Equipment
Report
Electronically reprinted from February 2007
Pioneer S-2EX Loudspeaker
Bridging the divide
Neil Gader
y offering qualities we typically
associate with audiophile
B
speakers as well as those from
the pro-monitor world, Pioneer’s EX
Series bridges the divide between
two distinct listening cultures. It
combines a recording-studio ethic,
rigorous construction quality, and
most significantly, technology
plucked directly from the playbook at
Pioneer’s pro-audio “skunkworks,” the
highly regarded TAD (Technical Audio
Device) division.
Though TAD’s first home-audio
effort, 2003’s M-1 speaker, was
critically acclaimed, its $40,000 tag
priced most of us out. The more
down-to-earth EX Series was designed
and built at Pioneer’s Speaker Design
Center in Paris by a team comprised
of TAD and Pioneer engineers.
Andrew Jones, the chief designer of
the M-1, served as sound advisor, and
the EX Series also received feedback
from sound engineers at London’s
legendary AIR Studios.
The $6000 S-2EX is a three-way,
stand-mount compact in a bass-reflex
enclosure. The baffle has a gentle
curve in it, as well as a backward
slope, that serves to time-align the
transducers at the listening position.
Weighing in at over sixty pounds,
the cabinet is bolstered by multiple
layers of laminated MDF, ranging in
thickness from 30mm to 100mm;
the side panels are curvilinear to
reduce internal standing waves.
With its massive internal bracing, the
enclosure’s resemblance to a ship’s
hull is striking.
As with the TAD M-1, a concentric
driver unifies the tweeter and
midrange transducers. Although
it’s a dead ringer for the M-
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Pioneer S-2EX Loudspeaker
1’s driver, the EX midrange cone is
magnesium rather than the M-I’s far
more expensive beryllium. In either
case, break-up modes don’t appear
until well into the ultra-sonic range. The
beryllium tweeter, however, is pure
TAD, and TAD technology informs the
bass cone, as well. Here the diaphragm
is of one-piece construction (as
opposed to the more commonly
found separate center-cap), which
Pioneer feels adds greater rigidity
while pushing resonances outside of
the cone’s audible frequency range.
Finally, the huge 65mm voice coil has
been engineered for extreme power
handling and dynamic headroom.
Sonically, the S-2EX isn’t hobbled
by the usual constraints of a compact
speaker. It may sit on a stand, but it
speaks with the voice of a three-way
through and through. As its highpowered studio-monitor bloodline
implies, the S-2EX is designed to play
at prodigiously loud levels that would
harelip any number of sophisticates
Specs &
Pricing
PIONEER ELECTRONICS
P.O. Box 1540
Long Beach, California 90810
(800) 421-1404
pioneerelectronics.com
Type: Stand-mounted, bass-reflex
loudspeaker
Driver complement: 1.4" concentric tweeter,
5.5" concentric midrange, 7.12" woofer
Frequency response: 34Hz–100kHz
Sensitivity: 86.5dB
Impedance: 6 ohms
Dimensions: 11.5" x 22.25" x 16.75"
Weight: 62 lbs.
Price: $6000
ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT
Sota Cosmos Series III turntable; SME V
pick-up arm; Shure V15VxMR cartridge;
MBL 1531, Simaudio Moon Supernova, and
Sony DVP-9000ES digital players; Plinius
9200 and MBL 7008 integrated amps;
Tara Labs Omega, Nordost Baldur, Kimber
Kable BiFocal XL; Wireworld Silver Electra &
Kimber Palladian power cords; Richard Gray
line conditioners; Sound Fusion Turntable
stand
from the high end. Orchestral scale
is remarkable for a speaker of this
dimension; symphonies spring to life,
with the walls of the venue seeming
to breathe like a bellows.
The S-2EX doesn’t subdue dynamics,
either. Concert grand pianos are not
submissive instruments—at close
range the energy and transient attack
from any nine-footer will churn your
insides. In this regard, the only other
speaker of this size that compares is
another compact three-way, the MBL
121.
In terms of tonal balance, this is
one of the more neutral speakers
I’ve heard in some time. Its midrange
seems spot on; its treble is highly
extended if a little dry at its limits;
and bass response extends deep
into the midbass with perceivable
reserves below 40Hz. Its upper bass
and lower mids (the bugaboos of
compact speakers) never seem to run
short. Cabinet resonances and port
anomalies are so low that you quickly
forget this is a bass-reflex design.
There is also a sensation of weight in
the mids that deepens the presence
of male and female singers. Both jazz
singer Claire Martin, from Linn’s Too
Damn Hot, and a cappella specialist
Laurel Massé, on Feather and Bone
[Premonition], exhibited good body
and chest resonance.
The S-2EX communicates a
precision sound geared to resolving
details at all levels, micro and macro.
Even familiar recordings take on a
greater complexity and a physicality
bordering on the tactile. Like any
great speaker, its character is mostly
determined by the recording. The
downside is that bad recordings are
not enhanced by syrupy colorations—
the S-2EX exposes every blemish, as if
illuminating them in high definition.
The upside of such resolution is
that the best recordings have never
sounded better. Even familiar chestnuts
seemed completely refreshed, as if
I’d unknowingly acquired a newly
remastered version. From the opening
bars of Järvi and the Cincinnati
Orchestra’s reading of Bartók’s
Concerto for Orchestra [Telarc], each
February 2007 The Absolute Sound
Pioneer S-2EX Loudspeaker
orchestral section is clearly defined
in space. From the immediacy of
low-level drums and winds, to the
ripeness of plucked strings, and
later, the elegance of massed strings
decaying into the acoustic of Music
Hall, the sound was effortless and
expansive. During Vaughan Williams’
Antarctica [Naxos], the speaker
resolved the bronze waves radiating
from the cymbals and the tenderness
of the celeste with low-level detail I’d
never heard before. Even difficult-tosort-out cello lines or the rumblings
of the organ were multifaceted, not
just undefined throbs. The trombone
and brass sections assaulted me with
energy, and the crescendo was so
horrifyingly powerful that I needed
to trim the volume.
However, if I had to single out a
performance characteristic of the
Pioneer that trumped all others it
would be image focus. It possesses a
driver coherence comparable to the
best two-way mini-monitors, but with
the bone-crushing power of a threeway. The kudos goes to the concentric
driver—a design that I’m often not a
big fan of, though this one has won
me over. Its remarkably uniform offaxis response offers a wider than
normal sweetspot. Andrew Jones
of TAD explained that, because of
the transducer’s relatively shallow
throat and the fact that the midrange
cone behaves as a waveguide for the
tweeter, the transducers match each
other’s directivity at their respective
crossover points. The benefits are
improved power response and the
absence of hollowness (the cuppedhands effect). And because there is
no beaming, this point-source-like
performance nails the exact position
and angle of something like a concert
grand on stage. It’s also tailor-made for
reproducing the soloists and the deep
layers of voices in a large chorale—in
fact, the more voices the merrier.
The only area where there might
be a “cultural” disagreement about
the S-2EX is the character of its treble.
Tonally, I think its response is near
dead-bang neutral. But with Rutter’s
Requiem [Reference Recordings],
cello transients, the rattles of a
tambourine, or the top strings of a
violin can seem exposed, lacking a
cushion of air for harmonics to ride
upon. Also, Sinatra’s smoky voice on
“Angel Eyes” from Only the Lonely
[Capitol] exhibited a slight hardness
and a less yielding character. This was
the one area where I could foresee
the fur flying—enlivening the debate
of studio monitor versus audiophile
speakers. Some will find the tweeter
a revelation in terms of resolving
detail; others will regard it as a bit too
business-like, controlled, and clinical. I
found amplification and cabling were
crucial as well. My only regret is that I
didn’t have the new Plinius SB-301 on
hand. It’s an amplifier that has already
made me reassess the performance of
other components in the audio chain,
including speakers. (See my Sneak
Preview on p. 74.)
I’ve nothing but profound
admiration and respect for the Pioneer
S-2EX. I’ve never experienced a larger
envelope of performance from a standmounted speaker. It’s not a flowery
romantic, but its brand of musical
truth is seductive, nonetheless. While
there will never be one speaker that
suits everyone’s taste, the Pioneer S2EX should be required listening for
any self-respecting audiophile. TAS
February 2007 The Absolute Sound
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