[hesson11]

Oh my. Did I just push my $999 speakers back to put $99 in their place?

Really love them on string instruments. I am listening to assorted pieces by János Starker.Not at high volume, but I get an occasional and short, sharp buzz. Not sure what it is yet.

I'm so glad to hear that someone else has discovered this speaker's way with string music. (I haven't experienced the sharp buzz.) I love classical music, especially chamber music, and these little Pioneers have quite a beguiling way with things like violins and celli. In fact, they are right now standing side-by-side with my Harbeth Compact 7ES-3s. There's no way I'm saying the the Pioneers are better than the Harbeths, but there is an undeniable charm in the way the Pioneers handle the tone colors and textures of the music I love. When listening to them, I really have no urgent craving to return to the Harbeths. Not too bad for speakers that are about 27 times cheaper!
-Bob

[raysracing]

hesson11 I would also recommend Mathew Halsall's "Fletcher Moss Park as another sounds good on the BS22 album since you like jazz. Tell me if the bass line is just a tad '"fat" compared to other recordings with a lot of acoustic bass.  Still amazing to feel and hear so much bass from a 4" mid driver. So easily powered by my old yamaha integrated amp too.

[OzarkTom]

I have to try a pair of these. If anyone sees another sale,please PM me.

[Alexdad54]

The floor-standers ( SP-FS52) are on sale at BB this weekend for $99 a pair, reg. $125...Amazon is price-matching at $90....unfortunately the sub and the bookshelves are not...

[milford3]

Try the Axiom M2v3's.  James Tanner of Bryston uses the same drivers as (Axiom) in his new line of speakers. (James speakers not cheap by the way.) For the money the M2v's  beats Pioneer by a mile long. 

[srb]

The floor-standers ( SP-FS52) are on sale at BB this weekend for $99 a pair, reg. $125

$99 each

Steve

[Alexdad54]

Urp! Missed that, apologies to all... Still, its' $50 less than what I paid for a pair....

[srb]

For the money the M2v's  beats Pioneer by a mile long.

The Axioms sell for $338/pair.  The Pioneers have an MSRP of $159 but have been selling from between $77 to $130/pair, so probably not the best comparison, at least without any details.

That said, in the near future I will be comparing my Pioneers to two other small bookshelf speakers that I own (B&W and KEF) that sold for ~ $250 new and can be found on the used market for ~ $125.

In what specific areas did you find that your Axiom M2 v3 outperformed your Pioneer SP-B22-LR?

Steve

[opnly bafld]

My first set of speakers were Pioneers.  Loved them.  Hooked on audio ever since.  Check out the Axiom M2v3's at a bargain price.  They blow away the other speakers at their price point.  James Tanner uses the Axiom drivers in his new line of speakers.  Enjoy the music.

Try the Axiom M2v3's.  James Tanner of Bryston uses the same drivers as (Axiom) in his new line of speakers. (James speakers not cheap by the way.) For the money the M2v's  beats Pioneer by a mile long. 

The Axioms sell for $338/pair.  The Pioneers have an MSRP of $159 but have been selling from between $77 to $130/pair, so probably not the best comparison, at least without any details.

In what specific areas did you find that your Axiom M2 v3 outperformed your Pioneer SP-B22-LR?

Steve

Second time he has shilled for Axiom enthusiastically promoted Axiom in this thread (let alone all the other times  ), I doubt that he has ever heard the Pioneers. 

[OzarkTom]

I just bought a pair of the Pioneers from Tiger Direct for 90 bucks plus 10 for shipping.

[jackman]

Tom, congrats.  The Pioneers are fun and good sounding speakers. 

I don't think that Axiom guy is a shill, just a very enthusiastic fan of Axiom.  Shills get special deals from manufacturers and when they are discovered, defend their actions by saying they are beta-promoters.  There are a couple master-beta promoters floating around but not for Axiom. 

[OzarkTom]

Thanks Jackman, I will be pairing it with a 90 dollar Class D amp that I bought off of EBay last week. I am searching for the ultimate Cheap and Cheerful system.

What is the break-in period on these speakers?

[jackman]

Mine sounded pretty good out of the box. Those 4" woofers are interesting.  Post pictures or info on the cheap amp you picked up.  Cheers.

[OzarkTom]

Mine sounded pretty good out of the box. Those 4" woofers are interesting.  Post pictures or info on the cheap amp you picked up.  Cheers.

This is the one I bought for 90 bucks. So far it sounds very smooth and entertaining.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/120931530870?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

[OzarkTom]

The other component in my system will be either the HRT Streamer or the IFI Micro IDAC. Either will make up a sub 500 buck system, but with the HRT, the system will be only 350 bucks. I would say that would be a Cheap and Cheerful system.

But with the IDAC, you could also play your headphones. Not too shabby for 500 bucks.

[FireGuy]

Tom, congrats.  The Pioneers are fun and good sounding speakers. 

I don't think that Axiom guy is a shill, just a very enthusiastic fan of Axiom.  Shills get special deals from manufacturers and when they are discovered, defend their actions by saying they are beta-promoters.  There are a couple master-beta promoters floating around but not for Axiom.

You are correct!   I think what is trying to be articulated here is that there are some pretty good speaker mfgr's out there that don't require a 2nd mortgage... that pound for pound are amazing products (Axiom, Aperion, Ascend, Energy et al).  It appears these Pioneers are fitting within this cat and rightly so, from the testimonials were reading.  If we were to read a personal review of Ascend's CBM 170-SE's  for example will it get the attention and activity as the SP-BS22's?  Probably not, but it should.

[Mark Korda]

I have not heard these groundbreaking Pioneer speakers, but I finally saw one at Best Buy. There was no one around so I popped off the grill. The woofer was about as big or wide as my fist. How can you say that these speakers produce any kind of acceptable bass as all who heard them claim. It does not look physically possible,and the driver looks like it's mass produced in China. Andrew Jones must know something no one else knows. I looked at the back of them and it reminded me of a pair of Sonus Fabers from Italy I saw at Tweeters 10 years ago. Great connectors, flared port,and Andrew Jones signature. I wish I could of heard them. Can a woofer that size really compete with a 10 inch 2 way?, or does the mid range stand out so much that we forget about the low end ,sans sub woofers,and get more emotionally involved in certain types of music and not all of it. The finish looked great! .....Mark Korda

[Letitroll98]

Mark, it depends on which 10"ers you're comparing them to.  They're not Wilson Sophia's or Salk Soundscape 10's, but I think what people are saying is the speaker produces reasonable bass for a small, inexpensive bookshelf, so they might beat out a low quality 10"er in bass SQ, enough to make it seem as though there's more bass.  And they don't seem to do that by boosting the midbass like so many speakers do.  Frequency response: 55Hz— 20kHz seems excellent performance for a 4" driver.  You give up high level dynamics and efficiency for that, there's no free physics lunch here (Sensitivity: 85dB).

Here's a quote from the TAS article that sums it up pretty well:
"The SP-BS22 doesn’t go especially deep beyond the upper bass, but it remains composed at higher outputs. There’s bit of port/cabinet noise at its dynamic limits, but on Norah Jones’ “Sinkin Soon” from Not Too Late [Bluenote], acoustic bass was both tuneful and tight. For the most part, the BS22 avoids the midbass boom that makes potential subwoofer- matching such a nightmare."
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/pioneer-sp-bs22-lr-loudspeaker/

[fredgarvin]

The Pioneer's aren't 'groundbreaking' by any means, but they sound very good for the price. Compared to the Axiom, in my room, the Pioneer has more bass, the Pioneer has a little dip at around 2000 and the Axiom has a bit more resolution from the tweeter. The Pioneer won the spot on my desk. Best over all.

[Letitroll98]

Oh Fred, you are going to be in so much trouble dissing the Axioms for the Pioneers.  Aren't you aware that "James Tanner of Bryston uses the same drivers as (Axiom) in his new line of speakers".