Stop the presses- Sony builds GOOD speaker!

GordonW

Speakerfixer
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Or, at least, they DID build one, once.

Just got through re-furbing a pair of Sony SS-7300 speakers... one tweeter was out, and I managed to find a near-dead-nuts-on replacement (metal dome, replaced with an LPT 26T).

These things are outstanding!

Great, absolutely damped, smooth bass, stunningly good midbass (one of the most neutral/flat midbass responses I've heard, PERIOD), great driver integration. Massive soundstage.

These may be the oldest speakers I know of, that used a SHAPED polepiece and a copper SHORTING RING on the midrange AND woofer, to linearize the magnetic flux. And you can hear it- an uncanny ABSENCE of distortion/hash/sizzle. At first, it sounded like it might have a lack of "air" or "ambience"... but after getting the levels set right (which mostly consisted of boosting the mids and backing down the tweeter), it's dead-on.

So... the obvious question- if Sony COULD build a speaker like this, then WTF did they build such DRECK, for the most part, otherwise?! (I know, I know... MONEY... made off the sale of BPC, which they seemed to learn to do before most other Japanese companies...)

Regards,
Gordon.
 

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well, Sony did make a couple of other well regarded speakers, the SS-M9, SS-M9ed and ss-M7a's were all considered to be state of art when released. The 9s were awarded stereophile class a speakers. they were big and heavy, 300lbs. the tweeter were modified Vifas and the mids were by Seas. they were pricey as well, $3500/pair for the 9s, I think the 9eds were a whopping $16000 and the 7as were $1500. The speakers were designed by a former Polk speaker engineer, I think Paul Aganos of something like that.

I have the 9s and consider them extremely neutral. With a good amp they really sound smooth but a bad amp will make them sound harsh.
 
Sony did make plenty of good stuff that isn't recogognized as such because:
a) not many have heard of them units,
b) they are difficult to find because the owners hang on to them like mad!

Sony's ULM speakers were actually a little earlier than that in Japan: 1972/1973. Very advanced and... pretty rare. There a few more models in Japan, too, but the 7600 was the topper. Still kick myself for not buying the mint pair that went on the german eBay several years ago.

Later on (bar the APMs), the SS-A5 did get some awards (but was scarcely distributed), the SS-GR1 was declared in Japan a State of the Art and Golden Sound unit (but was scarcely distributed) and then the SS-M9/ED got what Jon just mentioned.
The a slight lesser degree, the SS-G7 became a real bestseller in Japan but was... scarcely distributed elsewhere. The G7 were hand-built from A to Z, just like any other "cottage industry" speaks: one by one, driver by driver etc. But they were tagged SONY so they couldn't be good - period. If you manage to set aside that image problem, you'll find an impressive amount of real good stuff from the 60s onward 'til today, whether preamps, amps, speakers, turntables, tuners, everything. Just forget it's written Sony-makes-Walkmans on it.
 
That's a good looking speaker with an interesting cabinet design there also.
 
The SS-M3s in my LR system are also very nice. The MRSP on them was $995. Should be a great match for the refurb'd STR-6200F. :thmbsp:

And here is a link to the mythical TOTL SS-M9aed. Offered at less than half of new. Wish I were in the market for a $7K set of speakers. http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1144171551
 

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I just picked up a set of the SS 7400 and am having a nice little love affair with them, really nice speaker and I'm actually listening to them instead of the kef 103/3 I just scored. Just something really pleasant about them.
 
At one time I had a pair of the SS-7330s a quality speaker, the woofer surrounds
were stiff, careful of the veneer as is typical very thin if repairs are needed.
 
I have yet to hear a good sounding pair of Sony speakers. But I have never heard any of their older stuff like GordonW is showing. Those look great too. Thanks for enlightening us about them.
 
These are not bad, SS-TL5, and for $550 the pair in 1990, not a bad price either. But, even though they were sold as Sonys by Sony, and had all the badging Sony, they were not built by them.
 

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once agreed with getter

After some decades in the audio business - I wouldn't walk across the street to hear a Japenese speaker. Carts ,TT's ,amps,pre-amps ,tuners ,etc. -interesting - not speakers. So - one of my customers about 10 years ago insists that i come over and hear some very large vintage Sony speakers. He mentions they are four way speakers - I also suffer from a prejudice against anything past two crossover designs(3 way) (strong preference for two way speakers). But he insists.
Big speaks ( Bozak Concert Grand size) - multiple tweeters (this can't sound good) - fires 'em up and by golly they sound great!! Nice accurate sound top to bottom ,they image really well and they produce great fatigue free sound even at volume levels as high as I want to listen to. Obviously he had excellent equipment feeding these - but this old dog learned a lesson.Apparently these were very expensive at one time and were recommended components by one of the mags. Don't remember the model number.
On the complete opposite end of the size/price scale there was a Pioneer speaker that while small and affordable was getting excellent reviews recently?
 
I have a pair of the TL-5s and a pair of the G-5s, and both are excellent sounding speakers, albeit very different....:thmbsp:
 
I adjusted my ss7400 per the suggestion earlier and yes this helps. I listened to some punk jazz (Crack Sabbath) that I've heard countless times live and the recording hundreds and new details have appeared, this is something I always love.
 
After some decades in the audio business - I wouldn't walk across the street to hear a Japenese speaker. Carts ,TT's ,amps,pre-amps ,tuners ,etc. -interesting - not speakers. So - one of my customers about 10 years ago insists that i come over and hear some very large vintage Sony speakers. He mentions they are four way speakers - I also suffer from a prejudice against anything past two crossover designs(3 way) (strong preference for two way speakers). But he insists.
Big speaks ( Bozak Concert Grand size) - multiple tweeters (this can't sound good) - fires 'em up and by golly they sound great!! Nice accurate sound top to bottom ,they image really well and they produce great fatigue free sound even at volume levels as high as I want to listen to. Obviously he had excellent equipment feeding these - but this old dog learned a lesson.Apparently these were very expensive at one time and were recommended components by one of the mags. Don't remember the model number.
On the complete opposite end of the size/price scale there was a Pioneer speaker that while small and affordable was getting excellent reviews recently?

They were probably the APM 8. pics here APM 8

My ex boss has a pair. They were set up in my store with a pair of TAN R1 monoblocks for a while. He also used them with just the woofers with some Jantzen electostatic arrays in a two way config crossed @ 800hz. He (my boss) was/is a huge sony fan. Great speakers.
 
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