Reviews : Paradox Speaker System

Best Buys Home Theatre Magazine

Victorian-based Whatmough Monitors has gained a reputation here in Australia and overseas for building high quality floorstanding speakers and subwoofers. Due to the limitations in midrange performance encountered in a lot of compact systems, chief designer Colin Whatmough was reluctant to put yet another sat/sub package on the crowded market. However, after several years he relented due to high demand, and as a result, created the new Paradox series. With this package Whatmough hopes to address the midrange ‘hole’ often found in ultra-compact and compact speaker systems.

Equipment

The Paradox is not a micro-sized sat/sub system, using as it does, five sat elite speakers each measuring 168 x 215 x 154mm (WHD) and weighing in at a healthy 4.5kg. They look and feel, rather, like ‘mini-bookshelf’ speakers. Each features a 28mm soft dome tweeter mounted above a 100mm midrange/bass driver with two base reflex ports mounted in-between, while the rear cabinet features a recessed panel that hosts thick gold-plated screw-type binding posts that will accept heavy gauge cables. The speakers are rated with a frequency response of 80-20 000Hz ± 3dB, nominal impedance of 8 ohms, requiring amplified power between 40-100 watts.

The satellites’ cabinets are constructed from MDF, with a vinyl black oak and beech finish. Even the cloth-covered grilles are made with MDF frames, highlighting Whatmough’s attention to detail – and making a pleasant change from plastic systems.

Matching the satellites perfectly is the Paradox subwoofer, which features a forward firing 250mm long throw driver mounted in a sealed enclosure. At roughly 305 x 305 x 380mm and 20kg, it’s compact but no lightweight. Housed in the box is a 100 watt RMS amplifier that powers the driver to send signals down to 22-80Hz, although the adjustable crossover control ranges between 40-160Hz.

There’s also a volume dial, phase inversion switch and a three-way power switch that toggles between on/off and automatic power detection at the rear of the enclosure. A small but deep heat sink also protrudes from the rear below the high-level input and output screw terminals. Above these are stereo line input and outputs. Considerately, Whatmough has included a thick 5m RCA interconnect cable for typical connection to the LFE channel of an AV receiver, and also a set of spiked feet for use on carpet.

The system is designed for use with a standard 40-100 watt AB receiver with the speaker setting set on ‘small’. This typically diverts all frequencies below 80Hz from the satellites to the subwoofer, which extends down to 22Hz.

Performance

The Paradox speakers offered great definition and presence. As the satellites are identical, sound imagery was stable and seamless through all speakers in multi-channel modes. Dialogue was articulate and rich, and surround effects were extremely well reproduced. However, the sound field of each speaker isn’t very wide, so staging was only very good when we were sitting directly in the ‘listening zone’. That said, it’s worthwhile taking your time to correctly place and set-up satellites around your usual listening position, as once this is done, the sound is delightful.

Low frequencies through the subwoofer were very tight, low and deep, and could be fine-tuned to perfectly roll off the satellites. The satellites reproduced a surprisingly low and full sound, thanks to the twin bass reflex ports on each, and can clearly fill small/medium rooms. Yet due to their size, they are relatively unobtrusive, and the forward firing ports means they can be mounted in cabinets and on shelves. The sealed nature of the forward firing subwoofer also makes it corner-friendly, which increases placement options.

Conclusion

The Whatmough Paradox surround speaker system delivers delightfully rich and smooth sound that will satisfy most movie and music lovers, and if you don’t like plastic home theater systems, the pragmatic cabinet design will only add to its appeal. Reasonable high-end clarity combined with rich midrange tones fill the sub/sat system ‘hole’, and while the soundstage and imaging is slightly inaccurate and narrow, the superbly defined deep bass from the subwoofer couldn’t be much better. The Paradox system delivers an excellent performance that rivals many large floorstanding packages.