Opinions on Pioneer CS series speakers

the cs88a have their afficionados, though $500 seems high--they seem to sell pretty reliably for $250-350 on ebay. they're very early 70s, so you're gonna have to refoam + the tweeters and supertweeters tend to fry on these (though it seems pretty easy to get replacement parts). the cs77, which i haven't heard, seem to go for $100 or so. personally, i'd opt for something like klipsch (quartet, kg, klf), which are more modern sounding and very efficient, or for a current design like tekton or zu

+1 on Loomis especially the Tekton/Zu recommendation. A used one would be a better sounding option and within your budget.

Hi Saki70,
I have to agree with Loomis... I do see these go from $100 to $400 on occasion. They can be a bit tubby in the mid bass, but in the right room bass can be surprisingly good. The top mid range and top end are not world class by any means, but are respectable. If you buy them right and plan on keeping them, these speakers respond to modifications quite well.... i.e. cap replacements, and a little cone damping go quite far...
I would also recommend in a semi vintage speaker a JBL L100T or maybe one of the ESS models. In all the above be aware of rotting surrounds that you may need to deal with.
As far as SET Friendly. I have never seen true impedance or phase angle curves on any of these speakers, You will need to find someone with direct experience. I hope this helps, Tim

Wonderful , thank you .

Happy Tunes

If you haven't already, go to 6moons.com. They review a lot of low power gear.

If you want a pair because you think they are cool or you can get them on the cheap, by all means do so. If you want them because you think they are a great set of speakers...I think your money would be better spend elsewhere.

This is coming from a guy that has a pair of CS-99a's that I use on a daily basis (because they are cool, not because they sound amazing).

Saki,
Do yourself a favor, take the advice of Loomisjohnso, Timlub and Hew. Go with something like the Tekton M-Lore used, perhaps their 4.5s. The 4.5s, if you can find them will be less than $300. I believe a used pair of M-Lores were up for sale here on the A'gon for $450-500. As I think you know, I own these and play them primarily with SET. The M-Lore is 95db, 8 Ohm. Easy, easy to drive with 37hz Bass.

Read the Enjoy the Music review (it won their Blue Note Award). I think it was praised by Stereomojo and nicely included by Tim Smith in his 6 Moons review of the Coincident Dynamo 34SE. Personally, I've really enjoyed them and agree with the various reviewer opinions of them. Happy hunting.

Yes , excellent advice , as usual !
I was considering the Pioneers because they are the classic
SET speaker , big & efficient , at an affordable price , as compared to the usual suspects , and at an acceptable (?) size .
I had decided that if I was to change my De Capo's out , I was going to get something with at least a 10" woofer for real bass that you can feel . I need to find something that will work in the near field , is smaller than a kegerator and has a WAF .