About a year ago, shortly after the brouhaha over the Insignia speakers began, Circuit City started a close-out sale of the Sony SS-K30ED speakers. I picked up a pair of the Sony's ($60 delivered) and immediately compared them to the Insignias. In short, there was really no comparison...the Insignias were far from perfect but still sounded much better to my ears.
Much has been written in the past about the Insignias, but it might be helpful to review the background of the Sony's...
With the advent of Sony's SACD format, Sony wanted a speaker line worthy of the extended fidelity/range of the format. As the story goes, Sony contracted/consulted with a "famous" UK speaker firm (believed to be either B&W or KEF) and came out with the SS-KED speaker line. The "30" version I have is a 2-way, bass reflex design with a 6-1/2" Aramid woofer and a 1" carbon dome tweeter. The stated frequency range is 45 Hz-70 kHz (not a misprint) and the original list price was around $300-$400 for the pair.
Straight out of the box, the Sony's sounded terrible to me...thin overall sound, strident highs, harsh mid-range, and minimal bass. A/B'ing them with the Insignias was almost a joke. After about 50 hours, both speaker sets started sounding better to me but I couldn't determine whether this was physical truth or "all in my head." Nonetheless, the Insignia's still out-classed the Sony's (regardless of the amp/receiver (Pioneer, Yamaha, Technics, Harman-Kardon (all SS), music type (jazz, rock, classical), or source (CD, tape, FM, satellite).
I've now got several hundred hours on the two sets of speakers (not really listening to them, just playing them in a far room of the house from time to time), and things have changed... I began noticing as the months went by that the Sony's started sounding better, equalling, then passing the Insignia's in sound quality (to my ears). This with the same physical placement and the same receiver (a vintage Pioneer SX-850). I wasn't sure whether this was "real" or just my imagination so I took several receivers and speakers down to a room that would be close in physical size and configuration to my daughter's apartment living room (for whom I was assembling a system). I can only say, "What a difference a year makes..."
I remember reading somewhere that the Sony's needed up to a couple of hundred hours before they came into their own...I'm not sure why...but after several days of testing I can only conclude that something definitely happened to make the Sony's sound better. Gone was the thin, chintzy, almost irritating highs, edgy mids, and weak bass. Now the highs were very detailed and smooth, the mids present but not overwhelming, and the bass nicely defined and with good transient response...it was like listening to a different set of speakers.
Compared to the Insignias, the mids and highs were much more detailed; the soundstage twice as large; and the bass better defined. The Sony's also had a very desirable (to me) "airiness" that was absent in the Insignias. The dispersion of the highs was very noticeable in that the walls parallel to the listening area would direct sound so that a, for example, cymbal crash would almost sound behind me. Imaging, a strong point, in my mind, of the Insignia's was even better with the Sony's. The Sony's also have the tendency to disappear; that is, I can close my eyes and the whole wall seems to be filled with musicians...nice.
Don't get me wrong, I still like the sound of the Insignia's (especially considering what I paid for them) but, at least for the samples I have, they can't compare any longer to the Sony's.
When I first bought and tried the Sony's, I kicked myself for wasting 60 bucks; now, I'm kicking myself for not buying two pairs...
GT
Much has been written in the past about the Insignias, but it might be helpful to review the background of the Sony's...
With the advent of Sony's SACD format, Sony wanted a speaker line worthy of the extended fidelity/range of the format. As the story goes, Sony contracted/consulted with a "famous" UK speaker firm (believed to be either B&W or KEF) and came out with the SS-KED speaker line. The "30" version I have is a 2-way, bass reflex design with a 6-1/2" Aramid woofer and a 1" carbon dome tweeter. The stated frequency range is 45 Hz-70 kHz (not a misprint) and the original list price was around $300-$400 for the pair.
Straight out of the box, the Sony's sounded terrible to me...thin overall sound, strident highs, harsh mid-range, and minimal bass. A/B'ing them with the Insignias was almost a joke. After about 50 hours, both speaker sets started sounding better to me but I couldn't determine whether this was physical truth or "all in my head." Nonetheless, the Insignia's still out-classed the Sony's (regardless of the amp/receiver (Pioneer, Yamaha, Technics, Harman-Kardon (all SS), music type (jazz, rock, classical), or source (CD, tape, FM, satellite).
I've now got several hundred hours on the two sets of speakers (not really listening to them, just playing them in a far room of the house from time to time), and things have changed... I began noticing as the months went by that the Sony's started sounding better, equalling, then passing the Insignia's in sound quality (to my ears). This with the same physical placement and the same receiver (a vintage Pioneer SX-850). I wasn't sure whether this was "real" or just my imagination so I took several receivers and speakers down to a room that would be close in physical size and configuration to my daughter's apartment living room (for whom I was assembling a system). I can only say, "What a difference a year makes..."
I remember reading somewhere that the Sony's needed up to a couple of hundred hours before they came into their own...I'm not sure why...but after several days of testing I can only conclude that something definitely happened to make the Sony's sound better. Gone was the thin, chintzy, almost irritating highs, edgy mids, and weak bass. Now the highs were very detailed and smooth, the mids present but not overwhelming, and the bass nicely defined and with good transient response...it was like listening to a different set of speakers.
Compared to the Insignias, the mids and highs were much more detailed; the soundstage twice as large; and the bass better defined. The Sony's also had a very desirable (to me) "airiness" that was absent in the Insignias. The dispersion of the highs was very noticeable in that the walls parallel to the listening area would direct sound so that a, for example, cymbal crash would almost sound behind me. Imaging, a strong point, in my mind, of the Insignia's was even better with the Sony's. The Sony's also have the tendency to disappear; that is, I can close my eyes and the whole wall seems to be filled with musicians...nice.
Don't get me wrong, I still like the sound of the Insignia's (especially considering what I paid for them) but, at least for the samples I have, they can't compare any longer to the Sony's.
When I first bought and tried the Sony's, I kicked myself for wasting 60 bucks; now, I'm kicking myself for not buying two pairs...
GT
