Unbelievable

Hokkaido wood seems to be valued. It also depends what time of the year it was harvested.

"The wood for the baffle board comes from Japan’s island of Hokkaido. Winters are extremely cold, a condition reflected in the tight grain, hardness and rigidity of the indigenous maple. With the assistance of local wood specialists, Sony hand-selected raw maple logs from Hokkaido’s forests. The trees are felled in November, when their growth slows and the grain is at its tightest."

(from http://sonypremiumhome.com/pdfs/AR-1_Brochure.pdf)

By the way, these SONY speakers are serious business. Check them out, if you get a chance.

Moving the two foam pads on RAAL ribbon tweeters one notch, i.e. 1/8" causes treble, mid and bass relationship to be rearranged fundamentally,  far more than would be believed.  

Sony is more hard core regarding sound than most companies imo. One of the few that are not stupid to make such a statement.  Likely if we heard identical speakers with different finishes, we might agree. Also, testing was likely in SOTA sound room, and then I wouldn't doubt it. 

"Piano black speakers sound the best!"

White piano sounds the best.

Forget about the whole speaker paint...

"Luxman even hand selects the color paint used on the resistors to identify value and tolerance based on extensive listening tests."

https://www.musicdirect.com/integrated-amp/luxman-l-505u-integrated-amp-demo

Looks like the NS1000 from the 70”s...First use of Beryllium in speakers...I was at a Yamaha dealer meeting in Indianapolis when they unveiled them.