Fix old Atoms or buy new ones?

To Doug Schneider,

I just read your excellent review of the Atom Monitor v.7.

My rear home-theater speakers are Atom v.2s. My workshop had the Atom v.1s -- the foam surrounds have separated as I overdrove them with an NAD 7400 amp (100Wpc) to hear music above shop-tool noise. Silly me.

Paradigm wants $100 to re-cone the v.1. Elsewhere, I’ve been offered a pair of nearly new v.7s for $300. I could put the v.2 in the workshop and the v.7 in the HT setup.

Has the Atom evolved to the point that spending $100 on v.1s is a waste of money compared to what the v.7 offers?

Jeremy Hill

If I were in your shoes, I’d buy the Atom Monitor v.7s for $300, not only because they’re quite a bit better than the earlier models, but because I’d also be worried if more than just the foam surrounds were damaged on your v.1s. You might spend $100 to fix the surrounds and find out something else needs fixing, or that something else is about to go wrong -- those original v.1s have to be really old. . . . Doug Schneider