Paradigm has spent more than 40 years building quality speakers. The Founder 80F typically retails for around $3,600 per pair, which sits them at a price where you typically start to find good speakers from many of the top manufacturers around the globe. These are a 2.5-way floorstanding rear-ported speaker that features a one-inch vent, a six-inch mid/bass frequency driver, and two six-inch bass drivers. Paradigm recently released these speakers in three new colors: Ruby Frostbite (red), Frozen Charcoal (black), and Azure Ice (blue), to go along with the original four colors (Walnut, Black Walnut, Midnight cherry, and Piano Black). These are also very efficient speakers, with one watt creating 93 dB of sound, and the speakers have a frequency range between 50 Hz on the low end and 23 kHz on the high end. These floorstanding speakers come in a nice size for commonly-used spaces, standing at 38.2 inches tall, 11.7 inches wide and 14 inches deep. They are big enough that you notice them in the space, but not so big that they dominate the room. As noted, the Paradigm Founder 80F floorstanding speakers are in a very competitive part of the speaker market, so let’s see if they are worth your time.
What Makes the Paradigm Founder 80F Floorstanding Speakers So Special?
- The Paradigm Founder 80F sound very neutral or uncolored. When I think about the sonic signature of these speakers, neutral is the first word that comes to mind. As an audiophile reviewer who primarily listens to classic rock, as well as jazz and some classical music, there wasn’t a time where the Paradigm Founder 80F floorstanding speakers felt like they were not up to the task of what I was asking of them and, at the same time, it never felt like the speakers were adding any brightness or color to the music either.
- The Paradigm Founder 80F speakers deliver an elegant, modern look. I received the Midnight Cherry version of the Paradigm Founder 80Fs, and they were stunning-looking. There was never a moment when I looked at the speakers in my space and thought that I didn’t like how they looked, or how they made the room feel. They had the right combination of size and shape to help them feel like welcome pieces of audio furniture in the room. The new colors that Paradigm just added are much bolder, however (Ruby Frostbite and Azure Ice, especially), and they will certainly require the right room and the right owner to be appreciated.
- The feet make these speakers very stable. As a parent with a “fournado” who spins around the house (yes, I just mixed four-year-old with the word “tornado”), the stability of the speakers due to the feet was very comforting. Paradigm notes that the feet have been decoupled from the cabinet to the floor not once but twice for extremely effective vibration decoupling. So even the stopping of said four-year-old shouldn’t disrupt the sound coming from the speakers.
Why Should You Care About the Paradigm Founder 80F Floorstanding Speakers?
A high-performance set of loudspeakers is the heart of any audiophile system, so finding a pair that fit into your room, not just sonically but also stylistically, is incredibly important. The Paradigm Founder 80F floorstanding speakers will undoubtably check a lot of boxes for many listeners. They look great, sound great, are easy to image, and stable, to try to describe them in a few characteristics. They are also very well-priced when you consider all of those features that you are getting for the money. On top of all of that, these speakers come with a five-year warranty from Paradigm, and they are made and designed in North America at Paradigm’s facility just outside of Toronto.
Some Things You Might Not Like About the Paradigm Founder 80F Floorstanding Speakers
- The bass is more subtle than some might like. If you’re someone who is looking the bass in their music to be front and center, then these won’t be the right speakers for you. In my listening, the bass is definitely there. I found it to be more blended in than it is a focal point.
- These speakers aren’t overly tall, which could be an issue for some listeners. Standing at just 38 inches, these aren’t quite what I would think of as full-sized floorstanding speakers. If you’re tall, or you like something bigger, you will want to look at the Founder 100F (42 inches) or 120H (45 inches), so that the tweeter is closer to the height of your ear.
Listening to the Paradigm Founder 80F Floorstanding Speakers …
My testing with these standing speakers was with the Pro-Ject X1 Turntable, using the Cambridge EVO 150 DeLorean Edition as the preamplifier, amplifier, and streamer.
One of the first tracks I listened to was “Old Scratch Blues” (Streaming from Qobuz, Hi-Res 192kHz) from Jack White’s 2024 No Name album. White is one of my favorite artists to push the volume up with. “Old Scratch Blues” is the first track off his most recent album, and this track really brought me back to his White Stripes days. This track showed off the imaging of the Paradigm Founder 80F. It was easy to feel like White was singing and performing his guitar wizardry right there in front of you. The speakers also allowed you to pick up the smaller details from the track as well, where you can hear the guitar notes being held and reverberating for an extra second while the rest of the instruments come in over the top of it.
Another track that I used was “Stardust” (on Vinyl) from Wynton Marsalis’ 1984 album Hot House Flowers. This jazz track features a full orchestra, which makes up part of this Grammy Award-winning effort from Marsalis. Marsalis’ trumpet helps push the headroom in which you might be looking for that power, as he is able to achieve higher notes from his trumpet on this somber track. When listening to this track through the Paradigm Founder 80F floorstanding speakers, you could easily pick out each instrument and its placement in the orchestra. The strings were to the left, Marsalis and his famed trumpet in the center, and the keys and the stand-up bass to the right. Each note also felt like it had room to breathe, which is always welcome.
The last track I used to test the Paradigm Founder 80F loudspeakers was “Breakerfall” (Streaming from Qobuz, Hi-Res 192 kHz) from Pearl Jam’s 200 album Binaural. This album, as implied in its name, used a Binaural recording process to try to produce a 3D effect which this album’s producer Tchad Blake is well known for. This track is great for testing out the low end of sound coming from speakers. The track kicks off with a big bassy boom, and the Founder 80Fs handled that punch well. The bass was very apparent, and it held together well also. As for the rest of the track, the imaging was sound, as I was able to easily picture the band as if it was right in front me. This track also showed off the dynamics of the Paradigm Founder 80F, as you get a lot of space in the music. Many will think of this album as the beginning of the time when Pearl Jam stopped being a chart-topper and started to be more of an art rock band. With that said, I think for music that is 24 years old, it has help up extremely well, and the Paradigm Founder 80F shows of how well-recorded this music was.
Will the Paradigm Founder 80F Floorstanding Speakers Hold Their Value?
As a well-known brand with wide distribution, Paradigm certainly has its fans, so typically their products are not hard to move on the open market. I would expect them to retain their value reasonably well and, given that these speakers are already a few years old, and there are none to be found on eBay or Audiogon, that should also ensure that you should get a good price, as the market is far from flooded with the product. Our publisher offered a pair of older reference Paradigm speakers and they sold in minutes online. That’s a very good sign, too.
What is the Competition for the Paradigm Founder 80F Floorstanding Speakers?
The MartinLogan Motion XT F100 ($4,500) are a little bit more expensive, but you are getting more speaker as well for the price. I reviewed these speakers last year, and loved them for being able to be full-service speakers, with their ability to hit all of the highest and the lows. I felt like the Paradigm Founder 80Fs were very comparable in the midrange and sounded different on the high end, due to the use of different tweeters. Motion XT F100s also had more bass to them, but keep in mind they also come with an additional woofer.
In this price range, the Monitor Audio Silver 300 7Gs ($2,850) might be worth looking at. They are less money, and stand taller, but in my review of them last year, they were very good speakers that were a good value at their price. These are three-way speakers, and they do stand taller than the Paradigm Founder 80Fs, but I think they are worth considering, as they fall into a similar price range and they are very much fine speakers in their own right that sounded very good in the midrange and low end, and should fulfill your needs at the higher octaves as well without getting too bright.
I would be remiss if I didn’t include the Bowers & Wilkins 704 S3s ($4,000) as a comparison. Bowers & Wilkins is a legendary brand, and while the 704 S3s don’t have the style that B&W is so well known for, I think they are going to be worth checking out if you are shopping in this price range, just to ensure that you crossed them off the list. They are a similar size to the Paradigm Founder 80Fs at 38 inches, but they are rear-ported, whereas the Paradigms are ported at the bottom of the speaker.
Final Thoughts on the Paradigm Founder 80F Floorstanding Speakers …
In my time with the Paradigm Founder 80F floorstanding speakers, they brought nothing but joy to my listening space. The folks are Paradigm should be recognized for the work they have put into these speakers. It was hard for me to find many things to complain about during the near 100 hours that I spent listening to them. These are speakers that were easy to image, and sounded both detailed and beautifully neutral. Many audiophiles can look at these speakers and realistically envision them in their homes, as they are reasonably affordable. If you’re looking to bring a new set of speakers into your home, I strongly suggest giving the Paradigm Founder 80F an audition, as I would be surprised if you found yourself disappointed.
I agree that Paradigm has hit it out of the park with the Founder Series, though I believe the sweet spot is with the just-larger 100H. But at this lower price point the Silver 300 is the better speaker. The newish B&W is MUCH brighter up top, making it harder to manage in most rooms, indicating, that at least for this Brit, a return to the old form of B&W too-hot top ends. I often suggest that friends check out the 100H and the Silver 300 as best values for correct tweeter-height all-rounders.
I own the 802 D4s and they are radically improved in terms of their high end. They sounded GREAT on your amps. Review going live next week, I think.
The new tweeter on Bowers & Wilkins is WAY LESS BRIGHT but super-resolved. A massive improvement.
Nice review. I am a dedicated stat owner and usually dismiss the box crowd unless it includes horns and compression drivers. However in visiting a record shop nearby the owner had a small pair of paradigm speakers playing and they sounded excellent and involving. I was kind of a little floored at how good they sounded and especially being so small. If that sound gets better moving up the chain then I suspect these are going to make a lot of folks very happy. Also love those blue cabinets.
I just got a chance to review Paradigm’s top of the line Persona 9H speakers. WOW. I saw how they are finished just outside of Toronto (more WOW – German heat-drying unit, PPG car paint etc…) ARC in the bass, powered drivers.
With only one exception (Meyer Sound X-10s) I have never heard a horn speaker even come close to what I heard or what we are talking about here with a speaker at 1/10 the price of the reference.
Listen to some of the better, more traditional speakers when you get a chance. I was SHOCKED at how good Bowers & Wilkins had gotten from Version 3 to Version 4 of their 800 Series. They aren’t bright anymore – just hyper accurate thanks to input from Abbey Road Studios and their team of engineers.
Thanks for your feedback. Keep that head banging!!! 🙂