Pioneer TZ-F700 Speakers

[snow 240]

Pioneer TZ-F700 speakers anyone here heard these? Supposedly they retailed for a whopping $3500.00 a pair back in the day I have a chance to pick up a pair for $450.00 locally

 

 

.

[weitrhino 1,443]

Nice looking but I've never heard them. $3500 for a pair of single driver speakers is enormous!

[snow 240]

Nice looking but I've never heard them. $3500 for a pair of single driver speakers is enormous!

Believe it or not it is a 3 way speaker, what appears to be the only speaker is actually a midrange driver with the tweeter in the center and a 12" powered woofer facing the floor.

 

 

[00cbirdw 195]

Looks like something you'd find aboard the Starship Enterprise.......beam me up Scotty LOL!!!!

[Daddyjt 9,612]

Can you listen to them, before you buy them Dan? KEF made a coaxial several years ago, that looked kinda like that - when I heard the KEFs, the imaging was outstanding, but the overall sound was a bit laid-back for my tastes...

 

FWIW

 

Mark

[danowood 2,167]

I concur with Mark,  it would be best to audition them if you can.  I do know you are very knowledgable especially on speakers, trust your own gut feelings and audition if you can.

[00cbirdw 195]

Not sure if this helps, but here's what a guy from the 'Stereophile' magazine had to say about them back in '99 when they first came out:

 But...

There is one fly in the ointment. The TZ-F700 is not as tightly buttoned-up as it should be. On a significant number of recordings with challenging bass, I heard disconcerting buzzes and rattles from the region of the IRIS in both of our first two samples. Most of the time this was masked by other sounds in the program material, which is why it did not often interfere with the listening tests or compromise my generally favorable sonic impressions. This is also why it was far less obvious on soundtracks, which often tend to be busier than music. But once I heard it, I looked around for the sort of material that clearly revealed it, such as isolated drum strokes or continuous bass synthesizer tones.

 

The problem never appeared to be in the subwoofer; it seemed to originate most often from near the recessed 6.5" midrange, though it once appeared to come from the back of one of the IRIS units. The problem ranged from a subtle buzz to an outright rattle. With one piece of material, the "Large Drums" cut from Staccato 2, a sampler CD (produced by the German Audio magazine, CD 101013), the buzz emanated from a different area entirely: the region around the plate holding the power cord and power switch. A hint of buzzing also came from one of the speakers' rear ports.

 

We requested and received a third TZ-F700 from Pioneer, but it exhibited the same problems. My initial analysis, at least with respect to the noise heard behind the IRIS, suggests the possibility of misrouted cables vibrating against the midrange cone. But it was impossible to remove the grille covering the midrange to investigate. (The grille frame appears to be made of thin plastic, which might be related to the problem.)

 

Conclusion

Based on sonic performance alone, I have no hesitation recommending the Pioneer Elite Reference speakers. But despite my many favorable comments, I can't overlook the extraneous buzzing noises, which I heard often enough to make me recommend caution. I can't imagine that this is a design flaw; the problem would certainly have been apparent to any competent designer during prototyping. That leaves only cosmetic trim—which an acoustic designer might not have been involved with—or quality control as possible culprits.

 

I'm sure Pioneer will get to the bottom of this. If the problem is solved by the time you audition the system, you should be able to tell from any reasonably thorough listening test. Still, I can't make an unqualified recommendation of the system at this time. But the basic sound quality is already there.

[snow 240]

Thanks guys and yes I will get to listen to them first, it turns out that the guy who has these I know him and have bought from before. He is always getting new/different gear in but little leaves  It turns out I was incorrect saying they were 3 ways they are actually 4 way speakers. I have some things he wants so we may be able to do some trading. Believe it or not this fellow is a bigger hoarder than I am, he literally .has 4-5 rooms full of speakers of all kinds a basement full of amps preamps etc and a minimum of 50k CD's. He has 3 pair of these but only wants to keep 2 pair.

 

 

 

REGARDS SNOW 

[00cbirdw 195]

WOW!!! I bet his house doesn't see too many quiet moments LOL!!! Wish I could take a good perusing thru all his gear

[Gene C 1,748]

That's awesome Dan! I hope they sound great and you get them.

[snow 240]

WOW!!! I bet his house doesn't see too many quiet moments LOL!!! Wish I could take a good perusing thru all his gear

I should take some pics it would amaze you, honestly he has rooms that are from the floor to the ceiling of nothing but music, the last time I was in the there in the basement he had most likely at least 75 amps of all brands some Carver stuff too, speakers I had never seen before big Marantz ones that are the size of freezers all kinds of JBL's Polk SDA's some huge Infinity towers and on and on. Thanks Gene I hope so too, if nothing else it will be a fun trip just to see and listen to some different gear.

 

 

REGARDS SNOW 

[snow 240]

Well I went and looked at the Pioneers today and a few others he was willing to part with, he had some Legacy Classics a pair of Pioneer HPM-150's a pair of JBL-L7's some Paradigm P90 floor standers and of course the TZ-F700's. He is currently using some huge VMPS  towers  they have to be over 6 feet tall driven by an Onkyo amp with huge meters, he is going to stop by my house Sunday and look and listen and we will see if we can do some trading perhaps so I will dig out some things  and see what happens, I could not hear any ringing or buzzing like what was mentioned in the Stereophile review perhaps it was an early run anamoly? or something who knows.

 

 

REGARDS SNOW 

[snow 240]

  Ok I went and listened to several sets of speakers and wound up liking the Pioneer TZ-F700's the best of them all believe it or not so they came home with me today, I was a bit surprised actually, I thought the Legacy classics would  be better and all'though they were nice sounding these Pioneers are just a bit better not by leaps and bounds but noticeable.

 

 

Here is a quick pic of them.

 

 

REGARDS SNOW 

 

[00cbirdw 195]

Glad they ended up to be the right choice for you Snow.......its always nice when a deal turns out to be better than you expected!!!!

[snow 240]

Glad they ended up to be the right choice for you Snow.......its always nice when a deal turns out to be better than you expected!!!!

Thanks I really like these they play quite a bit lower than either my JBL-L200T3's or my Altec valencia's do I believe both of them play to around 50hz or so but these play down to around 25hz or so without strain and have a very full sound with a wide soundstage. I truly did not expect much from these to be truthful.

 

 

 

REGARDS SNOW 

[Daddyjt 9,612]

That's awesome, Dan! It amazes me his much cool gear you run into up there - color me jealous.

 

Glad you're liking the new addition:-)

 

Congrats!

[RussellHammond 97]

Wow Dan new speakers and soon to be a new amp for you.. Enjoy !!!! December be very very good to Dan,

[Gene C 1,748]

SCORE! Right on Dan, glad that you guys were able to make a deal.

[snow 240]

Thanks everyone one more set for the collection 

 

 

 

REGARDS SNOW