With this Polk T15 and Sony SSCS5, we have two awesome bookshelf speakers that are quite comparable which is going to make this a very interesting comparison today. Both the Polk T15 speakers and the Sony SSCS5 speakers are damn fine and affordable bookshelf speakers for those that want good quality, but who also do not want to spend several hundred dollars on them. As someone that loves both Polk Audio and Sony, these are two companies that I really like and as I always say, I am a massive Sony fanboy and I proudly wear that on my sleeve.
The Price
Let’s kick off our Polk T15 and Sony SSCS5 contest by looking at how much you can expect to pay for these speakers. These are not what I would call “budget” speakers, but you do not have to worry about spending a couple of hundred bucks on a set of these.
Polk T15:
The Polk T15 speakers tend to run a bit cheaper than their Sony counterparts that we are looking at today. As I write this, they are out of stock on Amazon, but the last time I saw them on there I am pretty sure that they were priced at $110 or in that kind of price range at the very least. These speakers are all over eBay. If you do not mind going the used route, I have seen these on there for as low as 30 bucks! You can find new sets on there in the $100 to $120 price range. These are a set of speakers where it is well and truly worth your while shopping around for to try and get the most bang for your buck.
Sony SSCS5:
I am a massive fan of this whole line from Sony and the Sony SSCS5 speakers are a major part of this line and something that I think are really cool. On Amazon as of me writing this, they are currently listed at $128 bucks, but I have seen them on there for $100 before so there are deals to be had if you are patient. Of course, we have to look at the old Edward Bay to see what these are going for on there. These are all over eBay and the prices are pretty damn erratic. We are talking anywhere from 40 to 100 plus bucks for a used set and new sets appear to be in line with what Amazon are asking so the $120 to $140 range.
The Verdict: This is a really tough call as these can be found at so many different points of the pricing spectrum. If we take these at their face value on Amazon right now, I would probably say that the Sony SSCS5 gets my vote. However, be sure to be patient with these and do some shopping around as you could potentially save as much as fifty bucks no matter which ones you go for.
The Design
We come to what is probably my favorite category when we do these types of articles. This Polk T15 and Sony SSCS5 battle is going to be very competitive in every round and that is certainly the case here as even as I am writing this epic Michael Buffer style intro, I am not 100 percent sure which way this is going to go!
Polk T15: The Polk T15 speakers have a really cool and old school look about them that I love. The black wooden body just screams 1980s to me and that is something I am always a huge fan of. I highly recommend that you check out this Polk T15’s Unboxing, Setup, and Review! video where the kid showcases these things off a bit more. These have a very nice looking retro style fabric esq grille on the front that has the Polk Audio logo in white towards the bottom. These are a good size too as they come in at 10.63” x 6.5” x 7.25” with a weight of, 8 pounds. These are pretty much the perfect size when it comes to bookshelf style speakers in my opinion. They have a rather boxy design overall which I do like!
While the speakers are quite light, they do not have a “cheap” feel to them and for the asking price, the Polk T15 speakers do have a rather solid and well-made quality about them. If you are rearranging the room and drop one of these, I do not think that you have to worry about them breaking easily! Under that grille, we have a .75” tweeter and a 5.25” dynamic balance driver and a hole in between the two to help keep the sound right. To be honest, these look far better with the grille on than off. On the back of each speaker, you have your gold plate binding posts and two slots that are there to make mounting these on the wall easier.
Sony SSCS5: I do not think I have come across a Sony product that I did not like the design of and that streak is not ending here with these Sony SSCS5 speakers. These have that classic 80s Sony vibe to them that made me fall in love with them as soon as I saw them. These have a classic fabric style grille on the front and just like the Polk T15 speakers, the Sony logo is presented in white at the bottom of the grille. They do have a very similar kind of look. However, what I think makes this just a little bit more stylish is that the grille is a bit more angled at the top which makes them have a bit more personality. To be honest with, you, I am sure most people would not even notice this, but these are so close, it is the little things like that which make a difference.
These come in at 7 1/8″ x 13 1/4″ x 8 3/4″ and they weigh around 9 pounds each so they are a little bigger and heavier than what Polk is offering. The overall build quality of these is very solid and they felt great when I took them out of the box even though they are not exactly heavy. We have a three-way driver system for these speakers which looks very cool when you have the grille off. Plus, you also have the Sony logo underneath the largest woofer. I am not sure if I like these better with or without the grille, to be honest with you. On the back of the speakers, you have your gold-plated binding posts as well as an opening to help produce better sound.
The Verdict: Both the Polk T15 and the Sony SSCS5 speakers look fantastic. I would be more than cool with these in my home theatre or next to a turntable in my house. Both have a real 80s vibe about them. However, we do have to pick a winner here and I think that overall, I do prefer the design of the Sony SSCS5 speakers, but it is pretty damn close.
The Sound
As we come to the last round of our Polk T15 and Sony SSCS5 battle that we have been witnessing today, I have to say that both of these speakers are awesome! Yet, this is the main event as we look to find out which one, I felt offered the better sound!
Polk T15: The first thing I have to say about the Polk T15 speakers is that they had a way more balanced and richer sound than I thought they would. At first, I tested this out as part of my surround sound setup, and the wife and I watched Shazam (in preparation for the awesome looking Black Adam that DC is releasing later this year) and we both felt that they did their job incredibly well and offered a nice and balanced sound. They were nice and loud when they needed to be, even if the bass was a bit on the lacking side. The sound quality I have to say was very impressive, it is even more impressive when you consider the asking price for these things.
We did watch a few movies with these as surround sound speakers, but we really wanted to see what these could do so I set it up so that these were the only speakers being used when we watched Event Horizon and they were not bad. I mean, to be fair, you could tell why these speakers cost closer to 100 bucks than they do 300 and I would not recommend using these as your main speakers to go with your TV, but they were far from bad. I did also want to see what these were like in the music department too so we fired up some Boyz II Men which is a group my wife and I like (hey I am a rocker, but I still like some slow jams) and the sound was pretty damn decent all things considered. I think for a smaller room, you could probably get away with using these as your main speakers for your music.
Sony SSCS5: Having been impressed with the other products that make up this series, I was pretty confident that the Sony SSCS5 speakers would bring it and impress me. Still, at this price range, I was still a little unsure of just how much power and clarity these things could have. If you look online and check out videos like this Sony SSCS5 Bookshelf Speakers (Audio Samples) one and you can see that for the most part, people are really happy with the kind of sound that they are getting out of these speakers. We tested these out as part of our surround sound setup and the movie we went for was Moonfall which is way more fun than people make it out to be. What impressed the hell out of me was that these had way more kick and power than I thought they would. Granted at this size, the bass is always going to be limited, but even when I turned the volume up, these did not lose any clarity and that was something that I thought was pretty amazing.
We also watched Dumb and Dumber To which is nowhere near as good as the first one. However, we watched it with these doing all the work, and once again, the clarity impressed me. I think that at louder volumes the Sony SSCS5 speakers offer you a bit better of a performance than you would think. Of course, we had to test these out with some music and my wife picked The Hits: Chapter One by the Backstreet Boys…. Yeah! To be fair they do have some decent pop hits, but I have to say, the sound quality was quite excellent and I could see people using these speakers with their turntable or hi-fi and being more than happy with the sound that they are getting. With these being a bit better in the power department, I am sure badass rock like Master of Puppets by Metallica would kick ass when pumped through these.
The Verdict: At this price range both the Polk T15 and the Sony SSCS5 deliver a performance that is far better than you would think. However, side by side, I have to say that the Sony SSCS5 offers a better and more powerful kind of sound. the Polk T15 are good in their own right, but in a direct comparison even my wife noticed a difference and that hardly ever happens!
Which Is The Better Speaker?
I had a lot of fun with this Polk T15 and Sony SSCS5 comparison as they are quite even in most regards. The Polk T15 speakers can potentially be found for a bit cheaper and that may ultimately be what sways it for you guys. Yet, I do have to say that for me, the Sony SSCS5 speakers are the winner of today’s contest. I slightly preferred the design of them, but I do think that they have a notably better sound quality about them. I would say that if the price difference between these two is in the 10 to 20 bucks range, pay the extra and get the Sony speakers!
