Pioneer S-2EX - Manual

Equipment
Report
B
y offering qualities we typically
associate with audiophile
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-
Bridging the divide
Pioneer S-2EX Loudspeaker
Neil Gader
Electronically reprinted from February 2007
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