Paradigm 3Se Mini Speakers

This is my fifth pair of Paradigm 3SE Mini speakers that I have owned and I am always amazed at how their big sound belies their little size.

This pair came with Peerless SC-165 woofers which I took out and put in Vifa woofers from a donor pair of Mission 70 speakers and they work perfectly.

I also recapped the crossover with a poly film cap to open up the top end.

These speakers are one of my favorite 2 way speakers with 61/2 inch woofers and they happen to be my favorite out this era's Paradigm line up. These speakers sound way bigger than they are and are a joy to listen too.

Just arrived, Paradigm 3se Mini's with Peerless SC-165 woofers

I brought home a pair of Paradigm 3SE Mini's today, the fifth pair I have owned. The cabinets are a little beat but they work just fine. When I took them apart I was surprised to find Peerless SC-165 woofers were installed.

These woofers are sought after for Sonab replacements and I will probably sell them off.

The specs can be found here.

 The woofer has a large voice coil, heavy magnet, and low loss rubber surround. It has high power handling and is specially optimized for use in small bass reflex constructions. * Power handling: 150 watts RMS/210 watts max * Voice coil diameter: 1-1/4" * Voice coil inductance: 1.2 mH * Nominal Impedance: 8 ohms * DC resistance: 6.3 ohms * Frequency response: 37-4,000 Hz * Fs: 36.2 Hz * SPL: 88 dB 2.83V/1m * Vas: 1.14 cu. ft. * Qms: 1.55 * Qes: .35 * Qts: .28 * Xmax: 4mm * Net weight: 3.0 lbs. * Dimensions: Overall Diameter: 6-1/2", Cutout Diameter: 5-5/8", Mounting Depth: 3-1/4", Magnet Diameter: 4".

The cabinets are now being re glued and held together with wood clamps.

The person who installed the Peerless SC-165 threw an inductor in the crossover also.

New Home's for the ADS, PSB and the Paradigm's

ADS L420, PSB 50R and Paradigm Control Monitors all found a new home in the past 2 weeks.

These where all great speakers and I hope the new owners get years of enjoyment out of them. Now I got space for a new set....I wonder which will come my way.

Speakers that I currently have listed for sale are the DB Plus 440 Monitors for a low low price of $50.00 and soon to be the Advent 5012's.

The Audio Spec Perseus are listed on Canuck Audio Mart, I am asking the top end for these but they really are a beautiful speaker and if I do not get the price I want I will keep them.

The EPI 120C's are really shining with the Solen cap and the internal upgrades. The 10' woofer just adds the extra bottom end punch that the EPI 100's can not do, I am very happy with the way these turned out.

EPI 120C upgrades

I upgraded the EPI 120C speakers today with Solen 10uf capacitors, 14 gauge speaker wire and new speaker terminals to accept banana plugs. I bypassed the tweeter level control.

EPI's shine with the simple upgrades that I just did.Wow! These are the best EPI's I have had yet. I am really enjoying them.

Advent 5012 update

I finally restored the crossover to the original specifications as it was drawing a ton of current from my amp and tripping the overload circuit. I tried changing out the 7uf and 33uf series caps and used a single Solen 5.6uf cap.

The original write up can be found here.

Now that the crossover is back to original specifications these speakers are really nice.

Some feel that these are the best of the large Advents, I have not heard the other versions but I do like these speakers a lot.

The last step is to reassemble the grills as I took the cloth off to clean the fabric.

EPI 120C Speakers arrived

Another pair of EPI speakers have come my way, this time the EPI 120C. This is the big brother of the EPI 100 with a 10" woofer and bigger cabinets.

So far they sound like the classic EPI 100 sound but with fuller deeper bass.

This set of speakers, although in pretty good condition need some regular EPI upgrades.

It is well documented that the internals are the weak spot in otherwise great drivers that work perfectly together. Humanspeakers does a great write up on changing out the spring clips, internal wiring, the capacitor and bypassing the tweeter level control.

This pair had the woofer re foamed which is not up to the standards of this Speakerholic.  Who ever did the job cut a larger surround and spliced it to make a 10" leaving a awful overlap and air leakage, this will have to be redone.

 

One nice thing is this pair of speakers already has the brace from the front baffle to the rear baffle, something that the Advent 5012 did not have but I added to.

Other EPI speakers that I have written about that have come my way are the pink home made ones, this pair of Genesis 22, this pair of EPI 100 Plus T/E of which I yanked the drivers out and put in CTS ALNICO 8" woofers with CTS Phenolic Ring tweeters, which is an Acoustic Research AR4X clone. This little pair of EPI 70C which got a Dayton 6.5" woofer replacement, this original pair of EPI M100's and last but not least the Advent 2002's that got the EPI inverted dome swap.

Paradigm 9SE

A friend of the blog stumbled upon these Paradigm 9Se speakers by the side of the road and was stoked to drop them by and ask for my opinion and wanted to know if there was much to do to improve upon these speakers.

The vinyl veneer had seen better days but the job would be laborious considering their size.

The 9Se is the second from the top of the line with the range staring with the 3SE Mini, 3SE, 5SE, 7SE, 9SE and the 11SE. I have had 4 pairs of the 3SE, which I like very much 2 pairs of 3SE a pair of 5SE. I always found the 3SE and the 5SE a tad bit boomy in the bass.

These 9Se have a double 8 inch woofer that makes the very efficient running at 4 ohms. The bass is done right and is tight unlike the 3SE and the 5SE.

The 9SE are very airy with a wide sound stage, the mid range is upfront and full.

These are a fabulous speaker from Paradigm and worthy of seeking out if the price is right. You will need a good amp to drive them properly.