Paradigm Persona series


I'm beginning to poke around and gather opinions and information about a "super speaker" to replace my aging Thiel 2.4s.  I like the idea of bass dsp room correction and I am a bit of a point source type imaging nut (thus the Thiels).  So among other choices I've been looking at the Paradigm Persona series specifically the powered 9H with room correction for the bass.  However I'm skeptical of the "lenses" i.e. pierced metal covers on the midrange and tweeter specifically because of Paradigm's claim that such screens "screen out" "out of phase" musical information.  The technology in the design seems superlative but I just can't get past the claim re out of phase information and the midrange and tweeter covers.  What could possibly be the science behind this claim?  It just seems like its putting a halloween moustache on the mona lisa given the fact that the company is generally a technology driven company.
pwhinson
I’ve been reading this thread for a while, and as an audiophile consumer... here’s my 2-cents.

I’ve never met or spoken with audiotroy or visited his shop, but what I have done is auditioned several high-end speakers in the $10-$25K range recently when I was bitten by the bug to upgrade. Frustratingly the Magico A3 was no where on display in the Washington DC area last year when I was doing my auditioning, but I listened extensively to Dynaudio’s new flagship Contour, Focal Sopra 3s, Rockport Atrias, Persona 5Fs and a few others. I auditioned these speakers several times in the various shops where they were on display... both with the dealer’s preferred gear and then finally with my own gear. I literally hauled my Hegel 30 amp, Hegel 30 DAC, Ansuz power conditioning, Aurender music server, all cabling and still-points to each place so I could hear the speakers with my own gear.

When this quest began... the speaker that sounded the best (in a room that closely approximated the size and shape of my own) was the Persona 5Fs driven by the dealer’s preferred Meridian amp and dac/pre front-end (and I think MIT cabling). It sounded lovely... silky, airy, open, expansive and lush. Bass was deep and powerful and palpable... midrange was liquid and utterly detailed with no brightness, harshness, or glare. Those were the speakers I was ready to buy. Then I swapped out the gear with my own... which was by no stretch sub-par. However, the sweetness and glow of the music vanished, and it just sounded "good" but no longer seductive (though still not . Interestingly, moving my same gear to the Rockports was almost a revelation... and was some of the best bass I have ever heard. In the end the speakers my own gear paired best with seemed to be the Focal Sopra 3s.

In any case, the point of this story is that in the same room, the same set of Persona 5Fs sounded phenomenal fronted by one system, but then swapping in another (of comparable cost and audiophile design) only sounded "good" but not compelling.

We all know that gear matters... and can matter a lot. Most of us have been around long enough and have changed enough components in our system over time to know that some $$$ gear can make or break a system... and what sounds fabulous in one system can degrade the sound of another. It’s all about the synergy.

So why are we arguing?

-Dave
I have seen a lot worse than what I had removed today left in threads on this site. Someone must have some pretty thin skin. 
Just so you don't miss my point Audiotroy. You are, IMHO, self serving and unethical. That is why I would never set foot in your store. It doesn't matter how great you are, or how great you think you are. That pretty much sums up the other posts that I had deleted. Hopefully, you don't get posts removed here for stating an opinion.