Would you buy a pair of "giant killer" bookshelf speakers from Pioneer?

It's kind of interesting that the BS41s were discontinued and the BS21s weren't, considering the BS41s presumably use the same woofer (5.25") as the other speakers, while the BS21s use a different one (4"). One would think it would be more economic to use the same drivers in all of them.

 

They look nice, but far too small.

I'm happy with my early 90's Phillips LSB-500 3-way Speakers and MACH Sporty 80 speakers. (LSB's are more for the bass and lower freqencies, wheras my Mach sporty 80's {which are meant for cars, but are fully enclosed and i removed the brackets} are for the mid to high frequencies).

 

Now just $50.00/pair with free shipping.

 

Grab a pair quick.

 

I think I read somewhere that Best Buy decided to carry all of the speakers in the line except the BS41s, which is why Pioneer ended up doing a smaller run of them.

 

Oh no, I might have to buy more!

 

I was thinking....for the price of 1 NHT SuperZero, you can have 2 pairs (or 4 single) Pioneer BS21 bookshelf speakers.

 

I have a pretty decent vintage system consisting of a Luxman R-3055 reciever and a Pioneer PL-518 DD TT with a Shure M97xE cart equipped with a JICO SAS stylus. All pumped thru a set of KLH 17 (precursor to the Large Advents circa 1966) bookshelf speakers. I bought into the hype over the Pioneer SP-41's and bought a set thinking if they sounded that good I could replace the 17's with something smaller and more modern looking. Not! The 17's simply blew them out of the water on every front.
The Pioneer's did have an impressive lower end for their size but the top end was dreadfully lacking compared to the 17's. I boxed them back up and slid them into my closet.
Hearing is subjective and your milage may vary.

 

Newegg has the SW-8 for $80.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882117402

 

What do you consider "top end"?

I have a pair of Dynaco A-25s, and they don't really sound anything like the BS41s. The big difference, though, is in the midrange - the Dynacos have a lot more, for better or worse. I have to wonder if you're describing something similar, rather than a difference higher up. I would be pretty surprised if the Pioneers have a deficient treble response.

As far as my personal experiences go, the Pioneers and Dynacos are so different that it's really hard to compare them directly. After listening to the Dynacos and switching to the Pioneers, the Pioneers seem to be somewhat lacking in the midrange, but going the other direction, the Dynacos seem too forward.

 

I ordered the matching sub for the 21's from Newegg.Ordered at 2pm and shipped one hour later at 3pm! Plus the warehouse is about 6 miles from me so I'll have the sub in less than 24 hours.

 

What would be the perfect integrated receiver and CD player to go with the Pioneer 51's?

 

21s are on sale again, $50 w/ free shipping. Ends 4/26

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882117405

 

Just a regular guy

When I'm listening to my stereo I really enjoy hearing the subtle parts such as the clear sound of bells and or cymbals that ring out as if they were in the room with me. That's the "highs" I'm speaking of. The old set of KLH 17's give that crisp clean sound reproduction. The Pioneer's didn't. I wanted them to but they fell sorely short. In fact, awhile back, I thought so highly of how the KLH 17's sounded I offered to pack up my entire system ... drive over to another audiophiles home and have a good old competition with whatever they had.
I was in for a treat that day. Read what happened here ...
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=415140

 

YMMV, but today at Best Buy I was able to pick up the floor standers, book shelfs and center bundle for $220. It was advertised at that price in store. Great deal.

 

Would the B21's work with my Rega Brio 2000? They are rated at 6 ohms and the manual for the Brio only talks about 4 and 8 ohm speakers. I don't want to spend much at the moment so I figured the Pioneers would work fine. I LOVE my current speakers but they don't work well in my set up/room. I want to put them in storage til maybe next year when I can move and get my own room.

 

The Rega will do very well with the 6 ohm load.

 

Thanks!

 

Whoa baby! All who have praised these speakers speak the truth. My only regret is that I waited so long to give these a shot. Terrific sound for the price. Actually, terrific sound period. Kudos to Andrew Jones and Pioneer for designing and offering one of the best audio bargains I've had the pleasure of encountering.

 

I a/b the Pioneer 21's up against my Polk Monitor 40s for the first time yesterday. The Pioneers came out way ahead at 1/3 the price. The Pioneers sound incredibly clean to me. The Polks were boomy compared to the Pioneer and much brighter.

 

Ordered a pair of the BS21's off of newegg. What a steal at 69 bucks. I saw these in best buy last week for 100. Glad you guys posted the link to the newegg site.

 

They were $49 2 weeks ago. $69 is still a great price though.

 

I finally had a chance to hear my old man's newly-bought FS51 speakers. He has an ancient Adcom 555 preamp and matching 200WPC 555 amplifier. Source was a no-name cd player. Needless to say, I was quite impressed. Though they don't match up to my (more expensive) speakers, the Pioneers still managed to sound quite good - the sins being ones of omission. The lowest of the low bass wasn't really there, but there was still plenty for your average listener. Perhaps the midrange was a little 'smudgy' and the treble wasn't very extended or detailed, but I've heard much worse for more money. I would heartily recommend this speaker for anyone on a budget.

My dad - the non-audiophile but music lover - is happy, which is all that counts.

Regarding looks - which are completely subjective - I though the FS51s looked rather 'hi-tech' and smart. At least with their small size they weren't very intrusive in his all-wood logcabin decor.

 

I like the fact that the treble isn't very extended or detailed. No harshness. No sibilance.

 

I bought a pair of the 21s though I have no need for them. They sound great, IMO. Less bright than some, but with a really beautiful midrange for the price and a seamless crossover. Really impressive crossover. And though the bass that's there has the cardboardy fake sound of small boxes and ports, it is really well done. Attractive, and I think at the price the metal grills are a good choice. I think compared to what NHT or PSB can do, you are getting $300 of speaker for $50, which is pretty awesome. I would love Pioneer to set Jones loose on a line with $500 rears and $1000 towers, which we could buy for $500 and $250 when they inevitably get closed out.