This is a review and detailed measurements of the Pioneer SP-EBS73-LR bookshelf Atmos enabled speaker. It is on kind loan from a local member. They cost US $749 for a pair. That may seem high for a bookshelf speaker but you are getting two speakers in one. An up firing two-way coaxial driver that is driven by its own terminals. And a front facing 3-way speaker with the same coaxial driver mated with a small "woofer."
Here is what it looks like:
These are introduced back in 2014 and Dolby Atmos was all the rage (news, not delivery). Realizing getting people to stick speakers in their ceiling is hard, Dolby announced this upfiring scheme at the same time as the surround sound technology. They proceed to license a fancy crossover for it which cost a lot. I don't know if that is what is used here or not.
Overall, the speaker feels quite a bit more hefty substantial than the pioneer SP-BS22-LR Andrew Jones design I tested earlier.
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 anechoic chamber. In a nutshell, the measurements show the actual sound coming out of the speaker independent of the room.
All measurements are reference to tweeter axis with the grill removed. Frequency resolution is 2.7 Hz. Over 600 measurement points were used to assure high precision in higher frequencies. For the first time, I am also using averaging to lower noise in bass frequencies.
Spinorama Audio Measurements
Acoustic measurements can be grouped in a way that can be perceptually analyzed to determine how good a speaker can be used. This so called spinorama shows us just about everything we need to know about the speaker with respect to tonality and some flaws:
Well, we do have flaws. Disappointing to see that wide dip between 3 and 10 kHz. Good thing is that the early reflections more or less follow the same dip so EQ would be useful to fill that hole.
Sensitivity is specified I think at 86 dB which within the vague way that is measured, is OK. But if you look at the bass frequencies, you easily drop to 80 dB and lower. So as is typical of these little bookshelf speakers, they need more than a little amplifier to drive them.
Predictive in-room response is similar to on-axis so problem remains:
As noted, what comes directly at you and what goes to the sides are similar in both vertical and horizontal axis (due to use of coaxial driver):
Impedance measurement shows a dip to below 4 ohm so again, you need to have good amplification that can handle such low impedances:
Driving the speaker with 10 volts (above are at 2.83 volts) shows a number of distortion sources correlating with the crossover frequency:
This indicates the driver has too low of a break up point, or it is used above its comfort factor.
Eye-candy Speaker Measurements
Speaker Listening Tests
I started my listening tests with a single filter for the prominent room mode. The sound was OK but somewhat dull. So I dialed in a boost to fix the lower treble region and a dip for the final hump (yellow and purple dots):
In short-term listening, this made a substantial difference. So much more brilliance and detail came to the forefront. Maybe a bit too much though if you listen for a long time so more precise adjustment and testing should be done to run with them. Still, the EQ I felt worked well here. I could enjoy my reference tracks.
Bass however was absent. There is just no deep bass here so overall tonality was light.
For kicks, I also played with the upfiring Atoms speaker. It sounded "interesting" and better than I thought it would. Despite using a single speaker, the special effects were remarkable in hearing sounds at times a few feet to the right of the speaker and such.
Conclusions
The hole in frequency response and high distortion around the crossover point rule out this speaker for any kind of hifi use, certainly at these prices. If you have it, then some amount of EQ fixes what is most broken here. A lot of the budget has gone into that up firing Atmos driver and crossover than goodness in the front part of the speaker.
Needless to say, I can't recommend the Pioneer SP-EBS73-LR.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Running way behind in my garden planting. Have tomato and peppers coming up but need to plant the next batch. Instead, I am reviewing speakers. If that made you feel sorry for me, good! Please donate using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
Here is what it looks like:
These are introduced back in 2014 and Dolby Atmos was all the rage (news, not delivery). Realizing getting people to stick speakers in their ceiling is hard, Dolby announced this upfiring scheme at the same time as the surround sound technology. They proceed to license a fancy crossover for it which cost a lot. I don't know if that is what is used here or not.
Overall, the speaker feels quite a bit more hefty substantial than the pioneer SP-BS22-LR Andrew Jones design I tested earlier.
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 anechoic chamber. In a nutshell, the measurements show the actual sound coming out of the speaker independent of the room.
All measurements are reference to tweeter axis with the grill removed. Frequency resolution is 2.7 Hz. Over 600 measurement points were used to assure high precision in higher frequencies. For the first time, I am also using averaging to lower noise in bass frequencies.
Spinorama Audio Measurements
Acoustic measurements can be grouped in a way that can be perceptually analyzed to determine how good a speaker can be used. This so called spinorama shows us just about everything we need to know about the speaker with respect to tonality and some flaws:
Well, we do have flaws. Disappointing to see that wide dip between 3 and 10 kHz. Good thing is that the early reflections more or less follow the same dip so EQ would be useful to fill that hole.
Sensitivity is specified I think at 86 dB which within the vague way that is measured, is OK. But if you look at the bass frequencies, you easily drop to 80 dB and lower. So as is typical of these little bookshelf speakers, they need more than a little amplifier to drive them.
Predictive in-room response is similar to on-axis so problem remains:
As noted, what comes directly at you and what goes to the sides are similar in both vertical and horizontal axis (due to use of coaxial driver):
Impedance measurement shows a dip to below 4 ohm so again, you need to have good amplification that can handle such low impedances:
Driving the speaker with 10 volts (above are at 2.83 volts) shows a number of distortion sources correlating with the crossover frequency:
This indicates the driver has too low of a break up point, or it is used above its comfort factor.
Eye-candy Speaker Measurements
Speaker Listening Tests
I started my listening tests with a single filter for the prominent room mode. The sound was OK but somewhat dull. So I dialed in a boost to fix the lower treble region and a dip for the final hump (yellow and purple dots):
In short-term listening, this made a substantial difference. So much more brilliance and detail came to the forefront. Maybe a bit too much though if you listen for a long time so more precise adjustment and testing should be done to run with them. Still, the EQ I felt worked well here. I could enjoy my reference tracks.
Bass however was absent. There is just no deep bass here so overall tonality was light.
For kicks, I also played with the upfiring Atoms speaker. It sounded "interesting" and better than I thought it would. Despite using a single speaker, the special effects were remarkable in hearing sounds at times a few feet to the right of the speaker and such.
Conclusions
The hole in frequency response and high distortion around the crossover point rule out this speaker for any kind of hifi use, certainly at these prices. If you have it, then some amount of EQ fixes what is most broken here. A lot of the budget has gone into that up firing Atmos driver and crossover than goodness in the front part of the speaker.
Needless to say, I can't recommend the Pioneer SP-EBS73-LR.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Running way behind in my garden planting. Have tomato and peppers coming up but need to plant the next batch. Instead, I am reviewing speakers. If that made you feel sorry for me, good! Please donate using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
Last edited:
you never know... maybe EQ is more important than crosstalk, distortion, etc... just a provocation..maybe 
