train or plane ticket somewhere, IMO.

cheers,

AJ

p.s. If you've seen the measurements of both brands within the last 5-10yrs, you will see a significant divergence from the Toole/NRC(80s-90s) model days, FWIW.
 
I have the salon2's and demoed the persona3f. I like that the persona 3 is about 1/4 the size of the salon2's and the pair I heard had a few hundred hours on them and we're reasonably smooth but they didn't image as tight as I expected and in that regard I prefer the kanta2. if your room can accommodate the salon2's go for it. I also heard the f228be in the same room with the same gear I bought my salons from and again if you have the room the salon2's the way to go
 
Hello,

I have the Persona 9H since March, drive by a SET amp with 50 watts class A. The sound is very natural and not bright at all. The duration of my listening sessions are long and without any fatigue.

Nuno
 
Welcome to the forum Nuno, thank you so much for joining.

Sorry for the delay.
 
If you are considering the Adante's then give a listen to the PSB T3's ($7500pr) if you have a local dealer. They are smooth and organic sounding, neutral with just a hint of warmth. No harshness from the tweeters. They image well and have good air and transparency. The bass is tune-able as they have 3 separate woofers and bass sections with ports that you can plug. They do go down to 24hz but I find they sound better with my 2 subs and tue bottom bass ports plugged. All the reviews compare them to speakers costing $15K to $20K. I bought a pair 2 months ago and they have finally broke in after about 85 hours.

However, the Salon's are great sounding speakers, can't go wrong with them.

AJ, I wished you were close by as I would have liked to hear your speakers.
 
Just curious there in the UK if you heard the Monitor Audio Platnum or KEF Reference speakers. I personally like the KEF Ref over the Blades, the Ref being warmer. Platnums come off a very dynamic, I find them a fun listen. I like the Salon 2, which IMO fit somewhere between the prior speakers mentioned, in sound character.

A friend had Salon 2's with Levinson in a large room and spread apart, they sounded great. Another friend had a set in a mid to small room and it wasn't flattering. He finally did get them sounding decent, interestingly, by adding a sub and using a crossover to cut some of the bottom off the Salons. Unfortunately, I don't know what the frequency was.
 
friend of mine has just done some demo`ing of a few speakers and chosen the monitor audio platinum , very good value and excellent sonics
 
I sold my Salon 2's after 9-10 months of moving them around the room I decided not to invest in more amplification or subs or both, and let them go. I spent a couple hours with the 7f yesterday and they were playing at very high spl without the power meter on the anthem amp passing 40 watts! I honestly believe I would have needed 1000 clean watts to reach the same spl with the salon2. I'm going to talk to my dealer about buying the 7f new to take advantage of the sale that lasts til the end of the month. simce the thread is about both once I get the 7f in my system i'll report back. if the in home demo goes well i'll be buying them.
 
steve59 said:
I sold my Salon 2's after 9-10 months of moving them around the room I decided not to invest in more amplification or subs or both, and let them go. I spent a couple hours with the 7f yesterday and they were playing at very high spl without the power meter on the anthem amp passing 40 watts! I honestly believe I would have needed 1000 clean watts to reach the same spl with the salon2. I'm going to talk to my dealer about buying the 7f new to take advantage of the sale that lasts til the end of the month. simce the thread is about both once I get the 7f in my system i'll report back. if the in home demo goes well i'll be buying them.
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Any luck with the Paradigm Persona 7f? I demoed them briefly and found the mids and highs unobjectionable. The bass troubled me. It sounded "ported," especially relative to the super-clean mids and highs. I'll go for a second listen and, if possible, try to demo them in my house.

If I don't purchase these, it'll be the Salon 2s, probably used. Would love to hear these 2 speakers a/b'd on a wide variety of material. I find that with very good speakers, your ears will accomodate over time. So, if I'm with Salon 2s ONLY for a month, I'll grow accustomed to the sound. Ditto for other really good speakers. That's why I'd really like to a/b the Salons against other candidates, in this instance, the F7s. I'm not sure the 9Hs are a totally fair comparison, as they are more expensive.
 
Go ahead and compare the Salon 2 to the more expensive set, then you will see what a value the Salon's are. You're right though, they thrive on some current. You won't drive them with a receiver but something like a Bryston 4B cubes or Halo A21 would make them sing if on a budget.

john grant said:
Any luck with the Paradigm Persona 7f? I demoed them briefly and found the mids and highs unobjectionable. The bass troubled me. It sounded "ported," especially relative to the super-clean mids and highs. I'll go for a second listen and, if possible, try to demo them in my house.

If I don't purchase these, it'll be the Salon 2s, probably used. Would love to hear these 2 speakers a/b'd on a wide variety of material. I find that with very good speakers, your ears will accomodate over time. So, if I'm with Salon 2s ONLY for a month, I'll grow accustomed to the sound. Ditto for other really good speakers. That's why I'd really like to a/b the Salons against other candidates, in this instance, the F7s. I'm not sure the 9Hs are a totally fair comparison, as they are more expensive.
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Yes, compare, just have a bag of cotton balls ready for that Paradigm tweeter. Ear bleeding is a real possibility.


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Mike said:
Yes, compare, just have a bag of cotton balls ready for that Paradigm tweeter. Ear bleeding is a real possibility.


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Rock concerts and power tools have solved that problem for me. But my wife's ears are still pristine. She's very picky, but not just about the sound (unfortunately), but also about the "aesthetics," shall we say.
 
Salon 2s. Hard to believe that they’re still in production and being recommended by the press. Yet, they are very musical and don’t cost a fortune. Revel has not been able to do a Salon 3 after all these years. I had a pair and would buy them again.
 
My problem with the salon2 was I couldn’t afford to power them. I know guys are using emotiva, but once I hear something I can’t unhear it and my h360 with 425/4 x2 wasn’t enough juice. My dealer told me to forget about the 7f, said I would need at least the 9h since I won’t use subs. So no 7f updates from me. I can talk about the ushers and the DSP8000’s if you want.
 
I heard Salon 2s (nominally 6 ohm speakers) powered by a Mark Levinson 534 not long ago at a dealer - excellent! The 534 is rated at 250 watts doubling to 500 into 4 ohms. IMO the Salons are superb speakers regardless of age when set up correctly in the right room.
 
A pair of Parasound JC-1’s would drive Salon 2’s nicely. Add a pair of JL 112’s and you’ve got a nice system, and a tweeter that won’t make your ears bleed.


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i'm sure an amp from odyssey audio would drive the salons with no issue as well. mine is in complete control of my magicos and raidho prior to that.
full disclosure: i'm upgrading to a symphonic line kraft - if you are interested in the odyssey feel free to pm me as i plan on selling it. but this post was made as a genuine rec and not trying to snag a sale. the odyssey amps have a very well deserved reputation
 
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