Pioneer S-1EX Loudspeaker

Have you ever tried experimenting with smaller tube or transistor amps on these speakers? They seem very sensitive/efficient and I'm curious why many are using such high powered amps for these speakers. Perhaps better put, how much power do you think you are giving these speakers to make serious spl? Those 180's are brutes for power, but are you even needing much of that power to make excellent music? Sounds like the speaker is so resolving/revealing that every microscopic movement makes a night/day type of a difference, as in, this is a "very" high level speaker that involves a ton of critical care and not just your average/typical (cost no option even) speaker that you can make work quite simply without too much work.

Thanks for the input regarding power.

Sounds like the speaker is so resolving/revealing that every microscopic movement makes a night/day type of a difference, as in, this is a "very" high level speaker that involves a ton of critical care and not just your average/typical (cost no option even) speaker that you can make work quite simply without too much work.

Actually, I agree with Kal Rubinson's evaluation (from his excellent review in Stereophile):

In regard to ease of placement in a domestic room not exclusively dedicated to listening, the S-1EX surpassed all other speakers I've used. This means that anyone who buys the Pioneer is more likely to enjoy optimum results than with more finicky speakers.

All speakers require proper setup and some rooms are trickier than others...to say the least! While the S-1EX's are indeed very resolving and detailed, they have not presented me with any difficult/unusual placement problems/issues as compared with other floor standers that I've had in my room. Since they are front-ported, they can be placed closer to the front wall (back wall to some folks) than the typical rear-ported floor standers.

I'm using my 180's at half power (About 90 watts)with KT88's. Its just that these are the only amps I have right now. I put some EL34's in them and they were super warm.

I unfortunately spiked them when I was tube rolling. I forgot to turn off one of the amps. I had pulled a power tube and a signal tube and heard a huge CRACK BANG, but the speakers still sound the same. Nothing broken. I'm worried about the tweeter woofer combination getting cracked. Hopefully there is no damage. I will be rolling in the EL34's today, far less power and super warmth.Will report back later.

The EL34's sound the best as they are less powerful then the KT88's and the KT90's. These speakers really don't need super powerful amps.

Hey Zeal,

So you got around to enjoying the sound of the EL34's more than the KT88/90's? Have you ever gotten remotely close to clipping the amp/s at extreme volume levels or are you getting darn loud levels even with the amps not even using much power?

I'd be very curious how others that own Tad based speakers find tubes vs. these Ice/Class D/T/etc. amps to sound. I know only one other person on a forum using an EL34 tubed amp as the main amp, but always see the shows using these Ice amps or some kinda Japanese SS type amp or even HT receiver.

These are basically 90db speakers so I truly struggle to find any reason whatsoever to need more than 5-20 watts to get serious output, and around 40-50 to get levels that are obtrusively loud.

Good to hear you are finding more ways to optimize the speaker:)!!! Personally I don't see anything on the market since Tad began marketing their stuff some 12? years ago that approaches this level of sound. Even though Pioneer is a lil different design, the transducers being used, at least in the 1EX w/BE tweeter, are identical to Tad's Evolution One which has been tough for people to identify in a/b testing against Tad's CR-1's. I'm sure the Ref Ones would be a lil clearer, but how much clearer does one need it to sound?

Cheers!