[Mysteek]

I recently bought a pair of used Paradigm Studio 20's ver.2, an ''upgrade'' from my Paradigm Atoms.
 
I A/B'd them only to find that I actually like the sound of the Atoms more.  They fill the room better for a smaller size, the bass is consistent, where as for the Studio 20's there is no bass if I'm too close and there's way too much bass when I sit too far back.  There is no 'perfect' spot for this as well.  
 
To give more details, I am in a small room, I was testing them as if they were nearfield monitors.  No speaker stands, the Studio 20s are on my desk and so were the Atoms when I tested.
 
Something has got to be wrong.  I just don't know what it is.
 
Is it possible for ''worse'' speakers to sound better if I have a weak source?  I know for headphones, lower impedance phones can sound better than high impedance ones without an amp, so I was thinking something along these lines.
 
Is speaker positioning more important for better speakers?  The Paradigm Studio 20's should have been a pretty big step up, but I'm finding them to sound worse than my Atoms.
 
My setup:
 
Macbook Pro -> Maverick Audio D1 DAC -> Harman Kardon AVR 520 100 watt receiver -> Studio 20's

 

[dura]

The deeper the bass of a speaker, the more important resonance control becomes, coupling or decoupling to the surface they are placed on. Experiment with spikes, cones, damper, vibrapods...hard to say what is best, depends on lots of things.
The inconsistency of the bass however seems to point to nodes, places were bass is doubled, or cancelled out by interference.
If that is correct the key indeed is in the placement.

 

[bmichael]

I just think you should start over. Give up and try again, you know?

 

[JerryLove]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mysteek /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
the bass is consistent, where as for the Studio 20's there is no bass if I'm too close and there's way too much bass when I sit too far back.  There is no 'perfect' spot for this as well. 

 
Comb filtering, standing waves, boundry problems, take your pick.
 
First step: move the 20s. Try adding a foot or two more between them; or move them away from nearby surfaces. See if the problem disappears.
 
Honestly: I didn't love the Sig S2 as a near-field monitor in my setup (though I do love it in other uses).
 
In order I would:
1) Determine if placement is the problem by going to an entirely different speaker setup (say 10ft apart in a large room).
2) If you can make a sound you are happy with doing that: start rearranging your listening space to find a configuration that works.

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

No way. I've heard both quite a bit and the Atoms are not even in the same league. Atoms are way over rated IMO, you can do so much better for that price. Heck the EFE modded BIC speakers sound much better than the Atoms IMO.

The Studio 20's are very good speakers on the other hand. They need space, distance from rear wall, and speaker stands. use these and a good amp and you will see (or rather hear) why they are truly much better speakers.

 

[moonboy403]

Quote:

They fill the room better for a smaller size, the bass is consistent, where as for the Studio 20's there is no bass if I'm too close and there's way too much bass when I sit too far back.  There is no 'perfect' spot for this as well.  
 

Welcome to the "small room and no room treatment club"! If you have a mic or an spl meter, you can use REW to test your speakers' response within your room to see how messed up (huge nulls and peaks up to perhaps 30 DBs) they are in the bass range. Then you can reposition your speakers and test for their response again (even inches can affect the response drastically). 
 
You can begin by positioning the speakers so that they shoot down the long walls and start your listening position by sitting about 38% from the front wall and adjust from there. Remember to measure the response each time you adjust something.
 
On a side note, it's not always bad to position your speakers close to a wall or corner. Ideally, we don't want that because it usually increases the bass output and hence mess up the balance of the speakers. However, that's only if your room is an anechoic chamber or if you can position your speakers at any spot in your room (usually not possible). In reality, we might be dealing with nulls while our positioning of the speakers is limited by space (such as any typical small bedroom), then placing  speakers close say the front wall might get rid of or helps with the nulls (SBIR). You can think of this as a natural EQ of some sort.

 

[Mysteek]

I appreciate all your replies.
 
I guess my room just wasn't fit for these speakers.  =(  Ive tried moving the Studio 20s onto speaker stands and still wasn't impressed.  I'll do more room adjusting and report back later this week.