Loudspeakers

Paradigm was founded in Toronto, Canada in 1982 by Scott Bagby and Jerry VanderMarel, debuting the Model 7 and Model 9 loudspeakers at the Toronto Audio Show that year. And it's the return of Bagby to the company that's the impetus for this new Founder Series.

Previously, in 2005, he sold his majority stake in Paradigm Electronics (also, since 1998, the owner of Canadian hardware brand Anthem Electronics), to a US private equity company Shoreview Industries. Shortly after, Bagby and Shoreview acquired MartinLogan, leading to the formation of PML Sound International. Bagby stepped down in 2009 and – in his words – went into 'semi-retirement' while still acting as a part-time advisor to the loudspeaker company he'd set up three decades earlier. Yet he told HFN he never lost the 'bug' for audio engineering, and when Shoreview later expressed an interest in divesting, he worked with son John (now Paradigm MD) to acquire a 100% stake in the three-brand company in May '19. The Founder Series is the result of 'wishing to make a strong statement' about the return of the brand to its original owner.