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Thanks to Paradigm, I’m no longer addicted to oil. That’s right, I said it. My gas-guzzling Rovers are now parked in the garage, neglected, alone and empty. I’ve been sitting here in my reclining theater chair unable or unwanting to move. My addiction to oil is now overshadowed by the high-definition home theater I just experienced in Paradigm’s new Millenia series loudspeakers.
The Millenia series has many offerings to allow for system application flexibility. For this review we chose the Millenia 200, 20 and ADP for the front, center and surrounds respectively and also added the coveted Paradigm Seismic 12 subwoofer to anchor the ensemble.
The Millenia 200 towers are simply a remarkable achievement in design and application. Standing over 47-inches tall and just over 5-inches wide, their slender physique does not give a visual indication to the powerful array of drivers they hold. Six speakers, including a trio of 4.5-inch bass drivers and a pair of 4.5-inch midrange flanking a single 1-inch S-PAL ferro-fluid cooled dome tweeter, make up the awesome array. The Millenia 20 center-channel is again long and slender but houses a total of five drivers, including a pair of woofers, pair of mids and a single tweeter. And lastly, the Millenia ADP surrounds employ a pair of 4-inch mids, a pair of 1-inch tweeters and a single 6-inch woofer.
The end result in the Millenia series is an extremely compact system with multiple drivers that deliver and pack an enormous punch.
The Seismic 12 subwoofer is really icing on the cake for the Millenia system. Here, a small enclosure and heavy moving mass subwoofer backed by a 1,500-watt RMS (continuous) amplifier that delivers an unheard of 4,500 watts of peak power all work together to ensure your spouse divorces you and your neighbors never speak to you again. (Did I mention this system has power?)
I connected the Millenia ensemble to my Rotel RSX 1056 A/V receiver and used it as a preamp matched with Monster Power amplifiers; 2-channels at 250 watts per channel and 3-channels at 150 watts per channel.
The entire ensemble from sub to surrounds seems overbuilt and the attention to detail is superb right on down to the high-quality 5-way binding posts. The chrome finish was a nice touch in the evenings, but I changed my mind about their market-ability once the morning sunlight shined on them.
I started the auditions with several favorite DVD Audio tracks known for revealing flaws in even the best of loudspeakers. It was no surprise that the Paradigm Millenia shined (at some points literally) during the music portion of our audition. I did not have a way of mounting the center channel (brackets are available) and found the table-top application to be unacceptable as reflections caused unwanted sibilance. I was able to dampen the sound later with material, but I strongly recommend giving this ensemble the installation it deserves.
Quite frankly, I was amazed at the detail and accuracy the Millenia system portrayed at such high volume. Backing the amplifiers off a bit, the ensemble seemed equally comfortable at lower volume offering exquisite detail on subtle passages.
Movie auditions proved to be the strong suit of the Millenia series and I noted a well-balanced attack between the midrange and mid-bass with overall outstanding precision and the ability of the speakers to move the action around the room as portrayed on-screen.
I would be remise if I did not call out the Seismic 12 subwoofer on its own for this review. Today’s woofers have proven the ability to break things—but often fall short in delivering accurate and precise bass without overpowering the rest of the speakers. The Seismic 12 has an uncanny ability to deliver gut-wrenching bass (scary at times) in one passage and then move into subtle transitions. It is a woofer that has the ability to speak softly with authority if that makes any sense. The Seismic 12 is a woofer that has the ability to make any system better.
Unless you’ve got $5K to drop on your next home theater experience, I doubt you’ll find a better system dollar-for-dollar than this. yy
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