Splitting up

Paradigm Signature S4 Bookshelf Speakers

One of the topics that resonates most with me when it comes to speaker design is the all-important crossover point frequency.

Based loosely on the size of drivers available (influenced by consumers’ desires for final speaker size) and drivers' individual strengths, if it’s a two-way, the crossover point is usually around 2.5KHz.

Right around where our hearing systems are tuned for the highest precision. Right where the human voice really shines.

It’s a pity, but I guess that’s what makes the challenge worth tackling.

The challenge is real: use a wideband midbass unit so you can push the crossover point above the vocal range, and you lose bass. Use a legitimately pistonic driver at low frequencies with a big XMax, and you likely are deep into cone breakup by the time you want to cross it over, and the sound is colored by the choice of material and construction of the driver.

One solution is to go further: split the sound into three ways. Pair that with attention to cone breakup and driver materials — use a reinforced poly cone for the bass, a kevlar widebander with a nice big phase plug for the mids and have a tweeter there only for 9KHz and up. Now you have drivers operating in ranges where they sound best, and you have sound characteristics from driver materials that support each range.

NOW the tricky part becomes how to mate these dissimilar materials together with a coherent crossover. That topic could easily cover 10 of these blog posts, so we’ll put that aside.

The above solution describes to a letter the approach of Paradigm in their design of the Signature S4 that I’m listening to right now.

The silken-voiced Fatoumata Diawara comes through with her entire vocal range unscathed when listening to these large monitors. Pleasant and satisfying are words I usually conjure in front of a set of modern Paradigms.

If that sounds like an indictment, it’s not. Who wants to live with a speaker that is always aggressive, or always a challenge to your inferior recordings? I’m not sure that I do.

If there’s one lasting characteristic of these wonderful cherry wood speakers from the Great White North, it’s that they put a smile on your face. That is a wonderful and frankly rare experience in this competitive field.