Pioneer S-1EX Loudspeaker

The Rogue monoblocks with EL34 tubes at half power sounds great. The speakers can only take 160 watts. I put up some Auralex acoustic panels behind them and some Herbie's isolation feet under them for easy moving. Can really hear the speakers now. Never heard the Tads with SS, be nice to try someday.

Was reading earlier in the thread about the Tads vs. the Pios. Can people that have heard both say there is an indefinite difference between the two or that it's a matter of taste than it is one speaker being superior to the other? Way I see it is we have what are the absolute finest transducers (dynamic) on the planet. How can it get any better via Tad other than the BE mids and the slight better motors on the bass units of the Ref Ones? I always see this percentile of something, and many believe the Pios are 90-95% of the Tads. I'm very curious if we can make a percentile or if we can say it would be difficult in an a/b to say which one is Tad and which is Pio. I loved the Youtube clip with Andrew talking about the Tad E1's vs. CR-1's and saying to the audience, but you were hearing the E1 and not the CR-1, as if they are so close in sound that it's hard for anyone to say which is what speaker. I also know many that feel the E1 is the superior speaker over the Reference One, and also know the E1 is w/some slight things, identical to the Pioneer EX1. I'll go on a limb and say if we had all Tad's offerings and Pio's offerings on hand, behind a curtain, we would all be fooled as the sound is probably that close to tell the difference w/exception of few golden ears that can hear some slight differences maybe from the BE mid and again the dual 10's in the Ref One would easily give them away:)).

Audioexcels.....Dude, you sound very excited about your TADs, and you should be. I love my S-3EX'es like nobody's biz. I was taking a chance when I bought them and relaying on reviews.....wow, they we're right. Don't let the Pioneer logo fool you. It says TAD on the back and when you turn them on they say MUSIC. I have them 38 inches from the side walls to the center of the speaker and 34 inches from the front of the speaker to the wall, no cancellation I hope. Auralex acoustic panels all around as everything is up front. Super warm and dynamic, Electrostatics look out.

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 ?