"It's the only loudspeaker under 6 figures with a beryllium midrange diaphragm," Paradigm's Erin Phillips told me about the Paradigm Concept 4F (price not set, but expected to be under $40,000/pair), a speaker that has been forthcoming since last May's Munich High End, and probably won't arrive until late summer/fall 2016.
The Canadian-crafted, full-range loudspeaker combines four powered 8.5" woofers—two front-firing and two rear-firing in "vibration-cancelling configuration"—with passive TruExtent® 1" beryllium-dome tweeters and 7" midrange drivers. Both of those come with perforated phase-aligning lenses. Each woofer has its own 700W, DSP-controlled amplifier—that's 1400W total, or 2800W dynamic peak—as well as Anthem Room Correction (ARC) capability. The cabinet is constrained-layer damped.
As in many demos for the public, Paradigm offered a controlled experience where we were told what to listen for and how it would sound. Given that this was a trade show, I thought that strange indeed. When the person in charge, who by the end of the show seemed on autopilot, offered up a 16/44.1 file of a Russian choir singing a capella as a curious example of full-range sound, I wondered where all the air I had expected to hear around massed voices had gone. It is fair to note, however, that John Atkinson was more impressed with the new speakers' presentation, feeling that there was midrange purity and clarity to vocals and that the bass on the Batman soundtrack was awesome.
