Pioneer TS-A6913i Review

Product Details
Manufacturer: Pioneer
Website: link
Typical SRP: £59.99; On line, £49.99 (Car Audio Direct)
The very latest three way loudspeaker from the famed high Value For Money Pioneer TS-A series of speakers that has been Kaizened for this year and has some cute new features, not least of which are the bar-style grille assemblies. The midrange is taken care of by a paper cone driver and the top end by a skinny Piezo tweeter, as before. Piezos sound less sweet than a Ferrite-driven dome but TS-A6913i are only priced at £60. As before, there is no lumpy passive crossover array here, just one tiny capacitor tucked up under the mid/high assembly in classic style to offer a 6dB slope. Grilles for the mid and tweeter feature small metal meshed areas but are mostly open. They are supplied in a perforated carton that can be pushed out to use as a template for cutting the speakers’ mounting holes. You also get some wire and screws/fixings.
– Pressed Steel chassis
– 16mm cone midrange with Ferrite magnet
– 11mm Piezo dome tweeter
– Carbon Graphite IMPP (injection moulded Polypropylene) interlaced Aramid fibre cone
– Power handling 40w RMS
– Sensitivity 91dB (2.83V, 1m)
– Frequency Response: 31Hz to 37kHz
– Impedance 4 Ohms
– Mounting depth 72mm
– Lug connection terminals for spade-end speaker connectors
– Grilles with injection moulded plastic frames
Editor review : Pioneer TS-A6913i
Unlike the previous 6903i incarnation of this speaker, the chassis of the Pioneer TS-A6913i is no longer oversize and will fit into all the six by nine locations easily!
It is still largely the same as last year’s speaker, except that the grille looks different enough to be able to show off to your mates, if you go ‘˜feature’ and use them rather than ‘˜stealth’ and hide the speakers under a shelf, grille-less.
I used these as part of a wider test system, involving a set of the component speakers from the same range as these, called TS-A171Ci, as well as two JL Audio amps and one of their bass boxes. The source unit was the resident reference Pioneer DEH-P88RSII. The whole system worked together better than just about any I had set up on the same rig in all the years I have been doing this. Usually, I test one set of speakers at a time and only rarely hook up lots of kit. But when I do, it’s lovely if you get some synergy. And these six by nines keep up marvellously with the subtlety and articulacy of the TS-A171Ci components they were played with. Yes, they have Piezo super tweeters but that keeps the costs way down, while still allowing you to have real power behind your high end. And seeing as how most of these will be relying on splashing the highs off the rear window to get them into the car, this is not really a terribly sad thing.
There are those who hate ovals and reckon only forward stereo is pure. But the surround sound revolution will eventually come into cars and the six by nine will be waiting as powerful rear imagery requires them and all will be vindicated. But for those who enjoy powerful stereo from back as well as front all at once (you dirty pervs) and don’t get all ‘˜concert hall’ about their pop music a six by nine is a godsend of power and purity. (After all, popular music is made, like plastic in a factory called a recording studio and I like it that way. A carved wooden toy is jolly ‘˜righteous’ as is a live concert recording of a quartet but I’d rather have Buzz Lightyear’s rocket and six by nines in my life.)
And these are good ones. They work well on headunit power and later when you can afford it, you can put a small amplifier up them and hear what I did! The detail and stereo imagery are tremendous and the sheer scale, weight and authority of these is mad for the money. I listened to ages more of the Frankie Goes To Hollywood track at the start of the CD than I had planned to – the whole lot – and wanted to listen to the rest of the album again, as I was getting loads of Trevor Horn’s mad production value coming through.
I even admit to hearing new details and that’s the stuff of HiFi, let alone that these can play ever so loud. So despite the low power handling, designed to make them rock on mere headunit power alone, preventing them from getting just that extra point to get a TA flag, I would happily suggest that these are a good spend for bang for the buck rear sounds that might just surprise you with a bit of snide SQ!
Overall 8.6
Sound Quality 8
Build Quality 8
Power Handling 8
Efficiency 9
Value For Money 10