I know what your saying Sony couldn't make great speakers could they? Just like Technics couldn't make a great turntable, right? Wrong on both counts.
I was at a friends the other day and he is a speaker hoarder, he has over ten pairs, mainly a/d/s monitors and floor standers. He had this pair of Sony SS-M7 speakers, I asked him for an audition, he gladly obliged.
I was taken aback by how good these things are, if you had blindfolded me and told me they were Sony's I would have laughed out loud.
Apparently Sony wanted to get into the high end speaker market and gave an open check book to Dan Anagnos and respected speaker designer.
From Stereophile on the bigger SS-M9:
A key aspect of the design is the cabinet. It needs to be narrow in the region of the tweeter and midrange unit in order to optimize treble dispersion, hence imaging. However, it also needs to be wide enough to accommodate one or more woofers capable of moving sufficient air to achieve good bass extension. The result is a narrow pyramid—fabricated from MDF, veneered on both sides, and filled with polyester fiber—that is considerable deeper than it is wide. A number of horizontal figure-8 braces provide rigidity, and bituminous pads mop up any stray resonances that remain. The front baffle is complex, with four separate facets. Completing the picture is an excellent grille made of black material stretched over a wire frame to minimize any acoustic obstruction in the vicinity of the upper-frequency drive-units.
They just fill the room with glorious sound that does not appear to emanate from the speakers at all. Instruments occupy there own space and voices are natural like the person is in the room with you.
I am going to get a pair of these, nothing I have heard for anything like the cost of a good pair of these comes close.
But I will expect some funny looks from snobby people who see the Sony badge, that's until they hear them.
So Sony did make great speakers.