Customer Ratings & Reviews

Five years ago I bought a pair of Sony B-3000 large 3 way bookshelfs with an 8 in, woofer for $75.00 on sale that my daughter now owns. Now for the price they were quite the rage and Sony was selling a lot of them. I mean, you hear these things and say, "How can I walk away from these nice speeks at this price!" Well, back in 2010, Pioneer's Andrew Jones upped the ante with his curved-side line of speakers with a bookshelf, a center-channel and a small floorstanding models. Andy then reworked them with better drivers and crossovers and these too sold like hotcakes. My opinion of the upgraded model was, "They look great and sound good but where's the detail and depth I was accustomed to hearing with speakers like the original $200 Paradigm Titan? Now, I'm always curious when a monster company like Sony or Pioneer kicks out a new series so I noticed last week online that Sony had a new line of budgets out and since they were in stock at my local store, I picked up a pair fo $219 + tax. I had also listened to the B&W 685's and the gloss rosewood Martin Logan Motion 10's in the Magnolia corner of the store just to update my recollection of the sound of these 2 speakers pairs in their demo room. The 'Motions' were clear and imaged really well but the B&W's just seemed too warm in the vocal range What I liked about the old Sony B-3000's was that they did indeed sound balanced. So did the Andrew Jones'! I listen to a lot of live music and know what a piano and an acoustic guitar should sound like but for some reason the B&W 600's just sounded too warm in the critical midrange frequencies. Actually my Energy RC-10's also have a bit of midrange bloom but not as bad as the B&W's. The Sony Core Series SSCS-5 bookshelves are a 3 way design with the bass port in the rear of the box. They are roughly 13 X 7 X 9 (HWD) with a frequency range of 53-50,000 Hz. Rated sensitivity is 87 db at 1watt/meter @ 6 Ohms, not the most efficient boxes you can find out there. Actually, like the Pioneer AJ's they like a little brawn from a receiver or amplifier. I have the Core 5's hooked up to an older Sony ES DA-555 that can handle difficult loads. I have them mounted on 24 in. metal stands on the long wall of my 16 X 11 daddy's den sized garden-style apartment living room. What Sony refers to as a midrange driver is actually a 1 inch dome supplemented by a 3/4 inch super tweeter. The foam woofer is 5 inches. So, what are you getting for your 220 dollar pair? I'd say much more than can be expected. No 'disappearing speaker' tricks and a huge sweet-spot to wow your friends with. What you will get is a smooth, accurate sound, adequate bass, and midrange and a clear treble. In this case Sony gives you plenty of good sound for a budget price and a sound that doesn't sound budget in the least!

After trying several different brands of speakers for my Onkyo A9050 integrated amplifier, I decided to try the new Sony hi-res bookshelf speakers. The result was full range sound with good detail and dynamics. Somebody had posted a comment online saying that these are an answer to Pioneer's Andrew Jones series of speakers targeting the budget oriented buyer. These speakers are way better than the Pioneer SP-BS41 that I own. Sure, I paid twice as much for the Sony but it was worth it. The pioneer speakers I can describe as dull, missing detail. The Klipsh speakers I also own just sound harsh, no matter what amp I use. The sony speakers have a balanced sound. You simply need to hear it. I highly recommend these speakers , especially with a better amplifier.

The engineers at Sony Corporation have been on a roll lately. I just finished reading the review of their STR DN1050 receiver in Sound & Vision magazine. The reviewer concluded that article saying that based on its features and its unusually good sound quality, the Sony was now his number one pick for receivers in its price bracket. I purchased these Sony speakers on a whim having read good things about them on the net. Let me just sum up by saying that the makers of other affordable audiophile speakers just got some major competition (think PSB, Paradigm, Music Hall)!. This is no joke friends, these speakers are the real deal. Like the reviewer said in that online review, this is one of the rare affordable speakers capable of conveying the "texture" of music. Audiophile speakers can now be purchased brand new for $220 a pair. Unbelievable but true!

I decided to purchases a pair of these while on sale, just to test if my cats would mess with bookshelf speakers, knock over, damage, etc. before spending big money on a real nice pair. After unhooking my Monitor Audio Bronze towers and hooking these up, I was dumbfounded.. Right out of the box, no real difference in sound. Had the same airy, sweet highs of the MA's C-Cam tweeters as well as the smooth, uncolored mids of the MA's midwoofer. Bass was surprising as well being taught and full without the cheap cabinet, boomy, muddy bass I was expecting. My jaw dropped to the floor as I sat there just after a few hours of run in time. I couldn't believe my ears.. I have them paired to a couple of Emotiva mono blocks with a Rega Cursa 3 preamp. All Straightwire cabling. If you're on a budget and want a really good pair of bookshelf speakers, try a pair of these. You will not be dissapointed. I don't think that I will be looking for replacements anytime soon..

I just got back into collecting records and needed a nice set of speakers to set on my desk but not break the bank. I went into Best Buy to look at a set of $99 Polks and after comparing the two brands I went with the Sonys even though they were $150. I wanted a set of small speakers that could deliver crisp highs and nice tight mid bass and enough bottom end that I would not need a sub. These little jewels fit the bill perfectly. Even though my receiver only has bass and treble controls I can still get a very nice sound out of these speakers. I think while they are on sale I am going to upgrade my surround speakers for my home theater.

I'm rebuilding my home sound system piece-by-piece after losing my previous Bose system in a divorce. I bought these to couple with a Sony receiver I bought last year and I'm not disappointed. They provide really good sound while I'm waiting to add a sub, center and surround channels. My original thought was that I'd move these to the rear channels and buy high end speakers for the front channels, but after hearing them I'm seriously considering keeping these on the front channels. And though these are only rated down to 50 Hz, they produce enough base that I don't feel any great pressure to add the sub, though it will come eventually.

these have good sound. I mostly use to listen to music. I have no subwoofer connected to it, just these two to my stereo. Very loud, while keeping good sound. Expensive but worth it, I don't plan on adding more speakers to my set up. These are enough for me.

The speakers are excellent , they replaced huge out dated speakers that were 20 times bigger and they have a better sound

Decent lows and highs. To me they had the best overall reproduction in the Best Buy selection of comparable sized speakers. I'm thinking there is no need to spend more unless you are willing to spend twice that much. At that point, you will start hearing a significant improvement in sound. Between $250 and $500 seems to be a no man's land.

I've now had the speakers for about 2 weeks and can definitely hear the difference from my previous 2-way Sony Bookshelf speakers. Fidelity is much increased with the extra tweeter, clarity is great and Bass is pretty good for a bookshelf speaker. For a home theater you definitely need to have a sub in your system, these speakers are just not as capable when it comes to bass. But overall a great speaker and highly recommended.

Speakers exceeded expectations. Excellent clarity and they happily handle lots of power. Not tremendous amounts of low end, but enjoyable.

Needed something on the smaller side to fit in the space on top of my bookshelf. These did the job perfectly. Got them on sale. Excellent sound quality, really clear all around speakers. Just using an older receiver to drive them and they sound great. Solid buy. Sony is a trusted brand in our household.

These speakers sound great and function as described, are attractive and a plus to any sound system. Completely satisfied with product and Best Buy Price !

I got these speakers for half off during the Best Buy Black Friday sales. These speakers are easy to drive and can play pretty loud without distortion using a moderately powered amp. The mids and highs are pretty smooth although the low end is a bit lacking. The clarity however is somewhat blurred. On some tracks, the voice of the singer and the background instruments do not have good localization, kinda mushed together. Hence the 3.5 - 4 stars. They do sound better than the Polk T15 and the Klipsch R14 when I auditioned them side by side at my local Best Buy.

I was tossed up between these and the polk t15's. the polks sounded amazing and I may pick up a pair to accent these. the on floor display of the Sony's didnt make it possible to hear just the bookshelf speakers. only the whole sony setup of towers, bookshelfs and sub. so I took a chance and I am not regretting it. they were more than the polks but I like the 3 way speaker design better. they sound awesome. very full sound, highs are crystal clear. I can hear things in my music that I've never heard before with my old sony/klipsch speaker setup! size was also a factor in why I wanted bookshelf speakers. although the polks were smaller these still in the size range that I needed. construction quality is great. they look as good as they sound too! great choice these were!

These were on sale open box for a great price so I had nothing to lose. The sound is incredible for a speaker this size. I would highly recommend them.

Good sound for the size. I moved, and my Klipsch floor speakers would not work well (no good place to put them) with the new space. I replaced with these, and have been pleased with the performance..

You will discover a full sound, rich and very clear even at low volume levels.

Speakers are clear and attractive. Just little bass sound so you will need to complete your system with woofer. Perfect for the bedroom or office space but not meant for a surround sound system that will rock out.

I'm using these speakers as an upgrade to the tiny satellite speakers found in my Yamaha Home Theater System YHT-399UBL. I also got the Sony Core center speaker and together they now make up the front left, center, and right of my 5.1 speaker setup (other speakers are still the Yamaha supplied ones). The sound quality from these speakers is excellent for the money, size, and for my purposes (watching BD movies, Netflix streaming, console gaming, and some HD cable TV watching). Music also sounds great, though I don't use it much for that (unless you count music in movies and games). One thing worth mentioning is right now the sub woofer I'm using is not able to compete with these speakers too well and so the low end seems to be lacking vs. the mid range and high end. That's not a fault of these speakers, just the sub woofer's limitations (50 watts RMS, 8-inch driver). So, I'll need to upgrade the sub woofer so that the low end can match the great mid range and high end these Sony Cores can provide. For that, I'm looking at the Dayton Audio SUB-1200, which sells for around $125 and has 120 watts RMS and a long throw 12-inch driver.