Sony SS-AR1 Loudspeaker - Different By Design
September 24, 2011
@ 3:29am
THE SS-AR1 STORY
You know the sense of anticipation before a live performance and the catch of your breath as the lights dim and the music begins. You also know the pleasure of carefully, deliberately selecting an outstanding recording; then listening to it with complete attention.
The same passion for music motivated us to create the SS-AR1 Loudspeaker. We developed it to recreate, as faithfully as possible, your favorite music – just as it was originally recorded.
We invite you to take a moment to discover why the SS-AR1 is being embraced by enthusiasts and professionals alike and to be reminded why you care so much about music.
The wood behind the sound.
Like a priceless piano, the SS-AR1 Loudspeaker is chiefly crafted out of wood. The wood for the baffle board comes from Japan's island of Hokkaido where winters are extremely cold, a condition reflected in the tight grain, hardness and rigidity of the indigenous maple. The trees are hand-selected with the assistance of local wood specialists and felled in November, when their growth slows and the grain is at its tightest.
However, building the entire enclosure from a single type of wood can result in an excessively rigid and hard sound. For this reason we selected another, somewhat softer cold-climate wood, Finnish birch, for the speaker's side and rear panels.
This unique choice of woods insures exceptional freedom from unwanted vibrations, as well as a natural, balanced, musically expressive tone.
Built Like The Musical Instrument It Is
The dimensions of a speaker cabinet are rarely perfect. For easier assembly, designers typically make a slight allowance for error and can leave loose joints resulting in an acceptable if ever-so slightly imperfect cabinet.
For the SS-AR1, Sony demanded nothing less than the highest possible accuracy in woodworking. Our engineers reached out to a cabinet-making company that provides precision components for musical instruments and asked them to build a prototype. The prototype was so precise that all of the pieces held tightly together without any glue at all.
In addition to meticulous accuracy, this cabinetmaker is also responsible for the SS-AR1's exquisite piano finish. But you'd expect no less from craftsmen who help build grand pianos.The SS-AR1 utilizes a unique design that helps to control resonance and maintain a balanced, natural sound. What appears from the outside to be a single enclosure is actually divided inside by two thick pieces of birch separated by an air cavity. This creates two separate enclosures: one for the woofers and one for the midrange/tweeter.
Each sub-enclosure is also vented with a bass reflex port that's been carefully tuned and positioned to mitigate distortion and coloration.
From your listening chair, you can't see any of these extraordinary measures. But you can certainly hear them.
We invite you to experience the Sony SS-AR1 for yourself at one of our showrooms. Call either location to schedule an appointment.
