Cheeflo

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 3.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00 from Traded-in at 2nd han

Summary:
The Sony SS-M3 have wonderful detial and warmth. Imaging is excellent. Vocal texture is superb. Just play Norah Jones and you'll be amaze at the full texture of her voice coming through these speakers. I filled the stands with Atacama Bytes and the bass is clean and solid but not boomy. I use tube pre-amplifier and passive pre-ampplifier with one solidstate and one mosfet power amplifiers both around 100watt to drive them, They sound great with both systems They sound great too with my full tube set- up with KT-88 push-pull tube power amp at 75 watts each channel. I tried a 5881/KT66 tube power amp that is around 30-40 watts with the speakers and they sound very sweet and solid even with less power. Bi-wiring also helps in bringing out the detail. The SS-M3 sound best when the pair is spread wide and toe in. Initially I tried the pair about 3ft from the rear wall and 8ft apart with slight toe-in with seating position about 8-9feet away and it was ok. Then I tried placing them about 12 ft apart and with more toe-in. I found the the soundstage much wider and deeper and the vocal sharper in the middle. It would be like the Dalquist, it sounds better with a wide placement of the speakers. Maybe these speakers were made together with the launch of SACD. They have a great analogue quality, sweetness and warmth to compensate for the digital detail sound of SACD. The speakers are great with vocal and warmth (Even better than LS3/5 due to its much bigger solid cabinet, its interesting shape and time coherent design)). Try a pair and you'll see. It's a true pair of audiophile speakers, made in America, that unfortunately has a lesser identity with the SONY name. Probably one of the best speakers from SONY

Strengths:
Good detail, imaging, warmth, fullness, musical quality, solid build quality. Realistic analogue sound. Inexpensive in 2nd hand market as it carries the SONY brand. Very good original speaker stands.

Weaknesses:
Not for heavy metal, deep bass lovers. (Those would need the SS-M7 or 9) Althought the bass can be very good with enough power driving the speakers.

Similar Products Used:
Celestion SL6S, Monitor Audio MA-800 Gold, PSB Stratus Mini, Monitor Audio 9 Gold, Jubileam DACT limited edition speakers, Artison speakers, Yamaha NS-10M Studio Monitors, Genelec Studio Monitors (various models)... plus many more.

Price Paid:  $300.00 from EBAY

Summary:
My system includes: Sony X707 ES CD Player, Sony TA-F808ES Integrated Amplifier, Velodyne CT-150 Subwoofer, Sony ES SS-M3 Speakers, Nordost Super Flatline Gold Speaker Cables, Nordost Black Night Interconnects, and home made speaker stands. As a reference for sound, I use a Top of the line pair of Sony MDR-7509 Studio Monitor Headphones and a Rolls RA-43 Headphone Amplifer hooked up directly to the variable outputs on my Sony X707 Es Cd Player. My system is so musical, yet accurate. I think this should be everyones goal. The only possible future upgrade may be a purchase of the Sony ES SS-M7's, and even then, I will keep my SS-M3's !! I used to have to close my eyes to see the illusion of the music, but now, I see, feel, and hear it with eyes wide open. Need I say more. I would love to hear from anyone who has had this experience. God Bless Music and Sony ES of course.

Strengths:
State of the Art Imaging, soundstage, depth, neutrality, coherence, ect..

Weaknesses:
Image Height(slight), Low Bass(who cares-that is what a sub is for).

Similar Products Used:
Magnepan 1.5, Paradigm Studio 100, JBL L-1, L-5, NHT 2.9, NHT 1.5, Bohlender Radia X3, Magnepan 2.7, Paradigm Studio 20, and on and on.

Price Paid:  $660.00 from Audiophile's of Cros

Summary:
As a result of downsizing my living space and winding up with a 12'x10' listening room, I went out in search of a suitable replacement for my beloved Magnepan 2.5Rs. The budget was set at a grand a pair or less, which I hoped would net me a listenable bookshelf speaker. After unfulfilling in-home trials of several ported designs, I was disillusioned. I kept being off-put by lumpy midbass wreaking havoc with the standard my ears were used to hearing. Aha, a sealed box might do the trick, I thought! Back I trudged to my patient dealer; I remembered seeing a lonely demo pair of speakers that had no port in them. That these were the most funky-looking boxes I'd ever seen didn't bother me; that they said "Sony" on the grill did. Me, listen to a Sony SPEAKER?! In my system?! Then I recalled a review in Stereophile that extolled the virtues of another speaker in the ES line, the SSM7. OK, I was desperate enough to give them a try. Two years later, they are still with me. Why? They are unfailingly neutral, offer an excellent soundstage, are coherent from top-to-bottom, and quite simply musically involving. My listening tastes revolve around female vocalists, acoustic jazz, and pop stuff. Stringed instruments sound delightfully present. Try Mary Black's "Columbus" on these. I've since added an Audio Pro sub to them in my new 24'x18' music room. In summary, this is a far better speaker than any tweak would expect, and unknown in audiphile circles. Due to the Sony name, their re-sale value is nil, so bargains await. But don't be fooled: it is simply one of the most enjoyable high-end speakers I have ever owned. A true sleeper. The SSM3 proves that you can't judge a book by it's cover!

Strengths:
A well-executed design offering excellent cabinet construction, high-quality drivers and a designer with great ears resulting in a speaker that offers musicality, neutrality, spacious soundstage,precision imaging, and coherenency in spades. And by all means, BI-WIRE them for best results!

Weaknesses:
No low bass, but add a sub and they sing.

Similar Products Used:
Audio Research LS12 Audio Research D130 Harman-Kardon CD20 Sonic Frontiers SFD1 Monarchy DIP SOTA Sapphire w/Premier MMT Sumiko Blue Point Special Audio Pro B2-70

Price Paid:  $120.00 from Insurance Lot Re-Seller

Summary:
I bought these speakers for a song!

Build quality is good, 1" thick MDF, Peerless drivers, separate low/high crossover boards, bi-ampable.

Design is sound, anhedral baffle, flush drivers, 4th-order crossover, simple 2-way unit, time-aligned, sealed box (probably critically damped).

Imaging is very good, soundstaging is OK and very dependent on placement--requires at least 3' separation from rear wall to be decent. Overall sound is totally neutral, with nothing outstanding. Everything is very smooth, but comes at the price of efficiency--only 86dB/W/m. Bass is extremely clean, due to the sealed box and solid cabinet. It is also deceptively extended, because of the 6dB/octave cutoff of the sealed box system. Doesn't reach down to the lowest octaves, of course. Decent rhythm and pacing, great on woodwinds and female voice. Maybe a bit lean on male vocals, but that may be my Arcam CD player.

Value rating is based on full retail price of $900/pr (I think).

Strengths:
neutrality, coherence, imaging

Weaknesses:
no deep bass