Research & Development: NRC Research

How do you know when something sounds good? What does accuracy sound like?

To find out, Paradigm engineers worked closely with researchers at The National Research Council (NRC) in Ottawa, Canada, as they sought answers to these great questions of audiology, and more.

As a result of hundreds of scientific tests, over decades of research, analysts and investigators were able to show measurable characteristics of good sound, and what makes a speaker sound more accurate to our ears. They found a direct correlation between good sound and accurate measurements in three principle areas:

Flat Midrange

The highest-scoring speakers did not emphasize any one midrange frequency, unwanted resonances were well controlled.

Smooth Total Energy Response

The best scoring speakers dispersed sound uniformly — on-axis and off-axis frequency response curves were smooth and similar.

Low Distortion

The speakers with the highest scores also exhibited very low levels of distortion.


And, surprise, these three principle findings are among the most important and consistent characteristics of Paradigm loudspeakers. Using these kinds of fundamental scientific findings as a jumping off point for our own extensive program of research and development, we have been able to virtually eliminate speaker anomolies and performance-robbing design flaws.

The result is a loudspeaker whose utterly uncolored performance, based on real science, is so realistically accurate that only the performance comes through.