Pioneer TS-A171Ci Component Speakers Review

Product Details
Manufacturer: Pioneer
Website: link
Typical SRP: £94.99; On line, £89.99 (Car Audio Direct)
A slightly odd product in that these are the Accelerate range and as such, quite Entry-Level, but nevertheless they are components. That is, a separate Tweeter and Woofer driver with a passive crossover system. However, instead of this passive crossover being in a separate box with lots of screws to undo and do up and lots of bits of speaker wire to connect correctly, these come with idiot-proof looms of wire with ready-fitted connectors.
You get one set of terminals on this loom that fit the big and small lugs on the woofer. The woofer has a fat Iron cored choke coil stuck to its underside, which acts as a simple soft-slope six decibel lowpass crossover, keeping the highs from the lower tones. In turn, the longer set of wires connects to the tweeter and has a simple six decibel single-capacitor High Pass crossover, fixed in-line with the wire. Thus, hook it up so it all fits and you get the single speaker wire pair to connect to your headunit or amplifier – as Pioneer’s product manager assures me that these work well on head unit power alone but sing well on an amplifier all day. So they were hooked to a pair of channels of a JL Audio XD 400/4 amplifier (Along with another pair of Pioneer speakers on the other channels) and driven from the resident reference Pioneer P88RSII headunit, playing a variety of music.
– 6.5in (17cm) Component Speakers
– Maximum input power: 350 W
– Nominal input power: 50 W
– Impedance: 4 Ohms
– Frequency response: 29 – 29,000Hz
– Sensitivity: (1W/1m) 90dB
– Woofer size: 16 cm, with solid phase plug in centre, three-bar grille included
– Woofer material: Carbon Graphite IMPP Interlaced Aramid Fibre Cone
– Tweeter size: 20mm, coated fabric dome simple 6dB passive crossover in-line with supplied wiring loom
– Cut-out Hole: 128 mm
– Mounting Depth: 54.3 mm
– Moulded plastic grilles
– Passive crossover: Simple -6dB type, High Pass capacitor in-line with Tweeter, Low Pass choke on chassis of woofer
– Complete with screws and panel clips and two speaker wire looms with HF passives included and foolproof connectors
Editor review : Pioneer TS-A171Ci Component Speakers
These were tested as part of a system assembled from JL Audio XD amplifiers, a set of Pioneer TS-A6913i six by nines and a JL Audio 8W3 bass box, all driven by the resident reference Pioneer DEH-P88RSII and all speakers enclosed in the Talk Audio test boxes made by Acoustic Wood.
Simple fact is, I got well and truly carried away and ended up listening for fun and grooving around my hallway where the test rig lives. The Head unit is a known paragon of SQ virtue and I can tell you that these amps are going to review well, too as they are delicious and clever. The sub box is just bonkers and is about to get a rave, but the speakers, the simple TS-A-series speakers delivered an amazing experience.
I did play the set just on their own, carefully experimenting with different amounts of bass to let through from the amplifier, by use of the crossover. In the end, I found, I could let them have the full range and let them roll off at the bottom end on their own, as they could do so under the power of the JL Audio XD400/4 amplifier without strain.
I loved the fabric dome tweeters and marvelled at how well they work for the money these speakers cost. Had I made a video, you could have seen me marvelling.
They have no flashy passive crossovers and you know what, I honestly think I can hear a level of ‘˜allowed-through’ purity that must be something to do with the minimalist, pretty much just driver-roll off control that these components thus get given. A lovely rich bass end and a sweet midband that can convey changes in vocals and melodies with accuracy. They simply sound absurdly good for the money and I am well impressed.
After a bit of Kate Nash’s Foundations, I slapped some Eighties nostalgia into the tremendous Pioneer reference deck, in the shape of Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Welcome to the Pleasure Dome and just got lost in loving it. OK, the comps are bloody excellent for the money and helped to reveal details that absurdly, I can not recall hearing before. This means they are coming out of that deck and being amplified beautifully by the amps but most of all, it is the speakers’ sheer excellence and resolution that lets this all come out. I was astonished. Yes, they can get congested if over driven, with the highs getting splashy when you are playing it too hard but the point is they handle it and then sound fabulous on mere headunit power as well. Proving Pioneer’s TS-A171Ci components to be both versatile and high performance for their price point and deeply deserving of getting a Talk Audio recommendation.
Overall 8.8
Sound Quality 9
Build Quality 9
Power Handling 9
Efficiency 8
Value For Money 9