Customer Ratings & Reviews

Overall, I love these speakers. I tend to be a bit of an audiophile, and am pretty picky with my headphones and speaker purchases. These sound much more balanced and enjoyable to listen to than some Polk Audio Monitor speakers that I have. The price is amazing for this level of quality. I like how they look as well. Nothing crazy, but a good classic design. I have a pair for listening to music in my living room, and a second pair as surround speakers in my media room.

These speakers were hooked up to an old Technics record player. The size of the speakers fit perfectly, easy to hookup and the sound is great! Just in time for Christmas - listened to Nat King Cole and Johnny Mathis!

I like them. Looked at tons of reviews comparing to Elac ( more expensive) Numi, Polk, Micca etc. The pundits say is not a good speaker; no base; no stage presence, too loud on the high end, etc. A lot of negative reviews are based on trying to use this speaker as home theater or in big rooms. Look these are only 120 bucks and are entry level. For my use in a small office they are great. Plenty of bass, maybe a little bright on female vocals. I don't know why many say there is no bass, I guess they want to shake their house foundations but for normal music listening they sound great, especially in a small room (which they are designed for) Are super hifi? well, no. Do they have booming bass? No; but they have a pleasant sound. I would not pay $200 for them though.

I used Sony speakers in the mid 90’s and there just ok but I can’t believe the performance and sound detail for the price in these ones. Simple but very nice design. Perfect size for a small room or office. Best value for entry level audiophile.Best value overall.

This speaker sells for $120/pair. Sony refers to it as a Hi-Res speaker, designed to play music in utter detail. Most comparisons will be to the Andrew Jones speakers from Pioneer, an excellent speaker in its own right. The Sony is very compact. Surprisingly for the price, it comes with a multi-way banana connector in the rear. The speaker appears very nice, especially with the grill removed. It has three drivers, a 5" woofer, a tweeter and a super-tweeter. Sony claims that the super-tweeter is needed to bring out the harmonics and detail that regular speakers do not reproduce. Sound-wise, the Sony is very crisp and clean. It does a very good job within its limits. It can be played somewhat loud but too loud will have some audio compression. The weakest spot is the woofer, it does put out some bass but sounds a tad weak. Still, the Sony is a very good speaker for the price. It sounds more like a $300-500 speaker. if you are looking for a cheap speaker, this one should be on your list.

I'm using these SSCS5 speakers as main front speakers in a 3.1.2 Atmos setup in my 15x18 living room and I am thoroughly impressed - these speakers perform beyond expectations! I'm using these on 24" stands, along with the Sony Core Series Center and Atmos speakers, and a single Polk SW108 sub, with an Onkyo TX-SR393 Atmos receiver. These replaced their older, bigger brother SS-B3000's in that setup for a (mostly - except the sub) matched Sony Core setup. First of all, the SSCSE Atmos speakers are a perfect fit on top of these SSCS5 bookshelf speakers - same as the fit on the floor standing models. I wanted to call that out because I've seen it mentioned plenty of times how the Atmos speakers are matched to the floor speakers, without mention of the bookshelf versions. Rest assured they are a perfect match as well. While I was configuring them manually in my Atmos setup (after running the Onkyo auto calibration) and experimenting with different settings, I set them to "full" bandwidth just to see for kicks how they would sound with no output to the sub. Test material was an Imagine Dragons Vinyl LP. After setting them to receive the full bandwidth signal, I literally walked back to the sub multiple times to confirm there was zero output coming from it - and there wasn't. Yes, these speakers are that good in the bass department! Bass output was solid and powerful enough I could feel it thru the floor standing 15-20 feet away. Honestly, these are close to giving the B-3000's a run for their money. Yes the B3000's have more, deeper bass, but these SSCS5's are smoother and more balanced, making them sound overall better to my ears. I also have the Polk T-15's and there is no comparison - these simply blow the Polk's out of the water all around. Now when toggling back and forth between these alone and bringing the sub back in (80hz crossover level), can you hear a difference? Absolutely! And having the sub will definitely provided the needed deep punch for movies that the SSCS5's won't quite be able to produce. But for most music listening situations, I would say the bass output from the SSCS5's is more than adequate. Again, shockingly solid, tight and powerful considering their size and 5" drivers (and not boomy like the B3000's can tend to be). Mid's and Highs are smooth and well balanced with great overall depth of soundstage - even maintaining their composure when the volume was pushed high (compared again to the B3000's which begin sounding screechy at this point...). I bought the Polk T15's on sale half off and feel like I just got my money's worth with those. I bought these SSCS5's half off as well, and would have felt like I got a tremendous bargain even at full price. Half price, an absolute steal for what you get! Highly recommended!

SSCS5 bookshelf speaker goodness. These bookshelf speakers are darlings. They are lightweight, but are packing so much value for the price. I have two sets of these on two stereo systems. Add an amp with a wide band EQ and subwoofer bass management for the most adaptable system. Are they perfect, no, but can they sound as good or better than speakers that cost three times more, absolutely (with minor eq tweaks). These are not 3-way speakers, and are actually 2.5-way instead with midway driver, a tweeter, and super tweeter. Listen and enjoy.

I got these for producing music, along with something with great bass and clear sound that wouldn’t upset my neighbors. These are exceptional! For music production, all the sounds are crystal clear and the bass is loud, but doesn’t make my desk shake. Easy to hook up to my amp and laptop and I highly recommend!

This a great pair for enjoying instrumental music. My 5.1 system was not very good at reproducing string instruments, this pair make it much more realistic. And speaking of value, we I chose Best Buy's open box excellent, paid under $100, it came looking like new. Couldn't be happier!

Great sound, compact size fits beside my Sony TV surround soundTV. They are hooked up to my receiver and turntable.

Connected these to an old yamaha stereo receiver. They sound great. Surprisingly good bass without being rumbly over the top. Very well balanced. For the price these can't be beat, especially when they are on sale.

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.

Excellent speakers for the price. Connect them with good subwoofer and they beat tower speakers. There is online YT mod how to improve them even further. For the price cannot be beaten. Got open box for 125/pair.

Bought these speakers to pair with Sony STR-DH190 receiver. Sound is clean and crisp. Hard to believe the sound that comes from these book shelf speakers. Jazz, rock and blues. Great bass and highs. For the price an incredible value.

This review is part of the whole Sony core series. The sound coming from these speakers is fantastic. Paired with a Yamaha Atmos enabled v683 these speakers rattle my house with clear and full sound. Testing some movies I only have issue with the Sony subwoofer that has an auto off feature that is too aggressive. Sub turns off only to turn on halfway through with an audible click and have you miss most of the bass. Best thing to do is to leave the power saving move on the sub off and just leave it on all the time. I would gladly test a subwoofer for Sony to get this right. Great entry level speakers with awards of acclaim behind them and it shows. Overall I would buy these over if I have to. I did however buy them for half price as these regularly go on sale so make sure you pick them up at the discounted price.

These sound great! I started with four bookshelves, a center, and a sub in this series, and was so impressed, I grabbed another sub and the towers. In general, I'm very impressed with the Sony Core Series. It's probably your best bet in this price range. In my opinion, they sound better than the Polks, and if you can get these on sale (every two weeks or so), it's a great buy. The cabinet isn't wood, so it could look better-- I buy my audio equipment for sound not aesthetics; so, in my opinion this is irrelevant--, but it's definitely sturdy.

Hello, I am a beginner audiophile with a very simple setup, I enjoy listening to music through my small DAC amp combo which currently sits on my desk where I use my headphones. I require a great deal of clarity and a balanced audio experience with a neutral signature. This is where these incredible speakers come in, they're exactly what I needed with the nearly perfect highs; vocals on these sound so real as if the person is right in front of you! One thing to mention is that you will need a decent amplifier but you can find some under $70, just be sure that it supplies at least 50watts per channel and you're golden! They also get pretty loud but I never get them louder than maybe 40% when I'm alone and there is no distortion at even greater volumes. I am using these for day to day desktop use, gaming, and music listening. They are magical for all 3 of these use cases and if you find them here for their sale price of $75 just grab them to try them because they are worth far more than MSRP at this point.

I had been looking for inexpensive three-way speakers for my Yamaha R-S202 receiver. Looked at all major brands that had nothing to fit my $200.00 spending plan, and they were two ways. Even looked at the more high-end speakers that were two ways or multi-speakers for thousands of dollars. So I settled on these three-way book self-speakers from Sony, and I love the sound, Big improvement over my cheap two ways. Highly recomend them.

These small speakers provide excellent, full-range sound, from bass to highs, when properly placed, keeping the rear bass port and room acoustics in mind. They are an expected value at an MSRP of $150, but a bargain in my case at a sales price of $88.

Bought these on a Pre-Black Friday sale to modernize my audio setup, and I was pleasantly surprised. Sounds were crisp, and they still had enough bass to make my 25+ year old Kenwood stereo receiver thump once more. Definitely worth it, but keep an eye on the price - they are always on sale in the sub $125 range.