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Cheap $88 Sony SS-CS5 Speakers - Awesome

I have been working on refreshing the power supply on my 1979 vintage EAR 509 amps.  Found cracked/bulged caps and wanted be proactive.   Absolutely stunning amps. Lifetime keepers.

Wanted a cheap set of workbench speakers for trialing so I didn't blow my main speakers if made a mistake.  Vintage amp repair/update what a pain with bulged caps/ broken wires, undersized fuses from past owners and non-stock circuit changes.  Shout out to Dan Meinwald and EAR UK for absolutely superb customer support. 

Anyways picked up a cheap set of $88 Sony sale speakers at my local to me ABT electronics.  SS-CS5 3 way bookshelf.  One ebay LX5 speaker i got either blew or had a bad woofer during my testing.  So I needed something. 

What a surprise, the cheap Sony's just sound great.  They don't even break down on bass drum kicks.  Sweet, detailed sound and are just rocking.  They go fairly loud though I don't listen loud.  I am listening through a Linn Axis with Ittok/Sumiko Talisman (superb table, really) EAR 868PL and the vintage EAR 509.   They are on stands 4 feet apart nearfield (cause amp burn in).

The speakers are incredible bargain for what they are.  Enjoying my burn in session immensely. Maybe I found a sleeper. To some of you maybe I didn't.  These are too good for bench test speakers I think.  Might want to give them a try.
linnlp12
mesch
3,410 posts
 

@reubent  That ARC integrated is a nice amp. Likely gets the most from the Sony speakers.

Got me to thinking about a somewhat unrelated subject regarding persons just getting into audio on a restricted budget. My advice is to purchase a quality 50-100wpc amplifier and source component then spend the rest on the speakers. The result is ownership of an amplifier at a higher cost than the speakers.  There are budget speakers available these days that when driven by a quality amplifier sound quite good.  Time can then be spent enjoying current system while saving funds for better speakers after obtaining some idea of one's preferences prior to making the next speaker choice.  My thinking is that speakers provide much of the character of a system. One needs to know what 'character' they are listing for and then search for the best quality of speaker providing said character. 

reubent
6,939 posts
 

@mesch  - Agreed that the Audio Refinement Complete is a pretty solid little amp. Hard for me to disagree with your philosophy as that's exactly what I'm doing right now. The very inexpensive Sony speakers sound pretty darn good driven by this good quality integrated amp and playing streaming audio. Ultimately I will likely buy a "step-up" pair of bookshelf speakers for the office. But for now, the cheap Sony's are meeting my needs for background music and streaming music discovery.

b_limo's avatar
b_limo
2,273 posts
 

@reubent , why not try the upgrade kit from gr research.  Danny really liked those speakers and said the measured incredibly well.  I know the upgrade kit is around $200 but if you already like them but just want more…

A strong point of them was that the frequency response didn’t change much off axis and they also measured really flat and smooth.

 

 

reubent
6,939 posts
 

@b_limo  - Thanks for your reply. Just went out to the GR Research site and the upgrade for these speakers is now $345. So, not a chance I'm going to invest that much into an upgrade for these. I could easily buy a much better speaker for that money. For instance, I could buy a pair of Spica TC-50 for less.

For now, they sound good enough for the current use case. If I ever decide to step up my office system, I'll probably buy a pair of small-ish floor standers. 

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