Any high-performance speaker driver (in this case, the tweeter) must be both very strong (to prevent distortion), and very light (to be agile, responsive, and accurate). This quest of design and engineering has led the industry to try many different exotic materials. Some of them found practical application and many did not. AL-MAC is our unique blend of Aluminum, Magnesium, and Ceramic materials; each of which contribute to the end goal of greater accuracy and realism. Their special properties contribute to the final product which is not only strong and lightweight, but embodies a natural anti-resonance to ensure the tweeter doesn’t just sound good “on paper” but truly sounds incredible in the real world. Cutting edge technology, with real benefits, in practical applications - this is what the Founder Series is all about.

Similar to the goals we had in mind when developing the AL-MAC tweeter, AL-MAG was conceived to bring the same elevated level of performance to the area where our ears are the most sensitive, the midrange. If you have ever read a speaker review, the midrange typically gets a lot of attention, and rightly so. By nature, human hearing places an emphasis on things like voices so that we know when we’re interacting with someone familiar. Think about how instantly recognizable your favorite recording artist or actor’s voice sounds. Our goal here was to have the midrange driver sound as realistic as possible. After all, isn’t that why you have a nice audio system? To make it sound like, “you are there?” With AL-MAG technology, Founder series comes another step closer.

The rooms where we live and listen have changed dramatically over the years. And while home interiors have evolved; many speaker technologies have not kept pace. We believe that speakers should be a natural extension of your room’s look and feel, while also providing a noticeable and real-world performance gain. Enter the Oblate Spherical Waveguide (OSW™) tweeter waveguide, only from Paradigm. The OSW™ helps Founder Series Loudspeakers cope with the challenge presented by modern-day environments, which are larger, more open, and full of reflective surfaces. OSW™ technology utilizes a precise, natural geometry to help focus the tweeter output where it matters, the listening area. As you move to the sides of the listening area, tweeter output gradually decreases, avoiding performance-robbing room reflections. Decreased output at the periphery of the room means that sound will not disrupt others that may be in earshot but wish to focus their attention elsewhere. Coupled with a larger, more powerful magnet/motor structure with greater efficiency and lower distortion, OSW™ gives you better sound where you want it, and less distracting sound where you don’t. Real solutions for real life.

Perforated Phase Aligning (PPA™) Lens technology is a perfect example of form meeting function. Not only are the crafted metal parts beautiful to look at, but they protect the driver cone and provide a substantial performance benefit. For added levels of realism, the PPA™ lens works to ensure that all frequencies arrive at the listener’s ears at the same time. This means that everything sounds more realistic from the lowest bass, up to the most delicate details. Founder’s floorstanding models also receive this treatment on their midrange drivers helping to project the sound more predictably at a distance. That makes them ideal for listening from farther away without losing sound quality and detail to the room.

The first thing you see on a speaker should be the last thing you hear: the cabinet. Founder Series’ cabinets are not only beautiful and unique to the eye, but their design enhances performance. The more rigid and strong a cabinet is, the less resonance and vibration it produces, which invariably improves the sound. The Cascade-Fusion bracing inside the Founder Series’ faceted cabinets is engineered to both increase rigidity and break up any standing waves generated by the high output bass drivers. The inherent strength of our unique geometric cabinet also helps distribute energy across a larger surface area providing even greater strength and support than is possible with traditional square cabinet designs. This ultra-rigid construction gives the drivers a neutral platform to play from, resulting in tighter bass, greater clarity, and more precise accuracy. These beautiful cabinets are “seen and not heard”.

With Founder series, every detail matters. While all the technologies are something you can hear the benefits of, some are more focused on what you don’t hear: distortion. The Shock Mount system is one such special technology that is all about invisibility, both visual and sonic. While we’ve made our drivers the “Stars of the Show”, accompanying technology and innovation ensures that all their benefits reach your ears. Something we’re very proud of is the new Advanced Shock Mount system which is specifically designed to control vibration and resonance between the midrange and bass drivers and the cabinet. By mechanically decoupling these drivers from the specially designed and braced enclosure, these performance robbing vibrations are unable to transfer between the drivers and cabinet, or between the cabinet and the drivers. Without these resonances, all drivers are left free to deliver pure, unaltered sound with no audible distortion. We also applied this principle to the enclosure’s feet. Shock Mount Feet serve to decouple the speaker cabinet from the floor further controlling and eliminating the harmful effects of extraneous vibration. The feet can even be adjusted from above, without moving or tipping the cabinet making sure you get a perfectly level footing on any surface. Interchangeable hardware is included for both carpet and hardwood floors so that no matter what, you are hearing all the performance you paid for.