Pioneer S-1010 sonic review (stereo)

Previous post with pix...

http://soundt.18.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=826

Well i finally got both of them done. The passives look a little butchered but whats a guy to do with broken cones and the wrong surrounds. Regardless they seem to work fine and have lots of well defined bass.

I'll just come right out and say this up front, these speakers are in the top three at my house and in that race it is close. I'm going to have to do a head to head with my maggies because these are that good. I'm actually a little in shock over the quality of the sound. As many of you know I am not a lover of the HPM line. I have to date heard 3 pairs of HPM100's and two pairs of 900's (sharing the same woofers / transplanted to mine for a short while). The S-1010 flat mops the floor with the 100/900. Of those two i find the 900 much more balanced and useful.

The 1010 has one of the best sounding upper mids and top end I have ever heard. While i find the 100/900 bright and on the harsh side these 1010's are much more balanced. yes, they have a lot of crisp, and I mean very crisp top end and are semi bright speakers but the quality and resolution of the top end is smooth, very high resolution and just flat intoxicating. These speakers image better than any i have heard. I did some A/Bing between these and my ADS L730 and the 1010's are hands down the better speaker. The only thing the ADS might have over the 1010's is bass quality, those stifflight woofers are quick and toneful and I find a lot of speakers hard to top them in bass balance and overall musical quality to them. But in every other respect the 1010's are way better. While both speaker are on the bright side the 1010's have a wonderful airiness to them and sound so open and crisp but without being grainy or harsh. It is the best top end I have heard to date. Now that all would be spoiled if the mids had that forward, in your face projection to them but they do not.

I'm really having a hard time finding something I do not like about the 1010's. if i had to nit pick I would say the bottom end. There is a lot there, it sounds good and the speaker is well balanced from top to bottom, it goes real low and sounds good but it might have trouble keeping up with the mids and tweeters. It seems slightly slow and a step behind sometimes.

Surprisingly i am running the mid and tweeter control flat and not having to back them off like a HPM100 to sound acceptable. These are the first Japanese speakers i have been stunned by. They flat sound excellent. Also they seem very happy with any kind of music. The imaging, resolution and top end clarity brings out stuff in recordings I have listened to for years that i never heard before. When the drum stick first strikes the cymbal you hear that metallic snap and then the nice ring as the sound propagates outward, it is extremely realistic. While the ADS dome mids and tweeters do a nice job of this the 1010's are several steps better and the first speakers of mine that make that cymbal sound right, metallic and crisp. Most speakers impart a smack on paper sound (sorry, I'm doing a bad job of explaining what i am hearing) and do not have the metallic ring to them.

Funny thing is when I got the first one done and gave it a listen i thought it sounded OK but a little to in the HPM100 vien. I was thinking I might be flipping these soon as I'm sure they would fetch a lot being pretty rare, big and in nice shape sans and passives. Now that they seem to be one of the best speakers in my house I am not all that eager to let them go. In fact i won't be for the short term. I REALLY like these speakers. Excellent top end, smooth balance from top to bottom, very detailed, easy to drive and imaging like i have never heard before. I haveheard where a lot of people love ADS but find the imaging less than spectacular, back to back with these it is painfully obvious.

I never thought i would say this but i love these speakers.

I'll update here as i get more time on them the honeymoon is over but I'm sure my finding will remain, these are VERY good sounding speakers.

That, coming from a self-proclaimed Pioneer UN-lover is impressive.

I guess being new at the audio trek affords me the advantage of not having formed any die-hard opinions about any particular brand, as I have noticed some do in this endeavor. (not around here..) I can also appreciate it when anyone can say, "Hey I like mine, but yours sounds just as good", which you seldom hear in earnest.

You did a great job of previewing a set of speakers that probably (?) had one strike against them before you started, and told it like it is. Your comments and opinions will be highly regarded in my book.

I'm with Larry on this one. Though, I am curious as to whether you'll continue to hold this positive outlook after the honeymoon period is over. My personal experience has shown that those speakers that most impress initially tend to grate on the nerves down the road.

At any rate, this gives me hope that one of those speakers I'd like to have (in my dreams) the Pioneer S-F1 may very well be as impressive sounding as I'd like to think it would be.

- JP

You sent me that link before, those are very bizarre speakers.

JP, as you know I went into this hoping they would sound good but expecting them not to. I have run a lot of music across them the last two days and i really like them. A/Bed with the ADS L730's I like them a lot better and I have lived with and liked the 730's as you know. I'm as surprised as you are. These are nothing like the HPM100's in my mind although I never lived with a pair at my house (HPM100's) I did borrow some 900 woofers and ran my 900's for a few weeks and liked those, I would rate them a good deal smoother and more balanced than the 100's and these 1010's are much better than ether of those.

i was just listening to some Bonnie Raitt and Ray Charles and that sounded really good as well. The bass is actually getting a lot better right before my ears. I'm sure my foam splicing on the passives needed worked to free up and they do in fact sound more responsive and quicker already.

I need to get that mid for my AR90's (no money / all going to biz) and do a comparison. i think the 90's will win but i think it will be close. I also need to set the maggie / MK sub system back up.

Several people over at AK when i first posted these 1010's said this was probably Pioneers best speaker ever (I'm sure not including the high end oddballs no one has heard).

I'm as shocked as you are.

very cool Kelly. i wouldnt mind stopping in to hear them when i go down your way for Mike's gathering next month. plus there is that evening of live jazz you promised me.

Well, actually, I'm not as surprised as you make me out to be. Pioneer speakers had good build quality and good components, just the choice of implementation is what caused issue for folks like me. Change the design some with more audio friendly goals vs. marketability and an above average speaker would be the product as the S-1010 seems to bear out.

- JP

JP, As the tweeter, mids and woofer (similar but different) are all different from the HPM100's and 900's, the cab is huge and it has a passive instead of a port these are bound to sound different. Luckily in this case different is better, much better. I'm guessing to your critical ears these are still going to be on the bright side but maybe not. Back to back with the 730's they are not really brighter just crisper. Also much more full and 3d.

Scott, anytime buddy. Just let me know when as i have three kids and a new biz :>)

K

Just thought i would update you, I have been listening to the 1010's a lot and REALLY like them. Great speaker if you ask me. One issue though is you need a subwoofer approved house to run these, I have rattles everywhere. There not boomy or artificial just powerful and seem to go pretty low. I really like these.

Does that mean you no longer have need for your Maggies? If so, I've got the room for them.

- JP