This is a review and detailed measurements of the Pioneer Sp-C22 center home theater speaker designed by the famed Andrew Jones. It was kindly purchased new by a member and drop shipped to me. It costs US $75.
It is amazing how much you get from a branded company at this low price! Sure, there is a bit of glue smear on the right mid-woofer but the rest is nice including color matched black screws. We have the typical MTM configuration which will likely cause problem for horizontal directivity.
Most center speakers of this type are sealed. This one has dual ports:
This should help it with bass but that response will be variable depending on how much you close up the ports.
Measurements that you are about to see were performed using the Klippel Near-field Scanner (NFS). This is a robotic measurement system that analyzes the speaker all around and is able (using advanced mathematics and dual scan) to subtract room reflections (so where I measure it doesn't matter). It also measures the speaker at close distance ("near-field") which sharply reduces the impact of room noise. Both of these factors enable testing in ordinary rooms yet results that can be more accurate than an anechoic chamber. In a nutshell, the measurements show the actual sound coming out of the speaker independent of the room.
Measurements are compliant with latest speaker research into what can predict the speaker preference and is standardized in CEA/CTA-2034 ANSI specifications. Likewise listening tests are performed per research that shows mono listening is much more revealing of differences between speakers than stereo or multichannel.
Reference axis was the tweeter center. No grill was used. Measurement temperature was about 61 degrees F (16 degrees C).
Pioneer SP-C22 Measurements
Normally I start with the over all spin but allow me to do this in a different order with the predicted in-room response:
This is extremely good! Yes there is a bit of peaking in the highs and a little around 100 Hz but overall is very good. The reason for good response is due to almost perfect early window reflections:
Let's get to the spin now:
The on-axis response is fairly variable with a bit notch between 3 and 4 kHz. Seems like there is some cancellation going on there due to diffraction (my guess). I will give you the near-field response and let you all diagnose it.
We know horizontal directivity is going to be super narrow and hence poor, and it is:
This is of course opposite of what we want to see in center speakers. Here is the vertical response which is good (where we don't need it to b3 good):
The benefit of MTM comes into play in power handling which is very good:
BTW, notice the in-room frequency response. It is very flat (even zoomed in to 50 dB it is so). This confirms the beneficial reflections for this speaker.
The narrow distortion peaks point to resonances which are obvious in impedance/phase measurements:
Finally here are the timing measurements for fans of those:
Pioneer SP-C22 Listening Tests
I set up everything and hit play. I was stunned how good the sound was. My jaw was on the floor seeing how this is a $74 speaker! I go to adjust the speaker and realize that I had not connected the speaker cables to it. Instead I was listening to my Revel Salon 2 speakers!!! I connected the cables to the SP-C22 and of course there was fair bit of degradation. The bass was a bit tubby and highs a bit harsher/brighter. Otherwise, the sound was quite enjoyable with extremely good power handling.
I attempted some EQ based on on-axis response and that was not fruitful. Filling the 3 to 4 kHz give the sound a bit more space but made it too bright. I did dial in -2 dB at 100 Hz and that fixed the tubbiness (I happen to have a room mode in that region). Bass was tighter now which I liked.
Horizontal directivity is a problem. Go a few degrees left and right and tonality changes drastically. So definitely not a choice for non-solitary home theater usage.
Conclusions
I wish this speaker wasn't called a center speaker. Then, at $74, it would be a steal of a speaker. It still can be when used as mains. The dual woofers screw up center application but provide excellent power handling. And the rear port adds bass which is typically missing in these small speakers.
Overall, I can't recommend it as a center speaker. But as a general (perhaps rotated 90 degrees) it is an excellent offering at this bargain price.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
It is amazing how much you get from a branded company at this low price! Sure, there is a bit of glue smear on the right mid-woofer but the rest is nice including color matched black screws. We have the typical MTM configuration which will likely cause problem for horizontal directivity.
Most center speakers of this type are sealed. This one has dual ports:
This should help it with bass but that response will be variable depending on how much you close up the ports.
Measurements that you are about to see were performed using the Klippel Near-field Scanner (NFS). This is a robotic measurement system that analyzes the speaker all around and is able (using advanced mathematics and dual scan) to subtract room reflections (so where I measure it doesn't matter). It also measures the speaker at close distance ("near-field") which sharply reduces the impact of room noise. Both of these factors enable testing in ordinary rooms yet results that can be more accurate than an anechoic chamber. In a nutshell, the measurements show the actual sound coming out of the speaker independent of the room.
Measurements are compliant with latest speaker research into what can predict the speaker preference and is standardized in CEA/CTA-2034 ANSI specifications. Likewise listening tests are performed per research that shows mono listening is much more revealing of differences between speakers than stereo or multichannel.
Reference axis was the tweeter center. No grill was used. Measurement temperature was about 61 degrees F (16 degrees C).
Pioneer SP-C22 Measurements
Normally I start with the over all spin but allow me to do this in a different order with the predicted in-room response:
This is extremely good! Yes there is a bit of peaking in the highs and a little around 100 Hz but overall is very good. The reason for good response is due to almost perfect early window reflections:
Let's get to the spin now:
The on-axis response is fairly variable with a bit notch between 3 and 4 kHz. Seems like there is some cancellation going on there due to diffraction (my guess). I will give you the near-field response and let you all diagnose it.
We know horizontal directivity is going to be super narrow and hence poor, and it is:
This is of course opposite of what we want to see in center speakers. Here is the vertical response which is good (where we don't need it to b3 good):
The benefit of MTM comes into play in power handling which is very good:
BTW, notice the in-room frequency response. It is very flat (even zoomed in to 50 dB it is so). This confirms the beneficial reflections for this speaker.
The narrow distortion peaks point to resonances which are obvious in impedance/phase measurements:
Finally here are the timing measurements for fans of those:
Pioneer SP-C22 Listening Tests
I set up everything and hit play. I was stunned how good the sound was. My jaw was on the floor seeing how this is a $74 speaker! I go to adjust the speaker and realize that I had not connected the speaker cables to it. Instead I was listening to my Revel Salon 2 speakers!!! I connected the cables to the SP-C22 and of course there was fair bit of degradation. The bass was a bit tubby and highs a bit harsher/brighter. Otherwise, the sound was quite enjoyable with extremely good power handling.
I attempted some EQ based on on-axis response and that was not fruitful. Filling the 3 to 4 kHz give the sound a bit more space but made it too bright. I did dial in -2 dB at 100 Hz and that fixed the tubbiness (I happen to have a room mode in that region). Bass was tighter now which I liked.
Horizontal directivity is a problem. Go a few degrees left and right and tonality changes drastically. So definitely not a choice for non-solitary home theater usage.
Conclusions
I wish this speaker wasn't called a center speaker. Then, at $74, it would be a steal of a speaker. It still can be when used as mains. The dual woofers screw up center application but provide excellent power handling. And the rear port adds bass which is typically missing in these small speakers.
Overall, I can't recommend it as a center speaker. But as a general (perhaps rotated 90 degrees) it is an excellent offering at this bargain price.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/