Big-speaker slam, ribbon speed, and “plug-it-in-and-enjoy” simplicity — even in a nasty room
Firstly, I’m wishing you a fantastic 2026, health, joy, and yes… may this be the year you land that elusive audiophile nirvana (or at least get uncomfortably close to it).
If you watched my 2025 end-of-year roundup (the one with the gear that actually stayed in my house), you already know I teased something special at the end: Piega is back in my life. During the winter vacation I got a loaner from Jack / Audio Concept (thank you again!) and I lived with the Piega Premium 501 Wireless Gen 2 in my home — not in a showroom, not in a treated studio, but in my real living room. Kids. Rigips. L-shape. Echo. The full “please don’t do this to a speaker” experience.
And somehow… these worked. More than worked.
Video review here:
Sound Demo below
Remember that bass, details, dynamics and some other technicalities are lost in the recording process, but hopefully it gives you a taste of how they sound.
Why these matter (and why I was intrigued)
The Premium 501 Wireless Gen 2 are wireless active speakers with the “all-in-one” concept done properly:
- amplification built-in (separate amplification for each driver, superb integration)
- DAC and DSP inside the ecosystem
- modern connectivity (especially with Piega Connect Plus)
- the goal is simple: high-end engagement without the high-end mess
In our hobby, “simplicity” usually means “compromise.”
Here, it felt like Piega tried to make simplicity the feature — without gutting what makes a proper hi-fi experience addictive.
Quick Piega history (why this hit me personally)
I’ve had Piega in my life since around 2013. I owned:
- Premium 3
- Premium 5.2
- later moved to Coax 30.2 (fantastic speaker for its size and class)
So I know the Piega “thing”: that combination of speed, clarity, and that unmistakable ribbon character when it’s done right. I also always loved their build — those cabinets feel like they were machined by someone who hates resonance on a personal level.
At one point, the Coax 30.2 were actually in this same living room… until small kids happened, and I had to let them go. I missed the Piega sound in my house ever since.
My living room: the boss fight
This room is not easy:
- L-shaped
- dining table creating reflections/echo
- rigips/drywall behind the speaker area
- historically: getting “real bass” here was almost a joke
The thing that gave me courage to try speakers here again was the Sennheiser Ambeo Max. It taught me two things:
- room correction can actually help in this space
- I can enjoy serious sound at night without wrecking the house
So I went for it.
Setup, stability, and the “family proof” factor
First: the build quality is exactly what you expect from Piega:
- beautiful finish
- feels premium in hand and in the room
- the cabinets don’t feel like “boxes” — they feel like solid objects (they would probably resist an apocalypse)
They also come with that X support/stand which makes them very stable. With kids around, stability matters more than you might think. Add the front grille, and I felt far less paranoid.
Unboxing and setup were almost suspiciously easy.
Piega Connect Plus: get it
I used the Piega Connect Plus, and I’d recommend it to anyone buying into this ecosystem.
It turns the whole thing into proper plug-and-play:
- set the correct zone/area on the speaker switches
- connect
- it just works
And importantly for my use case: HDMI ARC/eARC.
TV integration (LG G5): it’s simple, but do this correctly
I’m using an LG G5 and I use these speakers a lot with the TV.
Two key things:
- enable the TV input in the Piega app/settings
- set the TV audio output to PCM
…and that was it. Sound works cleanly.
Room correction: basic, fast, and shockingly effective
Piega’s room correction here is “basic” in the best sense:
- it takes about 60 seconds
- you walk around the room with the phone while it plays noise
- it corrects up to about 500 Hz
- iPhone required (it does not work on Android)
And here’s the headline: I’ve basically never had bass in this living room that made me smile for the right reasons.
With this calibration? I was floored.
Also, it has another level of fine tunning, a switch behind the speaker where you can select
- neutral
- wall (close to wall)
- corner
Also, an important thing to note here is that these speakers are closed speakers, they don’t have any ports. This helps a lot with placing it near walls. If it has back ports, it shoots more energy in the back walls, and if you have plaster walls like me, it will ruin the sound.
In the first image, you see that the right speaker is in-between two cabinets. I selected corner and it helped a lot.
Sound Impressions
Bass: the “how is this coming from THESE?” moment
Let’s start where I didn’t expect to start: bass.
These speakers are not huge. The cabinets and drivers don’t visually scream “slam.”
And yet, in this room, with that basic correction, the bass became:
- thunderous
- tactile
- punchy
- fast
- detailed
This is the important part: the extension doesn’t arrive as bloom. It arrives as information.
You know that sensation when a drum membrane vibrates and you can feel the shape of that vibration? That’s what these do. They push and pull you with bass energy, but they don’t smear it. The decay is quick, controlled — yet it doesn’t feel like it’s “cutting” the note.
For the size, in this room, it honestly sounded bigger than it has any right to.
Yes, bigger models like the 701 will likely go deeper and bring more scale. But the 501 already feels complete enough that you stop thinking about “what’s missing” and start thinking about “why am I grinning.”
Midrange: clean, transparent, textured — vocals are a highlight
The midrange here is what I’d call beaming clarity without sterility:
- transparent
- clean
- textured
- very natural presence on vocals
Examples that stood out:
- Johnny Cash: that chesty presence and grit — you can feel breath, throat texture, and it stays natural instead of becoming shouty or exaggerated.
- Ekaterina Shelehova – “Earth Melodies”: this track is brutal if a system gets edgy. If it turns harsh, something is wrong. Here it stayed controlled and expressive, with that raw vocal power intact.
Strings and instruments also carry body:
- plucks feel tactile
- you get wood resonance
- there’s life and texture, not just “resolution”
Treble: yes, I’m saying it — tactile treble
Have you heard of “tactile treble”? It sounds like nonsense until you hear it.
This is that rare effect where cymbal hits and upper harmonics don’t just sparkle — they feel physical. You can sense the impact without the treble turning sharp or glassy.
What I heard:
- excellent extension
- a lot of detail and sparkle
- impact that stays controlled
These are not “sweet” speakers. They do not romanticize.
But I also don’t agree with the “Piega is harsh” stereotype — not here. This is sparkle and detail without harshness.
Transients & dynamics: the Piega signature, fully alive
One of the defining traits of these speakers is how they handle transients:
- strong, punchy attack
- fast, controlled decay
- decay still contains detail (it doesn’t feel chopped)
This creates:
- cleaner imaging
- better layering
- more space between sounds
- precision in timing that makes music feel like it flows correctly
It’s “musicality made out of control,” not “musicality made out of softness.”
Soundstage: it scales with the recording
This is a big one: stage is superb.
If the recording or movie mix has scale, the speakers deliver scale — even in a smaller room. Big halls sound big. Outdoor scenes feel open. You get that “transport” effect where you stop hearing speakers and start hearing a space.
Movies, TV, and the “wind in your face” effect
I used these a lot with movies, and honestly, they upgraded the experience more than I expected.
You start noticing micro-details in a fun way:
- rain behavior: drizzle vs heavy drops; drops hitting metal, leaves, umbrellas (all different textures)
- wind and air pressure: gusts that feel like they “push” into the room, not just hiss
- helicopter/vehicle pass-by: the approach → peak → fade with believable movement
- glass and ceramics: a cup placed on a table with that tiny “clink + resonance”
- doors: latch click, hinge creak, the thump of a heavy door sealing a room
- breath and tiny vocal cues
- footsteps with weight and surface changes
And the best description I can give: wind.
When a scene has wind, it’s reproduced with such detail and texture that it genuinely feels like the air is moving from the speakers toward you. It’s that level of resolution + transient realism.
I used to enjoy the Ambeo Max’s “3D trick” (and it still does that well), but with the Piega setup I didn’t miss it — because the overall experience became more engaging: more dynamics, more bass, more detail, more realism.
Low-volume listening: night mode that doesn’t kill the fun
This matters in real homes: when you lower volume late at night, many systems flatten out.
Here, with the DSP behavior, the speakers stay engaging at lower volumes. That “alive” feeling remains — and that’s a huge reason you end up using the system more.
Music playback: use Roon if you can
Yes, you’ve got Bluetooth / AirPlay / Chromecast options — and they’re convenient.
But in my testing, Roon Ready sounded best. If you’re building this as a “simple but serious” living-room system, Roon is the path that made me go: ok, this is actually high end audiophile grade sound.
Who are these for?
If you want:
- a clean living-room setup (no towers of gear, no cable chaos)
- a speaker that still hits with real dynamics and transient speed
- bass that’s shocking for the size
- excellent movies + music performance
- something that behaves well in a tough room with basic correction
…these deserve a serious audition.
Verdict
The Piega Premium 501 Wireless Gen 2 is one of those rare products that fixes multiple real-life problems without losing the audiophile “hook”:
- it’s fast, detailed, energetic
- the bass is genuinely impressive (especially with the quick room correction)
- vocals and treble have that tactile, high-resolution feel
- movies are wildly fun through HDMI ARC/eARC
- and it’s simple enough that you actually use it every day
If you’re unsure, do what I always recommend: go listen.
In Bucharest, visit Jack / Audio Concept and hear it for yourself.
Because these are the kind of speakers that don’t just sound good — they make you think:
“Why did I ever accept living-room compromise as normal?”
I will also leave you with a demo of the Piega Coax 611 Gen 2. This is a story for another time, but they are stunning:
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