Quality of Pioneer X-Z9 System

[michaelahess]

I have an old X-Z9 with the S-Z9 speakers and XC-Z9 receiver. I bought it on clearance at $300 from Newegg eons ago.

I'm curious of others opinions on this system. Since the speakers are really KEF, I'm curious if anyone knows what they compare to in the KEF lineup. I'm sure the amp/dac is nothing special today, but I've never broken the system apart and used the speakers on my other systems.

Having just learned today that the speakers are KEF, I'm tempted to do so. But was curious of insight from others if it's worth the time.

I currently have the following as comparisons:

Office - Yamaha RX-V377 running JBL S38's then SP-FS51 towers for surrounds and the matching original center. This is for gaming and work music.

Living Room - Onkyo TX-NR1009 running Triangle Boria BR08's and matching center, with in ceiling Monoprice Sycamore 8in surround and rears.

Exercise Room - Pioneer VSX-505s (first stereo I ever bought in'95) running JBL S312's.

I've always thought the S-Z9's sounded good, but not great, so I never really put much time into them. Maybe my lack of listening skills is short changing me?

 

[James Altec Mcintosh]

Hi. Wondering if you still have those speakers and your thoughts now? I have been lucky to find them and also lucky to have a good amp to drive them.
I think they are actually spectacular... been a Kef fan for a while and had older Ref setup but the 50k top end on the x-z9s really helps the high distortion go away. They are near field and don't handle much power. I had a solid Yammie 3090 running these and the clarity amazed me. But when I paired my 70s Mac SS receiver to it, I knew i had found a higher level of clarity and balance.

Hope u find this message. Would love to chat specifics and such

JAM

 

[Exoplasm]

Hi. Wondering if you still have those speakers and your thoughts now? I have been lucky to find them and also lucky to have a good amp to drive them.
I think they are actually spectacular... been a Kef fan for a while and had older Ref setup but the 50k top end on the x-z9s really helps the high distortion go away. They are near field and don't handle much power. I had a solid Yammie 3090 running these and the clarity amazed me. But when I paired my 70s Mac SS receiver to it, I knew i had found a higher level of clarity and balance.

Hope u find this message. Would love to chat specifics and such

JAM

Hi JAM, I have a set of these as well they are quite good. Not as good as the meta r3 is currently. but here is a review you can look over it is in Japanese but just translate it with google.

Pioneer S-Z9　導入記 : On Age Audio

TADのトランデューサーとしての正確性に感銘を受けてから３か月余り Reference Oneという超ド級スピーカーの優れた忠実性は、アンプの違いを「スーパーSN」と「下品な張り出し感ｗ」という両極端の音として「完璧に」かつ「楽しく」再現してくれるという、往復ビンタ体験で

blog.livedoor.jp

They are based off around the 6/7 gen uni q driver but use pioneers carbon/
Plastic/ injection molded matrix cones (3 layer) to improve cone stiffness and dampening, Instead of the molded ridges kef uses on there poly drivers. They are pioneer cast aluminum baskets as well. Very nice drivers. The crossover could use some work maybe a l pad on the tweeter to bring it down a notch. There’s some lower treble distortion present and this would help alleviate this or reworked crossover. I’m waiting to see what he ends up with. I just built a set of sb ara bookshelves there are better but cost more.