Andrew Jones of TAD has been designing hugely underrated speakers for Pioneer for years. Until now his bleeding-edge designs have been high-priced. But the SP-BS41-LR hits a new low price point of $199/pair in hopes of moving units through big-box retailers. The curved cabinet is cooked and formed, in lieu of the more conventional cut and fold process. Center and surround models are available to form a 5.1 system that will go for under $1000. The slim tower at far right is the Series 9, whose drivers were designed specifically for the enclosure. A vertical tube feeding out the bottom sucks away standing waves.
Pioneer is introducing a new batch of Elite A/V receivers aimed at making the line more affordable (if less, well, elite). The VSX-30 and VSX-31 feature iPhone and iPod control via Pioneer's iControl AV app, HDMI 1.4a with 3D support, THX Select2 Plus audio, and an Ethernet port for accessing Sirius XM, Rhapsody, and files off of your home network. If that weren't enough, they've even thrown in an composite video cable for your iPod / iPhone so you can enjoy your portable audio and video on the big screen. The VSX-30 will run you $550, while the VSX-31 (with a second A/V zone) is going for a cool $650. It's not exactly a Swarovski-bejewled HTPC, but we guess it'll do in a pinch.
I work for said best buy and got to listen to them at their unveiling in Orlando. The towers sound great and IMO they are going to be a game changer.
Mr. Jones personally introduced the product line and explained how before his challenge was to make a near perfect speaker with price not being an object. His challenge here was to design a speaker that sounded good enough for him to put his name on it but still make it affordable to the general public. And yes is a snob about good music and it shows in his product.
They are big black curved boxes and that will turn your general Bose/htib customer off but for people who want clean sound at a fair or even cheap price these speakers do deliver.
There is only a little ambiguity in the midrange but for $200 I'd say you're getting more then you paid for.
Quote:
Originally Posted by m-heat /forum/post/19275860
I work for said best buy and got to listen to them at their unveiling in Orlando. The towers sound great and IMO they are going to be a game changer.
Mr. Jones personally introduced the product line and explained how before his challenge was to make a near perfect speaker with price not being an object. His challenge here was to design a speaker that sounded good enough for him to put his name on it but still make it affordable to the general public. And yes is a snob about good music and it shows in his product.
They are big black curved boxes and that will turn your general Bose/htib customer off but for people who want clean sound at a fair or even cheap price these speakers do deliver.
There is only a little ambiguity in the midrange but for $200 I'd say you're getting more then you paid for.
I listened to the towers tonight at BB. I was pretty shocked at how good they sounded for the price point. I am not crazy about the looks but I admit they would be kid friendly with the metal grills
. Build quality as a whole seemed pretty good. Each speaker had some weight to it. BB isn't the best place to test a speaker but they sounded better than the entry level polk towers that cost quite a bit more for a pair. I definitely got the feeling that you were getting quite a bit more speaker than the $200 pioneer is asking for them. I almost got the towers seeing as I am a Kuro fanboy
. I still might as I have some BB reward zone coupons to use up. Honestly I figured they would have sounded mediocre at best so it was a huge surprise to me.
I also tested out the bookshelfs and the center channel in this line and was impressed. You could make a heck of a budget system and still have really good sound. I will say, I have never seen or heard a speaker sound this good at this price point. Bravo Pioneer!
I would really like to hear the BS41's but BB only carries the smaller bookshelf (which I was very impressed with also). I have a pair of Energy RC-30's and while they do sound better than the Pioneer's, they are also double the cost (even more than that before the recent clearance prices). Plus I would really need to do an A and B comparison to see how the Pioneer's hold up. I still can't believe this quality of sound is coming out of $200 towers, lol. Pretty amazing when you think about it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by YOTR /forum/post/19276552
I would really like to hear the BS41's but BB only carries the smaller bookshelf (which I was very impressed with also). I have a pair of Energy RC-30's and while they do sound better than the Pioneer's, they are also double the cost (even more than that before the recent clearance prices). Plus I would really need to do an A and B comparison to see how the Pioneer's hold up. I still can't believe this quality of sound is coming out of $200 towers, lol. Pretty amazing when you think about it.
I definitely would like to hear your impressions over the next few days/weeks. Let me know how they compare to what you have now. I would really like to hear the larger bookshelf's but it looks like you can only purchase those directly from pioneer. I am tempted on the towers though
On a side note... did anyone else notice the differences between the picture on the hometheatermag blog and the one in the engadget article? If not, look again and pay attention to the size of the towers, center, and small bookshelf relative to the SP-BS41-LR...
The centers, towers, and bookshelves in the htmag blog actually look to be the S31 series speakers that are not sold in the US, but are available in the UK (not sure where else).
In any case, I would speculate that a part of the reason Pioneer could keep the cost of these speakers so low is that they already had a cabinet design to work with (from the S71 and S31 lines available in the UK).... just adjusted dimensions to work with the drivers that were selected.
Quote:
Originally Posted by YOTR /forum/post/19277546
I definitely would like to hear your impressions over the next few days/weeks. Let me know how they compare to what you have now. I would really like to hear the larger bookshelf's but it looks like you can only purchase those directly from pioneer. I am tempted on the towers though
You might feel differently if you heard the enthusiasm in his voice when he spoke of them. Besides, his signature is on every box!
Seriously, one can understand the size of the challenge that such a cost constraint represents and the pride someone might feel at achieving success, especially if it is a challenge different from one without that constraint.
Much of the competition uses an extremely simple, low-cost cross-over made up of a single capacitor and inductor. The Pioneer SP-FS51-LR utilizes a sophisticated 6 component high-quality cross-over. The reasoning is simple: it's yet one more way of insuring high-quality, accurate sound that makes its presence known.
I have the same question - why are the floorstanders the same price as the bookshelf speakers?
Also - why are the more expensive bookshelf speakers - the SP-BS41-LR - only sold online and not thru BB as well as the other models?
Much of the competition uses an extremely simple, low-cost cross-over made up of a single capacitor and inductor. The Pioneer SP-FS51-LR utilizes a sophisticated 6 component high-quality cross-over. The reasoning is simple: it’s yet one more way of insuring high-quality, accurate sound that makes its presence known.
The slim tower at far right is the Series 9, whose drivers were designed specifically for the enclosure. A vertical tube feeding out the bottom sucks away standing waves.
I think your wrong. I I'm not about to say they will sound as good as high end B&W or deftech but flip over to the DIY section. People are building amazing sounding speakers for a fraction of retail price.
For an artist of speaker design the challenge is the type of thing is intellectually stimulating and he told us that it was a fun and difficult challenge. He spoke with pride about what he had created.
Quote:
Originally Posted by m-heat /forum/post/19278664
I think your wrong. I I'm not about to say they will sound as good as high end B&W or deftech but flip over to the DIY section. People are building amazing sounding speakers for a fraction of retail price.
For an artist of speaker design the challenge is the type of thing is intellectually stimulating and he told us that it was a fun and difficult challenge. He spoke with pride about what he had created.
The small bookshelf can not keep up with a $500 speaker - however,
it is above the average mass market, entry level sound. Based on a lot
of restricted budgets - this is a good beginning for music & home theater
sound. I would choose a different subwoofer - however, if you use the
bookshelf for surround and get the towers and center, for less than
$400, you have a good (for the price) 5.0 system. All you will need is a
strong subwoofer.
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