Pioneer S-1EX Loudspeaker

This speaker is in the house as of three days ago...woooohooo!!! I have the Pioneer 1EX as I wanted the BE dome. Maybe others cannot hear the difference but it was worth it for me since we are talking penny change for what we are getting back sound wise. Regardless, I'd surely live with the newer 3EX model as the ceramic tweeter I'm positive would not be a terrible let down and sound excellent for much less money too. It was a thing where if say Pioneer offered a BE mid version for another 3K a pair, I'd have the all BE version. BE is a serious metal, MUCH stiffer than Magnesium, let alone any other metals we find in speakers like titanium, aluminum, etc.

My .02 about the Pios is this:

1) They don't need much power to drive them to very loud volume levels. They live up to that measured efficiency very well, but it also may have to do with the pistonic behavior and speedy transients displayed by these not full fledged Tad Reference One drivers, but darn state of the art vs. off-shelf name your manufacturer's drivers.

2) Sound is absolutely phenomenal. Many will dislike this speaker because it doesn't have much of anything at all attached to it. Even coming from a Seas Excel Magnesium Coaxial w/rear firing ribbon speaker, this speaker just sounds thinner per say, as if it just has no substance on it, no hints or bits of thickness/coloration of other drivers...the coax almost reminds me of an older totally raw paper type sounding driver, but obviously way smoother/cleaner/resolved/detailed/immaculate in every way conceivable. It's not to say that vocals become all thin/tiny/youthful, but that they do shed some or a LOT of weight depending on how much coloration your last speakers were...i.e. something Scanspeak/Vifa/Dynaudio/etc. will sound real muddy/thick/and make the Pioneers sound very "synthetic/not natural/real/etc."...all sound is subjective, but this is what I am getting from the sound. This said, the vocals "presence" is amazing and again, in spite some is shaven off, you still get VERY FAT and BIG vocal presence, just with an elimination of any and all distortion which gives a "clearer" sounding vocal. Instruments is the same deal, thinner, but I think more true to the way instruments truly sounded when they were recorded or even in real life.

I have not done any raking/setup/nothing at all, but I can literally move the speaker a few inches and the sound changes "dramatically"...It's certainly an easy to enjoy/setup speaker BUT, it is absolutely NOT easy in any sense of the word if you are striving to get them "precisely" setup OR even just learn how sound changes each and every inch of the way. I've never owned a speaker that I moved a few inches and the sound was entirely different..that was seriously shocking. I've heard loads of speakers where you change positioning and of course sound changes, but just how much they changed with such little movement at all was truly amazing. I can only imagine spending weeks with the speakers for a precise as possible setup will do for absolutely state of the art sound.

I have not heard the Tad Reference Ones, but I have to think this is the poor man's Tad, and we are not losing much of the big Tads at all...One has to ask, is it worth 80K for the BE in the mid, dual 10's with much better motors, OR, is the sound already so beyond anything off the shelf Seas-Scan-Raal-Peerless-Focal-etc. etc. that going any further is rather lunacy!:)

Cheers!

Did some one compare S-Z9 VS S-2EX ?

Nothing thin about the S-3EX, they're nice and warm with tubes and sound about the same with solid state amps. Turned out to be a great buy. Let them break in.

Upon quite extensive, but not extensive enough listening/setup/etc., these speakers REALLY respond to position. I would even go so far as to say one could literally spend a good few weeks-months getting various different sound out of the speakers. I've tried toe everywhere, tilt forward-backward-etc., and I'm still having a time with figuring out what I like best. I can say one thing for sure...you can make an entirely contrasting sound with even TINY little changes in speaker placement. I have never owned a speaker that was so sensitive to placement, nor one that had such a dramatic sound difference even with such minute changes in the placement. The fascinating thing about this speaker is how "different" it is from anything I have ever heard. It is very easy to understand why people would either love or hate this type of speaker because one may be too used to the "ordinary" sound from even mega buck cost no option speakers. I personally love the sound, but when listening to ordinary speakers, it's like a deja vu type of feeling and even raises question marks as to what exactly is correct sound reproduction...the ordinary or the extraordinary?

I'm listening to the speaker slightly tilted forward using a Herbie's loudspeaker Decoupling/Isolation footer in the rear with the 2 back feet of the speaker slightly extended from the floor. I had the Herbie's smaller Spike decoupling feet in the front but replaced them with the steel footers that came with the speaker. I can't tell yet what sounds better. My next move will be listening with all four feet to the floor. That 5th foot in the back makes it ideal for the speaker to rest on 3 feet thus lowering any vibration and giving you more latitude on placement. How can you hate a speaker like this, it's warm and un-colored.