Pioneer SP-FS52 Review

Has your search for a high-quality home audio system transposed into a daunting, finance-guzzling and traumatizing experience? Quality speakers nowadays can be as cheap as $200 systems and priced as high as $4000 a system. It is difficult to understand how to differentiate between the various speakers, fix a budget, and be practical?

Another pressing dilemma for some is whether to buy a Bluetooth speaker or headphones instead of going through the effort of a home audio system? While the former two are convenient, cheap and fast, they can never give the same sound quality or replicate the experience of surround sound and environment music.

We understand your dilemma. We know how to find a speaker on a reasonable budget that is high in performance. Just for that, we have selected the Pioneer SP-FS52. These are one of the most affordable models for floor-standing speakers. They are not just affordable, they are also by far the ones with the best bass, high standard performance and clean stylish looks.

Let us do a Pioneer SP-FS52 Review for you and find out how and why.

How is this built?

This is a 5.1 speaker system. The speakers aren’t very tall; they are just more elevated than your average bookshelf speakers. These speakers are wider. The dimensions of these floor-standing speakers are 10.7 x 8.9 x 35.2 inches. These speakers are lightweight at 25.80 pounds.

The Pioneer SP-FS52 has 3 structured surface woofers, each one is 5.25-inch in size. They have two ports on the back to prevent the bass output from being distorted due to the back being placed too close to the wall. The speakers are then coupled and vented on pole pieces with large and oversized magnets that help cover the low-end frequencies quite well. It has a soft dome tweeter of 1-inch.

Some of the most exclusive designs by Andrew Jones sell for as expensive as $8000. The SP-FS52 has a 5-way gold binding post and the most sophisticated 8 Element crossover. It has a 130W power capacity.

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The Design

These award-winning speakers are known for their sound. The looks are debatable, though. The speakers are constructed with RF Molded wood. It has only one finish that is the ash black veneer finish. The grilles are push-pin and cover the tweeter as well as the woofers. The ports at the back accept only the banana-terminated speaker cables.

The MDF cabinets look slightly on the budgeted side. The black ash veneer is basic and uninspired. It is dull and can barely match the interior aesthetics of rooms. They would stand out as, well speakers.

It is disappointing and even heartbreaking to a point that you can’t ignore the sound quality for this set of speakers and you have to compromise on the looks. Pioneer could have easily created a more aesthetically pleasing design rather than this. With the same budget and design

There are still plus points in the design. The panels have been curved towards the rear. It prevents any distortion and helps better the sound quality by reducing the incidence, giving rise to internal standing waves. But when you reach inside of the speaker, the story completely changes.

The Sound

This is the game changer not for Pioneer SP-FS52 but all the other models in this range. What’s under the hood is good enough to spark a debate about how aesthetics should be ignored for sound.

It is a speaker system that works well at all frequencies; therefore, it is a delight for all genres of music and sound enthusiasts. Andrew Jones has probably gone 10 steps out and made sure TAD gives their worth. The 8 element crossover is no different.

This complex crossover system is intricately designed to deliver the best sounds from the woofers and tweeter. The crossover frequencies are 250Hz and 3kHz, which is enough to be flawless on any range of sound. The crossover is seamless and faultless. Even high-end and premium speakers can learn from Pioneer SP-FS52 how to design a crossover.

This speaker is designed to solve the bass problem that most speakers in this range usually have. Some have tiny bass; some have too much of it. With 3 purposefully built woofers, this does away with the resonance of sounds at lower-level volumes. The lower level frequencies are well represented for music, movies and other everyday sounds.

Some hardcore gamers might add a subwoofer for increasing the bass, but the bass is adequate for a mid to larger-sized room.

The mids of this speaker are so natural sounding and clear that some of the more expensive models could take lessons from this. The mids are loud and create a superb vocal presence. There is crystal clarity in voices and beats. Therefore, it is suitable across genres

What’s more important is that the mids are not drowned out by the bass. The bass plays a very complementary role to the mids.

The treble extensions are powerful and can reach higher frequencies with ease. The cymbals are crystal clear, sharp and a near reproduction of the original quality. The trebles roll off at the extremes.

Overall Sound

The vocal presence is weighted, dimensional and smooth. The sound is almost seductive and complex. The complexity of music and sounds are well nuanced. The sounds are crystal clear even in Jazz or hip hop.

Conclusion

The only real pain point of these speakers is their size. They can get bulky for some. Pioneer has done a stellar job of producing speakers of the caliber at the price it carries. The next close alternative to this quality of output is quite a jump in the price.

While concluding the Pioneer SP-FS52 review, we could safely say that if looks don’t play an essential part for you, it is a speaker with excellent bass, plays clear and sharp sounds across mid-range and trebles, and has minimal distortion. The closest in sound quality that we tested was priced at nearly two times this model.

This is the kind of experience we get enthusiastic about, a well-rounded and full-bodied sound. So go ahead and experience this highly-rated audio system without breaking a bank. Just get over the looks if you can.