Pairing Rotel and Paradigm Studio Series

[Nick T]

Hi all,

Have searched the forum for the topic above but did not find much info. Therefore I apologise in advance if this topic has already been covered.

What are people's thoughts on pairing a 1068/1075 combo with Paradigm Studio Series Version 3? Am interested in Studio 60s for front, Studio 20s for surrounds and CC-470 for centre channel duties. System will be used for 70% home theatre, 30% music. I'll be running a Yamaha YST-1500 sub with this setup.

I've read that the rotel combo is quite warm in the midrange (which i like), and i've auditioned the Studio 60s and they are incredibly detailed, although maybe a tad bright for my liking (my ears are quite sensitive so I am not a big fan of overly bright speakers). Would it be correct to assume that the rotel's 'warmness' will tend to tame some of the brightness of the Paradigm Studios?

I cannot find a dealer who stocks both rotel and paradigm, so am unable to hear the pairing together (unless of course i purchase the rotel 1068/1075 and take it around with me to a paradigm dealer - i would be willing to do this but am unsure if paradigm dealer would oblige)

Are there many people running a Paradigm Studio v.3/Rotel setup? Are you happy with this pairing? Any comments and advice on this pairing would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Nick

[Andrew Pratt]

I know several people running P'digms with Rotels and its a very nice combo. As you stated the slightly warmer Rotel sound mates nicely with the detailed sound you get from Paradigm (same reason B&W's also mate well). Your choice of speakers sounds great to me...though I prefer bipole side speakers but that's a personal preference.

[aud19]

BOO dipole! : Direct radiator's all the way! :T :lol:

It should make for a nice combo but no one can tell you for certain if you'll like it.... except you

Jason

[sbank]

I've been running the RB-1080 for my fronts (Studio 60s) for some time now. I cannot be happy enough with them. I just recently got the 470 for my center (last week for my birthday!) and only plugged them into the RB-1080 to `test' the speaker. (I disconnected the fronts). But I am 100% pleased with the pairing of the 1080 and the 60s. They seem to be a very good match for my ears.

Today in a couple hours, I get to pick up the RMB-1075 from my dealer. So in the next couple of days I'll be putting my crippled system back together. And then I'll really be able to audition the center.

[sbank]

So I did a test last night to really listen to just the amp and the speakers. I disconnected *everything*.

Paradigm Studio 60s connected by Transparent 14/4 to the Rotel RB-1080. Then some balanced XLRs from the 1080 to my Bryston SP1.7 pre/pro. I then hooked up my basic JVC cd player with some Transparent Link 200s, and put the pre/pro in stereo bypass mode. All other connections and speakers were disconnected including the sub.

My comments:

1) As some other people have mentioned, deep bass seems a bit muffled and low. But this can be expected with the size of the woofer I think. And it never bothered me because I have a pretty good sub.

2) Midrange is superb and this is what made me really purchase these speakers. The clarity is unbelievable.

3) the highrange *is* a bit bright like you mentioned. Actually I never really would have called the upper range bright, until you used that term. But I guess that does describe the sound accurately. But the real question to me is, does that brightness sound bad? Nah. Not for me. I think it is only apparent with a two channel stereo setup and you really have to be listening for that attribute. When I have the rest of the HT equipment up and running, like I said, I never would have called the upper range `bright'.

4) the overall build quality is nice. the speakers (when you knock on them) are solid.

5) The spacialness of the speakers are also superb. By spacialness I mean that with just those two speakers, it sounds like a nice wall of sound. Last night my GF actually got up and walked closer to the center thinking that I had my center channel speaker hooked up.

6) as far as the Rotel power amp? It seems to be a perfect fit. It never gets more than slightly warm to the touch. It always has plenty of power. As I was listening to a Chopin Etude with my eyes closed last night, I remembered why I got into the AV hobby. Pure beauty.

(As you can tell, I'm quite pleased with the matchup! :T )

[RisingPhoenix]

I can confirm the great sound of Rotel Pushing Paradigm Reference, i have almost the same setup as yourself, and it is incredbile, my first thoughts were, wow, so much more detail.. The rotel also tamed down the brightness if you like of the v3 Studios..

Steve

[MICHAEL STRO]

me too

I also have a 1098 with (2) 1075"s with the studio v.2 true biamped WOW :T :T