Paradigm Studio 60 v.4 Without A Subwoofer?

Longtime lurker, first time poster. Please be gentle.


I recently picked up a pair of brand-new Paradigm Studio 60s; my local dealer had a leftover pair of v.4s, factory sealed, that I got for a great price. I bought them without an audition, as I was already interested in upgrading to either the 60s or the 100s, and I've been very happy with my older Paradigms.

And they sound phenomenal for both music (which is my priority) and HT, far better than the Titan v.3s they are replacing. However, I'm a bit surprised and underwhelmed by the bass -- or lack thereof -- when I set my preamp (Arcam AVP700) to Stereo Direct mode, bypassing bass management and the subwoofer. They certainly don't sound as light as the Titans did without the sub, but despite what I've read in the various reviews they don't sound full-range to me. I was expecting these speakers to go a lot deeper than they do without the support of the subwoofer.

I have no problems leaving the sub on when listening to music, but I'm just curious if there's something wrong with them, or me, or perhaps this is just how they respond in my listening environment. (My living room, with no treatments outside of curtains, area rugs and typical LR furniture -- sounds surprisingly good "out of the box," can't wait to do some acoustic work in there...)

I have them placed about 13" from the rear wall (Paradigm recommends at least 8"), and 28" from the side walls, slight toe-in (the imaging is great), and while I did set them up bi-amped from my P1000, I also tested with single wires as well.

Anyone else with Studio 60 v.4 and similar experience? Or using them successfully in a pure 2-channel setup?

Thanks in advance... and for all the great info I've picked up during my lurking years.

Just a little bump... anyone?

Unfortunately I don't have a dedicated listening room (oh, someday!) so it's just my living room. Approximately 12'w x 17' 6"l x 9'h, speakers along the 12' wall (currently I have them 10.5" from the rear, 24" from the side walls, slight toe-in).

The listening position (i.e the couch, nothing fancy) is slightly further than halfway across the room.

Plaster walls (the house is 130 years old), hardwood floor w/ an area rug in the middle, no dedicated treatments yet (I'll get to that soon, after I learn more about what I might need). Just the couch, some bookcases along the back wall (CD and DVD storage), a few small tables.

Good idea, so I went through and made sure that I had everything set to 2-channel only when listening to stereo sources. I disabled the sub completely, and set the front L-R speakers to large. Even though that should've taken care of everything, I also set the crossover to 40Hz (the lowest available setting) before disabling the sub, just in case.

Then I A-B'd between regular mode and Stereo Direct, both sounded identical: not a complete absence of bass, but far less than I would expect from these speakers. They still sound incredible with the sub in the mix, with excellent clarity and soundstage, very pleasing mids and not a hint of harshness in the highs. I guess I'm just surprised at their pure 2-channel sound; if I didn't already own a sub I'd be pretty disappointed.