Pioneer's new budget line speakers

[Seth=L]

These look kind of interesting, and the price point is certainly appealing.

The line is apparently designed by ex-KEF engineer Andrew Jones (ring any bells with anyone?) and they certainly look impressive for the price. Best Buy seems to be the only one carrying the line, however they omit one model. The tower's MSRP is $199 for the pair, and the bookshelf version that is omitted from Best Buy's inventory has the same MSRP.:Confused: The tower houses a 1" soft dome tweeter and three 5.25" woofers, and the same priced bookshelf version uses the same tweeter and a single 5.25" woofer.

These speakers have a nominal impedance rating of 6 ohms and they are very inefficient.

Here's some sort of press release on Ecoustics.

http://news.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/10381/649747.html

 

[anamorphic96]

The sub looks like the TSC-ASW 8 or the Energy that the TSC was a clone of. Would not surprise me if it was.

These are supposed to sound pretty good though.

 

[zieglj01]

The sub looks weak and no -3db on speaker specs. This looks to be made
to compete with entry level Polk, Klipsch and Jbl. Maybe it will sound better
than average at this price point. May have some problems with entry level
receivers. I am not sure about the WAF factor.

 

[zieglj01]

I bought a pair of the 4" two way from Best Buy this afternoon. I am
in the process of listening to them now. I am using the Marantz SR6003
receiver. There is something to these speakers. Nora Jones sounds good
so far.

 

[dkane360]

I saw them next to the cheap sony towers and the made for best buy klipsch series, so I just kept on walking lol

 

[zieglj01]

I saw them next to the cheap sony towers and the made for best buy klipsch series, so I just kept on walking lol

As the world turns - some will walk on by.

 

[Seth=L]

I bought a pair of the 4" two way from Best Buy this afternoon. I am
in the process of listening to them now. I am using the Marantz SR6003
receiver. There is something to these speakers. Nora Jones sounds good
so far.

I would certainly like to read your impressions of them once you've broken yourself in. I imagine the little ones are pretty bass lean and if they do have reasonable extension then port noise probably comes with it. Given the low efficiency it's possible they got away from the port noise while maintaining reasonable extension for a speaker this size. I eagerly await to see what you have to say about those topics.

 

[zieglj01]

I would certainly like to read your impressions of them once you've broken yourself in. I imagine the little ones are pretty bass lean and if they do have reasonable extension then port noise probably comes with it. Given the low efficiency it's possible they got away from the port noise while maintaining reasonable extension for a speaker this size. I eagerly await to see what you have to say about those topics.

So far the little ones have fairly decent bass and sound like it can
crossover easily at 80 hz - The bass is tight and does not have a
one note sound on music which is nice. They are 12" from the back
and side walls. There is no sense of ear fatigue. The speaker is clean
and open sounding. The midrange will not blow you away. They do
give you a sense of what good music can sound like. I still have to
listen to them some more. They will not compete with the $500 and
$800 dollar shelf/stand speakers I have - however, I think they will
hold their own with the likes of the PSB Alpha and Paradigm Atom.
I am going to check out the bass some more and get back with you.
I have been doing jazz and will do some Eagles and Joan Osbourne.
For the price the cabinet is decent and beat the Polk Monitor 30 on
the knuckle knock test.
I know this may sound like too much praise - However, I have owned
a lot of speakers and I am critical about sound. I don't know the secret
to what makes this one to what it is - however they put more into the
sound than the looks. Pioneer has something up their sleeves. I will
over look the subwoofer - not interested.

*Edit - I have owned the Atom and Alpha speakers.

 

[zieglj01]

I would certainly like to read your impressions of them once you've broken yourself in. I imagine the little ones are pretty bass lean and if they do have reasonable extension then port noise probably comes with it.

The thing is, I have to look and hear it from $300 and down. I am glad
that it is rear ported. Sometime today I will put the air crash scene from
the movie Knowing, which will be a good test. I will look at the latest Star
Trek and Iron Man 2. I believe this speaker requires a strong receiver and
will not mate well with some cheap receivers. I believe it will become a
budget reccomendation from me. Andrew Jones may have done some fancy
crossover work. So far (early stages) I like it better than the 5" Infinity
Primus speaker.
I realize that I am only one set of ears - and that a lot of people in the
future may think I am crazy. I tried to remove the rear terminal cup - how
ever, it may be blocked by the crossover lay out. I am not ready to try
and take the woofer grill off yet - so I can look inside. It may be a second
or third order crossover.

 

[Seth=L]

Apparently Andrew Jones had involvement in the design of the top of the line KEFs back in the KUBE days. After that he moved over to Infinity and worked on the Prelude system and many other products leading up to their change in approach (ceramic drivers) at which point he went over to Pioneer and was involved in the design of their TAD speakers.

It sure doesn't sound like this guy is a novice. These Pioneers may well push those Insignia speakers that garnered so much attention to the back shelf. In fact, I didn't see those Insignias when I was at Best Buy.

 

[zieglj01]

Apparently Andrew Jones had involvement in the design of the top of the line KEFs back in the KUBE days. After that he moved over to Infinity and worked on the Prelude system and many other products leading up to their change in approach (ceramic drivers) at which point he went over to Pioneer and was involved in the design of their TAD speakers.

It sure doesn't sound like this guy is a novice. These Pioneers may well push those Insignia speakers that garnered so much attention to the back shelf. In fact, I didn't see those Insignias when I was at Best Buy.

I use to own the Insignia speaker - This one clearly out performs it. I put the torture test to it, with the movie Knowing - It held up to
the plane crash and the subway wreck - the woofer did not burp. There is some port noise - however, it is low and not as annoying as in
some speakers. Male and female voices sound good. It gives a good sense of musical sound. It is Not hollow, spitty, shouty and does not
have a cupped hands sound. This seems to be a solid mass market contender, that has taken it to the next level.

 

[dkane360]

I use to own the Insignia speaker - This one clearly out performs it.

The coaxial one? I always wanted to give it a listen, because it was certainly unique among budget speakers.

 

[zieglj01]

The coaxial one? I always wanted to give it a listen, because it was certainly unique among budget speakers.

Yes, the coaxial one - that created a big stir. The Pioneer box is better
built for one thing, and can handle more power - and this is only a 2 way
with a 4" woofer. However, it is placed in a bigger box than the average
4" 2 way. I have owned and listened to a lot of speakers - and this one
based on price, is good and should make waves. This is what I feel and
there will be some who don't agree. It still needs a subwoofer for movies
and some music.

 

[zieglj01]

I pulled the terminal plate from the back of the 4" 2-way speaker. It looks
to be a second order crossover - with 2 coils, 2 capacitors (poly cap on
the tweeter) and 2 resistors. They have a brace from the front baffle to
the rear wall, between the woofer and tweeter. This is interesting for a
$89 pair of speakers. Have been listening some more, and still like what they
can do. Good bass and low port noise for a speaker this size. Speaking and
singing voices are nice for a speaker in this price range. They were not shy
with the Iron Man Blu-ray dvd. Something is going on with this - can't
figure it out. They will not compete with the NHT Absolute Zero speakers.
However, they can hold up well with, and above the mass market offerings.

 

[Seth=L]

Good to know that there's some level of engineering behind them apposed to the Sony offerings in the same price range.

 

[zieglj01]

Good to know that there's some level of engineering behind them apposed to the Sony offerings in the same price range.

With the Sony 5" Bookshelf - you get a high pass 1.5 uf capacitor
on the tweeter, and a retail price of $59. Some times on sale for
$49.