A little while back I bought a pair of little cheap speakers to use in my test setup.
I use that to test the gear that comes in. Just to see if it works.
I bought them for $90 on Amazon, used, but in great shape.
Can't beat that with a stick, but think about this: New these sell for $120!
WHAT?! $120? YES! $120!
Keep reading if you want to know why I am so surprised about the price that these little speakers sell for.
First day, unpacked them, hooked them up to the Pioneer VSX-52 receiver and Mission cd player that I use in my test setup also.
The cables are all basic/generic cables. Nothing fancy.
No power conditioner or anything to clean up the power. Just basics...
I put in my favorite CD and played a song I have heard a million times before on a plethora of different setups.
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Under the Bridge.
WTF! HOLY S#!&! How... What?!
I ran to my wife, yelled at her to come and listen. Which I know was completely useless, because she thinks an iphone with the standard ear buds sound the same as a pair of Sennheiser HD700's connected to a Bryston BHA-1... but anyway, I dragged her to the room and made her sit down and listen. "nice.." was the reaction... I think the judge will understand why I pushed her out the window...
Let me elaborate on my reaction.
These little $90 pair of speakers made my test setup actually sound GREAT!
This should not be possible, but it is!
The sound stage was nice and wide, bass deep and pretty tight, mid range was as realistic as it should and the high end was crisp (a little sharp and the only weak point I found).
These speakers may not be sold for $120 new! If they were $500-$1000 they would still hold up against the competition.
I was thinking, if these things sound this good with a mediocre source driving them, imagine what happens when you feed them Quality...
I just got some nice gear in that I traded and connected it.
Musical Fidelity M1DAC
Decware CSP2+ tube pre amp
Bel Canto S300 power amp
PS Audio UPC200 power conditioner
I fed the DAC 16/44.1 and 24/96 files and gave the little speakers another go...
First a ripped 16/44.1 version of the same Red Hot Chili Peppers: Under the Bridge.
I had a smile so big it hurt...
They didn't just sound good, they were SINGING!
I will spare you the bad words used to express my excitement.
Pulled my wife off the lawn under the window I just tossed her out of and sat her down again to realize that it (again) was useless....
The high end cleaned up a little (still a bit too sharp though)
The mid range was crazy good and the voice came a little to the front.
The bass was deeper than this speaker should be able to do, but it lost a little of the 'tightness' (weird, but true...)
So, if you don't want to spend a lot of $$, but you want a speaker that will punch WAY above its weight class, order a pair of...
Pioneer SP-BS22-LR
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I was talking about a pair of Pioneer speakers. Not a vintage pair of 'back when they still made quality..', but brand new designed speakers from the era where profits and fashion are more important than sound quality..
No need to thank me though, everyone that owns these praises them. All the way up to the Stereophile 'snobs'.
PS. To all people that take things in life too serious, I did not literally push my wife out the window.. even though she might have deserved it at that point...
