Can’t find the best speakers for Pioneer SX-1250? Then, you have come to the right place.
The SX-1250 launched in 1976 was Pioneer’s top-of-the-line amp model that ruled the roost in the amplifier/receiver market for years. Regarded as the most versatile stereo receiver of the ’70s and ’80s by audiophiles, the Pioneer SX-1250 is a veritable collector’s item.
The SX-1250 belts out a thumping 160W RMS per channel into 8ῼ /200W RMS per channel into 4ῼ per channel at 20kH-20kHz with 0.1% THD.
In case you’re looking for a pair of premium speakers that’ll make the most of SX-1250’s unprecedented power, then you can audition Klipsch, JBL, Polk, Altec, Yamaha speakers, to name a few.
The 3 Best Speakers for SX-1250 (Reviews)
| Image | Model | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Klipsch Heresy IV (Top Pick) | Check Price |
 | Wharfedale - Denton 85th Anniversary (Close Runner-Up) | Check Price |
 | Dali Oberon 5 | Check Price |
Klipsch Heresy IV (Editor’s Choice)
The Heresy introduced in 1957 comes with a three-way design excelling as a compact center-channel speaker. The original Heresy functioned in combination with the Klipschorn® in a three-speaker stereo setup.
Fifty years down the line (2006), Klipsch launches the Heresy III with a titanium diaphragm, tweeter and midrange compression drivers, and ultra-powerful bi-wired network. And the Heresy IV is even more versatile thanks to its brand new K-702 midrange compression driver.
Heresy III was reissued as Heresy IV with more functional upgrades, including an introductory rear port and the K-702 midrange compression driver. Simply throw any musical source at The Heresy IV, and you bet the speaker will bring out the best effortlessly. Play your vintage vinyl turntable, MP3 player, home theater, or anything, and this Klipsch speaker will bring to the fore every note and tune.
Like all other speakers from Klipsch, the Heresy IV center-channel/tower speaker personifies the perfection in craftsmanship the Indianapolis-based company has achieved in 75 years. Heresy IV incorporates a K-702 midrange compression driver with a polyamide diaphragm belting out every note with outstanding clarity.
The K-702 midrange speaker driver furnishes a well-balanced response making your rooms pulsate with thumping music due to its syncing with the K-704 Tractrix® Horn. In addition, the Heresy that has regaled music devotees for more than sixty years now includes a rear port for the first time.
The rear-firing port aids in enhancing low-frequency reproduction by almost 10Hz for surround sound bass. The intuitive Heresy IV port takes optimum advantage of Tractrix geometry to enable audio signals to move via the shortest possible route. This aids in reducing air turbulence permeating the port leading to lesser port noise resulting in cleaner and chunkier bass.
The premium aluminum input pane can easily house bulky topnotch speaker cables while solid, high-quality binding posts provide bi-wiring or bi-amping facilities. In addition, the full-bodied long-grain copper conductors, nitrogen-infused PE, and Star-Quad geometry internal wiring, ensuring smooth signal transfer, bear out the efficiency, adaptability, and quality of Heresy IV.
Most of all, the Klipsch Heresy IV’s pioneering design illustrated by its 99dB sensitivity renders it companionable with medium- and low-powered amps.
Pros
- Features an all-new rear-port for lightning-fast air transfer for port noise reduction to pump out extra-powerful bass
- Klipsch Tractrix ports featuring bespoke inner flares for playing down air turbulence
- Completely handcrafted in the US
- With an RMS (continuous power handling) and peak power output of 100W and 400W, respectively, this speaker mates with many amps/receiver models
Cons
- It takes inordinately long for breaking in
- Requires to be mounted methodically (keeping a reasonable distance from the wall) for opening up the soundstage
Wharfedale – Denton 85th Anniversary (Close Runner-Up)
The Denton 85th Anniversary bookshelf loudspeaker pair by Wharfedale is the most popular bookshelf speaker in Wharfedale’s ancestry. To put it fairly and squarely, the Denton 85th anniversary is an ideal embodiment of quality, value, legacy, and craftsmanship. No other bookshelf speaker in the Wharfedale lineup performs smoothly, delivering natural-sounding audio with extraordinary fullness as the Denton.
The terminology indicates that the Denton was introduced 85 years ago to epitomize Wharfedale’s dedication to quality and value. The unique bookshelf design of Denton received encomiums and eulogies from audiophiles, eventually paving the way for an array of models incorporating the original’s design, looks, and sonic attributes.
And the 85th edition of the introductory Denton carries on with the painstakingly nurtured heritage substantiated by its two-way design.
The Wharfedale-Denton 85th anniversary loudspeaker now features an all-new 6.5” Kevlar cone bass driver and a 1” soft-dome treble tweeter. The Kevlar interlaced cone bass driver is positioned on a solid die-cast framework enables the loudspeaker to reproduce crunchy, rich, warm, and amazingly meticulous midrange openness with pronounced tight lows and imposing dynamics.
The loudspeakers’ woven Kevlar driver is equipped with a high-flux ferrite magnet to ensure consistent high-frequency performance with Denton’s signature warmness.
You bet that the 85th anniversary Denton will fully reproduce the highs, midrange, and bass lines, thus offering you an immersive listening experience. An advanced crossover translates into an ultra-articulate and excellent sound that’ll keep you enamored with engaging presence, fullness, and naturalism. In addition, Denton 85th Anniversary Wharfedale loudspeaker enjoys a clear edge over its predecessors in that it has an open and wide soundstage.
You’ll be hard put to find a bookshelf loudspeaker having the same price or size as that of the 85th anniversary Denton with a more open soundstage. So instead, an out-and-out two-way loudspeaker crafted in the unmistakable vintage tradition features hand-finished mahogany cabinetry with classic Tungsten cloth trellis and inset front baffle.
If you look under the hood of the Denton 85th anniversary, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find components that perfectly blend futuristic and conventional technologies.
The base unit comprises a meticulously engineered Kevlar cone, while the smooth dome treble unit joins forces to deliver a temperate beefy bass/midrange and exhaustive high-ends.
Pros
- Bookshelf loudspeaker pair ideal for setting up with a stereo – or home theater rig
- Puts out contemporary sound from a vintage-quality cabinetry
- 6.5-inch woven Kevlar cone bass driver and one-inch soft-dome treble syncs to reproduce punchy highs, crisp midrange, tight focused lows
- Interlaced textile tweeter enclosing a high-flux ferrite magnet guarantees to put out signature Wharfedale sound
Cons
- Bass notes may lag more often than not, much to the chagrin of metal and techno enthusiasts.
Dali Oberon 5
If you want the ultimate in 3D stereophonic surround sound music performance, you don’t need to look beyond Oberon 5. The Dali Oberon 5 is a gorgeous and compact floor-standing speaker enclosing 2 x 5 1/4” wood fiber-based SMC (soft magnetic compound) woofers and a 29mm ultra-lightweight soft dome tweeter. This slim and elegant floor-standing loudspeaker delivers taut profound bass along with airy trebles and well-defined and lucid midrange effortlessly.
The Oberon 5 integrates the best-of-the-best features from Dali’s contemporary speaker lineup, making the floor-stander immensely versatile and striking. In addition, the perfect harmonization of circuit architecture, crossover design, and driver materials in Oberon 5 helps accomplish an extensive dispersion pattern. Simply put, this integration implies that audiophiles can look forward to listening to well-balanced audio even when they’re not facing the loudspeakers.
The geometry of the speaker’s internal components, together with the ground-breaking crossover design, allows you to incorporate the Oberon 5 in both small and big spaces. The application of high-quality materials and design excellence also reduce THD (total harmonic distortion) and diffraction.
The front grille of the Oberon Series speakers features a laidback-style fabric with curved, smoothed edges imparting a smart and cool look. On the other hand, the graceful and stylish aluminum flange firmly tethered to the speaker’s base boosts the speaker’s appeal. The Oberon 5’s woofer unit sports a wooden fiber cone blended with superfine grain paper pulp making the structure remarkably rigid but lightweight.
In conjunction with a spider suspension and low-resistance surround baffle, the cone excels in accurately bringing out the fine details of the signal. The woofer magnet’s ferrite pole piece with a coronet of patented SMC disk aids in hugely minimizing mechanical distortion, which in turn brings down third-order harmonic distortion. For music fans, this means they can enjoy extended listening sessions thanks to a more fluid midrange with clear detail.
Oberon 5’s cabinetry has been constructed solidly with hardwearing bracings throughout the internal chassis for adding to the unit’s durability. The rock-solid construction also makes the enclosure firmer and stiffer, eventually aiding in eliminating internal timbre.
The core of the speaker’s cabinet is made of a high-density CNC machined MDF board and adorned with meticulously chosen premium vinyl. To improve contact between the bass port and the woofer, the speaker comes with built-in acoustic damping material across the top, bottom, and sides.
This design tweak enables your eardrums to pick up highly focused bass with a more attacking midrange. The rear positioning of the bass ports aid in taking optimal advantage of the room’s natural acoustics, especially the four walls for superior bass reproduction.
Pros
- Oberon 5 guarantees the ultimate in sonic performance: Brings out the full range of notes in any movie soundtrack or music
- Wood-fiber woofers crowned with SMC and 29mm superlight, wide bandwidth soft dome tweeter produce spacious trebles, well-defined midrange, and deep taut bass
- Innovative geometry, crossover design, and premium driver materials offer ample leeway for positioning
Cons
- It takes quite a long for break-in
- High-ends may sound somewhat faded
Will Old Receivers Play in Modern Speakers?
“Will old AVRs (audio/video receivers) bring out the best of modern-day speakers?” That is one question that is uppermost on the minds of many music enthusiasts and audiophiles, especially those looking to pair an older receiver/amp with newer speakers or vice versa.
To be fair and square, there are no simple answers. Strictly speaking, yes, you can hook up an older stereo integrated amplifier/receiver with modern speakers (and contrariwise) but with caveats. When or whenever it comes to mating speakers (or a speaker for that matter) with receivers/amps (old or new), you always have to keep two aspects in mind.
Pairing Vintage Receivers with Latter-Day Speakers or Vice-Versa
These two factors or attributes are the speaker’s engineering or functional design and the unit’s amplification. The chances are that if you’re a vintage stereo rig, the speakers are invariably passive. So your receiver serves as an ext. Amp enhances the speaker’s signal amplitude at its (amp’s) input and amplifies it further at its output.
And in case you’ve newer Klipsch, Polk Audio, or KEF speakers that are passive as well, then your new/old pairing will work smoothly in all likelihood. Alternatively, if you own active speakers (i.e., they come with a built-in amp and are self-powered), you won’t be able to connect them straight away with your vintage receiver. Instead, to enable syncing, you’ll need to find out the line-level signal (the highest-level signal before amplification) outputs in the receiver and match those with their counterparts in your speakers.
There are multiple ways of connecting a modern-day speaker with a vintage amp or an old receiver. However, it is beyond the scope of this article to list the various techniques and processes of doing so. Instead, check out the first URL below this section to have a clear idea of connecting your older amp with your newer speakers.
To say last but not least, if your decades-old receiver or amplifier comes with ‘speaker-level terminals’ (they’re usually marked black/red), then you’re good. Unfortunately, most novice audiophiles (and even a good proportion of seasoned music buffs) mistakenly believe that vintage receivers and amps can put out just 20-40W.
But the truth is that most amps/receivers of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s can output 50W-150W quite effortlessly. That holds even for vintage tube amps (generally have average-to-lower wattage rating) that tend to be quite efficient in powering contemporary speakers. At the same time, remember that when you’re evaluating the wattage of older and newer amp models, the yardsticks applied by manufacturers vary greatly.
In perspective, latter-day units have overemphasized or overrated specs, while vintage stuff comes with conservative ratings.
So, The Best Speakers to Pair with Pioneer SX-1250
One of the most performance-driven stereo receivers, the Pioneer SX-1250 merits mating with equally powerful speakers, subwoofers, and monitors.
Though all the reviewed speakers meet all the criteria for pairing with the SX-1250, the Wharfedale Denton stands out because of its superb soundstage and imaging, retro looks, and superior build quality.