Paradigm Millenia 20 Trio LCR Flat Screen Speaker System

I found the performance of the Millenia 20 Trio was very good with both music and movie sources, providing excellent midrange vocal and dialog presence, as well as providing a credible left and right channel sound image.

Although the left and right channel sound image is not as wide as placing separate left and right speakers at a wider distance from the center channel, the left and right channel sound image did project away from the physical speaker system housing to produce a sound image with great detail and depth.

I found that using the Millenia 20 Trio with additional surround sound speakers and a subwoofer provided an very good alternative for a home theater setup. The Millenia 20 Trio provided a very realistic center and left/right sound image for my Westinghouse 37-inch LCD television.

Another aspect of the Millenia 20 Trio's performance is light with regards to upper bass frequency response. According to the automatic speaker setup parameter results from my receivers, the Millenia 20 Trio has a functional low end frequency cutoff point of about 120HZ, which is common for this type of speaker system. I would suggest using the Millenia 20 Trio with an additional subwoofer if you want deep bass response.

On the other hand, the Millenia 20 Trio has very good presence and depth in the midrange. Front dialog staging in films was very good, and vocals on music material offered a lot of depth. Some good vocal examples were cuts from CDs by Norah Jones (Come Away With Me), Al Stewart (A Beach Full of Shells), and Pink Floyd (Dark Side of the Moon).

Although the Millenia 20 Trio performs very well, and does provide separation between the left, center, and right channel sounds that go beyond its physical left and right borders, it must be pointed out that using this approach to the front left, center, and right channel speaker setup does yield a slightly different surround imaging result than having independent speakers, especially in a large room.

If you replace a separate set of separate Left, Center, and Right channel speaker with the Millenia 20 Trio in a large room in combination with surround speakers that are placed far apart, you may notice that while the rear surround image will still maintain a wide sound field, you will experience a narrowing of the surround image with sounds that are combined both the front left and right and surround speakers. This may be noticeable with rear to front sound movement.

1. Great Sound - Very clear and distinct midrange and highs.

2. Comes with what you need for wall mounting.

3. 41-inch width fits matches well with a 42-inch LCD or Plasma Television.

4. Easy-to-Use, excellent quality, push-in speaker wire connectors.

What I Didn't Like About The Millenia 20 Trio

1. Not a substitute for a multi-channel surround sound speaker system in a large room.

2. Need to use a subwoofer for best full-range frequency listening.

Final Take

I found that the Paradigm Millenia 20 Trio LCR Speaker System delivered clear sound across a wide range of frequencies and provided well-balanced left, center, right sound image.

The Millenia 20 Trio is a single housing, about 41-inches long, that includes the Left, Center, and Right channel speakers. However, despite this design, the Millenia 20 Trio supplied a good Left/Center/Right image. The sounds from the left and right channels projected to the sides beyond the physical length of the speaker. Also, the center channel portion delivered a very good vocal and dialog presence from both music and movie source material.

I listened to the Millenia 20 Trio in three different types of setups:

1. As a single, standalone (L,C,R) speaker system.

2. As a standalone speaker system, combined with a separate subwoofer (Klipsch Synergy Sub10).

3. Same as setup #2, but adding two left and right surround speakers (Klipsch Synergy B3).

The different types of setups yielded different results with regards to surround imaging and bass depth. However, as far as sound quality goes, this speaker system worked well alone, or as part of larger system. I must be noted that the Millenia 20 Trio, when used alone, will not provide the more enveloping surround sound environment as when using additional surround sound speakers. However, in a space-saving setup, this system delivers a wide soundstage with good detail. The Millenia 20 Trio can easily be used in a small-to-medium size room, and is a great design and size match for use with a 42-inch Plasma or LCD flat panel television.

I really enjoyed using this system and found that it performed better that I expected. I give the Paradigm Millenia 20 Trio LCR Speaker 4.5 out of 5 Stars.

For an closer look at the Millenia 20 Trio, also check out my Photo Gallery.

Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.