Pioneer SP-PK52FS 5.1 Floorstanding Speaker System Review

Pioneer SP-PK52FS Introduction

What would you say if we told you that a company historically known for their A/V electronics has redefined the loudspeaker market with their budget speaker line designed by industry veteran Andrew Jones?  Now take your amazement one step further when we tell you that for under $550 you get a pair of four driver 2 ½-way tower speakers (SP-FS52), a matching three driver MTM center channel (SP-C22) and pair of two-way bookshelf speakers (SP-BS22-LR) with an 8" 100-watt powered subwoofer (SW-8MK2).  While the model numbers of all of these products are a little ridiculous and difficult to remember, the performance and value certainly isn’t.  In fact the outside markings of the boxes these speakers come wrapped in more product specs, (most of which I was able to validate in my measurements), than you will find on most high end loudspeaker manufacturers websites or literature.  How is it possible that Pioneer can offer such a low cost speaker line packed with so much solid engineering and performance?  Well, you’re gonna have to read the review to find out.

About Andrew Jones

When I saw all the talk about Andrew Jones’ Pioneer speakers on our forum, I must admit I was skeptical.  I didn’t even know who this chap was, let alone why there was such a fuss about their Kmart-priced speaker system.  All of that quickly changed for me last year at CEDIA when I not only got a chance to demo the speakers first hand but also meet the very fellow that designed them.  I threw a few tech questions at Mr. Jones and was greeted not only with good humor but very accurate and well-stated responses.  I also learned that when Andrew worked for KEF he was introduced to Dr. Floyd Toole.  Through the Audio Engineering Society (AES), Andrew met an incredibly rich diversity of respected researchers that promoted great discussion and research ideas, and many of those people became good friends. Floyd was one of those, and it was Floyd that invited him to come to the USA and work at Infinity.  This guy really knows his stuff and I’m impressed enough to often solicit his peer review for our loudspeaker tech articles.  What I was even more impressed with was the demo of this very Pioneer speaker system.  Let’s take a tour to see what’s in these little gems.

Pioneer SP-PK52FS 5.1 Speaker System Design Overview

 

The SP-FS52 is a 4 driver, 2½-way tower design, meaning the two bottom drivers employ a Low Pass Filter (LPF) and the midrange driver employs a very shallow High Pass Filter (HPF) so that it predominately provides the mid frequencies with some assistance in the midbass.  Actually the midrange driver is NOT enclosed in its own chamber so it does experience sympathetic vibrations from the other woofers energy radiating back into the cone of the midrange driver.  Personally, I would have liked to see this driver chambered off in its own enclosure to improve midrange articulation but it’s understandable why Mr. Jones didn’t do this as it adds cost to the design and penalizes a bit of mid bass punch, which is something quite important in a small, budget design like this.  In speaking with Andrew, he told me the three woofers were designed to work together into a common volume.  If he had made a true 3-way design, the speaker would have lost bass output capability for the small gain in midrange clarity. At the price point he was targeting, this would have been the wrong trade off. Instead he took a long time optimizing the working range and excursion sharing between the drivers. The network provides some of this splitting, and the non-vented pole piece on the upper driver also helps.  It is worth mentioning that the midrange employs a HPF to reduce low frequency cone excursions and intermodulation distortion. I’ve actually seen speakers costing nearly 5 times the price of the SP-FS52s that let their little midrange run fullrange, mucking up clarity of the vocals at higher listening levels. 

The SP-FS52 is a rather height challenged floorstanding speaker. Standing a mere 35” tall, you will definitely want to install the included plinths on the SP-FS52’s not only to add stability to the speaker, but mass and height. It’s small stature should definitely score a high WAF.  So, stress this to your significant other when trying to convince them this is a much better option than cubed speakers suspended from a wall or, gasp, ceiling. 

The SP-BS22-LR is a two-way bookshelf and the SP-C22 is a three driver two-way MTM design to be used horizontally as a center channel.  To round off the system, Pioneer threw in a small but quite potent little sub called the SW-8MK2 which is a ported 8” design with a 100-watt amp.  It has a down-firing 8” bass driver with a 2.5” diameter front firing port.  Personally I would have rather seen the port down-firing and the driver front-firing.  Down-firing ports tend to mask chuffing, which this sub has in spades when driven hard.  The SW-8MK2 has both line level and speaker level inputs, a 180 degree phase switch and variable LPF from 40Hz to 150Hz.  There is no crossover bypass so you will have to set it to the max setting (150Hz) if you plan on using your A/V receivers bass management facilities.  It has a non detachable power cord and an auto-on switch.

All of the speakers in this lineup are constructed of ½” thick MDF and all (sans the subwoofer) have contoured cabinets to increase rigidity and enhance styling.  Pioneer also double braced the tower cabinet above and below the mid woofer cavity.  They also lightly batted the mid interior with cotton insulation, though I wish they would have put some at the top and bottom of the cabinet too. But, its omission could have been intentional to not sacrifice efficiency at bass frequencies.

The speaker grilles are constructed of flimsy thin plastic, but don’t laugh we’ve seen similar grille designs on more costly ID speaker competitors.  The grille cloth is affixed tightly to the frame to minimize losses.  The grilles do make an overbearingly snug fit and help to finish off the look of the speakers when installed.

 

Pioneer SP-BS22-LR Front Baffle (left image); Back View of Pioneer SP-PK52FS 5.1 System (right pic)

The drivers in all of the speakers are flush mounted onto the front baffle to minimize diffraction.

Don’t expect Salk Sound-like cabinetry in any of these speakers.  These are as generic as generic gets.  While some competitors would choose aesthetics and styling over performance, Pioneer has clearly decided to put every dime into using real parts in this speaker line up.  

All of the speakers feature 1.5” rear ports, with the towers and center being a dual ported design.  There is a little metal bracket attached to the towers towards the top of the cabinet, the purpose of which I had no idea until I consulted the manual. This was included as a safety hook to secure the speaker to a wall and prevent tipping.  The center channel also comes with plastic brackets that serve as feet and to slightly angle the speaker up towards the listener.  None of the speakers are bi-ampable or bi-wirable.

Pioneer Drivers (notice the vented pole piece on the bottom bass driver)

The Drivers

I was quite taken to find drivers with such substantial motor structures in such a modestly priced system.  Instead of getting the typical ½” dome tweeter with wimpy neodymium slug magnet (like found on more expensive models from some of the big name brands), Pioneer used a real 1” soft dome tweeter with a powerful ferrite motor structure and a waveguide in the entire speaker lineup to improve sensitivity, low end response, and control directivity.  The SP-FS52 towers sport three 5 ¼” stamped basket woofers. The two bottom bass drivers employ vented pole pieces to reduce turbulence under the dust cap and improve thermal venting.  This is a detail absent on drivers from some Internet-Direct speaker companies selling bookshelf speakers for more money than this entire 5.1 system!  The SP-BS22-LR and SP-C22 utilize 4” versions of these drivers.

Crossover Topology

The crossover is usually the area most budget speakers skimp on.  You will typically find a very rudimentary 1^st order crossover on the tweeter and nothing on the bass driver at all.  This was not the case with the Pioneer system.  Instead they employed a 6-element crossover on the bookshelf and center channel speakers and an 8-element crossover on the towers.  The woofers and the mid-woofer in the SP-FS52 towers are wired in series after the crossover. In parallel with the two bottom woofers only is a shunt RC network to roll them off earlier and to provide some low frequency rolloff to the mid woofer.  Again this was an unexpected and welcome discovery. 

Power Handling

If you examine the specs of the Pioneer speaker system you will notice they don’t appear to handle too much sustained power.  The SP-FS52s are rated for 130 watts while the SP-BS22-LR (God, I hate these model numbers) are rated at 80 watts and the SP-C22 is rated at 90 watts.  Doesn’t seem like much does it?  Well, unfortunately there is no industry standard on how to rate loudspeaker power handling and we have many articles on this very topic.  So I asked Mr. Jones about how he derived these numbers for the Pioneer speakers.

Editorial Note on Pioneer Power Testing by Andrew Jones

If we rate power handling at max 100w, what we do for testing is run the speaker with shaped noise at 1/3 full power, so in this example 33W average power for 96 hours. This is a lot of power!

After 96 hours, we let it cool down. It must pass all measurements with no change. Then we test for 24 hours at 1/2 power (50W), it must not fail, and must pass most of the specs with only a little change.

Then we test at 100W. If it fails, it must do so safely!

In addition, we have particular music selections that are bass torture tests.  These are well in excess of the standard testing.

Suffice it to say, don’t worry too much about the lowish power ratings of these speakers. Just mate them with a solid A/V receiver at or even double the price of this speaker system and you will likely be just fine.  Remember amplifier clipping does far more damage to a speaker system than undistorted power. Having more available clean power on hand is always a good thing.

Set-Up

I tested the Pioneer SP-PK52FS system in the following two scenarios:

• Friend’s home - comparing the SP-FS52 to the larger and much costlier EMP E55Ti
• Theater room - two-channel and multi-channel utilizing the reference gear and premier listening space in the Audioholics Showcase home

Listening Scenario #1:  Friend's Home Pioneer SP-FS52 vs EMP E55Ti

In the first scenario, we connected the EMP E55ti and the Pioneer SP-FS52 to his Harman/kardon HK 3490 stereo receiver using SPK A and SPK B outputs to switch between pairs.  The cables were Kimber 8PR and the source was the Denon DVD-1920CI connected via Sonicwave toslink and a Denon DP-300F turntable with upgraded cartridge/needle to the HK 3490.   Both pairs were level matched (the EMP’s were 2dB more efficient than the Pioneers) so it was as easy as flipping the SPKA/SPKB button on the remote to do an instantaneous comparison to hear how the two pairs of speakers compared to each other.

Listening Scenario #2 Audioholics Showcase Theater Room

For the second scenario, I positioned the Pioneer SP-FS52 towers about 5ft from sidewalls and around 8ft from the back walls and spread apart about 10ft from each other, which was about two feet shy of the distance from my primary listening position.  After experimenting, I found they sounded their best with little toe-in since the top end of these speakers is a bit pronounced. I used my Marantz PM-11S2 200wpc integrated stereo amplifier and the Oppo BDP-105 Blu-ray as the source connected balanced.  All interconnects were furnished by Blue Jeans Cables (1694A Coax) and Kimber 8PR speaker cables with WBT compression banana plugs.  I also connected the entire SP-FS52 5.1 system to the Emotiva UMC-200 and matching UPA-500 5-channel amplifier for multi-channel music and movie listening.

Pioneer SP-PK52FS 5.1 Speaker System Listening Tests

Unless otherwise stated, all listening tests were conducted without a subwoofer in two-channel configuration with the Pioneer SP-FS52’s and SP-BS22-LR's running full range.

  

Listening Scenario #1 Pioneer SP-FS52 & EMP E55Ti

Listening Scenario #1:  Friend's Home Pioneer SP-FS52 & EMP E55ti

I fired up the Audioholics demo CD I had prepared for critical listening tests to get a feeling for how these two speaker systems compared. 

Dianne Reeves - Never to Far
The bass emanating from this track was incredibly punchy and tight but was somewhat lacking in extension on both sets of speakers. I felt the smaller Pioneers may have had a tiny bit more depth while the EMP’s had more upper bass punch.  The Pioneer SP-FS52’s sounded well-balanced.  They exhibited a very detailed top end.  In fact they sounded more airy and open than the EMPs in that regard.  However, the EMP’s had a larger more elevated soundstage and the vocals sounded more natural.  My friend was quite taken back at the performance of the diminutive Pioneers. 

Fourplay - Chant
The resonance in the kick drums rang clear when played through both speaker systems but it was more pronounced and dynamic on the EMPs.  The rainsticks sounded more detailed on the Pioneers however.  Both speakers played loud and clean.  This track will easily bottom out woofers of poorly designed systems.  This didn’t happen with either speaker.  The Pioneers just absorbed the power and were happy pumping out the music.

Pat Metheny / John Scofield - Say the Brother's Name
This is one of my favorite tracks from the CD “I Can See Your House from Here”.  The clarity of Pat Metheny's guitar was to die for.   With eyes closed, I felt like I was listening to a live performance in a small jazz club in NY.   The Pioneer speakers really projected the airiness of the brushes on the cymbals, while the EMP’s made the jazz guitars just pop out in your face like it was a live performance.  Listening to this track was a pleasant, albeit different, experience on both speakers.

Steely Dan – Two Against Nature
This track really highlighted the differences between the two speaker systems.  Because the EMP’s have significantly more cone area in the midrange via the MTM driver configuration, and because the midranges are in their own sealed off enclosure, the male vocals were clearer and more accurate than the Pioneers.  As I stated earlier, by not enclosing the midrange driver, the bass drivers of the Pioneer radiate back energy into the midrange driver which you could hear in the form of a slight chestiness in male vocals.  This isn’t a knock on the speakers.  The very fact I was comparing a $250/pr of speakers to an already high value competitor product costing $800/pr speaks volumes for just how good the Pioneer's really are.

We finished off the listening session enjoying some Vinyl.  We broke out the first side of a recently remastered 180G Abbey Road record from the Beatles. “Come Together” sounded great on the Pioneer speakers.  My friend commented about how pleasant and tonally balanced this system was.  He said this was the first budget speaker I’ve brought to his house that he really thought sounded great.  Whether we were listening to the Beatles or Joe Sample, the Pioneer’s never disappointed.

Listening Scenario #2 Audioholics Showcase Theater Room

Again, using the Audioholics demo CD, I did some critical two-channel listening of the SP-FS52 towers and SP-BS22-LR bookshelf speakers.  I then switched to 5.1 music and movies to evaluate the entire system via the Emotiva separates.

 

Pat Metheny / John Scofield – Say a Brothers Name

The brushes on the cymbals were incredibly detailed on the Pioneer SP-FS52 towers.  They sounded very open and spacious.  The reverb in Metheny’s electric guitar was a bit recessed sounding, but still very pleasant.  As I cranked the volume up, things became a little two-dimensional but still sounded well composed.  Switching over to the SP-BS22-LR bookshelf provided a more laid back, slightly more closed in experience, but it was amazing how much sound these little bookshelf speakers were producing on their own.  In a small listening space, these speakers would really shine.

 

Fourplay – Chant

The bass in this tune will quickly reveal any misbehavior in a loudspeaker.  I’ve had $3k tower speakers in for review that couldn’t produce 75dB at my listening seat without bottoming out on this song.  The SP-FS52’s had no problem playing this track at very loud levels.  Instead of trying to produce the very low bass extension of this song, they simply rolled it off.  The kick drums were a bit softened as a result, but the overall tonality was pretty even.  The track proved a little too much for the little 4” drivers of the SP-BS22-LR’s when driven at higher SPL levels.  This was to be expected and why I’d recommend running these speakers bass-managed with a powered sub crossed over at 70-80Hz.

LP:  Richard Marx

The second side of Richard Marx self-titled debut ablum is just solid gold as far as I am concerned. When I cued up this record, I felt the SP-FS52’s sounded a little thin since this is quite a bright and lively recording.  So I connected the SW-8MK2 subwoofer speaker level and dialed in its response.  I found the best blend with the phase switch set to 180Hz and the crossover set about halfway (about 60Hz).  Track #5 “Have Mercy” starts out with some great drumming and a catchy hard rock guitar theme.  Richard’s voice sounded vibrant but with a good deal of sibilance that was less pronounced when I switched over to the SP-BS22-LR bookshelf speakers.  The SP-FS52’s displayed very good stereo separation, the guitars were nicely forward.  The sub definitely helped balance out the sound and provide much needed bass impact to this recording.  Track #6 “Remember Manhattan” is the WOW track of the album.  The sub added the much-needed bass punch to the song.  I was quite taken by how tactile it sounded.  I was able to achieve better sub integration with the towers than I was with the bookshelf speakers.  The towers just supplemented the sub so well that they sounded quite seamless together.  The bookshelf speakers presented a more laid back and of course narrower soundstage.  As I turned the volume up, I was enamored with just how much punishment those little SP-BS22-LR bookshelf speakers could take.  

Blu-ray:  Batman Dark Knight Rises

Dark Knight Rises is without question, my favorite Batman movie of all time.  It has great action and more importantly a solid storyline.  I use this Blu-ray as a torture test for subwoofers as the opening plane scene and first flight of the Batwing during the police chase really works out a subwoofer like there’s no tomorrow.  Bane’s voice was much improved on the Blu-ray transfer over the original theatrical release.  The SP-C22 did a commendable job showing this off, though I did feel the vocals were a bit sibilant. I left the grille on and didn’t angle the center channel up as high to tame it.  The system sounded well blended as a whole.  The SP-BS22-LR’s were serving well as surround duty (bass-managed to small) and the SP-FS52 towers did exceedingly well running full-range to supplement the bass for the little SW-8MK2 subwoofer.  The sub did provide a good deal of tactile feel but it just couldn’t produce the last octave of bass present in this movie.  I did detect a lot of port chuffing when I was driving the sub hard, but don’t forget my demo room is almost 6,000ft³.  Let me make this perfectly clear; in a small room this sub would behave much better.

I cued up other multi-channel recordings like Animusic HD and really had fun sampling the tracks on this disc using the Pioneer system as a whole.  Cathedral Pictures is a particular favorite of mine and the Pioneer speakers did a commendably good job of recreating the pipe organs and percussive effects with clarity and poise. The sub provided a good deal of punch to help enhance the experience.   I’ve never had such an enveloping and well-balanced surround sound experience from a 5.1 system in this price class.  Although I like to find faults in products, I had to keep reminding myself how well this system performed for its asking price.

Pioneer SP-FS52/SP-BS22 and SW-8MK2 Subwoofer Measurements

 

Impedance / Phase Measurement of the Pioneer SP-FS52 Tower Speaker

The Pioneer SP-FS52 speakers appear to be tuned at around 50Hz as indicated by the saddle point in the impedance graph.  I measured the impedance of both speakers and they tracked pretty darn closely.  In fact, they tracked better than the more expensive Infinity P363’s I recently measured.  This demonstrates that Pioneer expended great efforts for quality control of their products.  I must commend Pioneer for rating this as a 6 ohm speaker despite the fact that it would be rated as an 8 ohm system by the IEC method, since it doesn’t dip below 6.4 ohms.  I would call this an 8 ohm speaker. You should have no fears powering them on a modest priced A/V receiver.

 

Impedance / Phase Measurement of the Pioneer SP-BS22-LR Bookshelf Speaker

The Pioneer SP-BS22-LR speakers appear to be tuned at around 70Hz as indicated by the saddle point in the impedance graph.  I measured the impedance of both speakers and they again tracked very closely indicating Pioneer expended great efforts for quality control of their products.  This is a true 6 ohm speaker as Pioneer rates it and it’s a bit more of a demanding load than the towers as a result.

 

Impedance / Phase Measurement of the Pioneer SP-C22 Center Speaker

The Pioneer SP-C22 speakers appear to be tuned at around 70Hz as indicated by the saddle point in the impedance graph.  Like the SP-BS22-LR, this is a true 6 ohm speaker as Pioneer rates it and it’s a bit more of a demanding load than the towers as a result.

 

 In-room 1 meter Listening Window Response: Pioneer SP-FS52 (1/12^rd octave smoothed)

I measured the Pioneer SP-FS52 at 1 meter with the mic position slightly below the tweeter axis for the on-axis measurement and then averaged that response with 15 & 30 degree horizontal off-axis and 15 degrees off-axis vertically to formulate a listening window response.  That response was then spliced with a ½ meter groundplane measurement at 300 Hz to produce the graph above.  Pioneer specs this speaker as 87dB sensitivity but it looks to me more like around 86dB (not factoring in the rise in treble response). 

This is a darn good response for a pair of modest priced towers.  The SP-FS52’s exhibited usable bass extension down to 50Hz and a very linear response through the midrange.  I did notice a slight elevation in treble response as can be seen by the rise in high frequency output above 8kHz.  I asked Mr. Jones about this and he said it was done in part to counter grille losses and also considering the typical buyer of this speaker likely won’t be angling the speaker towards the listening area and would appreciate an elevated treble response.  This measurement pretty much confirmed what I was hearing, a very airy and detailed speaker with a slight emphasis in the upper registers. 

 

In-room 2ft Frequency Response Comparison: Pioneer SP-FS52 (1/12^rd octave smoothed)
Purple trace: no grille ; Green trace: with grille

Pioneer did a really nice job of minimizing grille losses thanks to the tightly wrapped grille cloth over the frame.  You can see about a 1-2dB loss in output above 5kHz but this may be welcomed for those that find the SP-FS52’s a bit too bright for their listening preferences.  This is one instance I may actually advise to leave the grilles on.

In-room 1 meter Listening Window Response: Pioneer SP-BS22 (1/12^rd octave smoothed)

I measured the Pioneer SP-BS22 at 1 meter with the mic position slightly below the tweeter axis for the on-axis measurement and then averaged that response with 15 & 30 degree horizontal off-axis and 15 degrees off-axis vertically to formulate a listening window response.  That response was then spliced with a ½ meter groundplane measurement at 300 Hz to produce the graph above.  Pioneer specs this speaker as 85dB sensitivity and that’s exactly what I measured.  The SP-BS22 measured the most linearly out of all the speakers in this review.  It displayed usable bass extension down to about 60Hz (perfect for blending with a good sub) and it measured flat out to 20kHz. 

In-room 1 meter Listening Window Response: Pioneer SP-C22 (1/12^rd octave smoothed)

I measured the Pioneer SP-C22 at 1 meter with the mic position slightly above the tweeter axis for the on-axis measurement and then averaged that response with 15 & 30 degree horizontal off-axis and 15 degrees off-axis vertically to formulate a listening window response.  That response was then spliced with a ½ meter groundplane measurement at 300 Hz to produce the graph above.  Pioneer specs this speaker as 88dB sensitivity though I measured about 87dB.  The SP-C22 being placed horizontally was at a disadvantage just as all MTMs are but this is how it was intended to be used.   In reality a small dip like this in the mid frequencies will ameliorate any harshness that is often in the movie soundtrack so it’s not such a bad thing.  The SP-C22 displayed usable bass extension down to about 70Hz with an elevated treble response, slightly more pronounced than what the towers exhibited.  This confirmed my listening tests that the SP-C22 was a bit bright, though not fatiguing as some speakers thanks to the well executed tweeter design.

 

In-room ½ Meter Groundplane Measurement: SW-8MKii Subwoofer Superimposed over SP-FS52

The SW-8MKii won’t shake your house or rattle your bones.  It’s a small budget sub meant to supplement the bass of this system.  You can see it does just that when I superimpose and level match its response with the SP-FS52 towers.  You get a little over ½ octave bass extension using this sub in conjunction with the towers.  The sub rolls off at 36 dB/octave around 35Hz which is a few Hz below its published specified frequency response.  What I found surprising is how Mr. Jones expended extra care to keep the sub flat in its passband.  You typically find very peaky response in budget products like this. 

Pioneer SP-FS52/BS22/CP22 and SW-8MK2 Subwoofer Conclusion

The Downside

It’s really hard to criticize such a low cost, high performance speaker system like the Pioneer SP-PK52FS.  The biggest nits I would pick with it are its ho-hum aesthetics.  Nothing about this system will give you or your friends the illusion of high-end.  They look like the typical budget speaker system you would find at a department store—though they definitely don’t sound like them.  I do wish Pioneer would offer a wall-mountable surround speaker as I’d imagine it would be difficult for some people to use the SP-BS22 bookshelf speakers for that application. 

The SW-8MKii subwoofer is arguably the weakest link in the system.  It’s not a bad little sub for what it is, but it lacks real depth and punch like you will find on even an entry level sub from HSU or SVS.  It is best suited for small rooms and fares better with music than it does with deep LFE action from movies.  My advice in buying this system would be to use the sub for your computer or a garage system and pair the rest of the speakers with an SVS SB-1000 or PB-1000.  These speakers certainly deserve a subwoofer of that caliber of performance.  Considering Pioneer is giving you almost a $100 discount by buying the SP-PK52FS system as a complete 5.1 package; it’s like you’re getting this sub for $50.  That is one heck of a deal that shouldn’t be passed up. 

Conclusion

At the beginning of the review I posed the question about how Pioneer could pull off so much performance on the cheap.  The answer is two-fold:

1. They are focusing almost the entire budget of the product on quality of parts. They don’t use a chintzy tweeter, or a simplistic two element crossover inside their boxes.
2. Pioneer spent the effort in using a talented design engineer that enjoys the challenge of optimizing every bit of performance in each model.  The entire lineup wasn’t just slapped together for big box stores like most entry level gear often is.

The Pioneer SP-PK52FS system will play cleanly with good output in small to medium-sized rooms.  Don’t be afraid to use quality electronics on these babies because they will certainly appreciate it.  The SP-FS52 tower speakers alone are worth the $549/pr system price.  I can comfortably say that I’ve never heard a better balanced, better sounding tower speaker for under $700/pr than these.  In fact, I’ve heard plenty of more expensive so called “high end” speakers that didn’t sound this good.  The BS22-LR is probably the best $129 you can spend in audio.  They serve well as a surround speaker or as a near field monitor for a hifi computer audio system. 

The hype that these speakers received on our forum is well warranted.  I’d really like to see what Andrew Jones could do if Pioneer gave him 2-3 times the budget.   Right now the only step up in a tower speaker from the SP-FS52 is their TAD S-3EX which retails at $6,600/pr.  Come on Pioneer, surely you have customers between that vast price bracket that would love some more options.  If that day ever happens, I am sure a lot of Internet Direct speaker companies will be very nervous. 

Pioneer has redefined the budget loudspeaker genre and in this price bracket they are without peer.  Whether you’re dabbling into a budget two-channel or multi-channel system, you owe it to yourself to check these out.  I commend Pioneer for offering such an affordable solution to whet budding audiophile appetites. Highly recommended!

The Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:

Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating

Audioholics.com note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.

Audioholics Rating Scale

• — Excellent
• — Very Good
• — Good
• — Fair
• — Poor

Metric	Rating
Build Quality
Appearance
Treble Extension
Treble Smoothness
Midrange Accuracy
Bass Extension
Bass Accuracy
Dynamic Range
Performance
Value