I've noticed several have been popping up on Ebay lately, often looking for huge bucks. Their industrial design has always intrigued me and I assume they used JBL's (then) state of the art drivers but I've never been fortunate enough to actually hear one. Just wondering how these sound compared to, say, L300s or L250ti's, L7s, etc.
BUT I will never forget the experience!I would love to hear one again, driven by a high quality SS amp.
The year was 1965 I walked in the big demo room at the old Allied Radio in Chicago, and they had a gotten a Paragon since the last time I was there. I spent over an hour listing to this amazing speaker. The sound stage created by this speaker is amazing, it is hard to describe. This was the first all horn speaker I listened to, maybe this I why I love horn speakers.There are speakers that will give more bass than a Paragon now days, but at the time vinyl LP's were the only thing to listen to and rarely did you get bass below 40hz on a LP.
Maybe others who have listened to one recently will chime in. John
This topic has been covered on several threads. There are a number of members who love the sound of the Paragon. I believe there are far more who think it is a remarkable achievement, a beautiful work of industrial design, and an important piece historically, but perhaps too dated a design to still be a considered a state of the art performer.Originally Posted by jcrobso
I certainly am in the second group. I love them, but if I had one, it would remain in the museum and not in the listening room.
Widget
Well said.
Some more technical considerations:
1. The Paragon is a full horn speaker system. This delivers a very dynamic and "unrestricted" sound other systems hardly can offer.
2. The Paragon sound reflector spreads the sound comparable to the S2600 or S3100 which is unique in its perception.
There are design flaws from a modern point of view:
3. The crossover between the woofer and midrange is for some reasons wimpy.
4. The tweeter is not well integrated.
____________
Peter
...and let's not forget the bass horns are simply too small. Unfortunately any significant increase in their size would simply ruin their aesthetic appeal.
Widget
Also they do not project an Image or sound stage... Only the midrange 375 reflects off the curved panel.
One thing to keep in mind is that the vintage speaker gurus usually listen for different things than most modern audiophiles.
Mike
Your right there,,,Like the American Idle screamers.
Excellent point, however there are plenty of JBLs that will give you the "vintage sound" and reproduce music with far more accuracy and satisfy some of the modern listeners too. The Paragon's contemporary, the Hartsfield is also fully horn loaded and falls into this catagory as do all of the older JBL Studio Monitors.
Widget
Not that good.
They do, however, exude a sense of craftsmanship and design that begs to be admired. This is a case in which the level of artistry and modeling exceeds the actual quality of performance. Put another way, form outclasses function.
Out.
Lets just say-they sound as good as they look
Oldmics
HHHMMMMM,,, Looks like a pro cinema version,,, How many sweat rings marking up the top of that cabinet?
Very cool, Oldmics (aptly named)...is that the industrial version
that was on eBay a few years ago? I've only seen one(that one) and they are perhaps the rarest of them all.
It is the same one that was on eBay a few years ago.
I stumbled across it from the guy who purchased it in that eBay auction.
The eBay auction for this unit appeared to be sketchy at best from both the buyer and seller feedback ratings standpoints.
Of all of the other JBL collectors that I know worldwide-its the only known industrial variant unit in existance at this time.
Certainly not the prettyest Paragon that I have owned,but it really is the best sounding one that I have auditioned.
Oldmics (and now you know why)
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