Sony SSM-F600H: Sony's Response To Hi-Fi Speakers Without That Hi-Fi Price
Written: Mar 23 '02
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Pros: Great Price, Clean Sound, 4 Driver Configuration, Good Bass, Seperate Midrange Driver
Cons: None At This Price!
The Bottom Line: Rad my review to find out more about the Sony SSM-F600H speakers.
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| soupcraze's Full Review: Sony SS-MF600H Speaker |
There are many audiophiles that wouldn't ever listen to these mass market brands like Sony, Kenwood, etc... However, a long time ago, there used to be a myth
that Sony speakers were bad, even though I used them in my pre-audiophile days and they were good enough for me. When I became an audiophile, I began to buy brands like Paradigm and Boston Acoustics... And I left Sony behind. However, I
bought Sony SS-MF515 speakers for my grandparent's mid-fi home theater that I created for them, and they sounded great. However, production of the SS-MB#15 and SS-MF#15 speakers has been ceased, and now the SS-MB#00H and the the SS-MF#00H are being produced, with different looking drivers. I was lucky enough to try out most in the series, and the one's in the review are the Sony SSM-F600H speakers. Without doubt, the quality of the speakers have surprised me, and here's why...
Price:
The Sony SSM-F600H can be purchased for around $275 in stores. I think that for what you get, it is a great price. In its price range, I think that the Sony SSM-F600H are some of the best with no doubt at all. One thing that many people underestimate in speakers are the midrange and midbass woofer configurations. The midrange drivers enhance the sound greatly. Even though it is a small 3", it
handles many of the most delicate vocals and instrumentals very well with great precision. Then it also has dual 8" midbass woofers which handle the other acoustics, and the bass handling is suprisingly good. Overall, I don't think you can do much better in this price range. And one thing that you should remember is that price and brand doesn't mean anything, these speakers can easily compare to some speakers up in the further $500 price range. And of course, they do beat the living acoustics out of Bose! :-)
Duability:
The drivers in these speakers are made out of polypropylene polymer, which is quite durable. It is the material of choice for most speaker manufacturers. The Sony SSM-F600H can handle up to 200 Watts, which means that it's pretty hard to blow them or crack the drivers. The cabinet is also very solid, so overall, these speakers should really last for a long time.
Looks and Styling:
The Sony SSM-F600H are good looking speakers overall. They are dark gray, with a black grille. The grille isn't cheap quality, it feels good, and does a good job of keeping the dust out of the drivers. The speakers are tall, but not too tall. They look great for most peoples' tastes. They really should look good in any room that you put them in. They don't look cheap, but rather elegant.
Sound:
The Sony SSM-F600H truly perform superbly regarding the sound quality. The driver configuration of the Sony SSM-F600H are a 1" polypropylene tweeter, a 3" polypropylene midrange woofer, and two 8" polypropylene midbass woofers. The tweeters in the speakers are powerful. Tweeters are often underestimated, but Sony didn't do that thankfully. The tweeters handle the high frequencies, which include plucks on guitar strings, and other instruments that have high frequencies. The tweeters sound delicate and very smooth, they make guitar plucks sound great, because a lot of the music that I listen to is guitar instrumentals. The 3" midrange driver handles vocals and other instrumentals beautifully. Everything comes out very clean through the midrange, it makes a huge difference in sound quality. Then the two 8" midbass woofers handle the other part of the spectrum with nice precision, and they do handle bass surprisingly well. These speakers work great for both home theater and music. Music is often trickier to work with than home theater because much more sound and frequencies are involved, but the Sony SSM-F600H show no trouble or anything. Overall, for this price, the sound is superb. They can handle as well as some speakers that may even cost a lot more money!
Bass:
The bass is handled through the dual 8" midbass woofers. These woofers also handle some of the acoustics and vocals, but they are still capable of pumping out nice amounts of bass without affecting the other ranges. The Sony SSM-F600H are ported speakers, which allow them to create more bass. So if you don't have a seperate subwoofer which I would always recommend getting, these speakers should be able to make some parts of your room vibrate, but not the kind of bass that most people crave. However, many people that have listened to these say that the bass created is ample enough.
The Verdict:
Without any doubt, the Sony SSM-F600H prove themselves to be excellent speakers. They don't cost a lot of money, but they sure do create expensive sound! So if you're looking for some excellent main speakers under $300 that will truly impress you with superb performance, then you shouldn't look any further, the Sony SSM-F600H are made for you!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 275
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