Jamo S809 vs Sony SSCS3 which is a better speaker?

Jamo S809 vs Sony SSCS3 which is a better speaker?

I am really excited to put this Jamo S809 and Sony SSCS3 article together today. The Jamo S809 speakers are awesome and I have looked at them previously and thought that they were great. Today though, they are going to be standing in the ring across from the Sony SSCS3 speakers! As a huge and unashamed Sony fanboy, I always love it when I get to look at one of their products. These are two awesome floor standing speakers and two that I feel are very competitively priced as well. I can tell you already that this is going to be an interesting match-up and one that is pretty hard for me to call!

 

The Price

Here we are going to be looking at how much you can expect to pay for both of these. As far as good quality floor standing speakers go. These are two of the fairer ones as far as their pricing goes in my opinion. There was no other way to start this Jamo S809 and Sony SSCS3 contest off than by looking at the price!

 

Jamo S809:

Jamo Studio Series S809 Floorstanding Speaker Pair (Black)

The first plus I have to put in the column of the Jamo S809 speakers is that they are actually being sold as a pair. What is the deal with Amazon selling floor standing speakers in singular form? It is annoying as hell! Anyway, you are looking at $399 for a pair of Jamo S809 speakers and to be honest with you I do not think that is a terrible price at all. These do come in white and black, but the price I am talking about is specifically for the black version as I have not seen the white ones available for quite some time. To be honest with you, I feel that you would be better off spending an extra 80 bucks and getting the Jamo Studio Series S809 Floorstanding Speaker Pair (Black) & Jamo S 8 ATM Black bundle as it comes with the Dolby Atmos up firing speakers, although those can be purchased separately at a later date if you want, but you may end up paying more. The S809 appears to be readily available on eBay with their pricing being all over the place so you may be able to snag a good deal!

 

Sony SSCS3:

Sony SSCS3 3-Way Floor-Standing Speaker (Single) - Black

I have to say that I really do think Sony has done wonders to make their products more competitively priced over the last couple of decades. As I write this, Amazon has the Sony SSCS3 speakers listed at $148 for a single speaker, so you are looking at around 300 bucks for a pair. This is a fantastic deal if you ask me as these speakers are of a very high-quality so you are getting excellent value for money here. Just like the Jamo S809, these can be turned into Dolby Atmos capable speakers as you can buy the Sony SSCSE Dolby Atmos Enabled Speakers to go on top of them. These do cost $128 (as of writing) so that would bring the total up to around 430 bucks, but that is a bit cheaper than what the Jamo offering is going for. It is certainly something that is worth considering, especially if you are buying these for a home theatre. You can find these pretty easily on eBay and if you want to go the used route, you can easily save a hundred or more dollars!

 

The Verdict: These are two very fairly priced speakers, but I am giving the win here to the Sony SSCS3. As good as the Jamo S809 speakers are, I just do not see them being a hundred bucks better. Plus, if you do decide to get the extra Dolby Atmos speakers (which I would highly recommend you consider) the Sony speakers are still a bit cheaper!

 

The Design

I have looked at many different Sony products here on the site over the years and more often than not they will come out on top of the design category. Ever since the 80s, Sony is a company that has greatly appealed to me. Anyway, the next round in our Jamo S809 and Sony SSCS3 battle is looking at how cool these look and how well-made they are.

 

Jamo S809: I will say that there are far more things about the Jamo S809 speakers that I like than I do not. I will get the negative out of the way first, I am really not a fan of the style of speaker grille that they have gone for here. It only goes part of the way down the actual speaker and it just looks odd to me. Granted, some people may think this is cool, but it just does not click with me. With the speaker grille off, I love the way this thing looks, Jamo has given the top tweeter this woodgrain kind of finish around the edge and it looks really cool. This complements the woodgrain effect at the bottom of the speakers too. These are quite an impressive size, coming in at 44.25 x 19.75 x 14 inches and then weighing around 30 pounds. While they are tall, they are quite narrow and thin so they do not really take up a ton of space.

The Jamo S809 speakers have a very high-quality feel about them, despite looking a tad on the slim side, they have a real heft to them and feel very solid. You can tell that they have used good quality wood here. On the top of the speaker, you may notice a few holes. These are there in case you want to add the Jamo S 8 ATM Black speakers to your setup so that these can become Dolby Atmos speakers! With these on, they look even cooler, but again, I only think so if you have that speaker grille off. Around the back of the speakers, you will find your hookups and these are of a premium quality just like the other aspects of the speakers. These are an interesting set of speakers for me to talk about. I would honestly not want these next to my screen in my home theatre with the grille on, but without it, I do think they are pretty cool and sexy to look at!

 

Sony SSCS3: As a huge Sony fan, you will not be shocked to hear that I love the look of the Sony SSCS3 speakers. I did find this Sony SS-SC3 Tower speakers unboxing video which is well worth checking out as it shows you these speakers fresh out of the box. These speakers are a bit shorter than the Jamo S809 speakers, but they are a little “thicker” in the body. The dimensions are, 9 1/8″ x 36 3/8″ x 10 1/4″ and they weigh around the 25 pounds mark. These have that classic Sony style which I am a massive fan of. These speakers are all black and the grille goes all the way to the bottom and has the iconic Sony logo on it. I know it sounds silly, but Sony is the one company whose logo I like to see on my tech! Without the grille, you get to see all of the tweeters that power this thing and it is a glorious site. Although, if I had these in my home theatre, they would be displayed with the grille on.

I like the simple, but elegant square base that these speakers stand on, and the overall build quality of these really is quite fantastic. Even the back looks elegant as it is all flat, apart from the connection ports towards the bottom of the speaker. Just like the S809, The Sony SSCS3 speakers can be made even better if you get the Sony SSCSE Dolby Atmos Enabled Speakers to sit on top of them. Unlike the SS809 however, there are no holes on the top of the SSCS3 for the Dolby Atmos speakers to snugly connect to, you pretty much just sit them on top. I am going back and forward in regards to which style I like best, to be honest with you. I mean I would rather have a flat top than a top with holes in it. However, if you have the Dolby Atmos speakers, you would not see the holes anyway so perhaps it is better to have them.

 

The Verdict: You already know which way this is going! I think if we have that grille off the Jamo S809 this is a much closer contest. However, even with it off, I still prefer the more streamlined and sexier look that the Sony SSCS3 is offering.

 

The Sound

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the main event of our JamoS809 and Sony SSCS3 match up. Here we are looking at the “base” sound capabilities of these speakers as well as having a bit of fun thinking about how you can make the sound even better!

 

Jamo S809: There are many videos like this Jamo S809 Review! | Affordable Tower Speakers! video that goes into great detail about who the Jamo S809 speakers are so great! I was very impressed with these speakers, especially in the bass and lower end of the sound spectrum. The wife and I watched one of our favorite horror movies, Dead Silence through these and we were both amazed at how great it sounded. You get a really raw and “real” kind of sound out of these speakers. Even if you are into your big budget Hollywood action movies like Avengers: Infinity War you will really notice how good these are as you get this pumping bass and loud sound when something big is going down, but you also never miss a beat of the story thanks to the excellent vocal clarity that these provide.

I feel that the Jamo S809 speakers do a great job of giving you that cinema like experience in the comfort of your own home. They have some real punch bass and sound great, even when the sound is cranked all the way up. Even movies that are more “soft” in their sound design such as a drama like The Shawshank Redemption will make you marvel at how good they are. Out of the box, these are amazing speakers, but if you do want to go that extra mile you could always get the Jamo Studio Series S809 Floorstanding Speaker Pair (Black) & Jamo S 8 ATM Black bundle which truly is going to give you that cinema like experience at home. Now I have not had the pleasure to experience the Jamo S8 Dolby Atmos speakers myself, but I have heard very good things about them and I can assure you that once you have watched a movie with a dedicated Dolby Atmos track, there is no going back!

 

Sony SSCS3: The Sony SSCS3 speakers impressed me right from the start. The movie that we christened these speakers with was Kong: Skull Island and this movie was actually a great showcase for the impressive range that these speakers have. They can get really loud and bassey when they need to, but you also get that excellent vocal clarity that you always get with Sony speakers, soundbars, and headphones. Now, across the board, I would say that these speakers offer a more balanced and richer sound (and that is not the Sony fanboy in me talking) however, I will admit that I do think at the lower end of the sound spectrum, the S809 has just a wee bit more punch to it. Do not get me wrong watching a classic like The Empire Strikes Back is still going to blow you away, but side by side this was one area where I did feel the SSCS3 was not quite as good as the Jamo S809.

As we had these speakers for five days and it was over the weekend, we ended up watching several movies with them. It did not matter if they were action heavy and very loud like the new Mortal Kombat movie or more story based like Up, you got a real cinema balanced kind of sound out of these, and considering the asking price it was very impressive. While these are great on their own, you can get some great extras to truly make this like you have a movie theatre in your own home. We have already talked about the Sony SSCSE Dolby Atmos Enabled Speakers which sit on the top of these. However, these speakers are part of a whole series from Sony which also includes the Sony SSCS5 3-Way 3-Driver Bookshelf Speaker System, the Sony SSCS8 2-Way 3-Driver Center Channel Speaker, the Sony SACS9 10-Inch Active Subwoofer and if you want to go that extra mile you can get the actual SSCS3 speakers with the Sony STRDH190 2-ch Home Stereo Receiver. Getting all this does not cost as much as you would think and it would be a great and affordable way to add a Dolby Atmos surround sound cinema like setup in your home.

 

The Verdict: No doubt someone with way more sophisticated ears than me could give you a breakdown of why one is significantly better than the other. However, if I am being honest, I have to say that the sound capabilities of the Jamo S809 and the Sony SSCS3 speakers are very close. I think that overall, I did feel I was getting a more balanced sound out of the Sony SSCS3 speakers so I am giving them this round. Yet, I would not argue with someone that felt the Jamo S809 offered better sound as it is that close!

 

Which Is The Better Speaker?

Thanks for taking the time to join me on this Jamo S809 bs Sony SSCS3 quest to discover which of these is the best when it comes to floor standing speakers for your home. I truly do think that both the Jamo S809 speakers and the Sony SSCS3 speakers are fantastic! However, I am going to pick the Sony SSCS3 as my winner today. The way they look is more fitting with what I want in a set of speakers and for me personally, I do feel that they sound just a tad better. It is not much better, for example, if I scored the Sony SSCS3 at a 9 in the sound department, the Jamo S809 would be an 8.8 so it was very close. Also, I do feel that if you do like the look of the Sony SSCS3 speakers, I would seriously consider going the extra mile and getting the full Dolby Atmos surround sound setup, it is far more affordable than you would think!

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