Hi Gene. Thanks as always for your tireless work.
I ran across this Pioneer SP-PK52FS review and have to share an irony... I built our basement home theater in 2015-16 to make our house the hang-out for our daughter and her friends so we would have a better idea of where she was. Epson UB, a beautiful 111" Made in USA screen from an Alabama company that sadly ceased to exist, Denon X4000, OPPO BDP-105, hand-me-down La-Z-Boy recliners from my parents - and those pioneers that I bought from Dennis Murphy (Philharmonic Audio) after he replaced the tweeters and crossovers to make them more linear. It was a pet project of his and he sold them modified for about Pioneer's list price. I was excited to own them after the press from you and others, and a high-end speaker guy taking them under his wing.
The irony is that this was before I found that I needed hearing aids because of a high-freq loss from years unprotected firearms, rock-n-roll and power tools. I wasn't too impressed by the Pioneers, even with a couple of SVS PC-2000 subs and some in-wall side surrounds, and wondered about the glowing reviews. I even put t-shirts over the tweeters to fool Audyssey into boosting them during calibration. Yeh - I know; any port in a storm...
We moved and I left the HT, except the PC-2000's and Furman power conditioner, with the buyers because we were headed to FL with no basement. It wasn't until I auditioned speakers here that I realized my hearing loss; nothing sounded good, everything was muddier than I remembered it from years and years ago. No joy from Ascend Sierra-2EX, KEF Meta, or even tinny-reputation Klipsch. Did speaker manufacturers forget how to build speakers like the ARs and Infinitys I listened to 40 years ago? Then I listened to some audio test files at audiocheck dot net I heard about from Rob H. THERE was my answer! Not a problem with the speakers, but with my ears. Next I was auditioning hearing aids.
It will never be like it was, but my bionic boost lets me enjoy music and hear movie dialog again, and not ask my wife and daughters to repeat things so often. I'd sure like to listen to that Pioneer set now to realize what I never knew I had.
A PSA to everyone - TAKE CARE OF YOUR HEARING. You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone! And if you ever think your tweeters are shot, or that they don't make speakers as open and airy as they used to, humble yourself and have your hearing checked. Is wearing hearing aids inconvenient? Sure. Is hearing what you didn't realize you were missing priceless? You bet!
