Would you buy a pair of "giant killer" bookshelf speakers from Pioneer?

Some audiophiles Mr.G, but I take your point. Don't forget 3w SET amps....

 

Looks like I may be down grading to a set of these in my home theater room. We also have a treadmill down there, and my wife likes to jam the music when she works out. I've replaced two tweeter elements and one woofer in my B&W DM602s, and she just blew another woofer tonight.

I've upgraded my office stereo to the point that the home theater is now a secondary music system. I need something that can handle the loud jamming and be cheap to repair, but I still want decent sound. Looks like these may be right up my alley. And judging from closed auctions on ebay I can probably sell my 602s for a little less than the Pioneer towers and center are going to cost me. We'll see. The 602s are not made for jamming tunes loud as heck.

 

I think my priority would be to find a speaker that won't need to be repaired instead of one that is cheap to repair.

 

Yeah. The more I research, the more the Sony SS-6000 tower speakers seem to be a better fit for me. I have had very good previous experience with Sony branded speakers in a non-critical casual listening environment. The Pioneers' 130W power handling makes me nervous.

 

have you considered something like a Klipsch? their ultra-high efficiency and tendency to "rock" might make them a good choice

 

Klipsch Heresys certainly do "rock". With a 25 watt amp they can blow the windows out of your house.

 

Too expensive. I'm on a low budget here. I went to hh gregg and listened to the Sony SS 6000 speakers and was very impressed for the money, about $200. I took 'em home and of course they sound much better in my home than they did at the store. Nice and clear without very much coloration on the midrange. Aesthetically pleasing as well, which is important to both me and the wife. Compared to the B&Ws they replaced they are not a big step down, and look just as good in the room. And they JAM REAL LOUD, too!

Only bad thing is I have to wait for a center bought on the internet. They claim to handle 180 watts so they should be able to jam Itunes playlists like hell for hours on end. If you get a chance, take a listen to these speakers.

I am very, very impressed for the money. Over the years I've had very good experience with Sony branded speakers, starting in the mid 90s. Lots of bang for the buck. I remember their bog box speakers in the 80s not so fondly, but more recent vintage are nice.

I am going to watch the Blu-Ray of "Inception" tonight; we'll see how they sound with movie soundtracks.

 

Cool. Your wife probably would not like the look of the Heresys anyway. Not exactly modern...

 

This is not quite right.

The audiophile version will be built and delivered by 12 experienced blondes.

Please get your facts right.

 

Interesting. I heard a couple of "-in-a-box" 5.1 Sony setups, one at an SACD demo, and was also surprised that they sounded pretty nice. Not awesome, but far from garbage.

 

The Pioneer SP-BS41-LR bookshelf speaker was reviewed for the September 2011 issue of Stereophile magazine, where it received a very positive write-up.

 

Based on the comparison section of that review and a couple of reviews in other mags, though, if I wanted giant killer bookshelf speakers, I'd probably pay just a bit more and get the superior Wharfedale Diamond 10.1s.

 

Huh? C'mon Gary surely...

 

Did they include measurements? If it measures well, I would love to audition them.

The biggest laugh I got was when Home Theater Magazine recommended teh Vienna Acoustic Beethoven Babby grands and the frequency response was so poor.; like an 8db spread . *shrugs* Maybe they recommended it as nice furniture to look at.

 

Yes, it was a full-blown review, including measurements. The review said that the measurements would be considered "good" even if the speakers cost $1,000. And while the Pioneers were spec'ed at 6 ohms with sensitivity at 85 dB, the Stereophile measurements showed that those specs were too conservative.

FWIW, Home Theater magazine reviewed a 5.1 setup with the Pioneer SP-BS41-LR, including measurements.

 

The SP-BS41-LR’s listening-window response (a five-point average of axial and +/–15-degree horizontal and vertical responses) measures +1.62/–4.50 decibels from 200 hertz to 10 kilohertz. The –3-dB point is at 67 Hz, and the –6-dB point is at 52 Hz. Impedance reaches a minimum of 6.97 ohms at 224 Hz and a phase angle of –38.35 degrees at 129 Hz.


These are pretty good meaurements for a speaker which costs so little. They are very easy to drive and coupled with a good sub would put a lot of more expensive speakers to shame. They certainly much better than these...

The Beethoven Baby Grand’s listening-window response (a five-point average of axial and +/–15-degree horizontal and vertical responses) measures +2.84/–6.48 decibels from 200 hertz to 10 kilohertz. The –3-dB point is at 59 Hz, and the –6-dB point is at 32 Hz. Impedance reaches a minimum of 3.00 ohms at 99 Hz and a phase angle of +42.55 degrees at 2.2 kHz.

There is no excuse for a speaker that costs as much as the Baby Grand to measure this poorly. Can you say midrange suck out?

 

Maybe that Andrew Jones guy knows a thing or two about designing speakers

 

John Atkinson's final paragraph: ""The measured performance of Pioneer's SP-BS41-LR would not be out of place in a $1,000/pair speaker, let along one costing just $150/pair. Color me impressed."

-Bob

 

This was over a month ago so this just an fyi for future buyers, but Best Buy had the matching SP-C21 center channel - dual 5.25" woofers and the 1" soft-dome tweeter in a large ported enclosure - on sale for only $59.

 

I bought a pair of SP-BS41-LR's a while back and they sound great driven by my Marantz Model 8B tube power amp.

 

Stereophile's review of the Pioneer SP-BS41-LR is now available online

 

If they sound good they are good.

The proof is in the 'sound and feeling'.

I've got a pair of speakers from an old 1985 Hitachi mini-componet unit that 'sound' totally life-like and wonderful really, super fine. They are keepers. They must be all of 15 watts but they are keepers!!

Sound and Feeling is what it's all about.

 

I still like mine. It takes a little bit more to drive them, but for what they cost I'm extremely pleased.

 

Giant killers , always means it a rip off .

 

Not necessarily...These measure fairly good. However, the rip-offs are the giants with ragged frequency response curves.