Paradigm Cinema 90CT question
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New member Username: RoksPost Number: 1 Registered: Jun-08 | HI, I am new to this forum. I have been hunting around for some good home theatre systems and after a googling around i came across this forum. Anyways Hello everyone :-).... I did a lot of research on various home theatre systems and i have narrowed down now with the Paradigm 90CT and marantz SR3001 AV receiver, which best suits my budget. My requirement in a home theatre system is that i would like to watch movies as well as listen to Music on it. I would like to know if the Paradigm 90CT is good enough to listen to music too. OR is is just good for the movies? I have this doubt since music is essentially 2.1 channel whereas the movies are 5.1. So considering this, how will music sound on a 5.1 channel home theatre systems. Guyz please help me clear my doubts. I may be missing something obvious but your suggestions/advice would be highly appreciated. Thanks for your time. Cheers. Roks |
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Silver Member Username: JrbayLivonia [Detroit area], Michigan USA Post Number: 249 Registered: Feb-08 | Do you have any chance to listen to these speakers prior to purchase? |
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New member Username: RoksPost Number: 2 Registered: Jun-08 | I got to listen to the paradigm monitor series and they were awesome. The dealer doesnt have the cinema 90CT on demo and i dont have any other paradigm dealer around my area. But going by the reputation and reviews on the paradigm speakers i am willing to take a chance. |
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Silver Member Username: JrbayLivonia [Detroit area], Michigan USA Post Number: 254 Registered: Feb-08 | The system you are considering is matched and the small left right speakers should be nicely bolstered by the subwoofer when you are listening to music. The center channel handles most of the load when in 5.1 mode and Paradigm uses dual mid drivers to handle that. My guess is that you would be happy for many years to come! |
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New member Username: RoksPost Number: 3 Registered: Jun-08 | Thanks Jim. So when i listen to music should i be turning off the rear speakers. I mean in general will rear speakers add any good effect while you listen to music only? The marantz SR3001 is around $359. Are there any other lesser priced AV receivers which would go well with the cinema 90CT. I read from the previous posts and know the marantz are among the best but how about other receivers which could deliver quite near to what the marantz can? |
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Silver Member Username: JrbayLivonia [Detroit area], Michigan USA Post Number: 257 Registered: Feb-08 | It depends on the receiver. One thing is for sure that is you play 2 channel music in a theater mode it will sound very different than intended (some folks like it, who's to agrue?!?!?) Receivers have different ways of dealing with this the simplest being 2.1 mode. There are others like 5.1 stereo but you will likely be making a mode change to listen to music. I wouldn't go any lower in price point but if you had a chance to look at them the Onkyo 605 and the Denon 1707 might interest you. they compare well with the Marantz which is a fine choice as well. Since you are concerned about music vs movie sound perhaps some research into which receiver handles this better is in order! |
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New member Username: RoksPost Number: 4 Registered: Jun-08 | Thanks for your suggestion Jim. I will take a look at the Onkyo and Denon too. I am planning to order the system this weekend. Have heard so much about the paradigms that i just cant wait to get it in my home...am getting a chill thinking abt it;-) |
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Silver Member Username: JrbayLivonia [Detroit area], Michigan USA Post Number: 265 Registered: Feb-08 | Ah yes, this is the reason I enjoy AV so much!!! I would hope you let us know how this all works out. Might I suggest when shopping for the receiver a couple of points? There are going to be differences for sure but for the most part I think what is most important is the "look and feel", "form and function" and that sort of thing. I would suggest grabbing the remote controls and the one that makes the most sense wins!!! The audio specs are important to be sure but if you can't figure out how to use the darn thing (S@NY) what is the point of owning it??? (Sorry Sony owners but if you can tell me why I HAVE to use digital coax out of a DVD player and I can't use optical PLEASE educate me!!!) |
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New member Username: RoksPost Number: 5 Registered: Jun-08 | I have ordered the paradigm 90CT with the Marantz SR4002. This receiver is $200 more than the SR3001 but it has the HDMI switching/Repeating and is 80w/channel. Unfortunately the system will arrive only 2 weeks from now and the wait is killing me even more.  But when it arrives i would like to be ready with the speaker wires and connectors. Hence i am planning to buy the banana connectors and the wires now. Do you know how many banana connectors i need for each speaker. I know there are banana connections on the AV receiver end, but what about the speaker? Should the wire be connected to the speaker end too with the banana connectors? OR is it a bare wire connection on the speaker end? Thanks |
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Silver Member Username: JrbayLivonia [Detroit area], Michigan USA Post Number: 313 Registered: Feb-08 | Banana plugs are great when you change wire a lot for whatever reason. I believe this is going to be something of a permanent setup and would suggest that banana plugs are not necessary. You can certainly buy them if you want (28of them to be specific) but you really aren't improving anything. All of your equipment will have good binding posts and the bare wire could arguably give better contact to the terminals. |
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New member Username: RoksPost Number: 6 Registered: Jun-08 | Jim, How about spade lugs? I just want to make sure that there are no wire strands hanging out which may cause a potential short. Thanks |
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Silver Member Username: JrbayLivonia [Detroit area], Michigan USA Post Number: 316 Registered: Feb-08 | Stray strands are solved by not stripping the insulation more than an inch or so and making sure it is twisted tightly. You really shouldn't have any trouble. |
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New member Username: RoksPost Number: 7 Registered: Jun-08 | Ok Great. So are the connectors on the paradigm 90 speakers similar to the ones on the AV receiver? |
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Silver Member Username: JrbayLivonia [Detroit area], Michigan USA Post Number: 318 Registered: Feb-08 | Very Similar, yes! |
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New member Username: RoksPost Number: 8 Registered: Jun-08 | Cool, Thanks. Now i am ready to shop for all the accessories. |
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New member Username: RoksPost Number: 9 Registered: Jun-08 | Okay here i am with the first cut review of my just arrived paradigm cinema 90CT speakers/Marantz SR4002. It was a long wait of 3 weeks and only i know what the anticipation was like, waiting for these to come. But i had done my homework about the accessories required for it and i was well prepared with the speaker wires, component cables, sub woofer cable, digital audio cable, surge supressor, utility razor knife(to cut the wires and strip), plier, measuring tape etc. I ordered them on monoprice.com and the best part is i received it the same day when my speakers arrived. Anyway coming back to the speakers, i had no much effort to connect it, but it took almost a day. It was almost 2:00am when i finished connecting the wires, and switched it on. I played Bryan Adams Best of me without going through any of the speaker/AV receiver settings and heard the music coming out the speakers but i had to play it at a very low volume as it was almost 2am and i didnt want to wake up my neighbours as i live in an apartment. The speakers sounded good. I increased the volume a little more and again i was not very impressed. I couldnt hear much bass and it was a little discouraging. But somewhere deep inside i believed these speakers have to sound good as i am aware of the paradigm and marantz reputation.(I have read so much about them). I was so tired at that time and thought of getting on it the next day which was a saturday. Th Next day...I spent some time going through the manual and measuring the room and speaker distance. It was very effortless to do the speaker distance settings. Then there was this speaker db level settings which had to be adjusted for all the speakers and woofer. I initially set the db level as below front L/R and Rear L/R - +2db center - +1db subwoofer - +7db I then played Everybreath you take(Police) and my reaction was like.... Woooooowwwwwww!!!!. Ohhh My God. The beats were mindblowing.  . I just couldnt believe it. I was so used to listening to my music on conventional music system, i couldnt believe how amazing these were sounding. Crystal clear vocals, and great deep clear bass even at very high volume. I was so inspired after i did the settings and started looking into the details of the Marantz settings. I played around with various db settings and found an optimal one as below front L/R and Rear L/R - +3db center - +3db subwoofer - +6db I still have to adjust some controls on the subwoofer backpanel to adjust the tone of the bass which i havent tried yet. Then it was time to try out some movies. I had the Top Gun DVD as this is one of the best to test a home theter. Thundering sounds of the F-14s got me holding tight to my couch. The rear ADP speakers added just the right effect of the background sound and you feel like you really are in the middle of a runaway. I spent my whole weekend trying out my entire music collection and movies with the clear sounds filling up my room, and mind you the paradigms 90s are just an entry level speakers in the paradigm series. I couldnt be happier!!. I had never listened to the paradigms before and just went by the reviews on the internet and by getting suggestions/advices from audiophiles on the net. The Marantz SR4002 has so many other settings to try out. I am planning to do it this weekend. It has this MARC(Marantz acoustic room calibration) which automatically does the acoustic setting for you based on a microphone. I will try this out and check if this gives better effects than the manual calibration. Hopefully i will come out with a review on the receiver too. Summing it up, i would say the paradigms/Marantz combination is one of the best in its price range. I would definitely give it a thumbs up. Thanks a lot Jim for your help on choosing this wonderful package. |
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New member Username: Fred1122Post Number: 1 Registered: Aug-11 | Hey i'm new to speaker systems and i thought the paradigm would be good to get into some good speakers with. can you adjust the settings and run it with only a computer thanks fred |
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New member Username: KevinwhitePost Number: 7 Registered: Aug-11 | Hi, in my personal opinion, 5.1channel home theater is able to play 2.1 channel music as well. just as DVD player can also play VCD disc some years before. so you do not need to worry about this. |
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