Sony Ss-f7000 Main / Stereo Speaker

My Setup:
 
TV:  Sony KDL 46XBR6
Receiver: Sony STR DE-935 (5.1 – Dolby Digital/DTS decoder – 110 watts per channel)
Mains:  Sony SS-F7000 Towers (subject of this “epinion”)
Center: Sony SS-CR290 (This was a set consisting of a center and 2 surrounds)
Rear: Aiwa AV-SX1000 (name is more impressive than it is)
Subwoofer:  Sony SA-WM40 (120 Watt)
Bluray player – Sony BDP-350S
Cables:  Monster cable 3 foot Toslink cable, hdmi cables from bluray to TV from Cablesforless.com (God bless them – who needs $60 hdmi cables?) – and 16 gauge speaker cable through out (also from cablesforless.com).
 
Yeah I know – Sony Wh@re... Also note.. none of these components are considered audiophile components.. but they are certainly better than “Coby.”  I don’t think I listen or appreciate music so much that I have to spend thousands on equipment – as long as it sounds decent and for the right price.  Some say frugal others say cheap… oh well can’t make them all happy but I am proud of my system!
 
A couple of years ago I renovated my home – I disconnected my home theatre – after a while I was content with just watching it without the ground shaking 5.1 audio.  I got so used to it for 2 years that I thought I didn’t miss it.  One day I walked into a Bose factory store and they had a home theatre showcase complete with couch.  They certainly fit some pretty big sound into those cubes.  I find that either you hate Bose or you love them but certainly overpriced.   In the Bose home theatre set up they had transformers running and the sound was pretty good. I sat down and finally thought – this is what I am missing when I watch movies on DVD or Bluray (my transition from tube tv to flat panel HDTV is fairly recent) I am missing 50% of the movie experience… the SOUND.   Esp in flicks like Transformers – the sound effects are half the fun!
 
In my original config – I had the Aiwas as my front channels.. the center is as stated above and my rears were the satellites that came with the center.  The satellites were hung up against the wall via screws… I decided I didn’t want to hang up my speakers anymore nor buy speaker stands.  My decision was to relegate the Aiwa towers to the rear – retire the small satellites altogether – leave my sub, my center, and buy some new towers as my main front speakers.

I know I didn’t want to spend all that much – I search amazon.com, bhphoto.com, jr.com – to look at floor standing speakers… ideally you should audition speakers prior to purchasing them esp when they are going to be a part of your home theatre/hi fi system.  I also looked at audiophile forums to get a taste of what people owned.  They owned some pretty high-stuff.. some I have heard of … some I haven’t heard…from JBLs, Infinity, Klipsch, B+W, Athena, Definitive Technology, Paradigm, PSB – the ubiquitous Bose was not mentioned much… audiophiles hate Bose – esp the acoustimass collection.

When researching them at amazon because I was basically too lazy to actually go to a store… I stumbled upon the Sony SS-F speaker floorstanding series.  They have the 5000, 6000, and the 7000.  All of them tower speakers.  I read the reviews… the majority of the reviews were positive… sounds good to sounds great esp for the money paid.  I knew I wanted the biggest…the 7000 – which had great reviews – the consensus was it sounds great for the price paid… right up my alley.  I searched through the website for the price… before the labor day holiday BHphoto.com had the speakers at 169.99 – with $60 shipping… I live in NYC I was going to have the missus and myself drive to the city to pick them to save on the shipping.  I waited about a week.. the price was jacked up to $199.99 then within the hour it went up to $209.99!  a $40 price difference… now once I saw the $169.99 sticker.. I didn’t want to pay $199.99 or $209.99 – granted the $209.99 included shipping – but I could have picked them up… I didn’t check with them if I picked them up would it be cheaper… currently it is at 202.99 free shipping (as of this writing)

A few days later after monitoring I stumbled on Buy.com – they had the babies for JUST $164.95 – and to top that they offered FREE SHIPPING WOOT!… if you don’t have a buy.com card you can apply and they’ll take $30 off your purchase!  I bought these speakers for $149 after it was all said and done.

It didn’t take long for the delivery – it was so quick – ordered Sunday… delivered Wednesday.  When they delivered it the box looked a little dirty – I noticed that the bottom wasn’t taped so good but everything looked intact.  When I opened the box the Styrofoam on top had been broken multiple places.  Uh-oh.  When I took them out of the box they were hefty – but not heavy.  I pick one up and put one in place – the top of the grill cloth seemed like it was sanded.. how can I say – it was like the cloth was wearing away because it rubbed some surface… the second speaker.. when I picked it up had rattling… not a good sign.  As I set up the second speaker… it was revealed to me that the top of the grill was damaged.. broken in fact.  I read an amazon.com review that someone had the same problem… the grill was made very flimsily.   It still was intact enuff so that I can be used.  My wife wanted me to return it.. I said too much trouble because it is so hefty plus if they worked I didn’t want to bother.  I took of the grills to inspect the cones… none was damaged during shipping.

I looked them up to my receiver… playing Kelly Clarkson – I noticed on some tracks crackling noise – and on other none of the crackling noise.  I fed it the gamut… from heavy bass tracks to soft sultry stuff to classical music.  I decided that the crackling was from the CD and not because of the speakers – I did however expose more wire to the Sony speakers so they had perfect contact.

My first impressions – the speakers are HUGE – they are truly towers… I’m not tall but these things are like 3.5 feet.. .with a 12” x 12” footprint.  My other first impression -- these speakers can be LOUD… for the space they are serving… they are overkill.. but better overkill than underkill… I easily could have gotten the 6000 to fill my “man room” with music and movies.  Initially I thought they sounded ok – I broke them in with some a movie called The Covenant – Twilightesque crap – I also played soundtrack music from Star Trek and some top 40 pop music from my MP3 player at 128kbps – and I have been listening to JS Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos (highly recommend the Hanssler Classic Exclusive Series of the 6 Brandenburg Concertos with Helmuth Rilling and the Oregon Bach Festival Chamber Orchestra). 

The Star Trek TNG theme song from First Contact.. it sounded great… quiet on the quiet passages with no hissing… the Brandenburg Concertos were great on this – harpsichords, violins, flutes, all sounded great.  There were no overly bright highs on the treble or mid range.  The bass was not overly boomy… but then again I don’t think I know what boomy is though… one recommendation – although this speaker reproduces good bass a subwoofer would be recommended on LFE heavy movies and bass heavy music.  The more I listened to them, the more I love them… ok I don’t have audiophile ears but I know what I like and these speakers are not pieces of junk and certainly not reflective of the price I paid… if I were to pay 10x as much they better sound 10x better I say!

The mp3 was ok.. a little bit lacking only because of the source and it was at 128kbps – CDs sounded much better – movies.. well forget about it.. they were great!

I am now looking to replace my small center with another bigger Sony.

My speaker specs
1” tweeter, 3.25” midrange cone, dual (read 2x) 8” woofers – 12” x 12” footprint.  3.5 feet tall. Has feet on the bottom to prevent tipping.  Weight was hefty.

The Sony speakers specs:

Speaker Design     4-Way Bass Reflex
Power Rating       200W Maximum
Impedance         8 Ohms
Frequency Response    35Hz - 50kHz
Sensitivity        90dB
Crossover        Not Specified by Manufacturer
Enclosure        Bass Reflex
Shielded        Yes
Tweeter        1" (2.5cm) Nano-Fine Balanced Dome
Midrange        3.25" (8cm) Enhanced H.O.P Cone
Woofer    8" (20cm) Enhanced H.O.P. Cone (Mid)
8" (20cm) Mica Reinforced Cone Subwoofer (Low)
Connector Type    Binding Post
Dimensions (WxHxD)11.5 x 42 x 12" (290 x 1065 x 303mm)
Weight            33.1 lbs (15 kg) Each
Color            Black

I was not disappointed in the speakers at all… I love them – they were the best $150 spent.. I think I would have liked to buy B+W (heard it once at a friend’s house) but I couldn’t justify dropping the cash on those. 

Overall I always ask myself this question to see if I had made a mistake.. would I do this over again? A wholehearted answer of YES… $149 – can’t go wrong and they sound great!