| 2-pi evaluation [message #39708] |
Fri, 03 January 2003 18:15  |
spkrman57
Messages: 522
Registered: May 2009
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Illuminati (1st Degree) |
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Hi all,
I have opportunity to run a pair of 2-pi's I have in my possesion. My equipment is as follows: Sony 608ESD CD player/McIntosh MX-113 tuner preamp(solid state) driving Dynaco ST-70 (stock). My previous speaker system was JBL 2226J/Altec 806A on 811B horn using Wayne's stock crossover. TillE came to visit today(Great guy he is). We listened to 4-pi pro's and then we connected the 2-pi's.
What follows here is my opinion not TillE's, I will let TillE post his story so we can all hear different points of interest on this.
While the 2 pi's can't really hold a candle to the 4-pi's, I can't recommend a better speaker for the money. The bass is very good when I use the "loudness" kicked in except for bass-heavy music (Foreplay for ex). I found the piezo a little to sharp and forward though. I took a plastic lens from a pair of Sansui speakers (ala JBL style), that helped a little. These 10" Eminence are not fully broke in yet, so I can imagine the bass will become much more impressive and the speaker may relax a bit. The bass seems almost as low as the 4-pi's but without the "larger-than-life" feeling that the JBL 2226's deliver, but figure that a 2226 costs roughly $350.00 apiece plus shipping and handling from Parts Express and the 2-pi's cost that much for a pair of speakers, they definitely are very cost-effective for the money. I will play them for awhile to finish break-in, and then post a more descriptive evaluation.
These will never replace my 4-pi's, but for someone on a budget, this is your speaker. (I think the 2-pi towers will probably be much better judging from the woofer response in the Studio version which has much more bass than I expected from the Eminence 10" driver).
Let me know what other 2-pi owners think, and I think I may tweak the crossover a little(I know there is really not one, but you know what I mean, there is room to refine this speaker with excellent results)
Regards, Ron
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| Studio 2's vs. Theater 4's [message #39711 is a reply to message #39709] |
Sat, 04 January 2003 03:50  |
Garland
Messages: 269
Registered: May 2009
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Grand Master |
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I had a pair of 2's in my system (Bottlehead Foreplay and Paramours, Heathkit EL-84 stereo amp, CDP) for a few days that I helped a friend build and they are very fun loudspeakers to listen to. My Theater 4's are an entirely different beast in my system. The strength of the 2's IMHO lies in it's lack of crossover which I feel adds a sense of immediacy to the music. The Theater 4's seem to have flatter responce across the board but there is the crossover to deal with which for tweakers like me leads to a bit of audio nervosa (manageable,thank you!). The 4 sounds like the more refined loudspeaker, which is what it is. But the 2's sound so lively, I really do plan on building a pair! G
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| Re: 2-pi evaluation [message #39712 is a reply to message #39708] |
Sat, 04 January 2003 06:27 |
wasteh202
Messages: 137
Registered: May 2009
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Master |
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I will begin working today on the second speaker in my (sons) 2Pi Towers. I have not even listened to a complete pair yet and I am already impressed. About 4 days afrer finishing the speaker and giving it some play time my son (we built them for his room) told me that they seem to sound better. I did not really know if this 10" Eminence driver had a break-in time, I suspected it may as many speakers do. I was suprised that he would pick-up on it as I said nothing to him about break-in(he is 17 years old) I can't agree with you more about the bang for buck quality of this 2 Pi. I agree with you also on the bass, In fact the Tower is probably even more impressive in that area. I agree with Garland about the lack of an XO being a big factor in the success of this speaker. After I decided I would not need a sub with these speakers... I changed the the setting on my HT pre-amp to "large" to send a full range signal to the Towers, what I noticed was without the the XO in the pre-amp inhibiting the sound the towers were much better (Denon AVD-2000 Dolby Digital Processor+ driven with a HK 80wpc amp). When driven with my Sansui 9090db things really come alive (but a bit bright and a lot of bass, so the mids seemed a bit lacking with the Sansui). I also agree with Garland that the Piezo is probably the weakest part of this system (2Pi). I will be building a pair of Theater 4's in the future, I have access to JBL parts at a very good price so I wish I could put JBL drivers in the 4's but I want them to be tube friendly so I will probably stick with the stock plans. I have found the Eminence drivers to be sufficient to do the job. I find it interesting that the Studio Series had recieved much attention here of late. Keep posting these comparisons. When mine are complete I be be doing some A/B comparisions of my own and sharing them here (pics too). Have fun!
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| Re: Forward tweeters [message #39714 is a reply to message #39713] |
Sat, 04 January 2003 07:26 |
wasteh202
Messages: 137
Registered: May 2009
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Master |
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Nice system, I have been wanting to add a Foreplay and DIO to my system for over a year now. I just never seem to make it happen. Bank for buck(from everything I've read) two very worthwhile investments. I have a mono tube-amp currently but it it not much use with ony one, I plan to get some stereo tubes soon to use with the very efficient Theater 4's(when I build them) Are your speaker cables silver wire?
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