Paradigm Personas anyone heard them

Yamaha ns1000 too . Be driver and tweeter me thinks ?

The NS 1000 was one of the first speakers to use vapor deposition so the layer of Beryilium was just a coating, their are very few speakers which employ pure Beryillium drivers, with the Personas being one of them. 

Be does have a specific advantage in having the highest specific modulus of all the most commonly used materials. It also has a lower specific density and a high propagation speed. It also has terrible elongation performance, but that isn't likely ever to be an issue for almost any driver.

Its likely one of the best materials we can use for driver cones and domes, just remember it costs 200 times more to produce over aluminium due to its rarity and challenge to bring into a usable shape. Don't expect trickle down anytime soon, unless they begin pushing AlBeMet. As you can guess, its a alloy of aluminum and beryllium, but doesn't perform as well. It is easier to work with and does cost notably less, but possibly not enough to justify its cost over more common alloys.

Even then, this still may not be the ultimate material possible as some pitch based carbon could exceed this performance. Its extremely costly and only over the past few years have more of these products were used in consumer products over aerospace and NASA being primary customers. Recently some patents have been submitted that intend to allow pitch to be produced at lower costs, but for now we continue to see PAN based products. But even with this potential super material, the challenges I'm curios to see is how Paradigm's solution to integrating dispersion of typical tweeter and somewhat larger driver. Usually there are some dispersion compromises in such a configuration, but these acoustic lenses are claimed to aid and even resolve the matter. We have seen acoustic lenses in the past, but I'm not quite as sure the complexity of shape is comparable to what we find here.

In any case, lets hope to notable evolution in design as Paradigm had not been to my ears something I would describe as a great speaker. At best they were fair values with heroic build quality at the price, but in the end the package hadn't quite delivered. So I'll wait with bated breath and when life gives me a moment take a chance to hear them since they would be in my next speaker upgrade range. 

Hi Mtrot,

I heard the entire Legacy line for the first time at RMAF. I have to say they offer amazing value for the money. I tend to agree with you assessment of the Focus XD’s. These are truly killer for the money and offer a full range experience. The Aeris is definitely a step up, but with most things in audio, it is diminishing returns. I think it could come down to personal preferences. The Focus will play very loud and give you a more balance sound with ample bass, while the 3F (about the same price) will give you very clear and precise highs and mids at the expense of impactful bass. What I did not like about the focus is they are very large and heavy and the tweeters seem to beam a bit. In the sweat spot, they are wonderful, but outside of it, they roll off significantly. I have not read this in reviews of the Focus or Aeris, and it could be more of a set up issue in the huge room at RMAF. Just my opinion.

The Legacy speakers are fantastically musical and they represent fantastic value for the money. We have the Persona 3F $10,000.00 and the Legacy Focus Signature, $6,800.00  in the same sound room. 

The Persona's have a more extended treble, and a more holographic sense of imaging, the Legacy's have killer deep bass, and are a warmer overall speaker. 

So if you crave unbelievable imagery, speed,and very deep bass out of a compact speaker the Persona's are very hard to beat they have one of the most transparent presentations of any speaker at any price, they also present all this detail yet are very smooth. 

If you prefer a more laid back, speaker with a big although less defined sound stage, a super smooth midrange and treble in a beautiful wooden design then the Legacy speakers are for you. 

The big Focus are just terrific if space isn't an issue and you want even more deep bass and greater spl output then the smaller Signatures.

I will say that since we've become Legacy dealers the Focus Signature is one of my favorite speakers in the shop.