I recently ran into some interesting looking speakers at Goodwill. They were Pioneer CS-G104 Floorstanding Speakers.
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| Pioneer CS-G104 Speakers |
I didn't have my pocket knife so I couldn't pry the grills off. However, when I shined my phone's flashlight through the black grill cloth, I couldn't see any flaws in the speaker cones or surrounds. Even the wood laminate cabinets seemed unblemished. Plus, it was also only $10.91 for the pair. Plus, you just can't get this kind of quality colored vinyl laminated wood any more here in America.
A quick check of this CS-G104 review on the interwebs revealed that owners were generally pleased with the sound from these speakers. The interesting thing about this speaker design is that it has no dedicated mid-range speaker. It just has a 10-inch woofer and a tweeter. According to the information printed on the back, these are 50 watt speakers with 6 ohm resistance. They were also made in the U.S.A. with U.S. and imported parts.
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| Pioneer CS-G104 Specifications |
I was sorely tempted. But, I had no rational reason to buy them. I am quite happy with my current Pioneer bookshelf speakers. I also like my monolithic Technics speakers. So, I left them in the wild. Perhaps someone else will discover them and get great joy using them in conjunction with a vintage receiver.
You did well to stay away. I have a pair and was astounded by the number of ways Pioneer "cheaped out" on these. I also have a much older (late 70's) CS-511A pair that are head and shoulders better. How were these 104As cheaped out? These is no acoustic batting inside to quell internal hollowness resonances. The tweeter is of relatively low efficiency, the woofer is super lightweight (small magnet=low power handling. Thin wire used in them. No real crossover, just a single non-polarized capacitor in series with the tweeter. I converted mine to bass reflex (front ports), swapped in HPM-60 woofers and Vifa soft dome tweeters. Infinity Reference 2000.2 crossovers, added acoustic batting. Now they sound far and away much better.
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