Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony SS-B1000 5 1/8-Inch Bookshelf Speakers (Pair)

Hello friends,

Before you begin to read my review, please understand that I only wrote it because there are so very few reviews currently available about these speakers. Knowing that, here is what I can tell you about them:

First of all, I purchased these speakers for one, and only one, reason. I presently own a very nice Panasonic 27" color (stereo) television. The sound from the internal TV speakers never thrilled me, so I looked into purchasing some better speakers. The first thing I discovered (to my dismay) was that my TV did not have "external speaker" jacks. Okay, so I dropped a few extra bucks ($99.00 to be exact), and I purchased a very nice, 100 watt Sherwood, stereo receiver. Bear in mind now that I am only talking about a "stereo." I am not talking about a surround sound system, a Dolby digital system (5-1, 6-1 or the like), or any other high-tech system. Just plain old, every day, run of the mill stereo!

Now, I really thought that I was home free because I already owned a great pair of Bose bookshelf speakers. Wrong again! The Bose speakers are only "four" ohms, and my new Sherwood receiver called for "eight" ohm speakers. I know that seems to be a minor problem, but the receiver DID run very hot, and numerous reviews regarding the receiver clearly stated that it WOULD overheat using anything less than eight ohm speakers.

After realizing that the reported problem was true, I visited several electronic stores; I listened to numerous bookshelf type speaker systems, and I finally decided on the Sony. Let me tell you my friends, these little babies are absolutely superb! The bass quality absolutely blew-away my $300.00 Bose speakers (regardless of impedance). The sound is crisp, clear, and the typical problems of "no", or "very little" bass, are gone. Don't get me wrong . . . you are NOT going to get 15" bass speaker sound out these, but you WON'T be disappointed. They are truly, in my humble opinion, the very BEST bang for the buck!

My wife, who doesn't give a s**t about audio quality, actually commented on how really nice the TV sounds now, compared to my fancy-dancy Bose speakers. These little speakers deliver sharp, crisp, clear sound, and they seem to easily handle all the power that my Sherwood receiver throws at them. If you want some really nice speakers, with all of the bass that you can realistically expect from a small pair of bookshelf speakers, buy these! In a nutshell . . . they sound GREAT!

I'm glad I received these Sony SSB-1000 bookshelf speakers as a gift because I probably wouldn't have bought them myself without a demonstration first. I love the convenience of small speakers but I expected a trade-off of convenience for sound quality. Well, these Sony speakers are impressive in spite of their small size. There's a rounded, glamorous sheen to the sound they produce, over the full frequency range. The bass is rich and detailed, not booming or exaggerated. The dynamic range is expansive, handling big climaxes without popping or distortion. Recordings sound more naturally warm and even old mono recordings have noticeably more body. Without a comparison, it's hard to say how much breadth of sound I'm giving up by not having larger speakers (the Sony SSB-3000, say) but these little wonders are entirely satisfying in their own right. In sum, these are speakers an audiophile could live with. Five stars for value!

I'm the manager of WRNC in Ashland, WI and we've used these speakers as our studio monitors for 2.5 years, almost non-stop. They've never complained or degraded in any way. From time to time we also knock them around as we move them to remote broadcasting locations, and they've survived even this quite nicely.

I recently purchased two pairs of these speakers for use with my home stereo, and they have not disappointed. They may not be the most expensive speakers out there, but they're a vast improvement from the Panasonic speakers I've been using for the last twelve years.

The difficulty with reviewing speakers has a lot to do with the fact that whether something sounds good is usually something that occurs in the ears of the hearer. My point of reference for these speakers are:
-A pair of Radioshack Optimus-1s from the 1970s (sealed three way, 2" twt, 2" mid, 8" woof)
-A pair of Sharp speakers from the 1970s (tri-ported two way, 1" twt, 10" woof)
-A set of TheSpeakerCompany RC1s from the 2000s (MTM 5.5" mid, .5" twt)

If your'e comparing these speakers to a conventional HTIB setup, oh man, these things blow typical HTIB satellites out of the water and into outer space. Get them, get them now, replace all 5/7 of your satellites! You'll be glad you did! Most of my friends fall into this category, and these are perfect entry level speakers for someone who is looking for an inexpensive upgrade to their HTIB. You'll be blown away by the improvement. There isn't a whole lot of bass, so make sure you have a sub. Oh, and put these on stands and not in a bookshelf.

If your'e a bit more discerning/slightly larger pocketbook, though, you'll find their fairly average, and more on the mediocre end of average. I picked up a set of these speakers on clearance as surrounds for my 5.1 system, and they do the job adequately. For a small room or a *very* small surround system, these could be okay as your L/R front speakers but overall they are just too small for my tastes as fronts. The sound is rather neutral, with not a lot of bass extension. A bit ho-hum, but that means they strive for accuracy in reproduction, which is good. The really good thing is the speakers aren't boomy! A lot of little speakers like this have boom, but the Sony engineers decided to get rid of that, thank you for putting some foam in. They are good entry level speakers, esp. for the price per pair these typically go for.

I'm a big fan of booming bass so I didn't want to use these as my main fronts. I decided to use them as my surround speakers and couldn't be happier. They are the perfect size for surround. Not too small and underpowered like bose surround and not too big to be a nuisance. Since surround speakers are generally just a mid and tweeter (sometimes just a mid) these work perfectly in that respect. As loud as you want, and as crisp and clear as speakers get. I am very pleased.

Just a word of advice, if you plan to use these as your front channel speakers, you will most likely need a good sub woofer to go with them. But perfect as surround!