paradigm founder 40b loudspeakers
At the little audio company, our range of loudspeakers is focused on those that will compliment your listening space, helping you get the most from your system with a greatly reduced need for intricate or exacting set-up, intrusive room treatment, or digital room correction.
Paradigm's Founder range fall directly into that category, and as such, earns its place at the little audio company with flying colours. There is nothing about the Founder models that is superfluous to its needs - nothing is there that doesn't need to be. It is yet another example of ignoring unnecessary "bling" in favour of producing a genuinely room friendly product that works in less acoustically friendly spaces. The only thing here you could class as bling would be the light-catching machined "ring" that surrounds each driver, adding a nice touch of class. As such, each Founder model is highly competitive within its price bracket.
At the heart of every Paradigm Founder model is the Oblate Spherical Waveguide (OSW), providing controlled frequency dispersion in any type of room, benefitting music and home theatre alike. This provides an even dispersion of midrange and higher frequencies, and focuses them towards the listening area and away from nearby walls, making the 40b far more room friendly in a wider range of spaces than many other conventional loudspeakers.
With a low crossover point of 1600Hz between the 1" aluminium/magnesium/ceramic (AL-MAC) tweeter and the 6" aluminium/magnesium (AL-MAG) bass driver, more of the directional frequencies benefit from this waveguide - around 93% of the 40b's useable frequency range, to be more precise.
In the cutaway for the mid/bass driver, the light blue parts are made of elastomer, isolating the driver's chassis from the cabinet to minimise transference of vibrations into the cabinet, as well as vibrations getting back to the driver.
Paradigm's Founder 40b may look like the average standmount loudspeaker, but there's a fair amount of technology packed into their 11kg, real wood veneered box.
Firstly, the diagonal ridge you see down the side of the cabinet is its Cascade-Fusion Bracing - rather than the usual vertical/horizontal bracing, this helps to break up standing waves and improve bass performance. There are also very few directly opposing sides, further reducing standing waves.
The grille of the Founder 40b isn't just the PPA (Perforated Alignment Lens) you see over the bass driver - the grille is the whole aluminium baffle you see on the front! This is held in place by strong magnets, and can be removed to use the fabric grille instead if required - although the metal grille is highly recommended for the best possible sound quality.
The Founder 40B standmounts are available in four finishes - walnut veneer, black walnut veneer, piano black, and midnight cherry. An additional detail in its wood veneer is that the grain runs horizontally, which is offset against the vertical lines of the brushed aluminium fascia grille shown in the photo of the high gloss midnight cherry finish.
"It combines rhythmic vim and dynamic zest with a crisp revealing midband. The result is a compact standmounter that's highly musically articulate and plenty of fun to listen to but doesn't stray too far from neutral in its presentation."
Hear the Paradigm Founder series in Birmingham, exclusively at the little audio company.
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2-way , bi-wireable design
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rear ported design
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OSW treble/midrange array
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1x 26mm AL-MAC (aluminium / magnesium / ceramic) HF unit
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1x 6" AL-MAG 9aluminium / magnesium) bass driver
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1600Hz crossover point
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69Hz-23kHz at +/-2dB
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89dB sensitivity
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8ohms
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15-150watts recommended amplifier power
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H 368mm x W 197mm x D 320mm
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available in piano black, black walnut, walnut, midnight cherry
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£2,820 / pair