Well, I have owned some SONY products over the years, usually along the lines of willing to test things out, giving them the benefit of the doubt.
Still falling back onto car audio, as this is one market of theirs I've had more experience with their products - their equipment is designed to work specifically with their components. Although, they never advertise this on their packaging of either their speakers, amplifiers or head units, the hardware specifications and output ratings are designed such that you will have very poor audio quality should you mix their components with another brand.
For example - installing a powerful Pioneer head unit couple with 4 Xplod speakers (pick any size that the head unit can drive), the sound playback will be flat, or won't have enough low-end. Comparatively, if you took the same speaker sizes, from any other brand, it'll be a night and day difference - also taking into account that Pioneer designs for their components, also, but the keep the technical aspects to more of an industry 'standard'. A SONY head unit will sound like a waste of $300, unless coupled with SONY speakers.
Plus, poor build quality, way over priced, poor warranties, lower quality materials when compared to competition. You're spending more for the SONY logo so one can be SONY loyal than you are for actual product.
Case in point, let's look at two similar speaker offeringsfrom both Pioneer and SONY:
Pioneer Premier TS-A932 (3-way 6"x9"):
Woofer Cone Material: Composite IMPP (Injection Molded Polypropylene) cone with interlaced Aramid Fiber
Surround: Foamed rubber coated cloth
Mid-Range: 1-13/16" Light Weight Balanced Dome with Magnetic Fluid
Tweeter: 11/16" Silver PET Film Dome
Watts MAX. Music Power: 300 Watts
Watts Nominal Power Handling: 40 Watts
Frequency Response: 28Hz ~ 33kHz
Sensitivity (1W/1m): 93dB
Ohm Rating: 4 ohm
Average price: $67
Sony Xplode XS-GT6935 (3-way 6"x9"):
Woofer cone material: HOP (Highly Oriented Polyolefine)
Surround: cloth
Midrange: 2-3/8" HDLD (High Density Layared Diaphragm) cone
Tweeter: 7/16" HDLD (High Density Layered Diaphragm) dome
Watts MAX. Music Power : 300 Watts
Watts Nominal Power Handling : 60 Watts
Sensitivity (1W/1m) : 90dB
Frequency response 35Hz ~ 25kHz
Ohm Rating : 4
Average price: $80
The Pioneer unit is made of better materials, has a better response range and offer better sound production at a lower cost.
I'm sorry, but in this instance, if you're an informed consumer, I'd have to say that there's no point in purchasing the SONY product unless you're willing to accept some sacrifices for the brand.
