Sony SLA Review

[LiefStevens]

SLA Mains
I built these using the clearance Sony speakers from Parts Express and Goldwood GT-302/S tweeters. The fronts are solid Birdseye Maple (looks great but hard to work with). The rest is 1/2" Cherry plywood. The tops are really nice so I made the back removable instead of the front.

I should preface this by saying I'm very picky and spoiled when it comes to sound. I own a recording studio with a very nice 500sf control room. The room is well tuned and has soffit mounted surround speakers. I spend a lot of my time mixing. Some music but mostly post-production.

I have my SLAs hooked up to my HTPC through a Onkyo TX-NR509 receiver in my living room. When I first hooked them up I thought they sounded alright but a bit to bright and a little honky. I didn't have the Onkyo when I first hooked them (as it was on order) so I had them hooked up to a Crown XLS 402 power amp. I played around with an EQ for a bit and after I broke them in for a few days they started to sound good. After I received my Onkyo I ran the Audyssey EQ program and now they sound awesome. Music is very clear and detailed with out sounding harsh. Movies are great, very full sound without the dialog getting lost. I could easily mix on these and am seriously thinking of building a set for the studio. I am very impressed with the SLAs (and my new receiver). Another great BFM design. Easy to build and they sound great. I was about to order more Sony's but they have sold out Lucky I ordered enough to do rear speakers and a curved center. Also going to build a TAT sub to complete my 5.1 system. I'll post reviews when I finish my other speakers. Working on ceiling firing rears (that sounds disturbing ) at the moment.

[LiefStevens]

Another picture...

[doncolga]

Very nice. I'd love to build a pair of those.

[LelandCrooks]

Very pretty. Nice work.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

Nice work. A hint: the indoor pics are color affected by the artificial light. Try altering the overall color tint, you should be able to get them to look a lot closer to the true color seen in the outdoor shot.

[bassmonster]

That looks great, nice job. Too bad those Sony drivers aren't available anymore, you probably can't find much of anything that's better for the price.

[LiefStevens]

Nice work. A hint: the indoor pics are color affected by the artificial light. Try altering the overall color tint, you should be able to get them to look a lot closer to the true color seen in the outdoor shot.

Sadly I did adjust the color but I took these at night without a tripod. They were very red to start with. I'll take some better shots it a bit.

Thanks for the comments guys.

I am mostly finished with the rear cabinets and need to order crossovers. I'm wondering what the best way to wire these is. I have 2 woofers and I have room for 1 or 2 tweeters.
Options:
1. 2 woofers (parallel = 4ohms) 2 tweeters (parallel = 4ohms)
2. 2 woofers (series = 16ohms) 2 tweeters (parallel = 4ohms)
3. 2 woofers (series = 16ohms) 1 tweeter (8ohms)

I'm leaning toward option 1 but my receiver is rated for 6 ohms.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

I don't use tweeters in my surrounds.

[Charles Warwick]

I am mostly finished with the rear cabinets and need to order crossovers. I'm wondering what the best way to wire these is. I have 2 woofers and I have room for 1 or 2 tweeters.
Options:
1. 2 woofers (parallel = 4ohms) 2 tweeters (parallel = 4ohms)
2. 2 woofers (series = 16ohms) 2 tweeters (parallel = 4ohms)
3. 2 woofers (series = 16ohms) 1 tweeter (8ohms)

I'm leaning toward option 1 but my receiver is rated for 6 ohms.

Shouldn't be a huge deal if you have them wired at 4 ohms especially if they are for the surrounds. Your amp will not explode if it sees a low ohm load at low volume. The situation in which low ohm loads will destroy your amp is when it is a low load and you're running it near full power. Surrounds get no bass what-so-ever so they correspondingly get very little power.

So, if that was an overly verbose explanation, here's the short version: Don't sweat the 4 ohm load in the surrounds.

Are you using the 6000hz crossover as per the plans? If so, I'd be very interested in what adjustments you made to the EQ. I know the sony's have a large response peak around 5khz so I'd be curious to know if that does show up strongly in the SLA.

Also, gorgeous cabinets. I'm quite jealous.

[LiefStevens]

I don't use tweeters in my surrounds.

If I went without tweeters would I need any kind of filter or would I just wire the speakers directly to the output?

Are you using the 6000hz crossover as per the plans? If so, I'd be very interested in what adjustments you made to the EQ. I know the sony's have a large response peak around 5khz so I'd be curious to know if that does show up strongly in the SLA.

I crossed them over at 4k. Seem to remember Bill recommending that.

When I was playing around with an eq it was just my sound cards eq plugin and it was fairly limited. The Audyssey auto EQ did a nice job. sounds fairly flat with a with a slight high roll off starting around 4k. When I get the system finished I'll hookup REW and see whats going on.

Really sad that I didn't buy more of these drivers. If anyone bought more than they need let me know

[LiefStevens]

I just finished my rear surrounds. They are inspired by the ones Brew posted in this thread. http://billfitzmaurice.info/forum/viewt ... ds#p151540

Fronts are birds eye Maple the rest is Cherry plywood. I left room in case I want to add a tweeter. I think I am going to install a light in them so they just look like a light sconce. Like my SLAs these will be hung with a French cleat.

Next up is a curved SLA center. I am building a entertainment center to go under my TV. It will house my center and sub. I'm doing it out of Cherry plywood with Tigerwood edging. I think I am going to do my center out of Tigerwood to match.

[67baja]

I see you left room for tweeters too -- "just in case". Good thinking. I am about to start my surrounds and thinking along the same lines as you.

[AntonZ]

Very good looking
You may want to add a grill cloth, not for protection or looks, but to have dust build up on the cloth instead of on the speaker cone? Just thinking out loud here.

[Brew]

Very nice! You will not miss tweets in the surrounds. I thought of adding lights,but did not want the extra power cords to play with.

[LiefStevens]

Very good looking
You may want to add a grill cloth, not for protection or looks, but to have dust build up on the cloth instead of on the speaker cone? Just thinking out load here.

That a really good idea.