Pioneer/Tad S-101 custom!!

allsmith

allsmith

Super Member
Just got these today for a sweet price! In very good condition,besides a little corrosion on the trim rings,there very nice! So far just setting on my work bench hooked to a 26 watt sansui they are sounding awesome!! Like your there with the band in the studio! These are very rare,from my research they were only sold in Japan.Not much info on them online,but what i have found they were made in 1987,and if i converted the price of them right off of audio data base they were 56000 yen which equals like 600 bucks!! They have ceramic carbon diaphram tweeters and carbon graphite woofer cones and some kind of special surrounds.Awesome cabinet design that mounts the drivers on an inner baffle board.They call it midship mounting. There specs are pretty impressive,if you wanna check them out here is about the only info i can find on them and its kinda hard to understand...http://audio-database.com/PIONEER-EXCLUSIVE/speaker/s-101custom-e.html Gonna have to build me some nice steel stands for these babies!!
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Nice find for sure. I love the non-export stuff like this (They keep the best for themselves :D ). I would sure love a pair of those Exclusive 2401's (The 2402's have the single woofer... The one posted earlier is actually the 2401, but those two are easy to confuse... Strange way to name them if you ask me... The 2402 should be the 2-woofer model, not the 2401, ya' know?).
 
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Gang-Twanger said:
Nice find for sure. I love the non-export stuff like this (They keep the best for themselves :D ). I would sure love a pair of those Exclusive 2401's (The 2402's have the single woofer... The one Canuckaudiog posted is actually the 2401... Strange way to name them if you ask me... The 2402 should be the 2-woofer model, not the 2401).
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LOL you're right! the "2401 twin". It's getting to be too late here. :)
 
canuckaudiog said:
LOL you're right! the "2401 twin". It's getting to be too late here. :)
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Yeah, it doesn't make sense that the 2402 only has one woofer and not two. Maybe the 2402 came first and THEN the 2401? Hell, I don't know. It's weird though...

I'd love to have a pair of the newer TAD's (the huge ones). When it comes to that non-export stuff, "kabuki" doesn't enter into it.
 
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allsmith said:
Wow! $33,000.....check out the cabinet construction!! And specs!! http://audio-database.com/PIONEER-EXCLUSIVE/speaker/tad-m1-e.html
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I've been looking at these a bit. That tweeter is supposed to be some kind of coaxial mid/tweeter, I think (Coherent Source Transducer), but I'm not exactly sure how it's constructed and what's used (I know they use beryllium somewhere). First I thought it was a big cone-tweeter, but I guess not. I bet they sound incredible though. The TAD team seems bent on building one incredibly-smooth speaker (The construction looks first-rate on their drivers, especially the woofers). They make a bigger model too, don't they?
 
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allsmith said:
These are from 09, crazy expensive! !! http://asia.cnet.com/us60000-pioneer-speakers-demoed-at-kliav-62056331.htm
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Yup, the infamous R-1's... Those are firmly at the top on my "price no object" list. I'll likely never own a pair, but it's sure nice to dream (Thankfully, I don't lust after this sort of thing anymore the way I did before I got my W90's... Whatever gives you the goosebumps, ya' know?).

Imagine having a pair of R-1's and cranking Deodato's "Also Spracht Zarathustra" in a big room... I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it ("Prelude" is a great reference album, actually).
 
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Pulled a woofer out of the S-101's today and wow! Looks pretty high quality! The woofer and tweeter is held in by one allen head bolt on the internal baffle board.I noticed they used electrolytics in the crossover so they my be candidates for upgrading to poly caps.

I been listening to them some more tonight and im really impressed! They image so well,just very clean sounding,I been compairing them to my restored ar4x's and its no contest! although the AR's have more bass than the pioneers,that extra bass just dont sound right ,kinda over exaggerated and muddy compaired to the pioneers. The pioneers imaging is incredible almost like im hearing multiple layers to the sound stage.They just seem to extract so much more music from my test CD(which is Fleetwood Mac Rumors,I love that album!) The AR's sound good but it seems like there is a huge hole in the middle missing so much music! I could only image how good the upper models would sound,especially the $66,000 pair!!!
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Sir.Byrd said:
I'd replace those NPE caps with some nice film caps. 2.2uF each? Should be pretty inexpensive.
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Yeah thats what i was thinking,Right two 2.2 uf in parallel.Im not seeing any 2.2uf film caps at parts express,but im seeing poly's though. So does two 2.2 uf caps in parallel = one 4.4uf cap ?

Also there is a 10uf which i believe might be on the woofer as a shunt,but i could be wrong,im not that great at understanding crossovers yet.
If its a shunt cap should i replace it? or not worry about it? Thanks
 
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Poly=film. Poly refers to polypropylene which is the dielectric.
Are you sure they are in parallel? I can't tell from the photos. Best would be a schematic.
If there is a 10uF you should replace it, even if it is a shunt, because 10uF film caps are not that big or expensive.
I'd use 1% dayton film caps for the 2.2uF (you could do a 3.9uF and a .47uF in parallel, it might be cheaper, but only if the caps are indeed in parallel)
then a 5% dayton cap for the 10uF, they are smaller and cheaper, but still good quality.
 
Sir.Byrd said:
Poly=film. Poly refers to polypropylene which is the dielectric.
Are you sure they are in parallel? I can't tell from the photos. Best would be a schematic.
If there is a 10uF you should replace it, even if it is a shunt, because 10uF film caps are not that big or expensive.
I'd use 1% dayton film caps for the 2.2uF (you could do a 3.9uF and a .47uF in parallel, it might be cheaper, but only if the caps are indeed in parallel)
then a 5% dayton cap for the 10uF, they are smaller and cheaper, but still good quality.
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Ok i thought you meant the film & foil caps parts express sell that are real expensive. Im pretty sure the 2.2's are in parallel for the tweeter (positive wire splits and goes to both caps,then out the other side of the caps back into one wire) sorry for my lack of better words
 
allsmith said:
Ok i thought you meant the film & foil caps parts express sell that are real expensive. Im pretty sure the 2.2's are in parallel for the tweeter (positive wire splits and goes to both caps,then out the other side of the caps back into one wire) sorry for my lack of better words
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By film I just meant not electrolytic. The cheaper film caps are metalized plastic.
 
I been listening to these the last few nights, and have them set up as near field monitors on my workbench. All i can say is wow! What a smooth detailed sounding set of speakers! They image so good, disappear and project the music right in front of me! I been hearing things in songs i have never heard before, they just seem to extract so much more music and detail from the source! The tweeters have to be the clearest sharpest non fatiguing tweeters I've ever heard! Only thing is the bass port is on the back, and i dont have much room on my bench and have to keep them close to the wall, which cant be helping the bass. Can't imagine how good these would sound with some new caps and up on some nice stands out away from the wall where they can breath!
 
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