Pioneer Speakers!

They do this regularly, but it's the 1st time I recall a code for the 41s. Really solid value here.
 
Are these better than the Polk Monitor 60's that I'm waiting to go on sale again?
 
I've got a pair of SP-BS21-LR ($50) hooked up to a Lepai 2020A Tripath Class-T ($15) in my garage. They sound great! They sound even better when hooked up to a Dayton DTA-1 and a good source. The Dayton is a little wimpy compared to the Lepai.
 
They are great speakers, but I wouldn't really consider this a "Hot" deal, it happens frequently.
 
For the same price, is there any downside to just grabbing a pair of the centers and using them as bookshelves over the BS41? In theory it's an extra woofer a piece but I'm probably missing some detail or another...
 
Skillz said:
They are great speakers, but I wouldn't really consider this a "Hot" deal, it happens frequently.
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For $100 shipped or $108 in CA I'd say this is warm. The BS41 usually goes for $140 on Amazon.
 
Trombe said:
For the same price, is there any downside to just grabbing a pair of the centers and using them as bookshelves over the BS41? In theory it's an extra woofer a piece but I'm probably missing some detail or another...
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It's fine. Use them vertically if possible. D'Appolito configuration changes the off-axis response and is much better when vertical (also true when used as a center, but fewer people do it that way because it's harder to fit under/above the TV vertically)

Polk speakers are better than Pioneers.
 
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I bought a full 5.1 set of these when they first came out and could not believe the sound for the price. I'm not an audiophile by any means, but these sounded better than just about any other speaker I have owned/heard in my limited experience. I have had them now for about two years, and they still sound great. They are a little on the big side for trying to squeeze them into a surround setup spaces...
 
LeninGHOLA said:
Depends on what you're looking for. I had to get rid of my Polk Monitors because they were just too bright. These Pioneers are a bit more laid back, but need more power to drive them.
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Well, yes of course each person will have his own preference, but Polk is a higher-end speaker company than Pioneer and their products overall have more options that will deliver less distortion than stuff from Pioneer. Pioneer sells pretty basic speakers. Doesn't mean that they are crap. And it's not like Polk's cheap speakers are super awesome either. Polk and Pioneer both make inexpensive speakers, but Polk also makes better speakers (that cost more). I'd take Polk's inexpensive speakers over Pioneer's, and I'd be willing to bet a few bucks that the inexpensive Polk stuff will sound just a bit more accurate (lower distortion - which would of course need to be measured). But hey, up to you. Nothing wrong with liking Pioneer. The differences at this price point won't be much. Always best to hear speakers in person if possible, though.

Personally I wouldn't really ever buy Pioneer speakers but I'm sure they'd satisfy most people. I like their receivers other than the fact that they use MCACC instead of Audyssey for auto-calibration.. such a shame.

Edit to note: I mention Polk because they also go on sale often on Newegg, and because it came up in other prior posts. I don't use either speaker brand, personally, but I have owned speakers from both companies in the past 10 years or so. I DIY them these days.
 
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dandragonrage said:
Well, yes of course each person will have his own preference, but Polk is a higher-end speaker company than Pioneer and their products overall have more options that will deliver less distortion than stuff from Pioneer. Pioneer sells pretty basic speakers. Doesn't mean that they are crap. And it's not like Polk's cheap speakers are super awesome either. Polk and Pioneer both make inexpensive speakers, but Polk also makes better speakers (that cost more). I'd take Polk's inexpensive speakers over Pioneer's, and I'd be willing to bet a few bucks that the inexpensive Polk stuff will sound just a bit more accurate (lower distortion - which would of course need to be measured). But hey, up to you. Nothing wrong with liking Pioneer.

Personally I wouldn't really ever buy Pioneer speakers but I'm sure they'd satisfy most people. I like their receivers other than the fact that they use MCACC instead of Audyssey for auto-calibration.. such a shame.
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These particular speakers (not Pioneers as a whole) stand out in the price/performance area because they are really hard to beat at this tier. When they were first reviewed they created quite a buzz due to the man who designed them; Andrew Jones, and the sound quality.

I'd agree with your assessment that Polk does make higher tier speakers that are of very good quality, and almost always will be better than the Pioneer alternative. These are priced against the standard Monitor series from Polk, and FWIW, are better than the Monitor 40's I had (vs BS41).

Full disclosure - I don't own speakers from either brand anymore as I'm pretty much a Hsu guy at the moment.
 
dandragonrage said:
...Polk is a higher-end speaker company than Pioneer and their products overall have more options that will deliver less distortion than stuff from Pioneer. Pioneer sells pretty basic speakers. Doesn't mean that they are crap. And it's not like Polk's cheap speakers are super awesome either. Polk and Pioneer both make inexpensive speakers, but Polk also makes better speakers (that cost more).
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You really consider Polk's LSiM707 higher-end than a TAD Reference One?
 
HammerSandwich said:
You really consider Polk's LSiM707 higher-end than a TAD Reference One?
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Okay, the TAD stuff is probably an exception, but I haven't heard it. I know speakers fairly well from a technical point of view, and have heard a fair amount of them, but not anything TAD. I do know that if I had a lot of money, I wouldn't spend it on Pioneer anything, regardless of how good they probably are, but that's kinda beside the point. (Note: I have of course heard of the TAD line from AVSForum and other places... just haven't heard them myself. Didn't even think of them when I posted above, but they really weren't part of the discussion anyway... they're such an outlier compared to the other Pioneer products whereas Polk has a pretty good range with several different series and models in each)
 
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King of Heroes said:
I'd like to know this as well. I need some floorstanders for my TV and the Pioneer FS51s are looking mighty tempting.
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I'd go with the Polks myself, but some may prefer the sound of the Pioneers. Speakers are subjective. They should both get reasonably loud with 3x 5-1/4" woofers, and as mentioned before, the Pioneers will sound less bright to some, or more muted to others. Personal preference.

I will say that the 6 ohms for the Pioneers might not play well with low-quality receivers, but should be good with just about any quality piece or separate amp. Most cheap receivers will probably work too, but some of the super cheap ones probably won't.

I've heard multiple models of both home and car audio speakers by both brands and I just happen to not be a big fan of Pioneer speakers myself.
 
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I have a surround setup of the Pioneers (41s front, 21s back and their center) and I couldn't be happier, especially as it cost about 230 bucks for the full set, throw in the Polk 10" ~100 dollar sub and it makes for a great setup.
 
I have heard the Tad ref one in the past. I also have had some Polk SDA-2? speakers, can't recall the model atm sorry. The SDA are monsters that are about 3' across and 5-6' tall. Anyway, TAD is/was better in terms of realism and the Polks were more fun b/c they were basically a literal wall of sound.

So anyway, yeah, for the $$? the Pioneer tower speakers are very decent indeed. Wall of sound happy fun time yum!
 
I have mine connected to a Pioneer 1121k receiver. I think they sound better than the polks, but honestly I only ever listened to the polks at the store and not in the home. I love these speakers personally...
 
ob1 said:
I have mine connected to a Pioneer 1121k receiver. I think they sound better than the polks, but honestly I only ever listened to the polks at the store and not in the home. I love these speakers personally...
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It's quite possible that you'd like the Pioneers over the Polks in your home, but the room and positioning of the speakers is just as important as the speakers themselves. There are few aspects of sound that you can compare between speakers set up in different rooms. Most comparisons are totally invalid when the speakers are in different rooms. Also - and this goes for those of us who are heavy into home audio/theater as well - our memory is not good enough to remember the sound of a speaker well enough even if you were to get home from the store and start listening to your speakers within 5-10 minutes... still a lot of details about the sound forgotten. You can remember some of the basic stuff like a speaker sounding bright or dull or sibilance or whatever, but not enough to do a full comparison.

The best possible thing to do is audition returnable speakers in your home, preferably multiples at the same time to compare. Though that's more important when you're buying an expensive system. Probably not that big a deal with $100-200 speakers.
 
dandragonrage said:
I've heard multiple models of both home and car audio speakers by both brands and I just happen to not be a big fan of Pioneer speakers myself.
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The TS-C720 PRS speakers were a huge hit when run active in the mobile audio community. Did you get a chance to try them?

I have the sub from this set. I haven't heard the speakers. For the price though, I'd imagine they would be hard to beat. I typically run silk dome stuff though so the difference in sound compared to some of the metal dome stuff polk puts out is more appealing to me, my ears get fatigued from brighter speakers so no Infinity or Klipsch either.
 
InternationalHat said:
The TS-C720 PRS speakers were a huge hit when run active in the mobile audio community. Did you get a chance to try them?
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I'm actually aware of that model but unfortunately they are out of production. I've heard many good things, but that was one model I haven't heard myself. I've owned Pioneer PRS car amps but not speakers. The C720PRS are the only ones I've heard somewhat good things about, even in the PRS line. I do know that I wouldn't accept the tweeter from it, though, from discussions on DIYMA about the set. And if I remember correctly, people liked the woofer more because of its output capability than SQ, but not that it's crappy in SQ either.

I've been running Rainbow woofers and Seas Neo tweeters in my car for a while now. Have also been doing installations using Dayton Audio woofers. Wanting to upgrade to Scan Speak someday. I DIY my speakers both home and car now most of the time. I use MiniDSP in the car for a crossover. Behringer DCX2496 at home. 2 amp channels per front speaker in the car... 3 at home.

I like bright and detailed tweeters as long as there's not crazy sibilance. My favorite tweeter so far is the Vifa XT19 which I use in my home speakers. This is the main reason I don't like Pioneer speakers much. But some people find the XT19 too bright and would prefer something less so.
 
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misan-thrope said:
I have a surround setup of the Pioneers (41s front, 21s back and their center) and I couldn't be happier, especially as it cost about 230 bucks for the full set, throw in the Polk 10" ~100 dollar sub and it makes for a great setup.
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That sub doesn't hold up to the quality of the other speakers, actually. But, it you like it, who is to say you're wrong?
 
LeninGHOLA said:
That sub doesn't hold up to the quality of the other speakers, actually. But, it you like it, who is to say you're wrong?
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Not many options for a good ~$100 sub. Could go Dayton or BIC but those aren't going to be particularly good at that price either. But some people don't care that much about bass. Me, I have a 15" Acoustic Elegance sub w/ a 500w amp... But I like bass a lot more than most people do. Actually hoping to upgrade further still at some point.
 
Trombe said:
For the same price, is there any downside to just grabbing a pair of the centers and using them as bookshelves over the BS41? In theory it's an extra woofer a piece but I'm probably missing some detail or another...
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The pioneer logo will be rotated
 
Well its for movies and the like, so its on a Yamaha reciever. As for the sub, yeah it whistles pretty badly if its turned up but the room its in is about 14x10 and I don't have it even at 30% as I don't like it when a sub is overpowering/shaking my room.
I could afford a nicer one, but it works well enough and I would rather put that money into actually getting a good receiver as the one I have doesn't have HDMI switching, so my TV bounces audio through an optical cable and I know that isn't the best setup to have.
 
misan-thrope said:
Well its for movies and the like, so its on a Yamaha reciever. As for the sub, yeah it whistles pretty badly if its turned up but the room its in is about 14x10 and I don't have it even at 30% as I don't like it when a sub is overpowering/shaking my room.
I could afford a nicer one, but it works well enough and I would rather put that money into actually getting a good receiver as the one I have doesn't have HDMI switching, so my TV bounces audio through an optical cable and I know that isn't the best setup to have.
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When you can afford it: http://www.accessories4less.com/mak...-5.1-Channel-A/V-Home-Theater-Receiver/1.html

I recommend you go Denon not Yamaha. Yamaha is great with one exception: their room correction algorithm YPAO is not as good as the Audyssey MultEQ in the Denon 1612 - or step up to the 1712 for like $30 more if you want MultEQ XT, which is even better. Denon is really good on the amount of features that you get for the money. Onkyo too but I don't think of them as being reliable, and their cheaper stuff has Audyssey 2EQ which is not as good as MultEQ.

That's a refurb but they're authorized. Well liked over at AVSForum.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
These particular speakers (not Pioneers as a whole) stand out in the price/performance area because they are really hard to beat at this tier. When they were first reviewed they created quite a buzz due to the man who designed them; Andrew Jones, and the sound quality.

I'd agree with your assessment that Polk does make higher tier speakers that are of very good quality, and almost always will be better than the Pioneer alternative. These are priced against the standard Monitor series from Polk, and FWIW, are better than the Monitor 40's I had (vs BS41).

Full disclosure - I don't own speakers from either brand anymore as I'm pretty much a Hsu guy at the moment.
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HB-1? I've been wanting to hear them for a while but no one has them locally anymore, obviously... I think I read on their forums several people in Puerto Rico had them tho so I might have to plead for an audition.

The Pioneers are a great deal on sale, but they literally go on sale every month (tho sometimes they alternate which models are discounted). The Infinity P153 were an even better deal than Polk Monitors or either Pioneer bookshelf (when they were on sale for like $55 each), but I think Newegg stopped selling them.
 
dandragonrage said:
When you can afford it: http://www.accessories4less.com/mak...-5.1-Channel-A/V-Home-Theater-Receiver/1.html

I recommend you go Denon not Yamaha. Yamaha is great with one exception: their room correction algorithm YPAO is not as good as the Audyssey MultEQ in the Denon 1612 - or step up to the 1712 for like $30 more if you want MultEQ XT, which is even better. Denon is really good on the amount of features that you get for the money. Onkyo too but I don't think of them as being reliable, and their cheaper stuff has Audyssey 2EQ which is not as good as MultEQ.

That's a refurb but they're authorized. Well liked over at AVSForum.
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Crutchfield has it for $210 or $230 but it's new, and it's fairly easy to find a $20 off discount code making it $10 more at most. I got one recently, great budget receiver. If you have other devices for streaming and whatnot (and you really should) and don't need more than 4 HDMI inputs then the current year model has nothing on it.
 
Impulse said:
HB-1? I've been wanting to hear them for a while but no one has them locally anymore, obviously... I think I read on their forums several people in Puerto Rico had them tho so I might have to plead for an audition.

The Pioneers are a great deal on sale, but they literally go on sale every month (tho sometimes they alternate which models are discounted). The Infinity P153 were an even better deal than Polk Monitors or either Pioneer bookshelf (when they were on sale for like $55 each), but I think Newegg stopped selling them.
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Yep, HB-1 mk 2 and STF-2. Nowhere near Puerto Rico though :) They sound great IMO.
 
No body is better than another, you have to take each speaker for features and price point.

These pioneers are pretty impossible to beat at these prices. However they are ugly by many people opinion including mine and they floor standers are short. So if you are stacking them on the TV stand they may be fine or have some shelves. But if you are concerned about the looks polk monitors have a more standard look and come in 2 colors.

Also I feel polks are brighter than these so sound preference comes in to play. But most polks are going to cost you more to get into.
 
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