Digital Trends

Pioneer Elite X-Z9

July 7th, 2008 | by Matt Aalto

Features and Design

The X-Z9 system is made up of two, 3-way bass-reflex, 50 watt speakers with a 13 centimeter cone woofer on the bottom and a coaxial mi-range driver and tweeter above. The frequency range of the system is 36Hz to 50 kHz and each speaker weighs a bit over 21 pounds. Both speakers have a beautiful piano black glossy finish as seen on other Pioneer Elite products and are ported on the front of the speaker. On the front mesh grill the Pioneer logo is displayed and on the back of the speakers are gold-plated cable connectors.

The brains of the X-Z9 is the Pioneer Parallel Amplifier which provides 50 Watts per channel of continuous power, a built in AM/FM tuner, Super Audio compact disc player (SACD), and is both Sirius and XM radio ready. On the front of the X-Z9 is the main power button, a USB input (to play music directly off your thumb drive), front audio input connections, and headphone jack. On the back is the power cable, Sirius and XM radio inputs, Line in and out jacks, as well as a phono jack for the audiophile who still swears that a scratch free Vinyl, with a high-end stylus sounds better than any CD ever could. There is an iPod input with cable that allows the X-Z9 to control your iPod and display its information on the X-Z9’s OEL display. The AM and FM antennae inputs as well as the Ethernet jack and speaker connections finish off the rear panel. On the top of the X-Z9 is a touch sensitive control panel for basic operation. The face of the X-Z9 has a shiny black finish with a gun metal black volume wheel and the front panel display. The remote is a bit bulky but will control all the features of the X-Z9 - including iPod operation. There is a slide down cover that hides the Sirius and XM radio controls, numeric keypad and programming options. Everything you need except great tunes comes provided by Pioneer including the manuals, speaker wire, batteries for the remote, the iPod cable, AM and FM antennae’s, non-skip pads for the speakers and even cleaning cloths to keep those glossy black speakers fingerprint free.

Image Courtesy of Pioneer

Performance and Use

Once our test system was set up, we began putting it thru its paces; we started off with the easiest and most common daily audio source, the iPod. Connection was easy using Pioneers large white 5 foot cable. Once connected, the Home Media Gallery started up and immediately allowed us the options of selecting the iPod for our music source, followed by Playlist options, or we could select our music by Artists or Albums. Once we selected Artists, the names were immediately displayed on the screen for us to scroll thru alphabetically. You can choose either individual songs, or entire collections to play. Our tests started with Earl Klugh’s Angelina followed by Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A major; both vastly different but capable of testing various frequency ranges on the X-Z9. The sound stage was impressive with no adjustments required and the depth of the sound placed each instrument in the correct perspective to the listener. So, we were impressed with the softer side of music, but since that’s not what we listen to everyday, we shook it up a but by adding Paolo Nutini’s New Shoes as well as some Pink Floyd. Whatever we threw at the X-Z9, it not only threw it back at us with crisp clarity, it allowed us to enjoy music in a new way. Hearing brand new tones or riffs in music that you’ve known forever is like running into an old college friend you haven’t seen for years. You’re still familiar with them, but you learn something new and it’s great to catch up. Listing to the X-Z9 was fun, and offered surprises with each track. There was however no way of fast forwarding or rewinding on the iPod which is a bit annoying, but didn’t take away from the overall experience. The X-Z9 allows the listener a fresh way of enjoying music plain and simple.