# Pioneer Premier PRS 3-way component set,TS-C720PRS + TS-S101PRS



## WLDock (Sep 27, 2005)

So…
What do you do when a set of PRS 4" mids are literally left at your doorstep? By any means necessary you install those babies!

I guess one has to be careful what one asks for because you just might get it. Since I heard about them I have wanted to get a set of the PRS components but really wanted to get a set of the 4” TS-S101PRS mids that are available overseas. Lucky me, the set that was reviewed hear by NPDang ended up in my lap and the rush was on to get a system together as I promised I would post up a review.

I had been pondering what I wanted to do system wise in my car but was not sure if I wanted to go simple and stealth or all out four-way DSP crazy. With little time and money, I picked up a nice and modest system and pretty much dropped it in...so take it for what it’s worth. There are several install limited things that came up but, this install is only for the sake of listening to the speakers and getting a feel for the acoustics in my car. I plan to spend MUCH more time on a permanent install….So don’t razz me about some of my quick solutions….like my dash pods.


*CAR:*
2002 Chrysler 300M Special

*EQUIPMENT:*
Headunit: Eclipse CD8443
Amp: JBL GTO755.6 II (6 Ch)
Amp: JBL GTO601.1 II (Mono)
Tweeter: From Pioneer Premier TS-C720PRS set
Midrange: Pioneer Premier TS-S101PRS
Midbass: From Pioneer Premier TS-C720PRS set
Sub: JBL W12GTi

*CROSSOVER POINTS:*
I used the internal crossover in the CD8443 as well as the crossovers in the amps to get four-way active processing.

Tweeters: 4KHz- Up (24dB/Oct.)
Mids: ~(12dB/Oct.) 300Hz– 4KHz (6dB/Oct.)
MidBass: (24dB/Oct.) 80Hz ~ 300Hz (12dB/Oct.)
Sub: (24dB/Oct.) or (18dB/Oct) 63Hz - Down 


*LISTENING TEST:*

CLASSICAL
IGOR STRAVINSKY- DAVID ZINMAN/ BALITIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Track 6 - “Infernal Dance of King Kastchei from the Firebird”
from The Telarc Collection Volume 1 Sampler

I have used this track as a test, tune, and listening track for several years. Like a lot of classical music this cut is very dynamic. I find his recording a good test for car audio systems because you have to turn up the volume a bit to get the volume to moderate levels during the soft passages…. If your system has noise…this is where it will be heard. On the other hand the loud passages will cause many systems to break up. My system was dead silent during the intro to this piece. I found the French horns intro at 00:24 fairly clear yet a little muffled from what I remember on more open sounding home systems. My dash pods are too small I think…I had a lot of peaks that I had to smooth out with EQ during the tuning stage. Anyway, at 01:04 the piece goes silent…however at 01:05 there is a BIG CRESCENDO! The system produced this with big impact and the bass drum / Tympani hit was up front and shook the car. The W12Gti is a seriously nice sub. I thought the midbass held together as well given the sad door install. I used no sound deadening….I only stuffed the doors with polyfill . I think the 80Hz cutoff and steep slope helped a great deal as well. Overall this piece came across as natural sounding and fairly linear given the wide dynamic range and the instruments were well placed across the stage.


STAGING
LINCOLN MAYORGA AND DISTINGUISED COLLEAGUES 
Track 10 - “Camarillo” From IASCA 2001-2002 SQ disc.

I like these type discs because they give diagrams of the correct placement of the instruments in the liner notes. One thing I can say so far about putting the mids and tweets on the dash is that it keeps a lot of the sound up high. I though my system did a pretty good job with this track. The instruments were placed across the stage as listed in the notes. I did have to slightly adjust the time delay and level of the right speakers but after doing so it locked everything in. Originally, I tried the pods against the pillars facing each other but the system did not stage and image as well. They stage MUCH better facing the listener.


CONTEMPORARY JAZZ
FOURPLAY – Between The Sheets
Track 1 – “Chant”

I love this group and this cut is awesome for system testing. The beginning starts with a loud floor tom hit and it was well rendered and centered by my system with big impact. The bass drum sound was very tight and upfront and the shaker sounds that start at 00:02 and pan from L-C-R were nice and detailed. At 00:22 when the groove starts and the electric bass comes in is where bad systems tend to fall apart. My system did fine but I have heard this much better. I would say this is pretty much an install limited issue as I think these speakers could pull off a better performance. Nevertheless, voices were really nice and clear and well above the dash. Good performance overall.


EASY LISTENING JAZZ
NORA JONES – Come Away With Me
Track 3 – “Cold Cold Heart”

At the beginning of this track the upright bass is centered and should have some resonance sounds of the instrument but panel resonance will be VERY obvious if things are not well dampened. I though my system did well given the lack of dampening. The bass was clear throughout the upper and lower register. The guitar came in on the left and the piano was left center at 00:04. Nora comes in at 00:12 and her voice is close miced and very forward. I found her sound a little bright yet articulate and VERY high in the stage. The sound was very natural but could be a little warmer.


R&B/POP/JAZZ/GOSPEL/WORLD(SWAILI) MUSIC/ETC.
QUINCY JONES – Back On The Block
Track 7 – “The Places You Find Love”

If you have not heard this track you should. Quincy Jones or “Q” is masterful in assembling several incredible singers and musicians together for this one. To me this song combines a lot of the genres listed above, is well recorded, and gives the system a work out. I will always use this cut when I listen to systems. The song begins with Synthesized rhythmic sounds that alternate between L, C, R. My system was very precise and clear with this material and surprisingly warm sounding. At 00:05 the large choir comes in and they are very, very far back in the stage, The Pioneers did a good job with this passage. The song is constantly building and at 00:16 the Syth bass and bass drum comes in fairly well controlled and not over bearing. A weak system will smear this section and a system with too much bass will bloat this passage. At 00:28 Siedah Garrett’s voice comes in well centered and fairly smooth I though. Her voice is above the other sounds in the mix so this is a good thing because that is how it should be based on the years of listening to this cut on good systems. Now at 02:05 when the full choir comes in and the song is peaking the system just barely held things together. This section is so full of energy and my system did a nice job at it but even more energy was needed. Better controlled speaker enclosures, more power, more tuning, great dampening are in order. I think the PRS drivers are falling flat much before their actual potential.


BEBOP/SWING JAZZ
JOSHUA REDMAN QUARTET – Spirit of the Moment, Live at the Village Vanguard
Disc One, Track-7 – “St. Thomas”

This cut is 12:14 minutes long and a third of it consist of an intro solo by Joshua on the tenor sax. His sound is so big and incredible. My system did a great job at creating an amazingly real, warm and cozy feel of a small jazz club like the Village Vanguard. I thought the PRS mids really shined on this cut. The sax sounds very natural and the upper register had bite and the lower had weight…. nonetheless, all sounds were centered at dash level and above. At 01:33 his licks were scary real sounding. At 04:36 when the band comes in the sound was very lively and convincing. Great job on this cut!


SWING JAZZ
MANHATTAN JAZZ QUINTET – Funky Strut
All Tracks

My system sounds great playing all of these tracks. No complaints given my drop-in install. This disc is just so well recorded…
The sound is so New York jazz….


*CONCLUSIONS:*

Overall, I would have to say these are very nice and smooth sounding speakers. The tweeters are good and can work just fine for many. They don’t have that last bit of detail and realism of some of the costly speakers but…so what. They were fine after a little eq.

The 4” TS-S101PRS mids really are jewels. These are very natural and smooth sounding mids. I listened to them free air in the home as well as the make-shift pods and they did a nice job in both cases. I think these would be much better in the right enclosure. In my too small pods they were peaky and a little hollow sounding. EQ helped but I know their potential was limited. I found output may be an issue as well. I had to use a higher crossover point to get good volume out of these…I don’t think a 200Hz crossover point would work if you want any decent dynamics out of these….300Hz –up. Still, they did a great job with voices, sax, brass, etc in my system. I think these will work for many out there. I am not sure about kick panel installs though…I only tried them there for a very short session. Not sure how much dynamics one could get in that location? Again, they sound much better aimed at the listener. Imaging was very good. I would love to hear these with a different tweeter…maybe a metal dome? Will see….

The C720PRS mid did a good job but did not go too low nor was as controlled as I would have liked in my system. My doors are terrible for midbass so that is going to be a major issue if/when I do a permanent install. I don’t think just deadening the door will do it either. Not sure if I want to do kicks?

While I have not heard all of the three-way sets out there but I would think Pioneer could sell a lot of these if they were to offer the 4” driver over here at around the same pricing as the current drivers. I think all of these drivers have a well balanced response and could drop right in several systems. Those willing to go the extra mile will be treated to even better sonics and better dynamics but I still question how much abuse the mid could take. Overall, these drivers look robust but I am not sure how much power they could take. I think the modest power SQ listener would be happy with these.

*PICTURES:*

























































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Thanks for reading this.
WALT D.


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

Nice detail in your review Walt !


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## rekd0514 (Sep 24, 2006)

Ooooo how did you get em and what price?


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## vactor (Oct 27, 2005)

man, looks like you could almost fit a 4 way with subwoofer into those kicks!! get cracking and put the 3 way in there and a10 in the door. man, jealous!


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## newtitan (Mar 7, 2005)

nice review!!! and I think I missed the thread somehow, why are these NOT in the us?


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## WLDock (Sep 27, 2005)

Thanks for the comments guys.

newtitan,
The individual drivers were originaly released through exclusive dealers in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. 
http://www.pioneer.com.sg/storefront/ContentDetail/PressDetail.asp?contentId=357
Looks like they are available in parts of Europe as well. There is talk of the 4" coming here this year?

vactor,
As far as kicks...These cab forward cars actually have small kick panel space. The pics make them look bigger. Would need to cut metal to get a 6 3/4" in deep. I plan to try them in the kicks again. 

rekd0514,
How did I get them and what did they cost? You would not believe it if I told you.


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## shinjohn (Feb 8, 2006)

Hey Walt,
Nice review and teaser for all of us. 
Was waiting to hear your impressions of these for a little while!
Gotta love those drivers.
Having spent time with the 720 set, I'd agree the Pioneers are an incredible value. Very clean sounding, but not for those looking for exceptionally high output. Swap those tweeters for something with a better top end and I'd say you're done!

Or you can just send those 4" mids my way so I can audition them too.  

Thanks for the review! Good to see you on the boards!


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## Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX (Oct 24, 2007)

Man, I remember hearing your car with just the 4"ers... it sounded really nice.. I can only imagine what it's like with the 6.75's along for the ride..!!!


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## chefhow (Apr 29, 2007)

I NEED THESE!!!


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## 2DEEP2 (Jul 9, 2007)

Nice review Walt.

I still say the sub and amp rack came out pretty nice to be a "let me just throw something together" job.

The drivers have great potential but as we know proper install of a driver can go a long way toward improving its sound. I still think the 4's performed very nice in the mouse pad pods that somebody threw together  

Snow!! Boy I missed a lot when I went to Florida


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## WLDock (Sep 27, 2005)

Thanks Anthony! and Thanks for bringing the F150 load of tools over and fabricating the dash pods from my crazy idea. And yeah...we got dumped on while you were in sunny Florida.

Anyway, I managed to tune the system some more and cleaned up some things. I really begin to think about a good permanent install...But too many issues came up. The wife just hates the idea of speakers on the dash and equipment taking up half the trunk. Also, I had a bunch of problems with the used equipment I bought.

1.) The CD8443 outputs fade in and out...might be bad RCA's? 
2.) The Audio Control crossover never worked...I tried to fix it but ended up using the amps crossovers.
3.) One of the mids from the TS-C720PRS set started to develop a voice coil rub. The guy I got these from had the same issue previously and posted about it hear on the forum but claimed to fix the problem. I checked them out before installing them and found no problems. It started to develop once I got them in.

This used buying experience pretty much sucked. So, I think I will start over. I love the form factor of the Alpine PDX amps and the SPX-17PRO's look interesting. Also, I need to spend a little time listening to the 4 inchers in the kicks....Time will tell.


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## WLDock (Sep 27, 2005)

shinjohn said:


> Hey Walt,
> Nice review and teaser for all of us.
> Was waiting to hear your impressions of these for a little while!
> Gotta love those drivers. Having spent time with the 720 set, I'd agree the Pioneers are an incredible value. Very clean sounding, but not for those looking for exceptionally high output. Swap those tweeters for something with a better top end and I'd say you're done! Or you can just send those 4" mids my way so I can audition them too.   Thanks for the review! Good to see you on the boards!


Be Careful what you ask for...You just might get it! I see a set of 4 inchers coming your way....I sold part of the system and have been pulling it apart but not sure if I will use the 4's. Send me your info. Not surre if I still have it.

Walt


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## shinjohn (Feb 8, 2006)

WLDock said:


> Be Careful what you ask for...You just might get it! I see a set of 4 inchers coming your way....I sold part of the system and have been pulling it apart but not sure if I will use the 4's. Send me your info. Not surre if I still have it.
> 
> Walt


LOL. 
Will do.


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## WLDock (Sep 27, 2005)

Hey, its been busy around here but I will get them out soon.


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## BLD 25 (Apr 13, 2007)

nice setup. I have an 03 intrepid ES, (nearly the same car), and i would love to discuss what you have learned sometime on how to work around certain thing, and imaging etc. Let me know by pm if you have some time!


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## WLDock (Sep 27, 2005)

PM sent


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## DejaWiz (Sep 20, 2007)

I hope Pioneer gets around to offering the 4" mids here in the states soon. Would also love to see a 3-way set.


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## EricP72 (Mar 23, 2008)

first i'm new to this board as far as posting, but I have to ask, no beg for info to be able to order these from over seas or if someone has a pair here in the usa, i'm very interested in getting those 4" midrange so i can install them with a pair of TS-C720PRS. Any info please!


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## Boostedrex (Apr 4, 2007)

Hey Shinjohn, I'm going to need to talk to you at the upcoming Bay Area meet about those mids if you're going to be there.

Zach


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## EricP72 (Mar 23, 2008)

WLDock i see your located in mich. are you near the metro detroit area? I would love to hear your setup personally as it would help me settle on making up my mind about the 4" mid. I reside in detroit area and work in harperwoods, mi let me know if it is posible to take a listen to your vehicle.


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## tommyd (Nov 7, 2007)

manish said:


> WLDock i see your located in mich. are you near the metro detroit area? I would love to hear your setup personally as it would help me settle on making up my mind about the 4" mid. I reside in detroit area and work in harperwoods, mi let me know if it is posible to take a listen to your vehicle.


I was thinking the same thing except change metro Detroit to metro grand rapids lol


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## EricP72 (Mar 23, 2008)

aww damn, i just reread this thread and i must have missed the fact that he has sold most of the system...dang i really want to hear those speakers. well does anybody have a set of those 4" mids they want to pass along my way..for a fee of course...lol


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## FREQBOX (Jun 25, 2007)

your doors are exactly like the doors in my old car, a '98 dodge intrepid. Not great for midbass.  
good thing i dont own that car anymore


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