48 Australian

ON TEST

Pioneer also built many famous designs, some of which it sold under its professional TAD brand. Mitsubishi made a very good ‘flagship’ design that would never have sold outside Japan simply because of the unfortunate name with which it was lumbered: the Dud! And then there’s Fostex, whose range of edgeless woofers was legend back in the 70s, and whose drivers are still prized by professionals and devotees of single-driver designs.

Not surprisingly, Sony has made several previous forays into the high-end loudspeaker market, most recently with a loudspeaker design (SS-AU10) that was reportedly ‘tuned’ before its release by enlisting the aid of various hi-fi reviewers around the world. Even more recent is the SS-AR2 design, from which the design and technology inside the SS-NA2ES is ‘trickled down.’ As for the SS-NA2ES speakers reviewed here, they have within the six short months of their release garnered a world-wide reputation for their sound quality.

Indeed when John Atkinson, the editor

I have often thought it a pity that most of Japan’s ‘home-grown’ loudspeakers are never seen outside Japan. If you’re ever lucky enough to visit this exqui-

sitely beautiful country, after you’ve torn yourself away from the scenery, the gardens, the snowfields, the culture, the food and the history, take time out to visit Tokyo’s famous Akihabara district and spend some time in the dozens of high-end hi-fi stores you’ll find there. There you’ll see and hear an amazing variety of loudspeakers whose brands you’ve never heard of, and dizzyingly daring designs. Because these ‘built in Japan’ speakers are sold exclusively in Japan, it will be your only chance to hear them.

Over the years several mainstream Japanese manufacturers have built speakers that have been widely regarded around the world as truly superior designs. The most famous is probably Yamaha’s large and expensive NS-1000s, the first speakers to use Beryllium tweeters, but Yamaha’s tiny NS-10Ms can still be found in recording studios right around the world.

of US magazine Stereophile, first heard these speakers at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest last year (before they’d acquired an official model number), he wrote in his blog that both he and Home Theater magazine’s Technical Editor, Thomas Norton, thought the Sony room (which starred a pair of these SS-NA2ES speakers) was one of the best-sounding rooms at the show. Later, he added that although he did not know the exact technical merits of the I-Array that: ‘perhaps the module acts like a D’Appolito array to give controlled dispersion in the top octaves. Whatever, the sound was simply superb.’

The equipmenTLook at the Sony SS-NA2ES’s without their grilles on and your eyes will instantly be drawn to the tweeters, because rather than the usual one per cabinet, Sony has three of them per cabinet, for a total of six. The tweet-ers are located on what Sony calls an ‘I-Array’ sub-assembly which has two small (19mm-diameter) dome super-tweeters mounted above and below a larger, 25mm-diameter

Loudspeakers

Sony SS-NA2ES

49avhub.com.au

sony ss-Na2es Loudspeakers ON TEST

LisTening sessionsI first experimented by listening to some high quality, highly percussive, stereo orchestral music and, because I could easily confirm the frequencies of the lowest notes being reproduced by the deepest-voiced orchestral instruments, I confirmed that the realistic ‘bottom end’ for the Sony SS-NA2ES design is around 46.249Hz, which is the lowest F-sharp on a piano keyboard.

The sound-staging of the Sony SS-NA2ES’s was nicely sharp, yet with just a touch of body so that specific images didn’t seem balanced on the edge of a razor, but instead occupied a volume in space. They also had depth and a fine coherence. Volume-wise I found that the speakers were more than adequate, accepting quite a lot of power and getting happily north of a hundred decibels SPL in my listening room without losing the slightest in terms of either poise or coherence. I imagined that perhaps the mid-bass percussion did not punch through on certain notes quite to the relative level that it did at lower volumes, but that was about it. In short, for quality stereo music the sound issuing forth from the pair of Sony SS-NA2Es speakers was a joy.

Switching up a century and a half I popped my DVD-Audio disc of Alice Cooper’s ‘Billion Dollar Babies’ into the player and, in my haste to hear more, forgot to adjust the volume level. The ‘Rhino’ label’s logo music burst out at what seemed to be a frighteningly loud level, but was apparently only 107.3dBSPL according to my SPL meter, which I had left on ‘Peak Hold’. I engineered a somewhat hasty reduction in volume, after which I played a few select tracks. I find the title track is always useful for speaker evaluation purposes because it is so tightly recorded, with good ‘space’ amongst the ‘busyness’. The SS-NA2Es delivered this nicely, exercising fine control over the percussion with none of the dynamic compression I thought I’d earlier detected in the orchestral work. The opening drum strikes in the very much lusher, fuller Unfinished Sweet were something to behold for their power and coherence.

Using the Sony SS-NA2Es as the front speakers in a complete 5.1-channel Sony ES speaker system allowed the aural blasts during the war scenes, the cannon and black powder rifles, to be delivered with delightful impact over the top of a deep, room-shuddering rumble from Sony’s ES subwoofer. Yet the subtlety

Sony SS-nA2ESLoudspeakers

Brand: BrandModel: ModelCategory: CategoryRRP: $9,998Warranty: Five YearsDistributor: sony (australia) pty LtdAddress: 33–39 Talavera road North ryde NsW 2113

1300 137 669 www.sony.com.au

readers interested in a full technical appraisal of the performance of the sony ss-Na2es Loudspeakers should continue on and read the LaBoraTorY reporT published on page 50. readers should note that the results mentioned in the report, tabulated in performance charts and/

or displayed using graphs and/or photographs should be construed as applying only to the specific sample tested.

Lab Report on page 50

• excellent tonal balance

• excellent power handling

• excellent build

• High centre-of-gravity• No bi-wire facility

LaB reporT

soft dome tweeter. Sony does not appear to have a crossover between the 25mm tweeter and the two 19mm tweeters—all appear to be fed from the same signal, crossed over from the midrange driver.

Sony says that this arrangement aids the dispersion of high frequencies. Indeed, it ought to improve their horizontal spread, though at the expense of vertical dispersion. On a theoretical level at least there could potentially be some subtle combing in the high frequency response due to the different path lengths if measured off the vertical axis. However this would be somewhat ameliorated by the use of three drivers, because there would be three path length differentials rather than the more usual two.

If you can draw your eyes down from the tweeters, you’ll see some very familiar-looking drivers. It seems that rather than re-invent the wheel, Sony has gone to that ‘home’ of audiophile drivers and simply purchased drivers from Scandinavia (that 130mm paper-coned midrange driver with its distinctive ‘slashes’ across the cone and those two 165mm aluminium-coned bass drivers). Sony even went to Scandinavia for the wood used in the cabinets, because they’re made from Scandinavian birch, a wood highly regarded for its acoustic properties when used in loudspeaker cabinets. Any cabinet-maker will tell you that birch is a lovely wood, and Sony has certainly done it proud with the finish it’s applied here: dozens of piano gloss layers of lacquer to an interior that wasn’t black, but an extremely dark brown wood grain. The finish is so good that these speakers appear to just ‘glow’.

The Sony SS-NA2ESs are not large speakers, but they’re also by no means small, measuring 990×255×415mm (HWD) and weighing 32kg each. They stand on four stainless steel ‘cones’ rather than the more usual spikes and because of the spacing of these cones, the height of the cabinets, and the driver weight so high in the cabinet, the centre-of-gravity of these speakers is also quite high, so they can be fairly easily unbalanced, from back to front as well as sideways, so you should be careful to place them in a non-trafficked area. Sony specifies the frequency range of the SS-NA2ES design as being 45Hz to 45kHz but note that these figures are quoted with a deep –10dB envelope, rather than the more usual –3dB or –6dB. The ‘nominal’ impedance is put at 4Ω (no minimum is stated), and the sensitivity at 90dBSPL at a distance of one metre (for a 2.83V input.)

of the lyrical forest scenes delivered by the SS-NA2Es was fully preserved, the dialogue, often laid over the top of busy action, was clear, and the fully-enveloping surround field (from the SS-NA5ES surrounds) about as good as it gets.

ConCLusionI guess I’ve got to say it: who’d a thunk it! Great high-fidelity sound from loudspeakers built by a major Japanese consumer electron-ics company. They’ve got the size and authority to do great stuff, and now they’ve released the re-sults here in Australia. Well done Sony!

Stephen Dawson

50 Australian

sony ss-Na2es LoudspeakersLAB REPORT

CoNTINued FroM paGe 49

LaboraTory TesT resuLTsIn Graph 1, the frequency response trace that’s shown is the averaged result of nine individual frequency sweeps measured at three metres, in an IEC-sized room. You can see that it’s very flat, easily staying within the 85dBSPL and 90dBSPL horizontal lines from 45Hz all the way up to 20kHz. That is, the frequency response is 45Hz to 20kHz ±2.5dB. Indeed if we ignore two slight excursions (at 52Hz and 75Hz), the response is even better again: 45Hz to 20kHz ±2dB. Speaker frequency responses don’t come much flatter or more linear than this…and that upper limit is in fact the graphing limit. As you’ll see from Graph 2, the high-frequency performance of the Sony SS-NA2ES’s ‘I-Array’ of tweeters extends to beyond 40kHz. But before I move on to discuss that high-frequency extension, a few observations about Graph 1. First is that the distribution of the frequency variations is fairly uniform across the audio band: there’s a slight dip between 100Hz and 200Hz (which could be ameliorated by careful speaker positioning, as it’s room-related), and a slight lift between 600Hz and 3kHz, but otherwise the response is perfectly balanced, in that it’s not skewed in such a way that either the bass or the

treble could be emphasised. Also, note the excellent performance of the tweeters between 10kHz and 20kHz. Pink noise is a tough test for a tweeter and most tend to overheat during the test, which results in a roll-off. Sony’s I-Array handles this difficult signal perfectly.

Newport Test Labs has shown the extended high-frequency response in Graph 2, which is measured using a technique that allows precise examination of narrow-band pertubations in the frequency response. This shows the Sony SS-NA2ES’s response has a bit of a dip (albeit only –2.5dB) around 5kHz, plus an even-more-minor one at 17kHz. You can see the response rolls off slowly above 20kHz, but there’s still plenty of level. The two traces, one with the grille on, and the other with it off, show that the measured response is ‘flatter’ without the grille, but since the only substantive difference amounts to a 2.5dB lower level between 4.5kHz and 6kHz, I doubt that the improvement, although measurable, would be audible.

The measurement of low-frequency performance made me wonder why Sony has included the upper port, because it doesn’t seem to do much at all except allow some ‘leakage’ of frequencies between 300Hz

and 800Hz. This could provide a level of ‘ambience’ to the sound, but its effect would be subtle. It’s the lower port that does the heavy lifting of providing deep bass response, with a wide, low-Q output that peaks at 32Hz and is 6dB down at 20Hz and 90Hz. The two bass drivers don’t appear to be paralleled, instead the lower bass driver’s response seems to be rolled off slightly. Both bass drivers operate well down to 80Hz, after which the roll-off is quite sharp to the minima at 40Hz. The midrange driver’s response is rolled off below 600Hz at around 12dB per octave. Note that although the midrange’s output looks ‘high’ on this graph, it’s because the level wasn’t compensated for the difference in diameters between the midrange driver and the two woofers. (This is shown in Graph 6.)

Newport Test Labs’ measurement of the Sony SS-NA2ES’s impedance modulus shows that it dips to 3.5Ω at 6kHz and is mostly below 4Ω between 90Hz and 400Hz, so it just scrapes in as being ‘nominally’ 4Ω. There appears to be a minor cabinet resonance at 580Hz, but otherwise the cabinet is very inert. Sensitivity was measured at 88dBSPL at one metre, for a 2.83Veq. input, using Newport Test Labs’ standard very stringent procedure, so although it’s 2dB lower than

Sony’s measurement, it is still an excellent result that makes the SS-NA2ES design of higher-than-average efficiency.

In Graph 5, Newport Test Labs has used post-processing to manually ‘splice’ the response shown in Graph 1 to the response shown in Graph 2. This shows the frequency response of the Sony SS-NA2ES was measured at 42Hz to 40kHz ±3dB. Graph 6 is a composite, where the level of the midrange has been compensated for its diameter so you can see how it ‘fits’ and also get an overall picture of how each driver contributes to the overall frequency response. The gated response (pink trace) is cut off below 350Hz, because this was the low-frequency limit for this type of measurement.

In all Newport Test Lab’s tests, the Sony SS-NA2ES speakers returned superb results. These are measurements that any speaker designer would be proud of. I was very impressed not only by this, but also by the fact that the design is very obviously not straight from the speaker design textbook, but has been ‘tweaked’ as the result of listening sessions so it’s not only technically accurate, but also aurally pleasing. Highly recommended! S. Holding

500 Hz 1K 2K 5K 10K 20K 40K

dBSPL

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

100

105

Graph 2. High-frequency response, expanded view, with loudspeaker grille off (black trace) and on (red trace). Test stimulus gated sine. Microphone placed at three metres on-axis with central dome tweeter. Lower measurement limit 500Hz. [Sony SS-NA2ES Speaker]

Newport Test Labs

20 Hz 50 100 200 500 1K 2K 5K 10K 20K

dBSPL

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

100

105

Graph 1. Averaged frequency response using pink noise test stimulus with capture unsmoothed. The trace is the averaged result of nine individual frequency sweeps measured at three metres, with the central grid point on-axis with the tweeter. [SS-NA2ES]

Newport Test Labs

20 Hz 50 100 200 500 1K 2K 5K 10K 20K 40K

dBSPL

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

100

105

Graph 5. Frequency response. Trace below 850Hz is the averaged result of nine individual frequency sweeps measured at three metres, with the central grid point on-axis with the tweeter using pink noise test stimulus with capture unsmoothed. This has been manually spliced (at 850Hz) to the gated high-frequency response, an expanded view of which is shown in Graph 2. [Sony SS-NA2ES Loudspeaker]

Newport Test Labs

10 Hz 20 50 100 200 500 1K 2K 5K 10K 20K 40K

Ohm

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

20

30

40 Deg

-180

-150

-120

-90

-60

-30

0

30

60

90

120

150

180

Graph 4. Impedance modulus of left (red trace) and right (yellow trace) speakers plus phase (blue trace). Black trace under is reference 3 ohm precision calibration resistor.

Newport Test Labs

10 Hz 20 50 100 200 500 1K 2K 5K

dBSPL

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

100

105

Graph 3. Low frequency response of front-firing bass reflex port (red trace); rear-firing port (yellow trace); lower woofer (black trace); upper woofer (light blue trace) and midrange driver (pink trace). Nearfield acquisition. The levels of the ports, woofers, and midrange have not been compensated for differences in radiating areas. [Sony SS-NA2ES]

Newport Test Labs

10 Hz 20 50 100 200 500 1K 2K 5K 10K 20K 40K

dBSPL

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

100

105

Graph 6. Composite response plot. Red trace is output of bass reflex port. Dark blue trace is anechoic response of bass driver. Light blue trace is sine response of midrange driver. Pink trace is gated (simulated anechoic) response above 350Hz. Black trace is averaged in-room pink noise response (from Graph 1). [Sony SS-NA2ES Loudspeaker]

Newport Test Labs

51avhub.com.auMay/June 2013 A$8.95 NZ$10.99 AVHUB.COM.AU

No 35 May/June 2013

Single-ended

Class-A design

delivers superb

sound and

accurate tonality

UNISON RESEARCH SIMPLY ITALY

A system that bridges the chasm between

vinyl and computer audio...SOUND TRAVELS

HF May13_000 EsotericaCover.indd 75

4/29/2013 2:50:55 PM

esoterica magazine inside!

20-YearWarranty!We review and test Bryston’s fabulous B135 SST² amplifi er

ALSO REVIEWED

NAD PP-2iPhono Preamplifi er

GoldenEar Aon 3Loudspeakers

Unison Reseach Simply ItalyIntegrated Amplifi er

Whatmough Signature P15 SEMonitor Speakers

HF May13_001 Cover.indd 1 5/1/2013 11:13:17 AM

ALSO REVIEWED

NAD C356BEEBest budget amplifi er?

Usher AudioDiamond tweeter

Sony SS-NA2ESAmazing

achievement!

MSB Sig. DAC IV PlusHand-made heaven

sings…

Studio 590 bi-radial

horn is JBL’s best yet…

Horn Power! Jul/Aug 2013

A$8.95 NZ$10.99 AVHUB.COM.AU

HF May13_001 Cover.indd 1 17/06/2013 2:04:48 PM

UNISON RESEARCH UNISON RESEARCH

A system that bridges the chasm between

vinyl and computer audio...SOUND TRAVELSSOUND TRAVELSSOUND TRAVELSSOUND TRAVELS

20-Year20-YearWarranty!Warranty!Warranty!We review and test Bfabulous B

WE’VE GONE ALL DIGITALHorn Power!Power!

Studio 590 bi-radial

horn is JBL’s best yet…

Horn Horn Horn Power!Power!Power!Power!Power!Power! Jul/Aug 2013

A$8.95 NZ$10.99 AVHUB.COM.AU

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CONCEPT

Wendy McDougall

FUJIFILM X100S The Cult Camera Made Even Better

SONY RX1 Big Price,

Big Sensor & Big Performance

Optimising The Value

Of Referrals

FUJIFILM X100S The Cult Camera Made Even Better

MAY 2013 $7.95 NZ $9.90www.avhub.com.au

PP May13_001 Cover.indd 1 5/13/2013 2:24:41 PM

TOUCH US PINCH US

NOW AVAILABLE ON ZINIO

for iPad, Android & PC/Mac

SOUND+IMAGE AUSTRALIAN HI-FIPRO PHOTOCAMERAAUSTRALIAN INCAR ENTERTAINMENT

Buy single issues or special three-issue bargain bundles through AVHub.com.au or

www.zinio.com/soundimage

HF Zinio.indd 1 6/19/2013 12:20:25 PM