What power is required to drive Paradigm 100's


I'm thinking of upgrading my Paradigm Studio 60's
to the 100's. I currently have a Denon 3803 receiver.
Is this receiver powerful enough to drive the 100's?
If not would upgrading the receiver to the 3805 be enough?
cstreez8dab

Showing 1 response by texasdave

I have a pair of Paradigm Studio 100's and also a Denon 3803 A/V receiver. I find the Denon 3803 fine for home theater but sonically just not good enough for serious listening to music. And let me add that I'm a Denon fan: I've got two Denon DCD-1650AR CD players (great!) and two Denon PMA-2000IVR integrated stereo amps (great!). There is no comparison between the Denon 3803 and the PMA-2000IVR as an amp for music, not home theater--the PMA-2000IVR is far superior. I bought the Studio 100's brand new last year from a local dealer who was closing out all his Paradigm stock (I also bought a Paradigm Servo-15 subwoofer (great!)) and ran them for three months in my music system. They are not a difficult amplifier load and are reasonably efficient (91dB) so in terms of power you have enough in your 3803. But ultimately I retired my Studio 100's because I just couldn't take the hard, metallic quality of their metal-dome tweeters any longer. Lots of listener fatigue from these tweeters. However, if you already have Studio 60's and don't have a problem with the highs, evidently these tweeters don't bother you. The midrange and bass of the Studio 100's seemed fine to me, if not the last word in openness or transparency; it was the highs I couldn't live with. But I've felt that way about just about every metal-dome tweeter I've heard. Anyway, I've got a one-year-old, mint-condition pair of Studio 100's, with three months use on them, that I'll make you a hell of a deal on; they're just sitting here and I'm not getting any good out of them. Good luck.