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EQUIPMENT REVIEW - Sony SS-AR2 Loudspeaker<br />
sounding enough—real life tends not to offer<br />
pinpoint images—but something of a surprise to<br />
me. Perhaps it has to do with the (relative) dip in<br />
response above the midrange compared to the<br />
midrange, as discussed below.<br />
The AR2s’ Tonal Character<br />
So far, the AR2s, with their spaciousness, warmth,<br />
dynamic power, and non-edgy sound must seem<br />
like something close to a nearly perfect speaker, at<br />
least for a room of ordinary domestic size, if total<br />
bass extension is not indispensable. But other<br />
considerations arise. One has to begin by noting<br />
that all speaker designs make some kind of choice<br />
of balance. This is inevitable. And the slight bass<br />
emphasis of the AR2s seemed to me in my room, if<br />
not perfect at least more than acceptable in musical<br />
terms, perhaps even flattering to most material. But<br />
there is another aspect of the balance of the AR2s<br />
that is to my ears somewhat more problematical.<br />
While the AR1s had a small perceived midrange<br />
forwardness (around 1–2kHz), the AR2s have even<br />
more of this. With the AR1s it was not so much an<br />
explicit tonal alteration as a kind of “cast” to the<br />
sound, like a small color adjustment in a photo<br />
program. But in the AR2s, it can sound like a<br />
coloration in a more ordinary sense.<br />
This coloration is added to by suckout above<br />
the tweeter axis somewhere around 4kHz, which<br />
makes 1–2kHz sound somewhat more projected<br />
than it might otherwise, except on a low listening<br />
axis. To get the most neutral sound, one really<br />
needs to be on (or better, slightly below) the<br />
tweeter axis. But considering that the speaker<br />
is only 37" high, this can be a little tricky to<br />
arrange. Of course one can tilt the speakers back<br />
somewhat. And one should, unless one wants to<br />
sit very low.<br />
This somewhat midrange-oriented character can<br />
be attractive. It flatters the female voice, and it makes<br />
music sound “non-edgy” for lack of a better word.<br />
While the real top end goes way on out (to 60kHz,<br />
according to the specifications) and indeed rises<br />
somewhat on the tweeter axis in the top (audible)<br />
octave, the overall effect is to de-emphasize edge<br />
while still providing ample perception of detail. On<br />
much music, the balance may please enormously.<br />
But on broadband music with a definite kind of<br />
real-life balance—orchestral music, for example—<br />
one does notice the coloration. Snare drums, for<br />
example, sound rounder and less aggressive than<br />
in life. On the Nielsen Fifth Symphony (EMI, Kubelik<br />
cond.), which had so impressed me with its realism<br />
on the AR1s, the sound was still attractive but not<br />
the last word in realistic tonal balance that the AR1s<br />
had offered. The shock of reality recalled, which the<br />
AR1s had offered, was not so conspicuous. And<br />
though the voices were attractive on the Rutter<br />
recording, they were also too forward in the mix,<br />
spatially and tonally. And on the Harnoy/Dussek<br />
recording of Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata (BMG),<br />
the cello sounded again somewhat too forward<br />
and slightly nasal—almost “shouty” as the British<br />
critics used to say. This is not really the true-to-life<br />
cello sound that this recording has when neutrally<br />
reproduced. Whether one likes this midrange<br />
orientation or not might be a personal choice, but<br />
the forwardness is not really correct—not exactly<br />
what is on the recording, nor indeed true to life.<br />
It is curious that this whole business does not<br />
really look like much in measurement terms—a<br />
couple of dB over the 1–2kHz octave. But that<br />
is a rather crucial octave in terms of perceived<br />
speaker sound. It is also worth noting that<br />
pushing this part of the midrange forward seems<br />
to be some sort of fashion at the moment. Even<br />
some speakers that aspire to be “monitors” are<br />
beginning to be like this. Maybe this was wished<br />
upon us by people listening to “female vocals”<br />
and trying to make them sound a certain way. In<br />
any case, some people have decided they like<br />
this—and there are reasons why they might. But<br />
it is still not quite what is really on the recordings,<br />
and personally I much prefer the presentation<br />
when this coloration is EQ’d out—or, better still,<br />
not there in the first place.<br />
I suppose this just shows that such rather<br />
subtle matters of tonal balance are likely to vary<br />
from one person to another. And you may fall<br />
for the sound of the AR2s yourself, especially if<br />
female vocals are your big thing in audio life. One<br />
can, of course, flatten the AR2s with EQ, and the<br />
result sounds considerably closer to neutral—in<br />
fact, very close. (This will be discussed further in<br />
my upcoming review of the DSpeaker Dual Core<br />
2.0.) It is interesting that one can get that nearly<br />
perfect neutrality here so easily if one wants it. It<br />
is hard for me to understand why not everyone<br />
wants this true neutrality since the corrected<br />
AR2s sound so much like real music as to be<br />
truly startling—really something to hear. But<br />
apparently some people, and serious people,<br />
too, like the little extra midrange.<br />
The Overall Picture<br />
It is hard to be the little brother of a triumphant big<br />
brother. The Sony AR1 was and is a sensational<br />
speaker, and it met with acclaim, sometimes<br />
quite wild acclaim, in all quarters. The AR2 is, in<br />
many respects, also a spectacular speaker, and<br />
many listeners will fall in love with it, including<br />
at my place a professional composer, a serious<br />
musician, who was quite entranced. And the<br />
AR2s sound is indeed very attractive and very<br />
impressive in many ways. The warmth and the<br />
absence of edge can be addictive, as can the<br />
spaciousness. But the two speakers, the AR1<br />
and the AR2, are different in some definite and<br />
explicitly identifiable ways. The AR1 has more<br />
extended and somewhat more precise bass,<br />
though in most instances this will not be crucial<br />
since the AR2 has satisfying, full-bodied bass in<br />
its own right, if not the same 20Hz extension. The<br />
more important difference to my ears in musical<br />
terms is the extent of the midrange emphasis,<br />
quite slight in the AR1, more apparent in the AR2.<br />
Whether this is a source of even greater musical<br />
beauty in the AR2 than in the AR1 is up to you.<br />
Like the AR1, the AR2 presents a vision<br />
of speaker design as art as well as science.<br />
Which vision you prefer is, as with all true art,<br />
a somewhat personal matter. Both are quite<br />
wonderful speakers. I prefer the AR1, which<br />
seems to me closer to being perfectly neutral.<br />
But you have to decide for yourself which musical<br />
vision coincides with your own for the long term.<br />
Both of these speakers should be heard by, to<br />
borrow HP’s phrase, all “students of the audio<br />
arts,” for audio art they very much are.<br />
87 Guide to High-Performance Loudspeakers www.theabsolutesound.com<br />
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