Paradigm Prestige 55C Center Speaker

Description

When was the last time you heard music performed live? Whether it’s in a spacious concert hall, an airy amphitheater or an intimate club, live music is the ne plus ultra entertainment experience. Artists on a tightrope, no net, playing full out; using their whole being to generate emotion and excitement. Audiences up on their feet, dancing; or riveted in place by virtuosity. Music is a living thing, born in the studio and on stage—growing, expanding, taking over the world. It takes an extraordinary level of loudspeaker performance to reproduce that thrilling experience in the comfort of your home. That’s the goal of our new Prestige Series.

Respect For The Original Source

When was the last time you heard music performed live? Whether it’s in a spacious concert hall, an airy amphitheater or an intimate club, live music is the ne plus ultra entertainment experience. Artists on a tightrope, no net, playing full out; using their whole being to generate emotion and excitement. Audiences up on their feet, dancing; or riveted in place by virtuosity. Music is a living thing, born in the studio and on stage—growing, expanding, taking over the world. It takes an extraordinary level of loudspeaker performance to reproduce that thrilling experience in the comfort of your home. That’s the goal of our new Prestige Series.

Realism In Audio

And like the most effective live performances, Prestige achieves its goal with simplicity, technology and the application of a talented human touch. Whether you seek a more lifelike realization of your music sources, or you want a truly earthshaking home theater experience, the new Prestige Series offers you the best seat in the house (the one in your own living room)!

Prestige Is Smart Engineering

Harnessing cutting-edge new technologies, like our next generation X-PAL™ pure-aluminum drivers along with our exclusive Perforated Phase-Aligning (PPA™) Tweeter Lens that protects the delicate tweeter dome and acts as the Phase Plug, blocking out-of-phase frequencies for smoother, extended high frequencies with incredible detail and higher output.

Crafted in Canada

Designed, engineered, and fully Crafted in Canada, by people who love great audio (just like you). From the precise workmanship of the non-resonant cabinets to their beautiful premium-grade finishes, Prestige is truly hand-built for performance.

Craftsmanship

Prestige cabinets are designed, engineered, and Crafted in Canada specifically to enhance audio performance and complement your listening space. Constructed of heavy duty, non-resonant ¾-inch MDF with optimally placed interior bracing and an enhanced 1-inch MDF baffle design, each Prestige cabinet features sharp lines, clean aesthetics and industry-leading premium-grade finishes.

The innovative rear-mounted tweeter and driver housing completely hides front baffle hardware. Drivers are secured with our SHOCK-MOUNT™ Isolation Mounting System to a reinforced 1-inch MDF baffle, which reinforces rigidity and cabinet strength while eliminating unwanted cabinet resonances that interfere with the sound. The low profile, acoustically transparent grille attaches magnetically for a stylishly stealthy front presentation.

Floorstanding models benefit from a rigid polished stainless steel and aluminum base that isolates and defeats performance-altering vibrations. The bases feature reversible foot options for hard and soft flooring.

Prestige cabinets are offered in a variety of beautiful premium-grade finishes: Walnut and Black Walnut have a smooth satin finish with distinctive wood figuring. Midnight Cherry and Piano Black feature a luxurious hand-rubbed, high-gloss finish.

Innovation & Technology

For over 30 years, Paradigm has set the precedent for innovation and technology in loudspeaker manufacturing. The new Prestige Series builds on this history by combining new technologies with smart engineering that provides astonishing performance at an incredible value—all completely crafted in our Canadian facility. Prepare to be impressed and astonished.

Tweeter Design & Engineering

Prestige X-PAL™ tweeters are Paradigm’s next generation design combining an advanced pure-aluminum tweeter dome with the enhanced high frequency performance of a well-designed phase plug. Highs are clear and accurate, for pinpoint imaging, while a rear-mounted design hides front baffle hardware, presenting a visually unobtrusive aesthetic.

Prestige Tweeters In-Depth

X-PAL™ tweeter with exclusive Perforated Phase-Aligning (PPA™) Tweeter Lens that protects the delicate pure-aluminum tweeter dome and acts as the Phase Plug, blocking out-of-phase frequencies for smoother, extended high frequencies with incredible detail and higher output.

Our tweeter designs are cooled by the original ultra-stable Ferrofluid, made exclusively by Ferrotec. Ferrofluid is a colloidal suspension of magnetic nano particles in a liquid carrier with low volatility and high thermal stability.

Rear-mounted tweeter and midrange/tweeter module designs removes obtrusive hardware from the front speaker baffle for a flawless new look, enhanced by low-diffraction brushed anodized aluminum trim rings.

Driver Design & Engineering

Maintaining control over your design and manufacturing process is the only way to ensure perfection. For the ultimate in control, we build our next generation X-PAL™ drivers in-house. Only by handcrafting each pure-aluminum tweeter, midrange and bass driver ourselves can we guarantee the consistency of our precision engineering, going beyond the industry standard to deliver superior high performance in each and every Prestige loudspeaker we build.

X-PAL™ woofer and midrange brushed pure-aluminum cones combine lightweight stiffness with high consistency for a greater degree of accuracy and smooth, uncolored frequency response. Matching concave dust caps ensuring more uniform dynamic response and a cleaner, modern aesthetic. Paradigm’s patented† Active Ridge Technology (ART™) surrounds, made in-house and overmolded directly onto each cone, achieve greater excursion for a 3dB gain in distortion-free output (50% greater) compared to drivers with standard surrounds. Crafted from audiophile-grade injection-molded thermoplastic elastomer, ART™ surrounds are more durable and reliable, for a lifetime of superior sound.

† US patents: D654,479S and 8,340,340B2.

Lightweight, extremely durable high-excursion Nomex spider design delivers a longer life of flexibility and performance. Nomex is 10-times stronger than industry-standard cotton-based spider material.

Super-strong die-cast baskets feature integrated heat sinks for higher power handling, for better bass, better dynamics, and less power compression.

Mid-woofers and woofers feature long-excursion, high-power 1.5-inch voice coil motors with Kapton formers, high-temp wire (tolerances to 600°F!) and more durable Nomex collars.

 

The reference-level Prestige crossover design includes high voltage film and bi-polar capacitors, heavy gauge inductors and superior ceramic stand-off resistors for consistent performance at any playback level, and provide seamless blending for a more realistic performance.

 

SHOCK-MOUNT™ Isolation Mounting System – a butyl-rubber driver fastening system in which critically placed isolation inserts and gaskets decouple drivers from the speaker’s enclosure, resulting in unparalleled reduction of driver/enclosure interactions and their associated performance robbing resonances and vibrations.

Partnered with the NRC

Paradigm is partnered with Canada’s world-renowned NRC in ongoing research to reveal the true nature of sound and human hearing. Findings influence design and performance specs, resulting in a uniquely realistic listening experience, backed by sound science.

https://www.paradigm.com/en/center/prestige-55c

DESIGN	6-driver, 3 way center channel
FREQUENCY RESPONSE ON-AXIS	±2dB from 55 Hz – 20 kHz
HIGH FREQUENCY DRIVER	1″ (25mm) X-PAL™ dome, ferro-fluid damped / cooled, Perforated Phase-Aligning (PPA™) Tweeter Lens, Finite Element Analysis (FEA) optimized pole piece assembly
LOW FREQUENCY EXTENSION	37 Hz (DIN)
SENSITIVITY ROOM / ANECHOIC	94 dB / 91 dB
IMPEDANCE	Compatible with 8 ohms
FINISHES	Gloss: Piano Black, Midnight Cherry & Gloss White. Satin: Walnut & Black Walnut
WEIGHT	49 lbs. (22.2 kg)
LOW FREQUENCY DRIVER	Four 5.5″ (140mm) X-PAL™ drivers, overmolded Active Ridge Technology (ART™) surrounds, SHOCK-MOUNT™ Isolation Mounting System, 1.5″ high-temp voice coil
CROSSOVER	2nd order electro-acoustic at 2.6 kHz (tweeter/mid), 2nd order @ 750 Hz
FREQUENCY RESPONSE 30° OFF-AXIS	±2dB from 55 Hz – 17 kHz
SUITABLE AMPLIFIER POWER RANGE	15 – 260 watts
MAXIMUM INPUT POWER	190 watts
DIMENSIONS HXWXD ‡ INCLUDES PLINTH, FEET, GRILLE AND TERMINAL CUPS.	7.75″ × 32″ × 13.125″ (19.7cm × 81.3cm × 33.3cm)
MIDRANGE FREQUENCY DRIVER	3.5″ (89mm) X-PAL™ driver, SHOCK-MOUNT™ Isolation Mounting System