Anyone heard te Sony SS-AR1

For the record, as I stated in my first posting, I am very impressed with Sony's effort. They recreate music with beautiful nuance and clarity. I also want to state that their demo rig costed $230,000, so it better sound fantastic. I also agree that many different speakers are in use in studio environments. With that said, the top of the line ATC 150s cost around 60,000 and the majority of the music you probably listen to was mixed on them. May not be your cup of tea, but that is a sound endorsement.

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.

Sony's SS-M7 was proclaimed by Barry Willis as a Wilson Audio performance at Vandersteen prices, and I agree. Coincidentally the very woofers used were also used in the Watt/Puppy 5.1 and 7. Each driver was tamber matched for seamless sound. I have little doubt that Sony has done a good job here. Previously they used Peerless but now ScanSpeak perhaps as Peerless is no longer made in Denmark. All too often we judge by name, especially if it's Japanese. They also made the SS-M3 and SS-M9 along with the SS-M7, all highly praised for color musicality and ease of listening.

ATC speakers are fantastic, bar none. They can be too much for some people's gear, however, and are very honest and high resolution as a monitor should be. If there is something in there, you will hear it. They won't fit everyone's needs or preferences, and even less so everyone's rooms.

TO: Onhwy61

I don't care for your insulting comments on my thread. Piss off, you audio tool.

I got this message in my e-mail today.

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.