Sony ?!?!

[lowendall]

Ok, so I don't post on here much at all, but with the strong DIY crowd gathering here lately, I find myself visiting more often.

Now. I'm like mega DIY with speakers and have been for a long time, but before this I spent a long time and lots of money on buying up speakers and measuring them to try to figure out what I like, but more importantly- why!

My favourite 'regular' speaker was the larger focal electra be speakers ( without getting into silly designs) which many won't like I'm sure due to the treble balance-

In my opinion, the market value of many second hand speakers is probably about right for the vast majority. For instance, focal's have a strong second hand value, as do atc, but occasionally us collectors come across somthing that seams totally undervalued.

And I did that the other day.

A friend bought a pair of big old Sony SS- G4 speakers, and wanted me to take a look+ give opinions.

A quick sweep with RTA to check its working- and an unusually flat line is produced... Good start!

So a long afternoon of listening was had, accompanied by a shocked look on my face at just what this thing could do!

Now, it's not the best speaker in the world, and as expected, the wide baffle is a little 'wall of sound' compaired to modern uber slim offerings, however, somehow less-so than any other 12" wide cabinet I've come across. but in every other respect this thing is one of the best speakers for well under £1k. Leagues ahead of stuff like the JBL L100's of the era, and much preferred ( this is purely a taste thing) to the massive tannoy monitor golds IMO.

Driver integration is superb, distortion is obviously low, bass is tight, and the whole combines to make a speaker that is detailed and accurate without becoming fatiguing.

Many reviews say 'the best ever' etc, which is always BS, for instance- RAAL lazy ribbons and the jbl 2452sl or 476be ( ha- good luck!) drivers have the best treble- end of ( sorry everyone for the spoiler!) and either the 1500al or the td15m drivers are the best mid/ bass. But speakers using these are £100k. In the real world- I'm not sure you can appreciably beat the sonys without spending much more, and this is one of the very few speakers I could actually live with

So, How come I've never heard of them!

hi i just found this post, i have a nice set of the very same sony heritage G4 SPEAKERS, i payed rather too much for mine and also they were about a hundred miles round trip as well, anyway i quiet like mine i enjoy them for just the fact they play tunes from cds quiet nicely go very loud if you fancy they certainly play dynamics, etc i have over the years had, some rather more expensive and up graded speakers, atc scm 74, ?? had them a month then sold em? a bit of a story lost my shirt and trousesrs there, anyway , also martin logan panels with the little 8 inch bass units, they would have been the only onese to stay over the sonys, but i managed to bust the panel ?? i learnt a lesson that day , so alo had very nice dmt 12 professional studio monitors which were better but i sold them, , but honestly in the end i am fine with th sony G4 FOR hifi system listenning, even did a little bit of recording and mixing with these and things turned out ok, i tried several £1000 and a bit more sets of new speakers, and nothing tempted me in the slighteset , i like a little volume at times, ad honestly some fo the models i was trying in shops and at friends houses seemed to run out of puff quiet easily , yes i can get the sonys to hit the end stops but bloody hell its really quiet loud, not for normal listenning in domestic set up , . i am a professional bass player clasical and jazz shows that sort of thing, so i like a bass that sounds like a bass, which with propper recdings these sonys do , but they also have the open top end, if needed, i run mine in a very modest system with a used yamaha sa500, AMP I THINK ITS 75 watts or something like that , it drives the speakers ok, i also recently got a replacement cd nice and cheap a cambridge azur 350c which is ok, i have a older marantz cd9000 se that is a good it better to plug in , but i got the cambridge audio thing for £40 RECENTLY to see how it might be compared to the marntz re issue thing, , its not as good nothing like but the cambridge is perfectly listennable, .

 

[lowendall]

http://audio-heritage.jp/SONY-ESPRIT/speaker/ss-g4.html

Thanks that the ones ,nice to read up ,still plenty of marketing in them days as today ,maybe a little less flowery in them days ,I think they are from 1980 s not sure when they stopped making them but it's basically the same in speakers to day ,a box some different sized speakers plonked in the box often a hole in the box to vent it ,some cheap wire and basic cross over ,maybe slightly better connectors at the back and may be a much nicer wood venneir ,but mine has plastic wrap . A rather tragic brown wood grain effect ,and then a front baffle covered in cloth to pop on the front .I still use basic twin core wire same as on your electric mower or table lamp ,the wires inside this speaker are also standard two core lamp wire . Honestly . As long at it's connected to the amp securely ,as for directional wires etc not at all sure that's for me . My system I don't think is resolving enough but it plays tunes ok .