Paradigm 11se Mk II Towers, Pair — Dual 8″, Made in Canada

Built in Canada by Paradigm, and the largest speaker in the SE range — the one the rest of the series was working up to.

Paradigm has designed and built its speakers at its own Ontario factory since the early 1980s, and it did so through the period when almost every competitor moved production offshore. These are from that run. The company’s reputation was made on measured performance at a price nobody else was matching, and the SE series is where a lot of Canadian systems started.

The driver arrangement tells you what these are for. Two eight-inch mid-bass drivers per cabinet is a great deal of cone area — considerably more than the five- and six-inch drivers that most towers of this size use — and it is the reason these reach down to 30 hertz without a subwoofer and stay composed when asked for volume. A single one-inch tweeter handles everything above 1.8 kilohertz, on a third-order electro-acoustic crossover.

The surrounds are rubber, not foam. That deserves its own sentence on a speaker of this age, because the single most common failure on a thirty-year-old loudspeaker is foam surrounds that have crumbled and need replacing. Rubber does not do that. It is the difference between a pair you can use and a pair you have to send out for repair first.

They are also easy to drive. Ninety-two decibels in room, and a recommended amplifier range that starts at fifteen watts — so a modest vintage receiver runs these properly, and a big amplifier is an option rather than a requirement. Paradigm rated them compatible with 8 ohms.

Response is quoted at ±2 dB from 50 hertz to 20 kilohertz on axis, and holds to ±2 dB out to 15 kilohertz at thirty degrees off axis — a narrow window either way, and the off-axis figure is the one that decides how the speakers sound when you are not sitting precisely between them.

The cabinets are black ash, just under forty inches tall and under twelve wide, in a bass-reflex enclosure with Paradigm’s quasi-third-order resistive port. Connection is via five-way binding posts, so bare wire, spades, pins and banana plugs all work — you are not forced into one kind of cable.

Paradigm’s own price for the pair was $870 US when these were new in 1989 — about $1,900 in 2026 Canadian dollars.

These arrived with a fault and have been repaired. They are working correctly now, and on a speaker of this age that is worth knowing — the bench work is behind them rather than ahead of you, and they leave here under our warranty regardless.

Condition is Good. The cabinets carry general wear from use, which has been touched up, and the pair presents well.

A few relevant specifications:

A large, easy-driving Canadian-built pair with real cone area and surrounds that have not aged out — the kind of speaker that makes a modest amplifier sound like a bigger one. Backed by Radique Audio’s Bumper-to-Bumper Warranty and our Perpetual Trade-Back Program. Available for audition by appointment in Kanata.

Paradigm 11se Mk II Specifications

• Three-driver, two-way bass reflex floorstanding loudspeaker, quasi-3rd-order resistive port
• Mid/bass: two 210 mm (8 in) drivers per cabinet
• High frequency: 25 mm (1 in) tweeter
• Crossover: 3rd-order electro-acoustic at 1.8 kHz
• Frequency response on axis: ±2 dB, 50 Hz to 20 kHz
• Frequency response 30° off axis: ±2 dB, 50 Hz to 15 kHz
• Low frequency extension 30 Hz (DIN)
• Sensitivity 92 dB in room, 89 dB anechoic
• Impedance: compatible with 8 ohms
• Suitable amplifier power 15 to 250 watts
• Five-way binding posts — bare wire, spades, pins or bananas
• Rubber driver surrounds
• Black ash finish
• Made in Canada
• Repaired and working correctly
• 60 lbs (27.2 kg) each
• Dimensions: (Width x Height x Depth) 11.75 x 39.75 x 14.25 inches (30 x 101 x 37 cm)
• Weight: 60 lbs (27.2 kg) each

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