My ever-growing rare Sony speaker collection

[Ratamahatta 437]

I have sold a Bunch of gear lately and was not really looking and just being content with what I have for the time being and I came across some more rare vintage Sony speakers. They were pretty far away and kind of high for me so that was good.  Then another pair of the same speakers came up closer and much cheaper, so I had to go take a look. Needless to say they came home with me. They are some SS-TL5, and they do sound fantastic, Detailed,  nice deep sound stage, surprisingly deep bass for a 8"  Real wood veneers, rubber surrounds. I would have to say these are a little brighter than the ES SS M7 but not harsh or fatiguing. If you can find a pair of any of these I highly recommend them.  8" rear firing woofer  6.5" mid woofer, 5" midrange and 1" titanium tweeter. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 SS-TL5, ES SS M7 and SS-X70 ED

 

[fill35U 1,847]

Thanks for the pics! 

 

They look to be in perfect condition. And they fit right in with the others on your collection. Are you going for a 7.1 channel setup now? 

[dcl 3,276]

The SS-TL5 & ES SS M7 designs, although different, locate the mids & tweeters pretty much at the same height. The latter's shape piques my interest, thinking outside of the box. Good you are able to keep the collection fresh.

[Ratamahatta 437]

Thanks, nah my 6.1 still suits my needs for HT. Yeah they are in really good shape for coming out of the late 80's early 90's, I got them home and cleaned them up, got the dust off and oiled the cabinets.  Some things I forgot to mention last night, I drilled the bottoms and added nuts for spikes. Both of the bigger pair are  made in the USA while the black ones were made in china to a higher standard and not even sold in the USA. The tops are cast aluminum though, heavy. They did make another version of it with two woofers that was taller. I do have the matching center and it has cast aluminum top as well you can see it in the above photo.  I do have some stands that put them up about the same height as the others but does not seem to make a difference. 

 

 

[oldtexasdog 2,461]

The Black one looks just like a B&W 704??

[Ratamahatta 437]

I know, I did a bunch of research trying to find out more info but did not really turn up anything. B&W and Sony did some work together in the past but don't know if it has any relevance here. I don't know why Sony would build a blatant rip off of B&W unless they were trying to piss them off. Sony can obviously make great speakers that don't copy anyone, maybe they were sending them a message? maybe coincidence? Who knows, great sounding nonetheless. 

[RodH 4,866]

Which came first?

[Ratamahatta 437]

In this particular case the Sony did in 2001 and then the B&W in 2004 based on the research I did, but these Sony's have a similar look to the Matrix 804's and I have no idea when those came out.  If Sony wanted to copy B&W why not just buy them out? Oh well. 

[Gene C 1,748]

Put some Infinity Kappa 7.1's on your list, they are close in size to your other speakers.

[Ratamahatta 437]

Ah should have kept my 8.1's. If I ever get another pair of Infinities it will probably be something else. But if a deal  comes up who knows. 

[jazzman53 1,276]

My garage stereo uses a pair of Sony SS-U80's... the ribbon tweeters are fantastic.  

[Ratamahatta 437]

You should post pictures of those. 

[Ratamahatta 437]

Well it happened again, A guy was selling some other Sony speakers so I went and picked them up.  They are some Sony SS K90ED.  Dual 6 1/2" woofers 6 1/2" woven Kevlar mid and 1" carbon dome ED tweeter.  Cabinets are curved to break up waves. Bases are cast steel with spikes and nuts, also came with stainless steel isolation discs for hard wood floors.  These are in excellent condition. Sound was not that impressive until I figured out how to set them up properly, they do not require as much toe in as my other speakers, actually hardly any in my rooms. Sound is sweet accurate detailed and they image like crazy.  Sound stage is huge, a few times I have heard things from well outside the speakers.  They have made me jump a few times as well. I have not listened to them very long but did have to hook the Sony ES SS M7's back to back and the M7's still win. I am trying to figure out how they stack up against the rest of my Sony collection and the rest as well.   But still a really great speaker, the only thing I don;t care for is the vinyl wrap but you can't have everything right?

  I also found out an interesting bit of info, it seems B&W might have had a hand in developing these and a few other Sony speakers. It might explaining the similarities. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also built some stands and spikes for my other Sony SS X70ED speakers, it raised them up a bit and just made them more stable, overall sound was improved a small bit.

 

 

 

 

 

[kve777 6,889]

Sweet! I would have thought B&W, looking at them. I can never seem to find high end Sony Speakers around here. Must keep looking!

[Ratamahatta 437]

I set them up in the main rig and found the matching center off of E-bay, so far I am really impressed. 

 

 

[kve777 6,889]

Well, it's been a year and I finally found some! The GW near work had a 5.1 speaker system featuring SS-K10ED and SS-K30ED with an SS-CNK10ED and an SA-WX700 sub. All for $99.99. The sub won't power on(no big deal, I can fix the plate amp or just power the two monstrous 10's with external amps) but all of the other speakers work flawlessly. These things sound as smooth as silk and image like crazy.

 

Ratamahatta- If you ever consider selling/trading those K90ED's, I want them!

 

If anyone else comes across any of the SS-KxxED series speakers, pick 'em up! I'm looking for more. 

[Ratamahatta 437]

That's a great deal I am glad you like them, I actually sold all but the ES SS M7's a long time ago. I only have those and two sets of bookshelf I built period. I just kept the ones I like the best. Right now am looking to build a house or rather have one built but after that I want to build some more speakers, you just seem to get way more for your money that way. 

[Dadvw 2,877]

Nice looking speakers!  Thanks for posting the pics!  May you enjoy them witha good carver amp......

[Chops 693]

I kind of hate bringing up an old thread, but this one in particular interests me, because I have a pair of mint Sony SS-K90ED towers out in the garage (2-car garage which has been sealed off, insulated, sound deadened and air conditioned). Once I get my system moved over here, I plan on giving those Sony's a try and see how they sound in my system. With the M-500t MkII's and a 4000t in front of them, I'm sure they'll perform. 

 

Pics will follow at some point. Possibly later this coming weekend. 

[loner_t 2,568]

11 minutes ago, Chops said:

I have a pair of mint Sony SS-K90ED towers

... which are a collaborative effort between Sony and B&W. Very nice speakers. 

[Chops 693]

So I have read. I do know that the first time I moved back to the house a few months ago, I tried those Sony's out in my system briefly, and they were putting out a tall and wide sound stage. Vocals sounded like they were 6' tall and definitely above the speakers. From what I remember, the treble was a touch on the warm side, which is typically the opposite of B&W speakers. 

[kve777 6,889]

One of Sony's best speakers, enjoy!

 

[Chops 693]

1 hour ago, kve777 said:

One of Sony's best speakers, enjoy!

 

 

Really? You think so?

 

They are well built. Very solid and stout. They even have decent quality binding posts on them. I really enjoyed the sound stage they produced. I don't know why I only had them connected for about a day or so though. This next time around, I'll definitely have them connected longer than that, and will also take some pics.