Paradigm’s Atom speaker has for many years been considered one of the best values in bookshelf speakers. The improvements to the new SE Atom take it to another level.

The Paradigm Atom SE is a relatively large bookshelf speaker that will be right at home on a tabletop, speaker stand, or bookcase. If you do use a bookcase, you will want one that is fairly deep as the Atom SE is 11” deep and has a rear-firing port. You’ll want to position it so that the back is a few inches away from the wall or rear surface. It stands almost 13” tall but gives a slim appearance with a width of just slightly over 7”.

Using one tweeter and one 5 ¼” midbass/woofer driver, the Atom SE is a perfect example of a classic two-way speaker. It actually gets down very low for its modest size, with its 3db down point at 55hz. At 89 dB sensitivity, we consider the Atom SE moderately efficient. We tested it with the Cambridge Topaz AM20 which is a small, but great-sounding little integrated amp and it drove them quite well.

The 2000C uses two of the 5 ¼” drivers coupled with the X-PAL tweeter. It is quite substantial at almost 20” wide, 7 ½” high, and a little over 11” deep.

It’s an extremely efficient center channel at 93db, yet it can reach down to below 60hz. Couple the efficiency with their great sound and you’ll get the type of dynamics you would expect for $500 for only $200! An incredible value for this caliber of a center channel.

You can hear even the slightest nuances in voices on the screen. It draws you into the film -- letting you hear subtle emotions of an actor's performance.

If you’re looking for a respectable entry-level center channel, the Paradigm Monitor SE 2000C will pair perfectly with the other speakers in the Monitor SE Series. What a great way to start you out on your home theater journey!

The Paradigm Monitor SE 3000F is a three-way design using the same drivers as found in the Atom SE -- just more of them. One of the 5 ¼” midbass drivers handles the critical midrange from 800hz up to about 3k, which is where the tweeter takes over. Two of the 5 ¼” drivers are then used to give you deep bass, reaching all the way down to 42 Hz -- pretty deep for a speaker with this footprint!

It’s only 9” wide and 11” deep. It stands at about 40” tall and we were very impressed at the outriggers Paradigm includes, providing even more stability to the speaker. You can bypass the spikes if you have hardwood floors or use them if the speakers will be sitting on carpet. We do highly recommend the spikes for carpet as the clarity will greatly improve if your speaker is not wobbling around.

Like all of the new SE series, the 3000F is rear ported. This helps increase its efficiency and the 3000F is borderline high efficiency with its 91db rating. These speakers are quite capable of producing a great sound field if you get them set up right. Pay special attention to their distance off the rear wall. While they can produce really amazing sound close to the wall, if you pull them out a bit, the sound really opens up.

We spent the most time listening to the SE 6000F. Like the other speakers in the series, the Monitor SE 6000F uses the same drivers. By using 3 of the 5 ½” woofers, Paradigm was able to increase the efficiency of the 6000F to 93db, which is very high for a speaker of this type. What this translates into is a ton of slam on dynamic passages, plus you are able to hear subtle volume changes easier, which pull you more into the performance. The 6000F is the same width as the 3000F but adds a couple of inches of depth, coming in at 14” deep.

They stand just slightly over 41” tall. The included outriggers give the speaker a pretty serious look. Please see our comments above on the 3000F for the importance of this outrigger system. Finally, just like the 3000F, the 6000F is rear ported.

We connected these up to one of our favorite integrated amps, the Cambridge CXA80. Boy, what a great combination this turned out to be! You’ll want to spend some time fine-tuning the placement of the 6000F. In the listening room where we tested, they sounded best about 20” off the back wall and spread the same distance apart that we were sitting from them, which in our case was about 9’. We also liked them toed in about 5 degrees (this means aiming them slightly towards the center).