[cujobob]

I spent some time looking over all of the pictures on Facebook and became curious as to the sound quality from the Paradox speakers. Has anyone compared the Paradox - 1s with N1X?

[Danny Richie]

I spent some time looking over all of the pictures on Facebook and became curious as to the sound quality from the Paradox speakers. Has anyone compared the Paradox - 1s with N1X?

Those old Paradox series speakers sounded real good. The Focal tweeter is what really separated that series from the rest. It was a love/hate relationship that I had with that Focal tweeter. With a film and foil cap on it, tube electronics, and a well treated room, it was awesome. With the wrong type of cap in line with it, a bright room, or harsh solid state gear, and especially combinations of those conditions, then it was often a little too hard to handle.

The A/V Series that followed them, using our GR-T1 soft dome tweeter, was a softer more forgiving sound that worked well with lower quality receivers. But the soft dome tweeter did give up a little sharpness to the Focal tweeter.

Later N Series kits using the Neo tweeters brought back a level of detail and then some without ever being harsh, bright, or aggressive. The Neo tweeters are highly resolving yet still quite smooth.

[cujobob]

Thanks for the reply Danny, I might look into picking up a pair of Dilluceos or Paradox speakers if they become available. The Eton woofs looked really nice and I read somewhere that you admitted they were a step up from your own design (not surprising as I believe they cost a lot more). Did the difference between those woofers and the XBL^2 design become less pronounced?

[Danny Richie]

Thanks for the reply Danny, I might look into picking up a pair of Dilluceos or Paradox speakers if they become available. The Eton woofs looked really nice and I read somewhere that you admitted they were a step up from your own design (not surprising as I believe they cost a lot more). Did the difference between those woofers and the XBL^2 design become less pronounced?

I'd say that the difference in the performance between my M-130 and the Eton was actually pretty marginal. The good thing about the Eton woofers were that they worked well in a really small box. The bad thing was that the dust caps get pushed in very easily. As close as the woofers really were in performance I really couldn't justify purchasing another run of 250 Eton woofers.

The M-130 works better in a larger transmission line and in open baffle applications. And in these application they really excel. So for those applications advantage M-130.

The XBL^ motor allows the driver to be more linear and allows it to handle lower ranges more easily, but the sound of the drivers is very close. The only drawback to the XBL^ motor design is that it gives up sensitivity.

[emac]

Thanks for the reply Danny, I might look into picking up a pair of Dilluceos or Paradox speakers if they become available.

I've got a pair of Diluceo's as well as a pair of Paradox 1's, and both are quality speakers.  The Paradox line is very easy on the ears and are fun to listen to.  The 1's and 3's that I've seen used wouldn't break the bank either, though I haven't seen many of them come up for sale (which is probably a testament to the design).

Meanwhile, I believe I've only seen the Diluceo's for sale used once, and I picked them up to see what they were like.  Very, very nice speakers, though I admit that I haven't quite figured out how to make the best use out of them (e.g. room and electronics).  Will have to get to that at some point.

[cujobob]

I searched and a few pairs have come up for sale of each, but not many, for sure. I miss my N2X as they're the only speakers which worked perfectly in my living room. Sort of waiting on a new speaker with Danny's new woofer... any time now Danny

[jn316]

I miss my N2X as they're the only speakers which worked perfectly in my living room.

I can remedy that!    I am needing to free up some funds for other audio gear. I'll sell them back to you for what I paid...which was a great deal BTW.

Gary