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How good is the 1Pi? Pretty good, I think.
Brief history: I built a pair of 2Pi Towers about 12 years ago to use with Bottlehead Paramours, and if the veneer hadn't turned out looking like the lunar surface I would still have them. The parts are doing yeoman service in the ceiling of the lanai. I have another pair of 2Pis in my office that I have listened to for 7 or 8 years, mostly iTunes through various amps. In the living room I had a pair of 4Pi's I was so happy with I didn't build any more speakers for years. I'm rebuilding the 4's, and finally painting the cabinets. So, what happened is that with Apple Airplay and Airport Express wireless, I can stream music all over the house cheap. That is, with the collection of amplifiers and receivers that have piled up in the garage over the years, I haven't had to spend much so far. Especially since I decided to try some little (relatively) 1Pi speakers for my first attempt at whole-house music. I built the first pair, unfinished because they went into a bedroom media cabinet that holds a TV and has speaker cloth-covered doors. Not the best speaker placement but high spouse appreciation points. I didn't listen to them that critically because, well, they were little 1Pi's and they were in this TV box anyway. But I couldn't help noticing all of a sudden the TV really sounded bad, while Pandora thru the Apple TV was really nice. Not so much bass as the 4Pi's, sure, but they sounded nice. Acoustic music on a Sunday morning, vocals clear and warm, damn, those sound pretty good! So now I'm listening to the second pair in the office, next to the 2Pi's. It's a small room 10x12, and I sit about 5 or 6 feet from the speakers, placed about 5 feet apart a foot from the wall at head height. The room is full of sound, and Kate Rusby is leaning in and singing in my ear. This is good. I'm throwing this out, because among the cornerhorns, 15" JBL midwoofers, and subwoofer arrays, the little 1Pi might tend to be overlooked. This I think, would be a mistake. I started out thinking they would be an inexpensive solution for casual background listening, but I owe Wayne an apology: these are serious speakers. Sorry Wayne, I should have known better.
Re: How good is the 1Pi? Pretty good, I think.
what's the tweeter in the 1 Pi these days? I built 2 Pis 12 years ago and couldn't get happy with the piezos which I'm sure are long gone. I put the Alphas together with an Audax tweeter in 2 Pi cabinets a few years later for a friend (the white speakers in the pic) and they were killer. You might want to try your 2Pi Towers again with the TV; I have the analog output of my TV driving a 20 Watt chip amp and the most recent 2Pi Towers. Super sounding A/V set-up!
The 1 has the same Vifa tweeter as the 2 now. I got the conversion kits when they became available. I'm using a little chip amp for the 1's in the bedroom - I would run the TV output through it too, but it doesn't have a remote I like the white finish on yours, and the near transparent grill. I'm finishing the 4Pi's in black lacquer, and it would be nice to find some light grey or silver cloth.
I'm also a big fan of the one PI. I actually prefer it to the two. Although they're very similar above about 100 HZ, the ones have a smoother upper midrange. Just my opinion and your mileage may vary. I also like the two PI tower. I built a tower version of the one PI's, but the plain old ones, especially with subwoofers are really nice. There are a lot of audiophile speakers that don't come close. Now, if anybody has an extra piezo lying around... Steve