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That’s Mr Paradigm to you!

Paradigm gains respect for its flagship subwoofer
By Max Christoffersen

September 2002

I have a new found respect for subwoofers. Like many others, I too have indulged in guilty pleasures with subs.

You know the personality type - they play it louder than bearable just to get that body slam and tactile sense of involvement with film and music.

There is the common view that subs are nasty things for ageing juvenile rock-heads who are short on youth and even shorter on hearing. And I confess, I’m still more of a Geddy Lee (Rush) kind of guy than Jaco Pastorius.

But somewhere there is a sub for the person who does want to combine the musical sensibilities of fretless bass with the dynamic push and pull of modern rock with the delicacies of fine bass detail, coupled with the deep bass extension of modern film soundtracks.

One Size fits all?
Can one sub really do it all? Well, like I said, I have new respect for subs because I’ve found one that I think will.

Put simply the Paradigm Servo 15 is a refined beast. It’s a sub designed from the ground up with all parts built and tested by Paradigm. And if good bass is in the details, the quality component parts, excellent cabinet bracing and quality power supply suggest this is the real deal.

I was attracted to this subwoofer for a couple of reasons:

1. Paradigm manufacture good quality equipment. Period!
2. This sub is servo driven: more accurate tighter bass - less distortion more music
3. A 15” Kevlar driver is starting to get big, as is the near 100 litre cabinet.
4. The specifications are staggering (20 Hz at 114dB!)
5. Air suspension design (no port for high excursion chuffing and puffing!)

Bang bang goes the string man
This is a big heavy box so a two-man lift it was. And as always I started with music.

Tuck Andress is an extraordinary guitar player, who uses a two handed guitar technique which is part traditional finger-picking melody and part aggressive-percussive fret board dynamics.

The choice from Andress was Sweet P. I was asking the Servo 15 to play sweetly, fast and hard, with Andress’ percussive fret work causing some serious subwoofer excursion. And it did. But like many other servo driven subs, there is a sense of fine control, which to some may make it sound a little tame, with less mid-bass slam and presence than other non-servo driven units.

At the same time, the genuine extension was obvious and it was so effortless, that at times I was caught unawares. This is fight or flight inducing bass. And never better demonstrated than on Neal Schon’s new CD Voices. The bass on this CD is beautifully recorded with the full depth and resonance from deep bass to the mid-band - and the Servo 15 lapped it up, combining fright factor and finesse to good effect.

Integration the easy way
Many who love subs will be surprised by just how well this model appears to disappear into the music or soundtrack only making its presence known when you turn it off! Almost from the get-go the Servo 15 was integrating seamlessly into my system, which given my room is nothing short of a near miracle!

Combine this with the sheer weight and control of bass from DVDs like U571 (depth charge scenes) Toy Story 2 (intro) and you have a genuinely special audio product on show. In short this was the most satisfying bass experience from a soundtrack I have experienced with very low deep resonance and power to back it up.

Good products ask questions of their owners. The Paradigm 15 is that kind of product. Far from sitting there and doing it’s job quietly and predictably, the Servo 15 will spring a few surprises and highlight bass-sounds that you never knew were there.

This is not the sub necessarily to wind up and scare your friends, impress the kids, or scare the cat (although it did do that). It is however a sub to savour that will work its way onto your must-keep if the house goes up in flames list.

The Paradigm Servo 15 is a refined stunner of a product that deserves good room placement, a good system and great music or soundtracks to get the best out of it.

Give it some quality source material and some quality time and it’ll earn its keep and earn a fair amount of respect too!

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