Sony SS-MB350H Main / Stereo Speaker

I saw in "Consumer Reports" that these speakers were rated excellent. That review was sure on target.

First, after reading the review, I tried auditioning them at Best Buy, which is virtually impossible due to the noise from other departments and the other speakers going off on timers. But from what I did hear, they were worth trying out at home.

Though they are called bookshelf speakers, I would classify them more somewhere between bookshelf and floor standing speakers in size.

The speaker cabinet is sturdy enough, but the grill could offer more protection. Though, there are more expensive brands that have the same type of grill (e.g. some Polk models). One thing about the grills, the pegs are tight right out of the box which makes them tend to pop off the cabinet. To remedy this, just put them on and face the speakers against a flat surface for a day or so -- totally fixes the problem.

The speakers come with wire, about 20 or 22 gauge. Needless to say, I used 16 gauge instead.

On power requirements: the max is 120W. The manual is rather skimpy and just says to avoid a low powered amp or receiver. I called Sony. You need a minimum of 55W to avoid clipping.

On the sound, I tested them with a Technics 70W receiver, Technics carousel CD player, Denon HiFi Check CD, and a Radio Shack analog sound level meter.

I played a series of test tones from below 20Hz to 20,000Hz. Now, the sound level meter response drops rapidly on the extreme ends. So, I ended up using a combination of the meter (using the graph in the manual to compensate for the drop) and my ears.

The speakers had a very smooth response. The specs say that the bass goes down to 50Hz but, not only was there a good response at 63Hz, but a response at 32Hz. At 32Hz, I estimate that there is a drop in 6 decibels (maybe 8 at the most). Though at a high volume, you can rattle the windows. Though my receiver's tone controls have no markings for the calibration (go figure), setting the bass to around 4 o'clock (with 12 being neutral) gave an excellent response at 32Hz. Though, my ears say that this overcompensated. So, I lowered the control to a 2 o'clock position. This turned out VERY satisfactory. In all, I find the bass very good (note: my ears cannot take overamped bass, that's why I lowered the control, but a bass head will probably prefer to add a subwoofer). As for the highs, they were excellent, left the treble in the neutral position.

All in all, an excellent speaker. It handles everything well that I play, from classical, to folk, to rock, to jazz, and to voice.

The warranty is listed as 1 year by "Consumer Reports". The manual says 2 years.

Once again, excellent speakers more than worth the price.

Other speakers used:
Bose, Polk, Harmon Kardon, Pioneer

UPDATE
Earlier in my review, I mentioned that I called Sony concerning the minimum power requirements. After the tech asked several people, he stated that you needed a receiver/amplifier with a minimum of 55W output. Out of curiosity, I asked the same question on Sony's website. Here the answer was, "The power output for the speaker should not be lower than 100 watts below the RMS value of the speaker." Since the maximum power handling capacity is 120W RMS, that would leave the minimum power requirement at 20W. Anyway, I have had excellent results using a 70W receiver and would recommend (just to play safe) using nothing less than the original 55W recommendation from Sony.

2ND UPDATE Regarding Performance

I have a friend who is a real audiophile and who demonstrated some old high end Polk floor standing speakers that he had acquired. Except for the Polks being able to reproduce bass at 20Hz (the Sonys go as low as 32Hz though the company claims the limit is 50), the Sonys sounded as good!

The more I hear other speakers, the more the sound quality of these Sonys amazes me.