Description
Whatmough FLAGSHIP 4-Way Speakers - The PARAGON
The Paragon sits at the top of the Whatmough loudspeaker range as the ultimate expression of an uncompromising approach to the pursuit of sonic excellence. The Paragon was the result of an intense three year research and development project by company founder Colin Whatmough to create one of the world's best audiophile loudspeakers.
In order to ensure the Paragon surpassed the expectations of even the most dedicated music aficionados a 'no compromise' approach was taken with regards to everything from component selection through to the manufacturing process itself. Each pair of Paragons is meticulously hand crafted in Australia and then rigorously tested to guarantee they meet Whatmough's exacting standards for sound and build quality.
The Paragon is a true audio marvel with an incredible dynamic range. Its detail, clarity, smoothness and tonal balance are as astounding as its ability to reproduce everything from the most subtle musical nuance through to the biggest orchestral crescendo.
Those fortunate enough to have experienced the Paragon often use the word effortless when describing their impression. Effortless clearly refers to the way in which the Paragon handles everything from jazz and classical through to blues, rock and even the most emotional vocal performances as well as its ability to step out of the way of the music and command even the largest of listening spaces.
Cabinetry
The Paragon's cabinets are finished in deep charcoal on the front, top, rear and bottom plinth with Santos Palisander (Brazilian Rosewood) real timber veneer adorning the sides (other veneers and paint colours also available). The cabinets feature 33mm thick walls with extensive internal bracing, acoustic chambering and dampening control materials to minimise resonation and create an extremely inert environment for the drivers. The Paragon is a 4-way overall design divided into a sealed 3-way passive line array enclosure sitting above an active, slot ported, sub bass enclosure.
Drivers
The Paragon's upper cabinet houses one of the world's best tweeters, the legendary ring radiator. Each tweeter is handmade and then computer matched to provide the ultimate in performance and sonic consistency. A wave guided centre plug, large neodymium magnet structure and extended frequency response beyond 40kHz, a full octave above most conventional dome tweeters, result in remarkable speed, accuracy, smoothness and openness. Twin 100mm Polyglass midrange drivers with an extremely low cone mass (just 4 grams) produce incredible clarity, transient response, tonal accuracy and imaging, particularly around vocals. A pair of 175mm paper coned bass drivers that are hand sliced and then bonded with dampening material deliver upper bass frequencies with speed and precise control. The top cabinet was designed to isolate and also angle these bass drivers forward of the midrange and tweeter to enhance driver cohesion, centre focus and time alignment.
The Paragon's lower cabinet is an advanced design that couples twin 250mm drivers to a 240 Watt high quality amplifier. These drivers have an extremely large linear travel, up to 36mm, and are mounted in a balanced configuration to eliminate undesirable cabinet resonances. The cabinet itself features acoustic filters to dramatically reduce the harmonic distortion typically found in other subwoofers. The included external electronic crossover works in combination with these acoustic filters to create low bass frequencies with exceptional clarity, tightness and control even at high output levels.
Crossover Networks
The Paragon's crossover networks comprise a passive unit found in each loudspeaker as well as an external active unit. Each passive crossover is completely enclosed and isolated from the rear radiation of the drivers to minimise the effects of resonances on the componentry. These beautifully designed, hand built, crossovers contain air cored inductors made from the highest purity copper and premium quality polypropylene film capacitors. All components are painstakingly point-to-point hard wired and carefully positioned to avoid undesired interactions.
Included with each pair of Paragons is hand built external electronic crossover to correctly distribute frequencies between the passive upper and active lower enclosures. The active crossover utilises Neville Thiele filter technology and steep 100db per octave slopes to accurately direct low frequency information to the sub-bass drivers.
Internal Wiring
The use of premium quality components carries all the way through to the Paragon's internal wiring. Frequency optimised Cardas (USA) cable is used exclusively for all driver to crossover and crossover to binding post connections. This advanced cabling is made up of individually insulated conductors configured according to a patented Golden Ratio design which helps reduce sound anomalies including glare and bass colouration.
Binding Posts & Spikes
The Paragons feature Cardas (USA) solid copper binding posts that are silver plated and Rhodium coated to provide the best connection possible and are considered by many to be the world's best. For optimum performance we recommend tri-wiring or tri-amping the upper enclosure.
Oversized, hardened, spikes are used to provide a precise rigid coupling to the floor. The spikes pass through solid steel girders that are bolted to the bottom plinths of the speakers. They are positioned beyond the extremities of the lower enclosure and are easily adjustable to provide maximum stability.
Specifications
The Paragon sits at the top of the Whatmough loudspeaker range as the ultimate expression of an uncompromising approach to the pursuit of sonic excellence. The Paragon was the result of an intense three year research and development project by company founder Colin Whatmough to create one of the world's best audiophile loudspeakers.
In order to ensure the Paragon surpassed the expectations of even the most dedicated music aficionados a 'no compromise' approach was taken with regards to everything from component selection through to the manufacturing process itself. Each pair of Paragons is meticulously hand crafted in Australia and then rigorously tested to guarantee they meet Whatmough's exacting standards for sound and build quality.
The Paragon is a true audio marvel with an incredible dynamic range. Its detail, clarity, smoothness and tonal balance are as astounding as its ability to reproduce everything from the most subtle musical nuance through to the biggest orchestral crescendo.
Those fortunate enough to have experienced the Paragon often use the word effortless when describing their impression. Effortless clearly refers to the way in which the Paragon handles everything from jazz and classical through to blues, rock and even the most emotional vocal performances as well as its ability to step out of the way of the music and command even the largest of listening spaces.
Cabinetry
The Paragon's cabinets are finished in deep charcoal on the front, top, rear and bottom plinth with Santos Palisander (Brazilian Rosewood) real timber veneer adorning the sides (other veneers and paint colours also available). The cabinets feature 33mm thick walls with extensive internal bracing, acoustic chambering and dampening control materials to minimise resonation and create an extremely inert environment for the drivers. The Paragon is a 4-way overall design divided into a sealed 3-way passive line array enclosure sitting above an active, slot ported, sub bass enclosure.
Drivers
The Paragon's upper cabinet houses one of the world's best tweeters, the legendary ring radiator. Each tweeter is handmade and then computer matched to provide the ultimate in performance and sonic consistency. A wave guided centre plug, large neodymium magnet structure and extended frequency response beyond 40kHz, a full octave above most conventional dome tweeters, result in remarkable speed, accuracy, smoothness and openness. Twin 100mm Polyglass midrange drivers with an extremely low cone mass (just 4 grams) produce incredible clarity, transient response, tonal accuracy and imaging, particularly around vocals. A pair of 175mm paper coned bass drivers that are hand sliced and then bonded with dampening material deliver upper bass frequencies with speed and precise control. The top cabinet was designed to isolate and also angle these bass drivers forward of the midrange and tweeter to enhance driver cohesion, centre focus and time alignment.
The Paragon's lower cabinet is an advanced design that couples twin 250mm drivers to a 240 Watt high quality amplifier. These drivers have an extremely large linear travel, up to 36mm, and are mounted in a balanced configuration to eliminate undesirable cabinet resonances. The cabinet itself features acoustic filters to dramatically reduce the harmonic distortion typically found in other subwoofers. The included external electronic crossover works in combination with these acoustic filters to create low bass frequencies with exceptional clarity, tightness and control even at high output levels.
Crossover Networks
The Paragon's crossover networks comprise a passive unit found in each loudspeaker as well as an external active unit. Each passive crossover is completely enclosed and isolated from the rear radiation of the drivers to minimise the effects of resonances on the componentry. These beautifully designed, hand built, crossovers contain air cored inductors made from the highest purity copper and premium quality polypropylene film capacitors. All components are painstakingly point-to-point hard wired and carefully positioned to avoid undesired interactions.
Included with each pair of Paragons is hand built external electronic crossover to correctly distribute frequencies between the passive upper and active lower enclosures. The active crossover utilises Neville Thiele filter technology and steep 100db per octave slopes to accurately direct low frequency information to the sub-bass drivers.
Internal Wiring
The use of premium quality components carries all the way through to the Paragon's internal wiring. Frequency optimised Cardas (USA) cable is used exclusively for all driver to crossover and crossover to binding post connections. This advanced cabling is made up of individually insulated conductors configured according to a patented Golden Ratio design which helps reduce sound anomalies including glare and bass colouration.
Binding Posts & Spikes
The Paragons feature Cardas (USA) solid copper binding posts that are silver plated and Rhodium coated to provide the best connection possible and are considered by many to be the world's best. For optimum performance we recommend tri-wiring or tri-amping the upper enclosure.
Oversized, hardened, spikes are used to provide a precise rigid coupling to the floor. The spikes pass through solid steel girders that are bolted to the bottom plinths of the speakers. They are positioned beyond the extremities of the lower enclosure and are easily adjustable to provide maximum stability.
Specifications
- Configuration 4-Way, 2 piece, floor standing loudspeaker with a sealed symmetrical array upper enclosure above an active front ported sub bass enclosure.
- The top section contains two 175mm sliced paper bass drivers, two 100mm Polyglass midrange drivers and a 35mm dual concentric tweeter with wave guide centre plug.
- The lower section contains two 250mm sub bass drivers coupled to a 240 watt amplifier in an advanced design, acoustically chambered enclosure.
- Nominal Impedance 4 Ohms
- Amplifier Power Requirement 40-250 watts RMS
- Power Handling Transient peaks in excess of 250 watts, average levels of 100 watts.
- Sensitivity 90dB input level of 2.83V. (1 watt into 8 ?)
- Frequency Response 25Hz to 40kHz ± 3dB
- Dimensions 1570H x 520W (630 including spikes) x 720D mm
- Weight 140kg each
- Finish Charcoal with Santos Palisander (Brazilian Rosewood) Real Timber Veneer sides. Other finishes including gloss paint colours are available to order
- Warranty 5 Years*
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