Sony APM-990 - Vintage Monster Speakers from Sony

Here are some pictures of a huge pair of speakers that I encountered in a thrift store recently. They were Sony APM-990 Speakers. Apparently, these vintage speakers were known for having square woofers.

I haven't found much information online about these monsters. But, according to the label, these vintage floorstanders were 220 Watt speakers designed for 8 ohms of impedance.  One of the thrift store workers hooked them up to whatever stereo receiver was available on the shelf and they had enough power to boom big sound throughout a fairly large retail store.

It's amazing that such brawny speakers can be obtained for about $40.  This pair seemed to be pristine.  Even the particle board cabinets didn't have any obvious chips.

The music pumped from these monsters wasn't from a genre I particularly like and the volume was cranked way to high.  I can't really say I got a good feel for the sound quality of the Sony APM-990 speaker system.  Does an Accurate Pistonic Motion create better sound?  I'll never know and our new apartment doesn't offer the space to find out.  (Plus, our new downstairs neighbor seems nice!)

Are these the greatest speakers of the 1980s?  Probably not.  Of course, the audiophiles over on Audiokarma.org seem to think they are crap.  But, with $40 and an old Van Halen CD, you probably can't go wrong.