Pioneer EX Series Surround Speaker System:
Take Two While I had the Pioneer EX Series speakers in-house for review, I thought it would be interesting to move the stand-mounted, $6,000/pair S-2EXs, used for surrounds in the system I reviewed, to the front. In a home theater system with a subwoofer, this might make sense; the S-2EXs are still reasonably full range, but if you plan on rolling off the main channel speakers and routing all of the bass to the subwoofer, there's little apparent advantage in paying an additional $3,000 for the S-1EXs.

Of course, there's the little matter of the $1,500/pair stands designed for use with the S-2EX, but you don't have to buy those. They are an attractive cosmetic match for the S-2EXs, but excellent stands from other sources are available for a lot less money. But they had better be substantial, with a large top plate. (Stands can also make a sonic difference, but that's a story for another time!)

My first reaction, using the S-2EXs with the Parasound amp employed in the main review, was that the smaller Pioneer speakers were a bit too lean and hard-sounding—a difference much more audible on music than on film soundtracks. But all that changed when I substituted the new NAD Masters Series M25 amp (review pending). Suddenly the sound opened up, but wasn't lean, hard, or bright. Combined with a good subwoofer, it actually sounded more open than the S-1EX, with less of the latter's slightly excessive warmth and a bit more clarity through the mid and upper bass.

We took measurements on the S-2EX, but limited them to our usual ±15° frontal average (violet) and 30° off-axis (both the S-1EX and S-2EX use the same mid-tweeter concentric driver, so the far off-axis performance of the two speakers should differ very little). The results are shown in Fig.5. This result is every bit as smooth as that of the S-1EX. In fact, the S-2EX is actually a little flatter in the 2kHz-10kHz region, a region where the S-1EX is slightly recessed. That may be what I heard as brighter but ultimately more open sound.

Fig.5: Pioneer S-2EX, pseudo-anechoic response at 30° (red) off-axis in the horizontal plane.

I strongly recommend that anyone auditioning the S-1EXs also take a close listen to the S-2EX as main front channel speakers or speakers for two-channel stereo, if that's what you're shopping for. For home theater use, particularly if you plan on using a subwoofer, you might, with the right amplifier, actually prefer the sound of the S-2EXs to that of the S-1EXs. I did. So much so, in fact, that I regretted not being able to spend more time with them.