Upgrade from AJ Pios?

felipe

Hi all. As it is known..its tax time. Some have to pay, some get a refund. I got a refund on the way . I've got a 400 buck budget limit. I'm still sticking with the 3.1 setup. My sub is plenty satisfactory. As the title says, are there any worthy upgrades from my AJ pios given my budget? I cant do floorstanders as that space has been allocated for shelf space..so bookies only. As i dont really do Internet, I'll give it a try..heck my sub is an ID one..lol. Any thoughts will be helpful. Thanks a mil

felipe

I see that the rti4s are about 175 a pair on ebay. csi3 for 170. I do like my pioneers, but i know there is better. would these be considered better?

rooftop59

One pair that you might find for that price is the Energy RC10s. Fry's has put them on sale several times, and I imagine that they would be a good step up from the PIOs, but keep in mind that I haven't heard the pios...

felipe

RTi4s a lateral move? Really? I've never heard the RTis personally, but I wouldve figured they would be a step up..too bad. Someone else also mentioned the rc-10..don't think it has a matching center tho..

felipe

Ya that seems to be the concensus of a lot of others as well. In my research I saw that the pios competitor..the sony cores..have a sale going on..143/pair for the bookies and 110 for the center. Some people who've had or heard both preferred the sonys...??

Nightfall

Keep what you have. Spend the money on LP's, SACD's, or whatever format it is that you use.

felipe

good analogy DSkip . I just got a little happy to have some extra dough..so i thought I would do an upgrade if it was a worthy one. Thanks guys for all your advice and help .

Nightfall

That SVS probably does explosions as well as a Pinto, however. Nice sub!

felipe

lol...I took the analogy as a cost one.."pinto" scale budget system.."lexus" scale sound . Haha..your probably right Nightfall..maybe better...lol

Nightfall

I never noticed that a new AJ line came out a couple months ago. They gave him more room money wise to play with and added Atmos (the upfiring, reflect off the ceiling variant). $750 for the bookshelves, $1400 for the floorstanders, $400 for the center, and $600 for the sub.

http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-SP-EBS73-Atmos-enabled-Bookshelf-Speakers/dp/B00MQEE4M8/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1426562838&sr=8-8&keywords=andrew+jones

Nightfall

I have to agree. $1400 could get you LSiM 703's, among many others.

marvda1

nbrowser wrote: »

heh with the accolades Skip gives em, I'm even considering a pair of the AJ Pioneer bookies for nearfield...could be interesting with a small SS amp.

tube baby.

erniejade

Maybe I didnt see it but what sub are you using? The pioneer small speakers really sound way above the price of admission. What are you looking to get more of or what do you think changing speakers will bring to you?

F1nut

Here's an idea, do the Dennis Murphy upgrade to the Pioneers. I did it to mine plus a bit more. The results are not subtle with a smoother top end, more coherent mids and tighter bottom. To get the schematic for the center just drop Mr. Murphy a line.

Here's link to a write up I did about mine. http://vintagehifipgh.com/forum/index.php?topic=3252.0

If you decide to go forward with the mods and need help, just ask.

felipe

I agree for the price of those new AJ pioneer atmos there are other IMO better options. Im using the SVS PB1000..great sub:). I was just exploring possible options of "worthy" upgrades with my given current budget. From the input here, looks like my budget will have to double..at least..to achieve any significant upgrade. My current setup sounds great..in the process of tweaking the settings sicne I had the floorstanders before. Had to sacrifice the space for more storage.

Intersting mods you did there F1Nut. I dont know if can do all that..not really handy with circuit boards n such . Maybe the sound barrier mod I can do?

F1nut

Sure, that's easy. In fact, I added the SB before the rest of the mods and it did knock the boomy down a bit.

felipe

May I ask where you got that sonic barrier from?

F1nut

May I ask where you got that sonic barrier from?

Parts Express, the part number is listed in my link.

Jesse, after mods, how do they compete?

Against the stock version? Much better. Against other speakers? I haven't compared any directly.

F1nut

It's too much of a PITA to swap speakers around in my various rigs.

F1nut

Yeah I am pretty big, but I did give you a reach around.

ken brydson

F1nut wrote: »

Yeah I am pretty big, but I did give you a reach around.

Not a visual I was hoping for....

txcoastal1

Skip asked for it...he got it

felipe

Poor skip lol. I'm helping my uncle build his audio setup. Like me, he's on a budget. I steered him towards the AJpios, but he was browsing the ads on craigslist, and he found a pair of cherry rtia1 in like new condition for 150 locally. Its important for him to match decor color per my aunts request ;-) Given the price, would the rtia1s be the the better buy?

felipe

Out of curiouslty, and since my budget has to pretty much double for an upgrade, what would y'all suggest? It must be bookies tho..and matching center of course lol. I would like to keep it within 800-900.

Nightfall

SDA CRS+

Hopefully Cathy doesn't read this.

felipe

HSU Research HB-1 MK2 bookies and matching center? Someone suggested these. Didn't know that HSU made speakers (other than subs). Thoughts?

felipe

Good point. I was looking at SVS's speakers which seem quite good, but for the prices I think I can do better......for less . My old lady told me yesterday that her co-workers hubby is going with in-walls and theyre getting rid of their speakers..which are Polks. He has the RTI a1 cherry finish and the CSI a4 also in cherry. My old lady likes the look of those. She mentioned they would match BEAUTIFULLY with our furniture..think she's hinting?..lol. If the price is right ( or by some chance they just give them up no cost ), would it be a worthy purchase? The WAF is definitely there ( think she wants them more than I do )..maybe she'll buy them haha..;)

trj

felipe, I think you should keep the AJ pioneers if you are planning to move to RTi bookshelfs.
My side by side comparison: AJ Pioneers (FS52 towers) against RTi8s, the Pioneers heated my receiver to uncomfortable level. They are 6ohm speakers so will draw more from the receiver. But they did sound more musical. My primary focus was HT, so I returned the AJ towers and kept RTi8s.
Just purchased a pair of RTi4s to finish up the 5.1, I should be pretty set.

In your situation, I would rather buy another pair of BS22 or FS52 and complete a 5.1 setup. But wait, I'd be a little weary of going with AJ towers if going 5.1 on the SONY receiver you got (from your signature). Specially after my experience with those towers.
OR, you can score your wife's coworker's RTis, sell your AJ setup and purchase another pair of RTi's and complete a 5.1.


PS: Yes, cherry RTiAs are beautiful, grab them if you can for free or whatever you think its worth. FIY, I just paid $100 for a black set of RTi4s. Sure I could have got a cheaper set, but the seller seemed honest and the speakers were in mint condition.

cnh

Not surprised the Jones' sounded more musical on that Yammie. That's a BRIGHT receiver, very BRIGHT! Also, not a ton of power in surround mode there. Makes sense that the Rtis were louder (more efficient). But I could never listen to music on a set of Rti-8s and that Yamaha for very long.

The vintage receiver in my sig is far warmer and better with the old Monitor 5s. And costs next to nothing? 40 watts x 2 and about 20 lbs vs the Yamaha's 7 x 90 watts and ONLY 23 lbs? What? Just kidding. In the surround mode these new AVRs cannot compete with the REAL stereo power of the vintage power supplies and caps.

But, if you're just running HT not much of the above matters. The SUB will handle a lot and the brightness will just seem like added "dynamism"!

Enjoy!

felipe

Thanks for the input trj. I'm trying to convince my wife's co worker to let me audition them first. I'm thinking that the RTIa's will play louder, but be a bit more bright sounding. I consider my Sony to have a neutral sound..borderline slightly warm..might offset the brightness of the RTIa's. Trying to score a "no cost" purchase as well

trj

cnh wrote: »

Not surprised the Jones' sounded more musical on that Yammie. That's a BRIGHT receiver, very BRIGHT! Also, not a ton of power in surround mode there. Makes sense that the Rtis were louder (more efficient). But I could never listen to music on a set of Rti-8s and that Yamaha for very long.

The vintage receiver in my sig is far warmer and better with the old Monitor 5s. And costs next to nothing? 40 watts x 2 and about 20 lbs vs the Yamaha's 7 x 90 watts and ONLY 23 lbs? What? Just kidding. In the surround mode these new AVRs cannot compete with the REAL stereo power of the vintage power supplies and caps.

But, if you're just running HT not much of the above matters. The SUB will handle a lot and the brightness will just seem like added "dynamism"!

Enjoy!

I would have kept the AJ Pioneers if it didn't heat up my AVR to that extent. But then RTi8's were used and cheaper too. Plus, I don't like pioneer as a brand at all. For some reason pioneer seems like cheap knock off car audio stuff .
I went with RTis because I am using my system mostly for HT. I seldom run two channel music on it. Apartment dwelling doesnt leave too much of a choice when you are running out of space. As you said, sub handles much of the lower frequency, so for my need the sound is pretty good for HT use in a small living room. Now that I am adding RTi4s, I am not sure if the receiver will be able to drive all 5 channels, although I do have a sub.
Side track: What kind of stands do you suggest to use RTi4s as surrounds? Don't want to drill holes in the wall (cement wall) nor is the shape of the room wall hang friendly.

I have a proper vintage two channel system my uncle gave me back home. Its from early to mid 80's. He is a musician, so his gear is always on par. But till I move to a house, that system has to wait. RTi's will be assigned to HT duty only.