Saying that the Tributes use Studio woofers isn't accurate at all. The mid is very similar to the dedicated Studio v5 mids, but the bass woofers have the Active Ridge Technology that make them superior to all but the Signature v3 as far as the Studio and Signature era goes. I see nothing thst indicates the Tribute woofers aren't on par with Signature v3 (I haven't weighed Sig v3 woofers vs Tributes, but I would be shocked if there is much difference, especially given the overall weights and bass specs I will cover later). Also according to Paradigm's own specs, +/- 2 db bass tops out at 46 Hz for the S6 v3 and a better 44 Hz for the Tributes. That same gap also translates to listed bass extension which is 26 for the S6 and 24 for the Tributes. The S8s do even better extending down to 39 for +/- 2db, but interestingly, only match the bass extension of the Tributes at 24.
Long story short, the Tributes are much closer to Signature than Studio. Think of them as a Signature S7 with tweeters and bass woofers on par with Signature v3 while the mids are closer to Studio v5. Then it is clear the cabinets are unsurprisingly based off of 100 v5 cabinets, but they actually seem to end up besting even the Signatures with the beautiful Plinth in place of the lesser front plate and individual feet. Weight is often an indicator of cabinet and magnet quality so it is interesting that weights are as follows S8 v3 100#, Tributes 92#, 100 v5 78#, S6 70#.Â
Recently, I finally acquired a long desired pair of Tributes, so now I currently own all of the speakers in question and even though the S8 v3 should beat the Tributes based on the spec sheet (higher end mid cone material, extra bass woofer, and extra cabinet space), I found that the Tributes are my favorites by a small margin over the Signatures. I have never owned Persona towers, but I did get a nearly 1 hour demo from a customer and am not sure I would even rate them ahead of the Tributes sonically, but I would need more time with them to know for sure.
Long story short, the Tributes are much closer to Signature than Studio. Think of them as a Signature S7 with tweeters and bass woofers on par with Signature v3 while the mids are closer to Studio v5. Then it is clear the cabinets are unsurprisingly based off of 100 v5 cabinets, but they actually seem to end up besting even the Signatures with the beautiful Plinth in place of the lesser front plate and individual feet. Weight is often an indicator of cabinet and magnet quality so it is interesting that weights are as follows S8 v3 100#, Tributes 92#, 100 v5 78#, S6 70#.Â
Recently, I finally acquired a long desired pair of Tributes, so now I currently own all of the speakers in question and even though the S8 v3 should beat the Tributes based on the spec sheet (higher end mid cone material, extra bass woofer, and extra cabinet space), I found that the Tributes are my favorites by a small margin over the Signatures. I have never owned Persona towers, but I did get a nearly 1 hour demo from a customer and am not sure I would even rate them ahead of the Tributes sonically, but I would need more time with them to know for sure.