We went to University Audio.
we auditioned the Paradigm Persona 5A which have a suggested retail of $17,000; they were backed by a McIntosh preamp and a Bryston 4B cubed amplifier, Rega Saturn-R CD player and Audioquest Oak speaker cable; in short a great deal of firepower dollar wise. At first I found the speakers lacking in the jump factor that the Triangle loudspeakers that we auditioned in NYC had but then realized they are a great deal morelinear. The dealer then swapped out the McIntosh preamp and added a Bryston preamp which I thought would make things worse and remarkably the entiresoundstage became a great deal more expansive.
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The Paradigm’s are really well made with molded surrounds because as you know rubber surrounds wither over time. I had very high expectations for these speakers. Nevertheless the sound was not engaging; it simply was not the presentation we were lookingfor; we felt that the ML 13A even backed by an Arcam A49 integrated and ArcamUniversal 411 player with mid range AQ cables sounded better.
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We opted to go with and ordered the Marantz Reference pieces; especially refined.='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"futura>
After the audition I contacted University Audio to let them know that we were going in a different direction and asked if he would set up the Project and I would pay his hourly rate. He said no; only for tables he sells such as Rega.