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General speaker questions for audio and home theater.

KlausR what about Pioneer S-1EX


In a recent debate regarding the test of Wilson’s Maxx 2 in the German magazine Audio, Klaus R came up with this wonderfully provocative statement:
” Usually it's the other way round, it measures bad yet the reviewer is in awe (Wilson speakers come to mind). If you know of a speaker that measures good and sounds bad, I'd be glad to read that review.”
Actually I agree with Klaus R, but for now I like to play the devils advocate for a moment, and refer to a test in the very same magazine “Audio”.
Some months prior to the Maxx test, they did test the Pioneer S-1EX loudspeaker.
Now I have to be slightly careful, because I do not have the test, and have anyway only read it at great speed, but if my memory is still to be trusted, the outcome was extraordinary in the sense that the listening panel was divided into to groups, those who liked it and those how didn’t like it so much. So in the end they had to publicly agree that they disagree, and give the Pioneers a score of 91 which some in their panel must have felt was too much and others must have felt was too little.
I wonder which side Malte Ruhnke joined, if he was employed by Audio these few months earlier!?
From all the measurements of the Pioneers I have seen, it is a superlative measuring speakers between 33 Hz (bass cut off frequency) and 11452 Hz, treble interference caused by a reflection (not resonance) from the surround of the midrange driver.

http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/307piosex/index4.html

So how can this close to perfectly measuring speaker end up dividing the listening panel at Audio? I have my own idea, but I would like to see some comments before I post them.

As a postscript I would like to say that I by pure chance got to hear the Pioneer S-1EX’s at a HiFi retailer shop just 2 weeks ago. What is then, my opinion after listening to these speakers for only 15-20 minutes in a fairly small for me unknown listening room?
Well, without committing myself to much, I will say that I feel they are just as well sounding, as they are measuring. Outstanding by being free of artifacts, much more natural than HiFi sounding….

Best wishes from Denmark.

KlausDK


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Topic - KlausR what about Pioneer S-1EX - klausDK 06:25:23 03/27/07 (8)


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