SS-AR1

Unequalled combination of power and naturalness

The SS-AR1 rewards careful listening, recreating sound just as it was recorded. This achievement in performance comes from an uncompromising quest for ideal cabinet materials and components that would work together for relaxed, detailed, open sound.

$27,000/pair

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  • This is what reality sounds like

    The SS-AR1 loudspeaker cabinet design enables clean, pinpoint imaging with an exceptionally vivid soundstage. Drive units from Danish transducer specialist, Scan-Speak, produce bass with power, authority, clarity, and midrange with outstanding detail and high frequencies that smoothly reach 60 kHz.

  • A solidly serious approach to build quality

    The SS-AR1 uses a 50 mm thick baffle board made from laminated instrument grade maple, harvested on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido in November, when the grain is tightest. For the rest of the cabinet, extremely tight-grained Nordic birch is laminated, curved and compressed to a thickness of 32 mm. Craftsmen precisely assemble the complex inner system of baffles and the outer cabinet, then give it a deep, lustrous piano finish that enhances the sound quality and helps protect the wood from heat and humidity.

  • Fearlessly protected

    Every SS-AR loudspeaker is backed by the Sony® ES 5-Year Limited Warranty, an industry leading 5-year parts and labor warranty, with 90-day advanced exchange program.

Specifications
Press & Awards
System
  • 4-unit, 3-way, floor-standing vented box speaker system
Drivers
  • 25 mm (1-inch) soft dome with six neodymium magnets arranged in a circle produces high flux density in minimal space.
  • 130 mm (5-inch) sliced-paper cone with a ferrite magnet improves efficiency while a copper ring in the magnetic circuit reduces distortion.
  • Twin 200 mm (8-inch) aluminum cones, each with a copper ring to optimize the symmetry of the magnetic field and reduce distortion. Aluminum diaphragms, oversized ferrite magnets, a rigid enclosure and the common bass reflex port on the rear panel help generate bass response with power, authority, and clarity.
Frequency Response
  • 28 Hz to 60 kHz
Crossover Frequency
  • 400 Hz, 4 kHz multi-slope network
Sensitivity
  • 88 dB (2.83 V/m)
Nominal Impedance
  • 4 ohms
Maximum Input Power
  • 200 watts
Dimensions (WxHxD)
  • Excluding projecting parts 12-5/8 x 41-1⁄2 x 17-3⁄4 inches (320 x 1055 x 450 mm)
  • Including projecting parts 12-5/8 x 42-5/8 x 19-3/8 inches (320 x 1080 x 490 mm)
Weight
  • 126 lbs. (57 kg)
Supplied Accessories
  • Speaker grills (2)
  • Cleaning cloth

…as real as anything I’ve ever heard through a loudspeaker.

(Steven Stone, The Absolute Sound, January 2011)

“Sony’s new $27k/pr SS-AR1 gets my vote. Source and control components from EMM Labs, a pair of Pass Labs X330.5 power amps, and Kimber select cabling all worked together to make Ray Kimber’s recordings sound as real as anything I’ve ever heard through a loudspeaker.” Read More

Something I hadn’t heard before

(Kalman Rubinson, Stereophile, July 2011)

“The epitome of the SS-AR1’s quality was that, in the midst of all the orchestral tumult, I could hear the conductor clear his voice at about 2:40 into the ballet, something I hadn’t heard before from this familiar recording.” Read More

Absolute musical magic

(Robert E. Greene, The Absolute Sound, Issue 214)

“… there were many moments of absolute musical magic with the Sony AR1s, far more than with most speakers. One could be truly transported. There were indeed moments when it seemed that I was giving up less of the concert experience than with almost any other speaker. One can hardly ask for more than that.” Read More

Almost textbook design

(John Atkinson, Stereophile, July 2011)

“The Sony SS-AR1’s measured performance indicates almost textbook design, and that beautifully constructed enclosure is as acoustically effective as it is drop-dead gorgeous to look at.” Read More