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1. 

   George J. Plackey
   October 24th, 2010 - 10:00

   Review by George J. Plackey for Sony SS-B1000 5 1/8-Inch Bookshelf Speakers (Pair)
   Rating:
   Hello friends,

   Before you begin to read my review, please understand that I only wrote it because there are so very few reviews currently available about these speakers. Knowing that, here is what I can tell you about them:

   First of all, I purchased these speakers for one, and only one, reason. I presently own a very nice Panasonic 27″ color (stereo) television. The sound from the internal TV speakers never thrilled me, so I looked into purchasing some better speakers. The first thing I discovered (to my dismay) was that my TV did not have “external speaker” jacks. Okay, so I dropped a few extra bucks ($99.00 to be exact), and I purchased a very nice, 100 watt Sherwood, stereo receiver. Bear in mind now that I am only talking about a “stereo.” I am not talking about a surround sound system, a Dolby digital system (5-1, 6-1 or the like), or any other high-tech system. Just plain old, every day, run of the mill stereo!

   Now, I really thought that I was home free because I already owned a great pair of Bose bookshelf speakers. Wrong again! The Bose speakers are only “four” ohms, and my new Sherwood receiver called for “eight” ohm speakers. I know that seems to be a minor problem, but the receiver DID run very hot, and numerous reviews regarding the receiver clearly stated that it WOULD overheat using anything less than eight ohm speakers.

   After realizing that the reported problem was true, I visited several electronic stores; I listened to numerous bookshelf type speaker systems, and I finally decided on the Sony. Let me tell you my friends, these little babies are absolutely superb! The bass quality absolutely blew-away my $300.00 Bose speakers (regardless of impedance). The sound is crisp, clear, and the typical problems of “no”, or “very little” bass, are gone. Don’t get me wrong . . . you are NOT going to get 15″ bass speaker sound out these, but you WON’T be disappointed. They are truly, in my humble opinion, the very BEST bang for the buck!

   My wife, who doesn’t give a s**t about audio quality, actually commented on how really nice the TV sounds now, compared to my fancy-dancy Bose speakers. These little speakers deliver sharp, crisp, clear sound, and they seem to easily handle all the power that my Sherwood receiver throws at them. If you want some really nice speakers, with all of the bass that you can realistically expect from a small pair of bookshelf speakers, buy these! In a nutshell . . . they sound GREAT!
2. 

   Timothy F. Ortlieb
   October 24th, 2010 - 10:30

   Review by Timothy F. Ortlieb for Sony SS-B1000 5 1/8-Inch Bookshelf Speakers (Pair)
   Rating:
   I’m glad I received these Sony SSB-1000 bookshelf speakers as a gift because I probably wouldn’t have bought them myself without a demonstration first. I love the convenience of small speakers but I expected a trade-off of convenience for sound quality. Well, these Sony speakers are impressive in spite of their small size. There’s a rounded, glamorous sheen to the sound they produce, over the full frequency range. The bass is rich and detailed, not booming or exaggerated. The dynamic range is expansive, handling big climaxes without popping or distortion. Recordings sound more naturally warm and even old mono recordings have noticeably more body. Without a comparison, it’s hard to say how much breadth of sound I’m giving up by not having larger speakers (the Sony SSB-3000, say) but these little wonders are entirely satisfying in their own right. In sum, these are speakers an audiophile could live with. Five stars for value!
3. 

   A. Morales
   October 24th, 2010 - 10:40

   Review by A. Morales for Sony SS-B1000 5 1/8-Inch Bookshelf Speakers (Pair)
   Rating:
   I’m the manager of WRNC in Ashland, WI and we’ve used these speakers as our studio monitors for 2.5 years, almost non-stop. They’ve never complained or degraded in any way. From time to time we also knock them around as we move them to remote broadcasting locations, and they’ve survived even this quite nicely.

   I recently purchased two pairs of these speakers for use with my home stereo, and they have not disappointed. They may not be the most expensive speakers out there, but they’re a vast improvement from the Panasonic speakers I’ve been using for the last twelve years.
4. 

   the_sheep
   October 24th, 2010 - 10:51

   Review by the_sheep for Sony SS-B1000 5 1/8-Inch Bookshelf Speakers (Pair)
   Rating:
   The difficulty with reviewing speakers has a lot to do with the fact that whether something sounds good is usually something that occurs in the ears of the hearer. My point of reference for these speakers are:
   
   -A pair of Radioshack Optimus-1s from the 1970s (sealed three way, 2″ twt, 2″ mid, 8″ woof)
   
   -A pair of Sharp speakers from the 1970s (tri-ported two way, 1″ twt, 10″ woof)
   
   -A set of TheSpeakerCompany RC1s from the 2000s (MTM 5.5″ mid, .5″ twt)

   If your’e comparing these speakers to a conventional HTIB setup, oh man, these things blow typical HTIB satellites out of the water and into outer space. Get them, get them now, replace all 5/7 of your satellites! You’ll be glad you did! Most of my friends fall into this category, and these are perfect entry level speakers for someone who is looking for an inexpensive upgrade to their HTIB. You’ll be blown away by the improvement. There isn’t a whole lot of bass, so make sure you have a sub. Oh, and put these on stands and not in a bookshelf.

   If your’e a bit more discerning/slightly larger pocketbook, though, you’ll find their fairly average, and more on the mediocre end of average. I picked up a set of these speakers on clearance as surrounds for my 5.1 system, and they do the job adequately. For a small room or a *very* small surround system, these could be okay as your L/R front speakers but overall they are just too small for my tastes as fronts. The sound is rather neutral, with not a lot of bass extension. A bit ho-hum, but that means they strive for accuracy in reproduction, which is good. The really good thing is the speakers aren’t boomy! A lot of little speakers like this have boom, but the Sony engineers decided to get rid of that, thank you for putting some foam in. They are good entry level speakers, esp. for the price per pair these typically go for.
5. 

   Gary Reed
   October 24th, 2010 - 11:29

   Review by Gary Reed for Sony SS-B1000 5 1/8-Inch Bookshelf Speakers (Pair)
   Rating:
   I purchase these speakers as a upgrade and got more. The seperation and bottom is down right lovely. There the perfect speakers to use as starting point to build a system around
6. 

   J. J. Marino
   October 24th, 2010 - 11:45

   Review by J. J. Marino for Audio-Technica AT2020 USB Condenser USB Microphone
   Rating:
   Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RRJX2RJN2AHGB This is my video review of the AT2020 USB microphone from Audio-Technica. USB Microphones are made to be plugged in directly to a laptop or desktop. I connected this to a Vista 64 laptop during filming and did the voice over on a Macbook Pro.

   Text review:
   
   I give this product a 5 star rating. It is easy to use, high quality and very competitively priced. This is a great desktop mic to use for making podcasts or recording music.

   I am not a musician so I am not able to speak to that aspect of the microphones ability. I did use it to make several voice over videos and it performed perfectly. Never a hick-up or any spurious noises heard at all.

   I did not include specs into my video review because it would add to the file size and be too small to read here on Amazon’s video player.

   Regular readers of my reviews know I try to supply specs when necessary.

   Here are the specs:
   
   Element: Fixed-charge back plate permanently polarized condenser
   
   Polar pattern: Cardioid
   
   Frequency Response: 20Hz-16,000Hz
   
   Power Requirements: USB power (+5VDC)
   
   Bit depth: 16
   
   Sample Rate: 44,000 kHz
   
   Weight: 374g (13.2 oz)
   
   Dimensions: 162.0 mm (6.38″) long
   
   52.0mm max body diameter (2.05″)
   
   Output connector: USB type
   
   Accessories: Pivoting stand for 5/8″-27 threaded stands, 5/8″-27 to 3/8″-16 threaded adapter, soft protective pouch, tripod desk stand; 3.1m 10′ USB cable

   System Reqs: Mac OSX, USB 1.0 or 2.0 64MB RAM minimum. Windows XP Home or professional USB 1.0 or 2.0 64MB RAM minimum.

   So for a great USB microphone I recommend this highly!

   About the video: After uploading I noticed that Amazon’s codec (video compressor) has made the video quality sub-par. I will try to reupload it again with a different codec.
   
   Thank you for watching!
7. 

   Billy S. M. Luong
   October 24th, 2010 - 12:36

   Review by Billy S. M. Luong for Audio-Technica AT2020 USB Condenser USB Microphone
   Rating:
   I was looking for the pre Amp for my microphone to do do voice over video and found this USB microphone from Audio technica. So I did not have to buy the preamp . Just plug it to the USB port then you go. It was very easy to use and noise floor very quiet, it does not record the fan noise from your computer or the background noise in the recording room, very happy with the purchase.
8. 

   NW Outside
   October 24th, 2010 - 12:49

   Review by NW Outside for Audio-Technica AT2020 USB Condenser USB Microphone
   Rating:
   I’ve had this condenser microphone for about a month now and it has suited my purposes very well. I needed something to record podcasts with and do some voiceover work as well. I do my recording with Audacity, and the microphone was imediately recognized and easily installed as my primary microphone for Audacity. It is a very sensitive mic, and I had to build a small “porta-booth” ([...])to reduce the echo in the room where I record, but was able to get good clear recording after that. I recomend using a pop filter with this microphone to help reduce “S” & “P” sybillance. All in all, a very good microphone for the price.
9. 

   Q. Pair
   October 24th, 2010 - 12:50

   Review by Q. Pair for Audio-Technica AT2020 USB Condenser USB Microphone
   Rating:
   This here is truly one of those hidden gem type products that you just don’t really get to appreciate unless you have one for yourself. This is a great investment for anyone looking to do ANY type of recording on the casual level, vocals in particular. But why buy, you might ask?

   1) This mic is USB powered. This is pretty much the prime reason that this is the perfect mic for the casual/beginning level user. If you were to buy a regular condenseor mic, or even the regular version of the AT Condenser Mic, you would have to have additional equiptment to power it. For those who, like me, know very little about audio equipment, you would end up paying for far more then you originally expected to spend and most likely been all kinds of confused about how to use it. Being USB powered is truely a God-sent, because all you need to do to make it work is plug it in. Theres no program to load, no instructions to follow, and best of all no sweat to break. As soon as you plug it in, the computer acknowledges it just like any other UBS device and you go on with your buesiness. You dont even need to sit and “safely” eject the thing, just yank it out and your done. No damage done to you computer or your mic. Best of all, the UBS cord is pretty standard, so you can easily replace it if the one that comes with it gets damaged.

   2) The price. A lot of professional level condenser mics are pretty expensive, like around three hundred dollars at the cheapest level. Granted, that’s a somewhat random number, but again, for the casual user, that’s not exactly wallet friendly. I got mine in a music store for one fifty. I wish I had looked online for one a little cheaper, but it was still a wise investment. Thus far I haven’t seen another mic this good for this cheap.

   3) Durability. If you have any experience with audio equipment, mics in particular, you know that you need to be gentle with it when handling. I got my mic a good year and a half ago, and it’s traveled with me a lot, sometimes in less gentle conditions then I would like. Its been bumped, dropped, and even sat on, yet it still runs strong. The only fragile thing this thing has on it is the legs that prop it up.

   4) Sound Quality. Ok I lied, THIS is the best reason to get this mic. I started out doing vocals with a regular stage mic and one thing I can honestly say is that the quality was absolutely terrible. It was grainy, smothered, and I had to almost whisper to make sure my levels didn’t peak while recording. The purpose of a condenser mic is to pretty much rectify all that. This one does it over and over again. My recordings come out crisp and professional sounding, and thus far, no one has been able to tell that I did all the recording my my basement with nothing but the mic, my laptop, and some quite time.

   So if you looking for great quality for a affordable price, look no further then
   
   Audio Technica AT2020USB. I have yet to find something I don’t like about this thing. I am a very satisfied customer, and I can almost guarantee you will be too if you decide to get one too.

   Peace
10. 

    Timothy V. Horst
    October 24th, 2010 - 12:54

    Review by Timothy V. Horst for Audio-Technica AT2020 USB Condenser USB Microphone
    Rating:
    I bought this because I’m a beginning Podcaster and wanted a high quality microphone that was versatile and easy to use. So far, this is proving to be all these things. Installation was as simple as plugging it in and watching windows recognize it.
    
    The only caveat is that XP64 doesn’t seem to like it. There seems to be static when I use it under that OS; although to their credit, Audio Technica responded immediately with suggestions, albeit not terribly helpful ones. I mentioned I was using Audacity so they sent me a link to the Audacity FAQ.
    
    Apparently it’s an issue involving USB microphones, and Windows systems with more that 2 gigs of RAM. It was fixed in Vista SP1, but MS doesn’t really support XP64 anymore, so I’m on my own with the issue.
    
    Previous comments on the included stand are accurate. You’ll replace it quickly. I purchased Sampson shock mount, and the threading is the same. I’d recommend the Sampson SP04 if you plan to go the same route.
    

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