Piega Premium 301 Wireless Gen1: Seeking advice on interpreting (limited) measurements

[MMilan]

Dear Audio-Friends,
First-timer and non-native speaker here, so apologies in advance for any mistakes. I sincerely hope that this post is located in the appropriate section of the forum. Feel free to move the post if I am wrong!

Reason for this post:
Seeking support for decision-making based on limited available data and shallow personal experience.

Questions:

• How do you interpret the distortion measurements of the speaker? My first impression was quite negative, but upon examining the chosen dB numbers for testing the speaker, the results seem to be acceptable. Am I missing something?
• How do you interpret the frequency response? It appears to be quite good, aside from the slight bass bump. Would you agree?
• How would you evaluate the price-to-performance ratio of the speaker? Are there better options?

Speaker of choice:
Piega Premium 301 Wireless Gen1
Cannot listen to them beforehand as (official) dealer is too far away.
But I listened to other Piega speakers and really liked the clarity. But no experience with a powered Piega speaker so far.

Price:
1,200.00 Euro/pair as limited offer

Available data:
German Hi-Fi magazine (Last Page)
https://www.in-akustik.de/fileadmin.../Piega-Premium-301-Wireless-AUDIO-05-2019.pdf

Speaker data:

• Recommended amplifier power: 20 - 200 watts
• Impedance: 4 Ohms
• Principle: 2-way
• Drivers: 1x LDR 2642 MKII tweeter ribbon and 1x 140 mm midrange/woofer
• Efficiency: 89 dB
• Frequency range: 39 - 50,000 Hz
• Item weight: 9.00 kg
• Dimensions: Length × width × height: 23.00 × 18.00 × 34.00 cm

Expectations and room situation:

• Room size: 20m2 with high walls (3.50-4m) / untreated
• Listening distance: 3.20m
• Subwoofer available: yes
• Music genres: Electronica, Classical
• Examples: Overmono, Bawrut, Aphex Twin, Daniel Avery, Nicolas Jaar (and more)
• Tonal preference: Clear, analytical sound with good and fast bass response

I love diving into this hobby and I'm learning a lot from ASR.

Cheers from Berlin
Milan

 

[Doenerkunde]

It might be useful for you to convert the attenuation to percentages to compare them and get a general feeling for them.

Calculator tool to play around with (every -6dB is a halving):
http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-thd.htm

Distortion at 100hz:
85dB -> below 1,8%
90dB -> around 1,8%
95dB -> around 3,5%
100dB -> around 6,3%

Distortion at 5khz:
85dB -> around 3,2%
90dB -> around 5,6%
95dB -> around 8,9%
100dB -> around 8,9%

The bump between 400 and 500hz maxes out at 100dB at 1,1% THD, so ist pretty negliable.

For comparison take a look at the review of the Canton Vento 836.2 where distortion spikes of 3-3,5% around 2-3khz at 96dB are judged as „really bad“: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/canton-vento-826-2-speaker-review.40475/

Keep in mind that harmonic distortion at 5khz might be less of a problem than it would be at 3khz, as we are probably more sensitive to the harmonics of 3khz (6,9,12…) than we are to the harmonics of 5khz (10, 15, 20…). Still the distortion peak at 5khz is pretty concerning.

Frequency response looks decent but is heavily smoothed, so information is lost. Also the 30 degree measurement shows a widening of dispersion above the crossover frequency, which is typical for 2 way speakers without a waveguided tweeter. That means the sound radiated to the sides will have a different tonality, so results may be room dependent.

Regarding the price performance ratio: They are swiss made active speakers in aluminium cabinets with SEAS of norway woofers and inhouse ribbon tweeters. I´d say 1200€ is a great price for that! You can definitely get better performance for less money, but you can´t buy better performing made in switzerland aluminium cabinet high end look SEAS woofer swiss made ribbon active speakers for less.

Greetings from Essen

 

[fineMen]

... Cheers from Berlin
Milan

Except for quite unusual audio preferences you won't be happy with this one. More bass you'll need for sure.The ribbon is a show piece, but only to state some promise that it would not hold at home on a daily basis. Again, except you're an audiophile with limited intentions to enjoy music, but rather are into self affirmation having an off-center, if not elitist stereo. Dispensable me thinks. Many companies are miles behind real innovators.

 

[fineMen]

... which is typical for ...

I'm just listening to Sleaford Mods "Shortcummings". It is all so clear that the sound engineer decided to give it some common extra high pitched reverberation. The glue if you will, adding to the growling Fender bass below. Revelations I don't expect from an 'audiophile' speaker. It will rather work out on inherent limitations to give it some 'accent' to love--or not. The start of an endless journey, god speed you!

 

[LTig]

Reason for this post:
Seeking support for decision-making based on limited available data and shallow personal experience.

Questions:

• How do you interpret the distortion measurements of the speaker? My first impression was quite negative, but upon examining the chosen dB numbers for testing the speaker, the results seem to be acceptable. Am I missing something?
• How do you interpret the frequency response? It appears to be quite good, aside from the slight bass bump. Would you agree?

You don't need to worry about the slight bass hump as the room will have a much bigger influence. However both the missing wave guide and the FR above 1 kHz (on axis and 30 degree off axis horizontal) hint to a rather bad spinorama.

 

[MMilan]

Thank you so much for all your replies. This affirms the feelings that I actually have due to the limited availability of data. So glad that I had the courage for the first post here.

I do not consider myself an “audiophile” but rather prefer quality over looks and empty promises that are not even within the biological human hearing possibilities

My next idea would be to order monitors from a large dealer with refund/send back option named Thomann. In the basket so far:

- Genelec 8030C
- Focal Alpha Evo 80

The Genelec is well testest and praised here in the forum. The Evo 65 also got a recommendation. I cannot find the Evo 80 on here but just might give it a try if it suits my musical taste.

What do you think about the idea? Any data available for the Evo 80?

PS: Mission accomplished. The original post intention got answered. So if my continuous questions lead to much repetition in the forum, this thread can be closed. Don’t want to be a nuisance for the veterans

 

[fineMen]

- Genelec 8030C
- Focal Alpha Evo 80

Alas, the Genelec doesn't sport the exceptional features of its siblings from that supplier, namely the coax and second the true 3-way design. It compares well to Neuman, but, people always lough at me, it doesn't represent the most recent fashion in audio land. The Kef R3 is a passive speaker and my not fit your use case.
Focal, as far as I have it, always shows up with some accentuated specialities in either directivity or on-axis frequency response, or both even, or distorts. Just special every time, never really neutral.

Good luck, and it doesn't mean the world ...