Technology, by definition, is the practical application of knowledge. When it comes to sound reproduction, no one knows more than Paradigm. When it comes to the practical application of that knowledge we’re committed to doing it better! Better measurements, better materials, better components always result in better sound … and better speakers.

While many speaker companies do not have the resources to design and manufacture their own drive units, Paradigm purpose-designs robust drivers for specific speakers.

 


 

To ensure superb consistency, our crossovers boast hand-selected precision parts.

Our high-power, high-current amplifiers with oversized power supplies and massive heatsinks deliver tremendous (and instantaneous) power output at all times.

Use your knuckles! Rap on our enclosures! As one reviewer asserted, they’re as dead as we claim in our literature! Acoustically inert high-density hardboard reinforced by strategically located radial braces limit unwanted resonances and increase enclosure stiffness. At other times, no bracing is even required on our speakers, even on our most powerful subwoofers as they pound out the deepest, loudest bass imaginable … it’s all in the design!

Custom speakers, often referred to as architectural speakers — designs hidden out of sight in a wall or ceiling (for those who don’t have the space or want a minimalist approach to music and home theater) — are growing in popularity. Again, Paradigm is leading the way in this area. When it comes to in-wall/in-ceiling speakers, there is no substitute for good design build on years of experience producing the very best sounding freestanding designs. More than 25 years of intensive research and design backed by cutting-edge technology, much of it proprietary, lie behind every custom speaker we produce. The result? Sound reproduction that rivals that of the very best freestanding designs.

Precision. Consistency. Long-term reliability. These are inherent characteristics of even the smallest Paradigm component part. Technology and design that represent true innovation in the pursuit of perfection in audio reproduction. Out of this come sonic accuracy and purity, a clean, detailed and transparent reproduction of the original performance, nothing more, nothing less.

It starts with knowledge, it ends with knowing, knowing that you’ve created a better product … an audibly better product. You hear it in every Paradigm speaker produced!

 

The Low-Down on Dispersion

The fundamentals of natural sound travel uniformly in all directions — a piano, for example, distributes sound throughout a room. Our hearing favors speakers that reproduce sound in the same way. Wide-dispersion speakers sound more real because they too fill the room. Limited-dispersion speakers seem less realistic because they beam, or project sound into only one area.

Wide dispersion throughout a speaker’s bandwidth is difficult to achieve. Most high-frequency and bass/midrange drive units have good dispersion at the lower limits of their frequency range, but they naturally start to beam as they reach their upper-frequency limits. With high-performance high-frequency drivers beaming occurs beyond audibility. Beaming from midrange drivers, however, occurs within the audible range. Speakers with beaming problems will not sound the same in all areas of a room. They may sound balanced in one area, but nasal, dull, or even harsh and shrill in other areas.

Midrange beaming can be reduced by lowering the crossover frequency. The high-frequency driver’s lower range will then provide wider dispersion and the bass/midrange driver’s output can be rolled off before its dispersion narrows.

This is an effective approach but requires the use of a high-frequency drivers that can handle the vast amounts of power it takes
to reproduce these frequencies. This driver must be very robust and as a consequence, will be expensive to produce. Many speaker companies are unwilling to incur the cost of building high-power high-frequency drivers, thus not all speakers have uniformly
wide dispersion.

A crossover is a network of electrical devices that divides the audio signal into separate frequency bands and directs them to the individual speaker drivers. The frequency at which it does this is called the crossover frequency, or crossover point.

In order to protect a delicate high-frequency driver from damage, many speaker
companies will set their crossovers quite high. Unfortunately, this encourages
midrange beaming. (Figure 1)

Speakers with more robust high-frequency drivers and lower crossover points do not suffer from beaming problems — they disperse sound uniformly and widely. (Figure 2)

 

 

 

 

 

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