Speaker Asylum: REVIEW: Volent Paragon VL-2 Speakers by jonbee

Model:	Paragon VL-2
Category:	Speakers
Suggested Retail Price:	$5050/pr
Description:	Two way stand mount
Manufacturer URL:	Volent
Model Picture:	View

Review by jonbee on December 08, 2009 at 15:10:42
IP Address: 146.129.249.194 Add Your Review
for the Paragon VL-2

Fair warning: rave review ahead!
A little background. As I have often mentioned here, I've been at this hobby seriously for 41 years now. As to my taste, I particlarly like the open, airy sound of planar speakers. I've had 3 or 4 pairs of Maggies, at least a half dozen 'stats, and about a half dozen ribbon/planar magnetics and hybrids from Apogee, Infinity, and VMPS. The ribbon/planar magnetics are my favorites. They may lack a certain body and warmth of tone, but the best are about as transparent and dynamically adept as anything I've heard, and that's what I prize.
I've owned my VMPS RM30s for over 3 years, and save for Apogee Divas they are the best speakers I've owned, and outperform the Divas in some aspects. That said I've been buying and trading a lot of stand mounts for fun, and as I have a bedroom and an office system plus my living room system I'm always looking for an excuse to upgrade somewhere.
In the last 3 years or so I've had Joseph RM7si Mk2, Revel M20, Merlin TSM-M, Swans D2.1SE, Monitor Audio Gold 10, AAD 2001, KEF XQ1, Soliloquy 5.0S, Paradigm Active Ref 20s, Paradigm Ref 40s, Sequerra Met 7.7 mk4, plus a variety of vintage speakers and other standmounts that I can't recall offhand.
My favorites of these are the Merlin TSM-M and AAD 2001, which I now own.
The upshot of this trading is that while many of these speakers sound wonderful, and are very enjoyable, not one of them could compete head to head with my RM30s in my main system, with or without subwoofers (I have a pair of ACI Force XLs). It was never even close. For the most part, I'd given up on the idea that there was such a standmount.

However, since current used speaker prices are in the basement, I thought I'd use the opportunity to look upscale for something that might be a major leap up from the mentioned speakers.
Volent is a Hong Kong Company, whose parent makes the LCY twin ribbon tweeters, which are getting used in quite a few new high end designs. Volent created their own lines of speakers which unlike most Asian brands feature very high quality European drivers combined with their ribbon tweeters. They use Morels in their lower line, and in their premium Paragon line they use an Italian ATD-18W4004 titanium "plated" polymer woofer (also used in the $20k Magico Mini - retail: $600 ea.) mated to the LCY-130 twin ribbon (flat to 60k), crossed over at an unheard of 1900 hz.
LCY claims that this tweeter doesn't beam like most ribbons, but has a radiation pattern more like a dome.
I'm suspicious of such claims, but a rave review in 6Moons and the offer of a demo pair at a huge discount lured me in.

I'll cut to the chase: these are the best sounding standmounts I've ever heard, period. This includes the mentioned, as well as the Wilson Watt 5, which I've spent time with. They are a level or two better than the best standmounts I've owned in nearly all aspects, and even give my RM30s a run, outpointing them in a couple of areas.

The wide range tweeter has all the earmarks of the best modern ribbons, but covers a much wider range than any I know of without strain, edginess or distortion, and yes, it has excellent dispersion. I think this is the most remarkable aspect of the speaker. The woofer is the only 7 incher I've heard that can keep up with a ribbon, and I'm aware of no discontinuities or crossover aberrations. They are seamless.
They are astonishingly transparent, having the best depth of image and soundfield I've heard, bettering the VMPS in that regard. Tonal balance is also nearly perfect- once again, they are a bit flatter than the VMPS from the midbass through the mids.
The VMPS do offer lower system distortion (they are a nine driver system), and as a tallish line source the soundstage height and width are better than the Volents.
So- fast, transparent, dynamic, well integrated, and very flat. Sweet and natural. What's not to like?
The only aspect I've found that could be problematic is the the midbass and bass, while very well defined and strong to below 40 hz, is likely to be too strong in many medium and small rooms.
In my bedroom and office systems I've successfully handled this without any downside by experimenting with various levels of port stuffing. If you're squeamish about this kind of tweaking and have a smallish room, this aspect must be considered a potential deterrent.
I've driven them by 250 WPC in my main system, and 27 and 38 watt tripath and gainclone amps. The smaller amps won't you give major volume, but they control the speakers well and don't show signs of strain at 90 db or so.
Also, and this is important, they sound like full range planar speakers in that they are clean and clear but won't provide excess body or euphonic warmth. They serve up the unvarnished recording. Garbage in, garbage out. This view may not be to everyone's taste as much as it matches mine.

At this price you would expect premium cabinetry and these have it covered. They are beautiful, but far more than a pretty face.
They are an ultra-resolution monitor that has the balance and musicality to allow listening all day long, at any volume.
Are these worth $5k? That's what my RM30s cost, and while I wouldn't quite trade them across, I've not found this level of sound for less.
That's my opinion, and it's worth every penny you're paying for it!

Product Weakness:	Strong bass requires a largish room or port tuning. Expensive!
Product Strengths:	Transparency, soundstage depth and dimension, integration, low distortion. Pretty easy to drive. Gorgeous cabinets.

Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: PS audio GCC250, Pop pulse T-Amp, gainclone
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): none
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Modwright/Sony 9100 Platinum Sig Truth
Speakers: review
Cables/Interconnects: anti-ICs,Clear Day double shotgun
Music Used (Genre/Selections): lots
Room Size (LxWxH): 16 x 19 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments: main room eats bass, a bit bright on top
Time Period/Length of Audition: 1 week
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): PS Audio Quintet
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner

Amplifier:	PS audio GCC250, Pop pulse T-Amp, gainclone
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	none
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Modwright/Sony 9100 Platinum Sig Truth
Speakers:	review
Cables/Interconnects:	anti-ICs,Clear Day double shotgun
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	lots
Room Size (LxWxH):	16 x 19 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments:	main room eats bass, a bit bright on top
Time Period/Length of Audition:	1 week
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	PS Audio Quintet
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner