So I sold all of my reference speakers and I'm waiting for my Nola KOs to arrive which is probably still a month out. The only speakers I had left to listen to is a pair of Paradigm Mini Monitors V.3 that I bought years ago for an earlier HT setup. I had them in my office at work, but I was never able to listen to them. My original plan at work was to use my Kenwood KT-815 tuner into a Yamaha integrated amp and then into the Paradigm speakers. Much to my surprise, I was in some type of RF void because I could not pick up a single damn station. Normally even after a nuclear Holocaust and the only thing that survived was the cockroaches and Keith Richards, there is always some damn C&W station that will burn through. So yesterday I packed up my speakers that I couldn't use and loaded them into the back seat of my vehicle to bring them home. On the way home, my wife says to me, "You can't even listen to your stereo anymore because you don't have any speakers." I said, "Why yes I do, they are in the back seat." She turned around and saw the Paradigms and started laughing.
So last night I got out the shakey Paradigm stands that came with the speakers when I bought them and set up the Mini Monitors about where I had the LS50 speakers and lashed them up to my KSA-250. I turned on the trusty music server and let everything cook for a couple of hours and went back downstairs to listen. To say I was a bit surprised by what I heard would be an understatement. Mind you I still have both of my Def Tech Reference subs hooked up as well. However, I never had the midbass punch in my room that I was getting last night. For some reason, it seems harder to accurately reproduce the midbass than it does the deep bass. My big Def Techs didn't nail it like the Paradigms do. The LS50s didn't come close. When you marry up a truly extended bottom end with an equally good midbass, you have a bit of sonic heaven because your foundation is nailed to the floor so to speak. But the Mini Monitors aren't a one-trick pony. They have a great midrange and a sweet extended treble as well. Nice big soundstage with great center-fill too. Did I mention the vocals? Both male and female voices were 3D get up and walk around them and want to touch them real.
Some people will tell you that the older Krell gear is dark sounding and I'm here to tell you that my KSA-250 is anything but dark sounding. I have found this amp to be a chameleon and it takes on the characteristics of whatever is feeding it upstream and the speakers it feeds downstream. If you think the KSA-250 is dark sounding, that tells me that either you are used to listening to really bright SS electronics that are tipped up on top and/or you have speakers with dead tweeters.
I guess my point to all of this is the Paradigm's are far better speakers than I ever thought they were. Of course, I had only heard them hooked up to HT receivers and never to the level of gear they are now hooked up to. And my audio life will be quite bearable until my new gear arrives. I hope I don't regret selling the KSA-250.
So last night I got out the shakey Paradigm stands that came with the speakers when I bought them and set up the Mini Monitors about where I had the LS50 speakers and lashed them up to my KSA-250. I turned on the trusty music server and let everything cook for a couple of hours and went back downstairs to listen. To say I was a bit surprised by what I heard would be an understatement. Mind you I still have both of my Def Tech Reference subs hooked up as well. However, I never had the midbass punch in my room that I was getting last night. For some reason, it seems harder to accurately reproduce the midbass than it does the deep bass. My big Def Techs didn't nail it like the Paradigms do. The LS50s didn't come close. When you marry up a truly extended bottom end with an equally good midbass, you have a bit of sonic heaven because your foundation is nailed to the floor so to speak. But the Mini Monitors aren't a one-trick pony. They have a great midrange and a sweet extended treble as well. Nice big soundstage with great center-fill too. Did I mention the vocals? Both male and female voices were 3D get up and walk around them and want to touch them real.
Some people will tell you that the older Krell gear is dark sounding and I'm here to tell you that my KSA-250 is anything but dark sounding. I have found this amp to be a chameleon and it takes on the characteristics of whatever is feeding it upstream and the speakers it feeds downstream. If you think the KSA-250 is dark sounding, that tells me that either you are used to listening to really bright SS electronics that are tipped up on top and/or you have speakers with dead tweeters.
I guess my point to all of this is the Paradigm's are far better speakers than I ever thought they were. Of course, I had only heard them hooked up to HT receivers and never to the level of gear they are now hooked up to. And my audio life will be quite bearable until my new gear arrives. I hope I don't regret selling the KSA-250.
