Pioneer's Speaker Genius Hits Low Price Point - Page 34

(UPDATE)
I exchanged these a few days ago, No easy task since they were a X-Mass gift and I had no receipt,but so far so good...

I went easy on them the first few hours just to break then a bit (mostly out of paranoia LOL) Last night I watched the movie Salt at "fairly" high volume (-15) and I've gotta say they sound great especially for having small 4in woofers.
Honestly they blow away my previous budget Pioneer front speakers (S-HF31) with 6.5 woofers in every way. Bass,treble,clarity,etc.
I'm going to start saving for the matching center. my current S-HF center ain't cutting it LOL

Now I have a question...
Audyssey Multi EQ keeps setting the crossovers for these at 80Hz.
This doesn't seem right to me for a speaker with 4in woofers.
I bumped it up to 100Hz just to be safe. Is this a good idea?

They can handle 80 hz - However, do what you want.

Thanks...
I guess I am just a little paranoid after what happened to my first set.

80hz crossover wont affect the tweeter. If you had blown the 4" driver then yes maybe.

Actually it turned out both were bad in the right speaker.
My guess is something was defective. Crossover possibly?

who knows for sure.

try the crossover at 80hz and 100hz. Leave it where you feel it sounds best.

What subwoofer do you have? I dont remember seeing it listed in the above posts.

I have the BS41 and the Bic f12. Speakers set at 80hz and subwoofer set at 80...any suggestions?

To be honest, (and I've learned this in the past week) if your happy - then that is ALL that matters. Don't listen to people who say your doing it wrong or you don't have good speakers. If it sounds good to you, how should what people say change your opinion?

I would match, it would probably sound better - but, if you don't no big deal. It'll still sound good.

For me, not quite. I'm always looking into other's opinions, as they might give me some clue where I'm doing wrong. Sometimes they expand my understanding and appreciation for good sound. So while it's great that you're happy, it's not all that matters.

Personally I do like 80 best, I just wasn't sure speakers that small could handle it at loud movie volumes.
The only experience I have ever had with anything smaller than 5 1/4 are the 4in woofers in my current surrounds (Boston Acoustic SAT6) and Audyssey set those at 150Hz.
So may be you can understand my confusion LOL

My sub is an older (2003?) Sony 8in POS.
I plan on getting a Bic F12 after I get the center.

I've just removed the Marantz AV600 and just have the DV4001 connected directly to my AudioSource amp, just to see if there's any difference. And wow, Paco de Lucia's Concierto de Aranjuez sounds like a million bucks on these BS41's. Ok, that might be an insult to the great Paco - it actually sounds like the nation's GDP Upper mids and highs are so much cleaner. Guitar strings sound very real. Only downside is the amp doesn't have a remote or multiple inputs. I'll have to see if my Onkyo 706 can match this sound quality, and if it does I'll save up for another decent receiver.

There you go.......Those Audiosource amps are pretty surprising in their clean power delivery, aren't they? Good values.

Your Marantz AV 600 is a 5.1 preamp with a tuner, right? If so, you need more Audiosources! Get four more, bridge them, and run all of them as mono amps - one per channel out of your Marantz pre-out connections. Your remote can control the volume You'll have unreal sound in the room (and might be able to cut back on the use of your house furnace )

This kind of thinking really isn't very unusual - look for a thread about using pro power amps for HT; you'll find people who are running stacked banks of 2000 watt guitar amps for their home theater, building subs with enclosures that fill half their garages,firing into the adjacent home theater.

Once you start thinking about power amps you're ready to stop pee-pee'ing with the puppies LoL! You'll want to buy some acreage and move out of neighborhoods; your wife will leave but your kids will think you're pretty cool. Best of all your movie and gaming experiences will be in a whole different dimension. After a while you'll be long haired, bearded, and won't want to leave your house. Modern day hermit; a wired recluse living a life that Thoreau couldn't have imagined when he said "In wildness is the preservation of the world".

thanks for pointing out the path to master the art of hermit living. My AV600 is probably too old and tired, so with great pain I had to dismiss it from service The dvd player and the amp alone clean up the sound significantly. So I'll deal with the lack of a remote.

My new room measures 17x17 and is carpeted. I watch movies about 90% of the time with a little gaming here and there.

My plans are:
Fronts: FS51
Center: C21
Rears: BS21

Will that setup match nicely with my room? Can I go cheaper with the BS21 as fronts?

I think you can go with the BS41's for fronts. They're going for $100/pair on JR. You're not losing much in bass compared to FS51's. When it comes to music, BS41's are even better.

Thanks for the tip!

The BS41 are only 10 dollars more than the BS21...Should I just purchase two pairs of the BS41 for my fronts and rears?

That's what a lot of ppl are doing, some say it's better.

Anyone here running the fs51 standers with an onkyo sr608 receiver? I noticed the 1020k pio seems to be almost at max volume sometimes.

Hey guys, quick question - I am looking at getting the C21 and BS41 for the front but I noticed that they are not magnetically shielded. These will be placed rather close to my 50" plasma - will that be a problem? I don't have much room for stands and may have to convince the wife to let me get the towers if it is a problem... Thanks for the help in advance.

Only have to worry about shielding when using a CRT TV.

Well I went to BB to take a look/listen at these. Before I left I looked at the specs on BB's website and at the downloadable PDF of the center...They were completely wrong and now I'm sorely dissapointed. BOTH list the C21 as being roughly 13" wide....I measured it at BB and its nearly 20"....how can they be this far off? I only have about 17" inches of space in my dedicated center speaker 'nook' and was extremely excited to get these. Now I leave BB and this thread in utter sadness...

So, I've been following this thread for about a week (during which i read through it probably three times) and I am super excited to purchase these speakers. I just have a couple questions for anyone that already owns these or for anyone with a better feel for their efficiency/sensitivity.

First, I live in an apartment right now, on the ground floor, with two floors of apartments above me, so while occasionally i want to play my stuff LOUD, most of the time average volume levels will do for me... I will use these speakers primarily for tv and blu-ray movies, but also for some music. Maybe 70/30 or 80/20 in favor of tv/blu-ray usage.

Second, I have never owned an avr or speakers etc. Im currently watching a 65" mitsu dlp and use the built-in tv speakers for tv and movies. So, keep in mind that ANYTHING will be a major improvement for me.

To get the question that actually relates to this thread topic, what would anyone say is the cheapest receiver I could get away with that still has enough "power" to play these speakers LOUD. I know that their quality is amazing for their price point, but that some people have mentioned their low sensitivity/efficiency. I really only care about 5.1, but if there were a 7.1 receiver at a good price point, i'd go for that... Oh and I'd like the receiver to be able to plug an mp3 player (anything not just an ipod) into (even thru a 3.5 audio wire as i dont have to have a usb jack).

Finally, FWIW, im gonna get a BIC F12 to complete the 5.1 system.... TIA.

-ColganCM

(Mods, if this should be in receivers instead of here, feel free to move it. I wasn't 100% sure because my question directly ties to this pioneer speaker line.)

My advice would be to get least expensive receiver with all the features you want and make sure it has 5.1 preouts so that you can connect an external amp. that way when you play your system LOUD you have plenty of power in reserve for it.

I just picked up the F51 towers and attempted to grab the c21 center but man what a problem that was. In central NJ EVERY store shows at least 3 c21's in stock while NONE in a 30 mile radius actually had any. I physically went to 2 different best buys and called 5 different stores until I finally found one that had an open box. I haven't checked the condition of it yet as I am in work but hopefully it isn't too beat up.

When I get home tonight I am going to set everything up. As of right now I will have:
Fronts: F51
Center: C21
Rears: Paradigm micro v3
Sub: Velodyne CT-100
Receiver: Technics SA-DX1040 (old school)

The weak link in my setup will probably be the sub and receiver as I have a fairly large room (26x20x12 that opens into my dinning room, formal living room) but I am excited to give them a try. After I have had a chance to demo everything I will report back with my take on things.

I heard the bookshelf's and the center today at BB and they really sounded nice.

I know!
I took my ipod with some of my music, the BB I went had recently moved so the speaker place wasn't in the magnolia room anymore, rather in a corner that made it hard to hear the imaging of the speakers.

The guy had everything but the subs plugged in, he showed me the bookshelf's alone playing some green day and nirvana and boy they sounded great.
He then played my Judas priest on the towers and I was blown away but the amount of sound those little speakers shorter than my 3 yr old have!
He then set the center and the towers to play some Pink Floyd and a random dude showed up saying that he wanted to hear the same song on the Klipsch's, he then said that there was nothing like bose

The random guy said he's a member in here and that ppl tent to love cheap stuff such Panny, I said to him that what he really needed is to have his ears cleaned up, he walked away a bit upset

Anyway the panny speakers are great, best of all even the wife got sold while listening to some of her music and now we can't wait to get them along with the 1120 which that store did not have in stock.

Just picked up a pair of FS51 with 10% coupon. Total came out to 197 after tax.

BS41 is on the way, and C21 is sitting here waiting for me to plug it in.

Thanks!

tam, enjoy the speakers. They are great. I found that my BS41's produce the best imaging with 45 degree toe-in. A few complex, bordering noisy, Andrea Rieu's Fiesta passages that were presented as a mess before now sound perfectly clear. I still absolutely love these speakers.

Has anyone got two of the center channels and run them vertically for left and rights for a two channel system? I am thinking about doing that. What do you all think about doing that?