Thanks, that's helpful. I read a review of the 21s where the reviewer (an admitted audio snob) said the crossovers in those were poor as well, but that the cabinets were so fantastic that he was going to rebuild the speakers but reuse the cabinets. That alone means they probably sound a lot better than the B652s.
You know...audio is so subjective that it's kind of unfair to make any statements like that (even though my entire previous post reeked of the Pioneers' make-believe eliteness, as if they have any for 50 bucks).
'Sounds good' is something that is so personal and such an intimate satisfaction that it's hard to take people seriously when the majority of the population hop into their cars and turn their EQ's to "+5 Treble, +5 Bass" and love the way it sounds. At the other end of the spectrum, it's equally hard to take professional reviewers seriously when they claim one $80,000 speaker blows away another $60,000 speaker. I mean, really? Is there that much room for improvement?
I've got many songs in Mp3 are ripped from my father's audio cassette collection. I've reacquired many of the these songs released in a digital fashion and I do not like listening to them. I'm sure the mastering is the same, and it's not a rerelease, it's the same damn thing, but feeling of nostalgia in the low-fi audiocassete is rather satisfying to me (even if it was artificially captured by an encoder). How are you supposed to force me to like one version more than the other if my feelings and emotions are already set in stone around how a song is supposed to sound? I'm sure technically, the CD or digital release sounds better, but not to me. I'm convinced it's the same mentality that fuels the vinyl vs. digital discussions; the ones who prefer vinyl are blinded by nostalgia.
My point is, listen to what you think sounds good. How do you purchase a car? Drive a lot of them until you find one that suits your needs, right? Well listen to a lot of speakers until you find one that satisfies. For $30 it may be worth getting the Daytons anyway just to hear how they sound, you can always gift them or do something clever with them.
Too bad it's that mentality that leads most of the posters on this forum acquiring so many unused possessions. Not useless, just unused.
....this is Hot Deals, right?