New Sony SS-CS5 Bookshelf Speakers at Best Buy

[Tom._White]

What is even more curious is that so far none of the Pioneer Andrew Jones diehards have step foot in this thread to make any sort of comment, none of them have even expressed a modicum of interest in evaluating these Sony speakers.

Maybe it's because the Sony's don't have a renowned speaker designer's name plastered all over the product, or maybe they just turn their noses up toward Sony's audio endeavors because of the reputation they have.

What I have found is when a product's main selling point is who designed it, or the designer is more promoted than the substance and specs of the product, then be wary of that product.

As an example, a few years back, Tivoli made a big fuss about their Model One radio being designed by Henry Kloss, who was hailed as the "genius" behind KLH, Advent, etc.

Well, I bought one. I'll tell you, that radio was the cheapest made piece of junk I've ever seen disquise itself as a radio. The enclosure was cheap. The innards were cheap. AM reception was non-existant, and FM stations faded in and out regularly requiring re-tuning. I suppose I should add that it didn't sound that good either.

So, while ol' Henry "may" (or may not) have been a "genius", his radio was junk. I will say someone was a genius in getting people to buy them. Of course, those people had to rave about them, or else be labeled as being blasphemous to Mr. Kloss.

In the end, I guess people are hesitant to say the emporer has no clothes!

Wow! Been a long time since I've ranted like that.

Maybe I should consider switching to decaf?

 

[felipe]

I previously had the Andrew Jones Pioneer speaker set. Since they were my first real speaker set, I thought they sounded really good. After hearing other brands, I realize now what I was missing in my listening ( that kinda rhymed lol ). I've been wanting to hear the Sony Cores, but my local BB doesn't have them on display to hear anymore. Anyone hear the towers? center channel??

 

[KEW]

Zieglj has heard both and stated the Sony were better. I trust his ears. The Sony cost more. When on sale for 150/pair for bs, the Sony are a great deal. However, used to be you could find the bs-22's on sale for around $90/pair and sales on Sony were rare.
If you were spending the coin for Sony, it was a no brainer to get Dennis Murphy's modded Pioneers instead. Thus the Sony didn't get much love around here.

 

[Tom._White]

Zieglj has heard both and stated the Sony were better. I trust his ears. The Sony cost more. When on sale for 150/pair for bs, the Sony are a great deal. However, used to be you could find the bs-22's on sale for around $90/pair and sales on Sony were rare.
If you were spending the coin for Sony, it was a no brainer to get Dennis Murphy's modded Pioneers instead. Thus the Sony didn't get much love around here.

KEW,

Here are the problems with this,
Even at $90, if the speakers don't sound good, then what do you have? Simply even cheaper speakers that aren't good. Why do that, if they don't make you happy to begin with?

I have no idea (other than seeing his name on this forum) who Mr. Murphy is. He may be a great guy, who is very knowledgeable about what he does, but I don't know. What I do know is, if he modifies the speakers, you void the warranty. That doesn't sound like a good idea either. Plus you have now paid more for them when you include shipping to/from him.

Just doesn't make sense to me.

 

[KEW]

For those that aren't keeping up with such, I should add that Dennis Murphy's pioneers are no longer available. The cost of the pioneers to him went up. It seems that pioneer is not discounting them as often as they used to. Thus the Sonys now have a good place in the market! Murphy's new affordable accuracy monitors cost about 220/pair shipped and have better bass then the Pioneer towers and the same character as his old modded pioneers. Thus it is a better buy but still cost more than the Sony bookshelf. Ultimately, when on sale, the Sony now has a decent purchase in the budget price range whereas before it was outclassed.

 

[KEW]

I have many pairs of speakers ranging in price. My girlfriend has a pair of the Pioneer bookshelves. Certainly they do not keep up with the more expensive models, but I surely enjoy listening to them. To each is own.

 

[Dennis Murphy]

KEW,

Here are the problems with this,
Even at $90, if the speakers don't sound good, then what do you have? Simply even cheaper speakers that aren't good. Why do that, if they don't make you happy to begin with?

I have no idea (other than seeing his name on this forum) who Mr. Murphy is. He may be a great guy, who is very knowledgeable about what he does, but I don't know. What I do know is, if he modifies the speakers, you void the warranty. That doesn't sound like a good idea either. Plus you have now paid more for them when you include shipping to/from him.

Just doesn't make sense to me.

It made a lot of sense to a lot of people, because they valued a significant increase in sound quality and trusted me to repair them if anything went wrong. I haven't had any warranty claims on the Pioneers mods, and speakers rarely have problems assuming they're working out of the box, but I'll certainly take care of any problems that might surface.

 

[zieglj01]

I have many pairs of speakers ranging in price. My girlfriend has a pair of the Pioneer bookshelves. Certainly they do not keep up with the more expensive models, but I surely enjoy listening to them. To each is own.

And, they are better than some of them cheapy entry level brand name speakers,
that were sold in the 1990's and early 2000 era's.

 

[Tom._White]

It made a lot of sense to a lot of people, because they valued a significant increase in sound quality and trusted me to repair them if anything went wrong. I haven't had any warranty claims on the Pioneers mods, and speakers rarely have problems assuming they're working out of the box, but I'll certainly take care of any problems that might surface.

Glad you replied. I want you to understand, I was not questioning your capabilities or character. It is just that I have no idea about you other than seeing your name on this forum.

The warranty I spoke of being voided was the Pioneer warranty. Do you also do warranty work for them to avoid this potential problem?

 

[Dennis Murphy]

Glad you replied. I want you to understand, I was not questioning your capabilities or character. It is just that I have no idea about you other than seeing your name on this forum.

The warranty I spoke of being voided was the Pioneer warranty. Do you also do warranty work for them to avoid this potential problem?

I was speaking of my obligations to warrant the modded version. Everyone knew that my tinkering had voided the Pioneer warranty.

 

[KEW]

I have no idea (other than seeing his name on this forum) who Mr. Murphy is. He may be a great guy, who is very knowledgeable about what he does, but I don't know. What I do know is, if he modifies the speakers, you void the warranty. That doesn't sound like a good idea either. Plus you have now paid more for them when you include shipping to/from him.

Again, to be clear, the modded Pioneers are a thing of the past, but I wanted to explain that Dennis bought the Pioneers so you did not ship to him, so that cost was never in the equation.

Just to give you a little perspective on who Dennis is:
Philharmonic is his company (but you should use the term company loosely, because he is a retired guy who is not trying to build a business or make a living from this, rather it is his passion to share quality sound):
http://philharmonicaudio.com/

The reason he has a deep history in circles here is he has always been very helpful by publishing his designs for the DIY crowd:
http://murphyblaster.com/content.php?f=main.html

He also did the design work for most of Salk's speakers:
http://www.salksound.com/

As best as I figure he pays himself about $6/hour (if that) to build speakers/crossovers. Soldering crossovers over and over is my personal idea of Hell, but to each his own. If someone is building my crossover, I would want it to be him.

Consider his AA Monitor. It is the BR-1 kit from Parts Express that costs $180.
http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-br-1-6-1-2-2-way-bookshelf-monitor-speaker-kit-pair--300-640

Dennis buys this kit (and he does get a discount for buying in volume, but Parts Express gets their cut), throws the crossovers in the trash, builds the 11 component crossovers he designed, assembles the speakers, tests them, then ships them to you for $195 plus actual cost of shipping (roughly $25). I think it is realistic to say he is the "Johnny Appleseed" of sound quality!

Note that you will find a design for a BR-1 crossover replacement on the Murphy Blaster site. This is a old design (as noted by the $125 list price for the BR-1 kit!) which he did with the DIY community in mind. The current design is more complex.

 

[Dennis Murphy]

Again, to be clear, the modded Pioneers are a thing of the past, but I wanted to explain that Dennis bought the Pioneers so you did not ship to him, so that cost was never in the equation.

Just to give you a little perspective on who Dennis is:
Philharmonic is his company (but you should use the term company loosely, because he is a retired guy who is not trying to build a business or make a living from this, rather it is his passion to share quality sound):
http://philharmonicaudio.com/

The reason he has a deep history in circles here is he has always been very helpful by publishing his designs for the DIY crowd:
http://murphyblaster.com/content.php?f=main.html

He also did the design work for most of Salk's speakers:
http://www.salksound.com/

As best as I figure he pays himself about $6/hour (if that) to build speakers/crossovers. Soldering crossovers over and over is my personal idea of Hell, but to each his own. If someone is building my crossover, I would want it to be him.

Consider his AA Monitor. It is the BR-1 kit from Parts Express that costs $180.
http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-br-1-6-1-2-2-way-bookshelf-monitor-speaker-kit-pair--300-640

Dennis buys this kit (and he does get a discount for buying in volume, but Parts Express gets their cut), throws the crossovers in the trash, builds the 11 component crossovers he designed, assembles the speakers, tests them, then ships them to you for $195 plus actual cost of shipping (roughly $25). I think it is realistic to say he is the "Johnny Appleseed" of sound quality!

Note that you will find a design for a BR-1 crossover replacement on the Murphy Blaster site. This is a old design (as noted by the $125 list price for the BR-1 kit!) which he did with the DIY community in mind. The current design is more complex.

Thanks for all the kind words Kurt. Just for the sake of complete accuracy, I don't actually buy the whole kit and trash the supplied crossover. I buy the cabinets and drivers separately, and then order my own crossover parts. All of that is enough to boost my hourly wage to $8. But I'm not complaining--no one is making me do this. I really do enjoy it, solder fumes and all.

 

[nfafan]

I still have a pair of the SS-B1000's, which are not being used now, and did have a pair of the SS-B3000's, which I gave away. I believe the SS-B1000 and SS-B3000 are discontinued. Sony's website can tell the tale. Peace and goodwill.

Out of curioisty, how did you like the SS-B3000's?

 

[Irvrobinson]

All of that is enough to boost my hourly wage to $8.

Weren't you an economics professor in a previous life? Nah, couldn't be. ;-)

 

[Dennis Murphy]

Weren't you an economics professor in a previous life? Nah, couldn't be. ;-)

Good thing I didn't try and teach business administration.

 

[Mark of Cenla]

Out of curioisty, how did you like the SS-B3000's?

They are OK for what I paid for them ($100/pair). They lack clarity/resolution but are tonally balanced. I prefer the Pioneer BS22LR bookshelf speakers that were about the same price. Peace and goodwill.