Paradigm Atom v3 vs v6

[BrianZ]

Building a budget bedroom system and need speakers as small as possible that still sound great. My main system is 2.1 with Studio 20 V3's, so I am already a huge Paradigm fan. I have a line on a cheap set of Atom v3's locally, but if the Atom v6 is significantly better then I'll just hold out for a good used set of these to pop up (budget for speakers needs to be in the ~$200 range).

This is also a good opportunity for me to try another brand so if there is anything else I should consider in the $200 used range that are also very small (like 12" tall or less) I'd love to hear about it.

 

[Flint]

I would look at Klipsch small speakers before buying anything. Just go to the store and listen.

 

[BrianZ]

I would look at Klipsch small speakers before buying anything. Just go to the store and listen.

You don't say. Ok. I don't have a very broad range of speaker experience, but I've never heard any Klipsch. Any of the chain stores carry good ones or do ya think I need to go to a decent audio showroom?

 

[BrianZ]

ok so forget it. since i won't have time for any listening outings anytime soon i just pulled the trigger on a new set of PSB Alpha B1's on ebay ($249, free shipping). with all the internet & magazine raves, plus being on Stereophile's Recommended Components list for years, i just have to try them. a little bigger than i wanted for the top of my dresser in my bedroom and they'll only be about 6" away from the wall, but oh well.

bad move?

 

[PaulyT]

Buying cool new audio gear is never a bad move. Let us know how they sound.

 

[heeman]

Have fun with your new purchase...............let us know if they meet your expectations?

 

[Flint]

I think those are very admirable speakers. I am sure you will enjoy them.

 

[BrianZ]

Buying cool new audio gear is never a bad move. Let us know how they sound.

lol, yeah. i was more wondering whether it was a bad idea to choose these over the Atoms.

anyway, thanks all for the advice and good wishes. will report back when they get here.



also, i'm only powering them with a 20wpc mini receiver (Yamaha CRX322). i hope that's enough juice to let them sing, though i will never really be pushing the levels in my bedroom. but, is solid state hi-fi amplification anything like my tube driven guitar amps when it comes to power? by that i mean, with tube guitar amps power is not just about volume. an overall bigger sound with more chest punch comes from higher watts, even at lower levels, due to bigger transformers and all that.

 

[BrianZ]

I received the Alpha B1's and wow, these sound very very nice. Relatively full frequency with plenty of low end for me, natural, not boxy - just, dare I say, perfect for what I need. I'm amazed that you can get this kind of sound for less than $300. They even look and feel nice.

These are new, so they do have just a bit of that new speaker tightness and chill to the sound but I'm sure as they break in they'll relax and warm up some. Most importantly, I got that immensley satisfying sense of "Oh yeah, that's it" in the first second I fired them up. Obviously I can't say how they compare to the Atoms, but I highly recommend these to anyone who, like me, loves the Paradigm sound and needs something on the smaller side.

 

[Dennie]

I received the Alpha B1's and wow, these sound very very nice. Relatively full frequency with plenty of low end for me, natural, not boxy - just, dare I say, perfect for what I need. I'm amazed that you can get this kind of sound for less than $300. They even look and feel nice.

These are new, so they do have just a bit of that new speaker tightness and chill to the sound but I'm sure as they break in they'll relax and warm up some. Most importantly, I got that immensley satisfying sense of "Oh yeah, that's it" in the first second I fired them up. Obviously I can't say how they compare to the Atoms, but I highly recommend these to anyone who, like me, loves the Paradigm sound and needs something on the smaller side.

Congratulations Brian! :eusa-clap:

As you mentioned, those Alpha B1's get great reviews. I'm glad you like them and give them a week or two and they should loosen up a little. :handgestures-thumbup:

A big (well, under $300) YOU SUCK! :music-rockout:



Dennie bscene-drinkingcheers:

 

[Botch]

:text-bravo: :text-bravo: :text-bravo:

Congrats, and post of pic of your new system if you can!

 

[BrianZ]

Thanks, gents. And happy to oblige on the photo request.

 

[Randy]

That setup would look awesome on my desk.

Very Nice.

 

[Deleted member 133]

I received the Alpha B1's and wow, these sound very very nice. Relatively full frequency with plenty of low end for me, natural, not boxy - just, dare I say, perfect for what I need. I'm amazed that you can get this kind of sound for less than $300. They even look and feel nice.

These are new, so they do have just a bit of that new speaker tightness and chill to the sound but I'm sure as they break in they'll relax and warm up some. Most importantly, I got that immensley satisfying sense of "Oh yeah, that's it" in the first second I fired them up. Obviously I can't say how they compare to the Atoms, but I highly recommend these to anyone who, like me, loves the Paradigm sound and needs something on the smaller side.

They should have that typical "Canadian" sound to them: smooth, pleasant and neutral sounding over most of their range.

As for break in: I'm sure that as your ears grow accustomed to them your perception of how they sound will change with time ie. you'll almost certainly like them more as time goes by. *

Congrats on the purchase.

Jeff

* That's just my opinion. Here's the opinion of a pretty darn good speaker designer, Paul Barton. Taken from a March 2000 article in Soundstage!

Finally, and perhaps most controversially, Barton talks about the supposed break-in effect of components that has become so popular in audio today. Break-in refers to running components for a long time (sometimes hundreds of hours) to the point where their components "settle" into their proper operating mode. Barton doesn’t doubt that some components do change subtly, but he thinks that the major improvements people think they’re hearing aren’t in the components at all. Barton doesn’t doubt that people are hearing these changes, but thinks that what they’re hearing is actually brain break-in.

Barton has examined his own speakers to test this. He has taken a Stratus Gold loudspeaker, built and measured some ten years ago, and re-measured it today. The deviation is slight, perhaps 1/4dB at most. Although that deviation can possibly be heard, it is certainly not a huge difference that one may attest to hearing. Instead, Barton surmises that the difference in sound that people are hearing over time is conditioning of the brain. He cites experiments done with sight that indicate the brain can accommodate for enormous changes fairly quickly and certainly within the hundreds of hours that audiophiles claim changes occur in. Could this apply to hearing, too? Barton thinks that more often than not, what happens is that the changes in perceived sound that are attributed to component break-in are simply the brain becoming accustomed to the sound. He warns listeners not to fool themselves.

 

[heeman]

Nice little setup..............

I am liking the furniture as well.

Enjoy and report back how you are enjoying them...

:music-rockout: :music-rockout:

 

[Botch]

Thanks Brian! Love that little yamaha receiver, which I'd been unfamiliar with.

 

[BrianZ]

Jeff, that is an interesting essay indeed, being straight from the horse's mouth and all. Funny how we can fool ourselves once we get to this level of nuance. I don't know whether this misconception also applies to the music world, because all my electric guitar gearhead brethren accept speaker break in as an indisputable fact for guitar speakers.

As for my Yamaha mini receiver, it is indeed a cool little unit in its size and functionality but it is also kind of a noisy little bugger. They don't publish the S/N ratio so I can't put numbers to it, but there's no getting around the fact that there's a noticeable noise floor no matter what input is being used. Moreso than any of my other audio devices (HK receiver, Audioengine A2's, Zune player).

 

[BrianZ]

ok, so an update on the break in issue: six months of regular use (often damn loud) and it just didn't happen. i use the same EQ settings as i did out of the box and i still call them a bit bright. not bright enough to make me want to dump them or anything, they're still in that acceptable range for my purposes. in fact some recordings really benefit from it. and most importantly i often use them to fill the whole top floor (which is all carpet) and am listening from other rooms. so a little extra high end to bounce around all those turns doesn't hurt. but if it were a more critical listening environment i'd most likely go with something else.

i admit that i still am curious about the Atoms, but the Alphas are handily doing the job, especially that low end - it still shocks me how well these little boxes can rumble.

 

[DIYer]

i still call them a bit bright.

Try the "toe-in" and see if that changes. The frequency response suggests that these are neutral sounding speakers. http://www.soundstagenetwork.com/measur ... _alpha_b1/

 

[BrianZ]

yeah, ok. worth giving them a twist to see what that does. but the only "listening position" in this room is on the bed, which is 90 degrees and about a foot lower from their firing line. to be right in front of them i'd be standing in the middle of the room. so it would be a purely academic exercise, not that i'm opposed by any means - gonna do it. also worth mentioning that they point directly at set of rather large windows. so not ideal room treatment to say the least, lol.

then again, i should also add that once i took them downstairs to my main hi-fi space to face them off against my Studio 20's (v3). here too the PSB's were definitely on the brighter side to my ear, toed-in and all. certainly brighter than than the 20's, at least. but overall they very impressively held their own more than i would have guessed. this little test made me very curious about PSB's larger models, no doubt.