All listening was done in the 80dB range to avoid room issues (see my post above).
Pioneer SP-FS52 vs. Salk Songtowers RT
I already had the Salks hooked up, so I compared them. The Salks unquestionably dominate in bass. Also, the Salks had a fuller sound. But what really surprised me was how close the Pio tweeter performed to the ribbon tweeter on the Salks. When I first hooked up the Salks, I had all speakers facing straight forward. In this position, the Pio’s were better sounding in the treble region. Once I properly toed-in the Salks, they proved better, but not by as much as I expected.
You will note that I make no mention of midrange performance. That is because I could not make any clear distinctions. The increased bass output of the Salk’s was the dominant factor and changed the tone between these speakers enough that I was not confident in any midrange differences.
There is no question that the Salks are better speakers, but if you eliminate the bass difference by using a subwoofer, the difference between these speakers will really leave you wondering about whether it is worth the price difference. This is not a criticism of the Salks, I would say the same thing about my Paradigm S-2’s or Focal Solo6Be’s.
The question is how good is good enough, and, for me, the Pioneers get amazingly close to this mark at a very low price.
Pioneer SP-FS52 vs. Infinity P363
I have always felt that the P363 was not as articulate with bass as I am used to. Comparing it with the Pioneers underscored this. The P363 definitely puts out more bass energy, but the Pioneer is clearly more articulate. To use TSLGuy’s terminology, my sense is that the P363 commits sins of commission while the Pioneers only commit sins of omission. The Pioneers are decent as full range speakers - for most music I was content with the bass provided when I listened to them at length. However, more bass is welcome.
The mid-range sounded very close to me. With the change in bass between the speakers, I really could not detect differences in the mid-range.
On the upper end, the Pioneer tweeter really outclasses the P363 tweeter. They are not close. The Pioneer tweeter is much closer to the Salk’s ribbbon than to the P363’s. I feel the Pio tweeter is the equal of the tweeter in my EMP-41Be speakers.
Conclusion
I think these are the new standard bearer for budget speakers. They clearly outperform the P363s (though arguably someone who wanted more bass and was willing to sacrifice articulation and HF extension might prefer the P363) at a lower price!
This option is especially exciting for the beginner on a budget. A pair of these will give you very good sound as a standalone solution. Everything on these speakers seems well balanced - bass being the biggest compromise. Later adding and tuning a good sub will get excellent sound.
