Awesome sound.

Can't use on a home theater system

I just purchased a pair of HPM-100 a week ago after trying to get a pair 25 years ago, and I am elated! These speakers represent what music should sound like and they are wallshakers! My neighbors are in awe of their power and my son showed me where part of the ceiling fell downstairs. They sound wonderful and I am going to look for a second pair. I am using a Pioneer SX-3600 reciever(40 wpc) and they are loud, but I am going to put my Sansui 9900Z reciever on these speakers. Stay tuned!

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Infinity SM-125

Longevity, quality of construction and materials. Very clean over-all sound. No speaker for less that $1000 each (current market) can touch these.

None. Too bad speakers like these are no longer made.

Like all the other reviewers on this page, I'm in love with my HPM 100's and have been since 1976 when I bought them brand new. After 25 years, they still sound awesome. The 12" woofer cone is made of carbonfiber. How many things could anyone buy in 1976 that was constructed of carbon fiber? Maybe that's why these haven't degraded and fallen apart as some 70's style speakers. My old Kenwood KA-8300 was beginning to show it's age so I bought a new Yamaha RV-X2200 AV receiver. I turned on the new receiver and listened to what I had been missing for quite a while. The speakers sounded better than ever. From airy percussion where you can hear finger taps on the instruments to full thumping bass on rock that rattles the house, furniture and walls, these old speakers still sound great with most any type of music. I only hope I outlive the speakers.

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Phase Tech 3.1, Acoustic Research, Acoustic Monitor

I've had these babies for 21 years, and they are still running strong. They love rock & roll and can rock the house. I didn't realize until just this year how amazing they really are, in fact, I was embarassed because they were "pioneer". But two months ago I acquired a pair of Maganpan 3.5's and although they are unbelievable and very tranparent, I swear to god, the HPM 100's sound almost as good!

Some bass buzzing occurs at ultra-high volume.

Great Rock & roll speakers, still great after 21 years. Honestly one of the best set of speakers to come out of the 1970's in that price range..or since.

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B&O 6000's, Maggies 3.5

Absolutely fantastic speakers. I use them with an older Pioneer SX-1250 receiver and the sound is rich, warm and detailed. The build quality is impressive considering when they were made and the technology that went into these. I have listened to many speaker systems, and none are this well rounded, unless you pay thousands of dollars.

Only one, they don't make them anymore.

If you want a great speaker for reasonable money, this is the one to look for. Good ones are getting hard to find. Deep accurate bass, and one of if not THE best tweeter system I have set an ear on. Work best with rock and punchy music, although handle jazz and classical well too. Can't say enough good about these, once I heard them, I was hooked, and spoiled!!!

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None can compare for the era or money spent.Other HPM's

Superlative transparent sound quality. Outstanding craftsmanship for 1970's. Flat sound reproduction.

almost impossible to find original replacement components (ie 12" replacement cone for woofer)

When I graduated from college, I decided the 1st thing I had to have was a nice stereo system. Realizing that speakers are THE MOST IMPORTANT COMPONENT OF A SYSTEM, I listened to every speaker cabinet available at the time (1977) and chose the HPM 100's (nothing even came close). I realize now that I couldn't have made a better choice. These speakers have performed admirably over the last 25 years and I enjoy watching my friends faces when I tell them they're listening to "old" technology. Perhaps speakers are like guitars - Older IS better. I'm only sorry that these fine speakers are no longer manufactured.

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Why? Have compared these speakers with friend's AR 9's, Advents & JBL century L 100 & L 110.

Open and very direct yet warm and fresh sound

Hard to get spare speakers

These speakers of wich we have two pair's in the family came to us smuggled by my brother who was in the army and stationed in Germany. One pair for himself and the other pair for my parents. They came in my possesion more than 15 years ago and I never parted from them since and I think never will in the future. Just a few month's back everything was getting somewhat more serious when I got a Kenwood DPX9010 CD player with a DACmagic-II Digital/Analog converter. The HPM's opened up, driven by a Kenwood KA-900v amp. Every kind of music sounds just the way music should sound, True and honest. It's better for modern music then for classic but for the latter it does also a perfect job. It's the last thing I will ever replace. I will do a total rewire with proper cable and get rid of the click-on contact's and leave the potentio meters out of the circuit. I bet they will even be more rich in sound. If you ever come across a pair of these and you've got the space to spare don't hesitate to go with these superb speakers of a brand we never held so high here in Holland but beats a lot of expensive well known ones. Nice to see that this oldie as one of very few is still out there and spoken of. Greetings from Holland.

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AR-14, Kef ??

I have owned a pair of HPM 100s for about 5 years now but have only seriously started to listen to them for about 3 months now. My dad had purchased these speakers a few years ago with his original equipment. Which included a Pioneer receiver and a Pioneer CD player.
I have these speakers with higher end components now. Which would include my Denon DCD-595 CD player, Carver CT-3 preamp, Carver TFM-15CB amps, Carver DPL-33 processor/integrated 3 channel amp, Monster cable standard 12 gauge cable with gold banana plug termination 8' lengths, Esoteric audio gold interconnects 1 meter lengths.

I am pleased for time being with the HPM 100s, although, I full intend on upgrading toward the end of
August, I am looking at Vandersteen 1Cs, B&W DM302s and 602 s2s, Paradigm Phantom, and Magnepan. I am not sure which I will choose yet. I am looking forward to upgrading my cables also, I plan to purchase
Monster M series interconnectes…not sure which model and probably Audioquest or Kimber speaker cable.

The HPM 100s are wonderful speakers for rock music, they provide accuracy and a punch. They reproduce instrumental music quite well too. They have a 12-inch woofer and are a four-way speaker. Although they do not have the best soundstage, soundstage is fairly crisp and clear but they do not seem to have the right height. The sound stage normally stays under 5 feet with most music and with Elton John or the Eagles, it might just be the layout of my room (I am sure that the bed being 10 feet from the left speaker is not beneficiary for it).

I give these speakers a four star rating because they sound great in a larger room and if they are set up properly, and they are not real forgiving of components.

They sound Great! PARTS ARE STILL AVAILABLE. I JUST BOUGHT TWO NEW TWEETERS TWO WEEK AGO!

They're big buggers that require stands or some elevation off the floor. They are more directional than modern speaker technology (i.e. they don't image as the young electronic salespukes would say). The tweeters are not indestructible, but probably that's true of all speakers.

First of all I would like to say in the words of Mickey Rourke in the movie "Barfly", "TO ALL MY FRIENDS!!".

Nice to track you all down to share the comraderie with all the old and new devotees to the Pioneer HPM-100's.

I've thought about replacing them a couple times, but the reviews are correct. You can't replace them for under a $1,000 each and do any better.

I've listen to high-end Polk and Infinity, plus a few others. They don't do it. They may be better at imaging (the new "in" term for wider dispersion and soundfield, but heck, part of the fun of being a late 70's audiophlie was properly placing and aiming the speakers. Not too far apart, aimed at your position and you've got it!

The young salespukes look at me like some crazed old geek (almost 45 now) when I try to tell them that Pioneer really did used to make a high-end audiophile line of speakers. But we all know Pioneer started aiming their profits at the retail chains, Jafco, Best, etc. etc., now nobody but us knows what a fine sounding speaker they made back then and all of the high tech innovations and quality they used to put in.

I once went to Circuit City and the saleschild put in a copy of ZZ-Top's "Low-Rider". I went home and played it there on the old Pioneer 100's and the cow bell sounded just as life-like as it did on the $1,800 pair of CC Infinities, and the bass of the Pioneers was just as impressive as their built-in powered subs. So I saved $1,800. We need to note here that the Pioneers had a MSRP of $600 back in 1977. That would be a couple thousand in today's dollars. I only got them for $320 back then because I bought them mail order from Illinois Audio. (The discount retail stores still required $500 from you for a pair.) They (Illinois Audio) were a great company. Their catalogue was only one legal size piece of paper with product listings printed on the front and back. They sold factory direct equipment at true rock-bottom discount pricing (60% or less of MSRP). (If they happened to carry what you were looking for.) Now the new generation has to be deceived by the likes of Crutchfield which gives the illusion of a discount mail-order company, but in reality their pricing is no better than your local Circuit City or Good Guys store. (In that case go retail, easier to return)

Now I just entered my second phase of audiophile life. I just started putting together a home theatre system. Once again I'm at the same conclusion. I have to keep these speakers because they sound too good to part with. I wish they were more narrow and reached the ground like the new tower designs so they wouldn't block so much of my window view and would look as sleek as the new towers do, but "F*#@-it" they sound good. They have good highs, good mids, fair mid-bass, and great mellow tone. The new Energy speakers I bought for rear's have a little nicer mid-bass punch and better imaging, but they start to sound like little girly boxes with stress-out drivers once you start to get medieval on their ass. The Pioneers on the other hand are more like Jeff Spicoli from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High". When you put the juice to them, they just say, "Hey dude, let's party!" But tight-@#$ audiophiles need not cringe here. The young salespukes said my old Pioneers must be like their cheap-#@* KLH "party speakers". I say, "now way dude, these were quality audiophile components!". Prove it to you: last night I was listening to the Telarc recording of Tchaikowsky's (spelling ?) 1812 Overture. Hey, it literally brought tears to my eyes. It sounded that damn good. Of course I also now have a Denon AVR3802. [I had to bury my old Sansui 8080DB receiver this summer. They don't make them like that anymore either. It was big, BEAUTIFUL, and had a very warm tone. Unfortunately it lost power on one channel and I wasn't as lucky with Sansui parts as I was with the Pioneer.] Back to the 1812 Overture: I had the Denon set to "Matrix DSP" so my Energy's and Boston Acoustic VR 920 center also were kicking in. So YES these speakers can do it for the long-hair classical types as well. But I know those guys will have to buy the maple covered Infinity Interludes and not let it get too loud (tempting).

Let's talk Bull here for a second. Have they (the salespukes) tried to tell you that your old Pioneers must be crap because they are too wide and that being too wide screws up reflected sound waves reverberating back off the walls and back toward you speaker cabinets, and therefore you need to buy some new narrow towers? Of course they have, or some other bull about the speaker frame rims or grill causing deflection. My point is, an oscilliscope may be able to detect these things, but your ears detect high quality drivers, crossovers, and musically tuned, appropriately sized enclosures. These speakers have that! I think the narrow tower routine mainly looks pretty and therefore it scores high on the WAF.

Hey we should all get together in Vegas for a reunion. We could re-educate the world of the glory days of Pioneer speakers. I'm hoping they will do it again with their new Elite series of equipment. Then the young salespuke children will understand when I get misty-eyed describing my old Pioneers. I also have a fond spot in my heart for the JBL-100's and the Polk 10's of the same vintage. Illinois Audio offered such a great discount on the Pioneers that my decision was made. They didn't carry the Polk or JBL.

AND what's the deal with JBL? Now they are also a lower-end product being sold at the cheaper houses like Best Buy. They stayed strong in the studio monitor market for professional musicians, but dropped out of the high-end market for home music. Are they starting to re-emerge? They probably know where the easiest profits are.

PS. I blew the tweeters on the Pioneer HPM-100's back in 82 by turning my old Sansui all the way up and leaving it there. I figured an 85 watt amp couldn't blow 100 watt speakers, but I didn't know about clipping. Then one more tweeter died a slow death due to the higher output of CD's and my desire to push it to 3:00 on the dial. I got carried away on night while listening to a reissue of Ted Neugent's "Stranglehold" on a "Dazed and Confused" Soundtrack CD. So I bought one more set of replacements. I have one now in spare. I blessed the man at the Pioneer parts place for them still having replacement parts some twenty four years later. He said they manufacture replacement parts for about seven years after the model run and then it's a matter of whatever is left in stock as it dwindles down.

OH! Buy the way dude! I remember seeing one of those plexiglass demo models. That's got to be quite the novelty!

e-mail me if you want the Pioneer parts phone number. I can retrieve it from home. But don't use up all their spare tweeters. I may still need a few more.

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Nothing similar out there.
I added a pair of Energy exl:26 for rear surrounds.

HPM 150 similar to HPM 100

HPM 150 similar to HPM 100

Hello,
HPM - 150 Pioneer Speekers, 250 watts in, 125 watts out, 6.3 ohm. Lights on top.

Built around 1979 with MSRP $500.

picture:
http://www.classic-audio.com/pioneer/hpm0150.html

Product # HPM - 150.

I just found these speakers at a thrift shop and they blow away anything I've heard.

Does anyone out there have a pair of the HPM -150 and do their lights on top work? Mine don't and I want to fix them if anyone has info, please let me know. A manual or tech specs of parts inside would be excellent.

It sounds like the HPM - 100 has lights on top also , so if you have them, do you have a picture and have you fixed the lights? Or have tech specs?
Thanks for any information!
Mark

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HPM 150

VERY SWEET TO ANY TYPE OF MUSIC,YOU CAN PLAY WHATEVER AND HEAR OR FEEL IT ALL

NONE

I HAD A PAIR OF THESES IN 1979 BRAND NEW. THE SPEAKERS WERE SO NICE I USED THEM FOR A PARTY ONCE AT MOM'S HOUSE AND I MADE THE NEWS PAPER FOR HAVING A CONCERT IN THE HOOD.I LATER SOLD THEM TO MY BROTHER AND HE HAD THE MOST TROUBLE BECAUSE OF HOW LOUD AND EARTH SHAKING THEY WAS HE HAD TO SALE THEM OR LOOSE HIS WIFE.I LOOKED FOR ANOTHER PAIR LATER IN 1981 TO 2001 THE REST IS HISTORY I WILL NEVER GIVE THEM UP AGAIN NOT EVEN FOR THE WIFE. THESE ARE THE BEST SPEAKER I HAVE EVER HEARD OR FELT