Pioneer S-1EX Loudspeaker

Zeal:

Try this... Disconnect one speaker from the amp - either speaker - (turn amp off and remove one set of speaker cables from the amp).

Fire the amp back up and position your ears below the "firing path" of the tweeter (literally get up and move around in the near vicinity of your listening point - squatting low at various heights just below the tweeter's "path."). With the S2's, I found that the brightness (glare) became worse below the tweeter and the treble actually became sweeter just above the tweeter. See what you think.

Next, position yourself at different points to the side ("inside" side) of the tweeter and locate where it sounds the sweetest. With the S2's the treble became less pronounced when my ears where slightly to the side of the tweeter.

In my case, I remedied the annoying glare by raking the speakers forward to the point that the tweeters fired slightly below my ears at the listening position (chair) - and slightly to the outside of the "direct pathway" to each ear (with the axis somewhere very close to, or immediately behind the listening position.

I also have to rake the S-1's forward, where at the right point the treble sounds excellent. Do keep in mind that these speakers are more planer-like in their ability to retrieve detailed treble - to the point that anyone who enjoys a speaker voiced on the warm side or rolled off at a noticeable upper frequency range, likely will not like the presentation of the EX series (which in my opinion, is pretty darn flat. Certainly the flattest I've owned - i.e.: excellent balance).

Let us know if you get the treble tamed.

_Ben

Try this... Disconnect one speaker from the amp - either speaker - (turn amp off and remove one set of speaker cables from the amp).

Meaning , listen to the tweeter only on one speaker? I have mono blocks, so I just leave one turned off. I hope I have that right. Thank you very much for that test. I prefer warm speakers but I know just what you mean when you say "Balanced". These speakers are very planner like and remind me of my Martin Logan's in some ways, good thing I have a subwolfer. Sounds like you have them "Raked" very high in the back. What did you use to do that?

Try this... Disconnect one speaker from the amp - either speaker - (turn amp off and remove one set of speaker cables from the amp).

Meaning , listen to the tweeter only on one speaker? I have mono blocks, so I just leave one turned off. I hope I have that right. Thank you very much for that test. I prefer warm speakers but I know just what you mean when you say "Balanced". These speakers are very planner like and remind me of my Martin Logan's in some ways, good thing I have a subwoofer. Sounds like you have them "Raked" very high in the back. What did you use to do that?

What did you find better between the Tad and the S2EX when listening to them side by side? Was it subtle or a real night/day type of thing? In other words, lets say you listened to both in an a/b OR even the Tad on one channel, the S2EX on the other channel. What precisely do you hear different in such a scenario?

Thanks for the input and hopefully Zeal figured out what was happening with his setup!

Got the speakers in the right place. Put some Herbie's Decoupling/Isolation feet under the TADS and put some Auralex B22 Elite Pro Panels on the walls behind and to the side of the TADS. Now it sounds right to me. I can hear the speakers now and not wall slap or the floor. I'm driving them with Rogue Audio Mono 180's and the Rogue Athena pre amp.
I'm still experimenting with toe in and the length from the back walls. Remember I have the S-3EX, my room is too small for the S-1.
I thank everyone for their input.