Anyone heard te Sony SS-AR1

Bongofury..Your missing the point. Having known an ATC speaker dealer in New England for the past five years, he informed me that he has had them break down and had to repair them since they run hot and can't be pushed to hard or they will clip, but not often it happens. I use to own a pair of Paradigm Active 20's years ago. Had the same problem. They clipped on me several times and went into safety shutdown. Ran vey hot. Many speaker brands and cables are used in studios. Companies take advantage of that for marketing purposes. ATC makes great speakers. Accurate as hell but very neutral. The issue is not about cost but performance. Heck, if you want to eliminate racks and interconnects, go buy a big Bose radio.

For those who read the Stereophile review of the Sony SS-AR1, it is one power hungry speaker. As indicated, Kal Rubinson first used the Mac MC-303 300 watt per channel amp and had to leverage up to the 500 watt Bel Canto's Ref1000m too get the speakers to open up and sing. The Mac was not enough. Several phile's I have been in touch with who first heard them at the Newport show were floored, including Bijon, the owner of Definition Audio in Santa Monica. He is one of the six dealers in the states.
Same issue. He had to hook them up to Sim Mono blocks at 500 watts per side to perform their best. He mentioned that you would have to spend over $ 50K to better the Sony's, their that good. Be prepared to use muscle amps to drive these babie's. I have not heard them, but those I have spoke to who have, descibe them as very rich, with a warm full silky mid range and a killer bottom end that is tight and deep. The tweeter design is very unique, custom built by Scan Speak with six large button size magnets that are formed in a circle on the rear of the tweeter frame. The tweeter performance is anything but sterile or bright. It is the speaker I have decided to purchase when I move into my new home in several weeks. I will be using the Bel Canto Ref1000M's with the Luxman C-1000F Pre and the Luxman D-08 SACD player.

Active speakers such as the ATC's do present a problem. Your stuck with the amp that is built in. The ATC amps run very hot. If the amp has a problem and needs repair, you have no speaker. Kal Rubinson at Stereophile did not have $ 200K worth of gear to evaluate the Sony's. He got outstanding performance from the 500 watt per side Bel Canto Ref1000M mono blocks that are $6K a pair. With an active speaker amplifier there is limited space internally for a large power supply. Your better off using an outboard amplifier that gives you the choice to experiment and match which amp best suits your taste.

It is true that ATC was the exclusive speaker used for the remaster of Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" in recent years, and has its place in 50% of Studio's globally. That also applies to Genelec, M&K, B&W, JBL. But ATC does have the Pro Monitor sound which can be very unforgiving with the wrong material. The Sony SS-AR1 is a true statement reference masterpiece which will bury the KEF 207.2's, the B&W 801's, the Magico V3 and the Wilson Sasha's. They don't stand a chance against the Sony's. As I stated earlier, I am days away buying the Sony's to coincide my moving into my new home. Sony has slated only 60 pairs for the U.S. market this year and sales have picked up due to the attention they have drawn during the past three months.

I responded on another thread regarding owner's of the SS-AR1's, but it was improper of me regarding my comments which are better suited on this thread. I heard the Sony's
in California in late summer and was extremely impressed.
It was the speaker I was going to purchase but that changed last month when I heard the Aerial Acoustics 7T's at Fred's Sound of Music in Portland, Oregon. There transparency, 3D imaging and hall effect and decay was superior to the Sony's which I couldn't believe coming from a pair of speakers that only cost $10K a pair. Sony uses stock tweeters and midrange drivers from Scan-Speak,
Aerial's tweeter is designed by their engineers and built by Scan-Speak. The tweeter has two massive magnets for its size and a long throw one inch voice coil which will handle much more power than the Scan-Speak D-3004/660000 tweeter thats in the Sony. The reason the Aerial has better transparency and imaging is due to their mid-range driver. Both Aerial and Wilson Audio use custom designed mid-range drives made by SB Acoustics in Wisconsin. SB Acoustic mid-range drivers
are superior to Scan-Speak's which is why the Wilson's and the Aerial 7T's have such remarkable transparency and clarity and great depth. The sound quality coming out of the Aerial's is what you here from speakers in the $30K to $40K range. For $10K a pair they are an outright steal and no speaker at there sell price can touch them.