Cheap $88 Sony SS-CS5 Speakers - Awesome

Reubent, agree generally with your take, except I have a somewhat higher opinion of the Sonys.  I’ve had mine for a couple of months and think they opened up over time.  Put 50 hours on them and they will have improved.

Still, they are not perfect and have their limitations.  There is better, and if one has a budget of $300 new, can find better.  But for $170 the Sony’s do more than hold their own.  But tastes differ and certainly ymmv!

@213runnin  - I agree they are good (and getting better as the break-in longer). My point was for $200-ish you can get some great used speakers. For instance, I've purchased a pair of vintage Infinity Qb speakers for under $200 and there is no comparison. I've also recently seen a pair of used Energy Connoisseur c-4 on a nearby Craigslist for $200. Those speakers are from a completely different planet than the Sonys.

Now, if one needs NEW speakers, and their budget tops out at $170, the Sonys would be on the list, for sure. And they are way more compact than either of the speakers I mentioned, so they will work in locations where the others simply will not fit.

Happy listening...

I hear you!  After I posted I swapped in my Totem Acoustic Rainmakers($1200 new) and the difference was jaw dropping.  Now those are real speakers!

I'm listening to the cheap Sony speakers today in my office system. The system currently consist of a RPI based music streamer, Audio Refinement Complete integrated amp and the Sony SS-CS5 Speakers. In this system, the cheap Sony speakers sound really very good.

At the moment, I'm streaming the latest album from Daniel Lanois - "Heavy Sun" and it sounds very good.

Great speakers for anyone who has a budget of less than $100 (when on-sale).

@reubent  That ARC integrated is a nice amp. Likely gets the most from the Sony speakers.

Got me to thinking about a somewhat unrelated subject regarding persons just getting into audio on a restricted budget. My advice is to purchase a quality 50-100wpc amplifier and source component then spend the rest on the speakers. The result is ownership of an amplifier at a higher cost than the speakers.  There are budget speakers available these days that when driven by a quality amplifier sound quite good.  Time can then be spent enjoying current system while saving funds for better speakers after obtaining some idea of one's preferences prior to making the next speaker choice.  My thinking is that speakers provide much of the character of a system. One needs to know what 'character' they are listing for and then search for the best quality of speaker providing said character.