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There are lots of products that are manufactured every year, but only a few can move you... And the SS-NA2ES floor-standing speakers are one of those. I missed the meetingwith those "babies" at the CES last January, so I was making sure not to miss the little demonstration Sony was doing for us in Barcelona last month. And I'm glad I attended it!
People who loves nice thing will be delighted with the Sony ES-series speakers (derived from the well famous & expensive AR ones). It is a really nice handcrafted piece of work made of thick Scandinavian birch. The first thing you notice when you look at the speakers is the finish. It is a very sexy deep, dark gloss piece of wood with grain glowing from sub layers. The cabinet looks strong and heavy. Sony's expert woodworkers made a very meticulous crafted work (both design and building) and it is pleasing to the eye and hopefully it is also to the ear 😃
The SS-NA2ES is a 3-way, 6-driver, bass reflex floor-standing speaker system. The first thing that strikes you is the "6-driver"!? Is there a mistyping? Hehe The speaker is equipped with a special tweeter that Sony called "I-Array" that consists of a 25 mm soft-dome tweeter coupled with two 19 mm soft-dome super tweeters that act all together like a single tweeter with a wide dispersion.
We also have a cool 130 mm paper cone midrange design (with deliberate cut), and two nice double-drive 165 mm aluminum-cone woofers. Note that the two-way speaker construction is particular, its woofer is isolated from other drivers by two distinct separation boards to preserve the purity of the mid range frequencies. It's designed for both Audio & Home Theater use, but I can only give feedbacks on the Audio part for now.
Listening
First thing to know is that the set up arranged by Sony was not the best (last minute set due to delay for equipment shipping etc..). We were in a theater with wooden floor, speakers were drive by Sony latest AVR5800ES AV receiver (too bad it was not a musical amp =( ) and wired with basic speaker cables. HD Digital files were played through the AV Receiver USB input. The beauty of this little demonstration was that despite of the unusual environment/set up, we could undoubtfully hear the core potential of the speakers.
We had the chance to listen to different short samples and from every recording, speakers sounded clean. Bass was tight, round and quite powerful while the midrange and treble were smooth and unaggressive.
We could listen to a few selected samples and three of them were really a pleasure for the ears. The first one was from a live recording made in a studio with a japanese female singer. Speakers did flatter the female voice as much as mid-range oriented speakers would do. It was a nice balance of softness, and pure sound within the intimacy of the studio.
2nd one was also what we called a "lounge" session and If I remember well, it was Paul Mc Cartney with a solo guitar. Speakers could reproduce accurate and detailed sounds like fingers caressing and string pinching along Paul's singing that was not merge with the instrument.
Those two samples made me feel as if I was sitting at Asia Entertainment or Desert Moon studios in California for recording/mixing/mastering.
3rd one was a real track (studio recording) with a more complex arrangement. That's when the speakers showed us its depth of soundstage. Although the setting was not the greatest to experience that, we could definitly feel it. The stereo image and presence was really impressive & I could picture where were sitting all the musicians during the recording in a virtual 3D space.
Overall, I really enjoyed listening to the SS-NA2ES. Its bass and lower midrange seemed well proportioned with detailed upper midrange and "I-Array" treble that were not tiring and still sharp and precise.
Final thoughts
My only regret during this demo was that I didn't have my own music (telarc discs, sacd etc..) to listen more to those lovely speakers and test them out a bit further (especially how they handle the two opposite ends of the sound spectrum). But from what I've heard so far and despite the listening conditions I can say for sure that the SS-NA2ES have a very sweet sound, neutral and a very accurate and detailed. It is very similar to what is used in studios but suited (elegant design and more affordable price than the AR) for European homes =). Coupled with a better amp, better wires and after taking time to find correct speakers positioning, it will take your breath away!
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