Sony SS-CS5 3-way Speaker Review

[Tim Link]

Do you find the Sonys to be harsh and/or too bright (unpleasantly bright)?
Im not familiar with the Athena AS-B1. Are they more expensive than the Sonys?
Thanks

The Sonys don't strike me as harsh or unpleasant. The Athenas are a bigger, older (2004 approx.) two way bookshelf speaker. You can get them used on Ebay for $150 shipped. That makes them more expensive because you can get the Sonys for under $80 new if you watch for sales. The Athenas don't have a lot of bass on their own so they can sound bright by themselves, just like the Sonys. With a subwoofer I think they both sound much better but the Athenas are fuller and smoother sounding to me in my current listening arrangement. That's directly comparing them in the same room, same location, same cables and amp, subwoofers and crossover settings. I'm still keeping the Sonys. I have 4 of them and the matching center channel, and two of the Subwoofers made to go with them. It makes a great bedroom surround system.

 

[infinitesymphony]

These are on sale for $73 on Amazon today as they sometimes appear to be.

 

[weasels]

I just noticed that they claim 53hz-20khz... I guess that's +/- 20db?

 

[skymusic20]

I just noticed that they claim 53hz-20khz... I guess that's +/- 20db?

In this review there is a chart about that...

Several reviews say these speakers lack bass. In my opinion, bass is not lacking. Just not on par with speakers with obvious bigger woofers but not exactly lacking. It also depends what kind of music you listen to, I guess.

 

[BenB]

I just plugged this into the convolution filter in Roon since it was easier than programming the PEQ for the other proposal.

Wow! What a transformation. Detail is there. Tonality is warm. High frequency harshness is gone mostly. Fidelity is back in a big way! Not perfect mind you but boy, is the speaker transformed.

I would say it is now a steal for $78 or even more if someone uses this filter or something like it.

Note that it did accentuate the room mode, making it sound boomy so I had to dial in my 100 Hz filter back in.

Do all speakers now get the benefit of EQ adjustment factored into your recommendation and choice of panthers?

 

[EDMoser]

Do all speakers now get the benefit of EQ adjustment factored into your recommendation and choice of panthers?

It appears so. Just reading the review of the Adam T5V with its lower preference score and much higher price. He should change his recommendation and the panther for this Sony speaker on the first page of the review IMO.

 

[Tim Link]

I did some experimenting with the Sony SS-CS5s today in the listening room at work. We have an Ashley crossover that's being used with a pair of Snell A3i speakers. I used the Snell bass cabinets with the Sonys and played with various crossover settings. The Snells are set to cross to the bass units at 300 hz. The Snells use a 4" midrange driver which is about the same size as the Sonys and they can play loud and clear without sounding strained. When crossed over at 300Hz to Snell bass cabinets the Sonys can play quite loud without strain too, as you can imagine. This was loud enough that to clearly hear myself talk I had to pretty much yell. When played loud like this I found myself agreeing with Amir. The Sonys are too bright in the upper treble and they sound better if you put your hand over the super tweeter. Putting the grills back on and turning the speakers straight ahead so that I was off axis helped a bit but not enough. When turned down to levels that are easy to talk over the highs sound detailed and airy, easy for me to listen to. It's sort of like a pre-set loudness curve. I think they work well near field at lower levels, and off axis. On my desktop at work they are pleasant and I can enjoy them all day.

 

[Haint]

I did some experimenting with the Sony SS-CS5s today in the listening room at work. We have an Ashley crossover that's being used with a pair of Snell A3i speakers. I used the Snell bass cabinets with the Sonys and played with various crossover settings. The Snells are set to cross to the bass units at 300 hz. The Snells use a 4" midrange driver which is about the same size as the Sonys and they can play loud and clear without sounding strained. When crossed over at 300Hz to Snell bass cabinets the Sonys can play quite loud without strain too, as you can imagine. This was loud enough that to clearly hear myself talk I had to pretty much yell. When played loud like this I found myself agreeing with Amir. The Sonys are too bright in the upper treble and they sound better if you put your hand over the super tweeter. Putting the grills back on and turning the speakers straight ahead so that I was off axis helped a bit but not enough. When turned down to levels that are easy to talk over the highs sound detailed and airy, easy for me to listen to. It's sort of like a pre-set loudness curve. I think they work well near field at lower levels, and off axis. On my desktop at work they are pleasant and I can enjoy them all day.

I want to hear about those padded cylindrical speaker stands(?).

 

[Tim Link]

Those are some 9" Tube Traps that just happened to be available and about the right height. They make good speaker stands, absorbing some of the sound that bounces back and forth between the floor and the ceiling.

 

[richard12511]

Why is it not recommended despite the score and the price? Is it because of resonance and distortion?

I wouldn't put much emphasis on the score. That said, the spin itself looks fantastic for the price. Excellent frequency response and directivity, and distortion is also excellent. Not very many resonances either, considering the $78/pair price.

 

[Tim Link]

From InnerFidelity -
SR325e:
View attachment 81043
Looks more civil than some Grados, but still not entirely devoid of the "built-in guitar amplifier" peaking and a good bit of treble spike.

For reference, a Sennheiser HD600, on the somewhat lighter side of neutral:
View attachment 81044

Thanks for posting this. I made some EQ settings in Audio Hijack to go after those peaks. I'm liking it so far.

 

[mkeesmaat]

Has somebody already tried the update from GR-Research?
https://www.gr-research.com/store/p90/Sony_SS-CS5_Upgrade.html#

 

[Abe_W]

Has somebody already tried the update from GR-Research?
https://www.gr-research.com/store/p90/Sony_SS-CS5_Upgrade.html#

I would like to hear that update too because Danny referred to it as a Unicorn. But, watch out, there are many Danny Richie haters on this forum who'll start spewing the venom shortly.

 

[amirm]

Do all speakers now get the benefit of EQ adjustment factored into your recommendation and choice of panthers?

It is a judgement call. Sometimes a filter is quick, easy and obvious to put in. In that case, I consider that equalization to be part of recommendation score. Other times I have to struggle to get something to sound good and without EQ, they are really bad so I don't. With headphones I have started to give with and without EQ recommendations. Not sure that is the best solution but it is the best I can do.

 

[BenB]

It is a judgement call. Sometimes a filter is quick, easy and obvious to put in. In that case, I consider that equalization to be part of recommendation score. Other times I have to struggle to get something to sound good and without EQ, they are really bad so I don't. With headphones I have started to give with and without EQ recommendations. Not sure that is the best solution but it is the best I can do.

I like to idea of 2 recommendations. I wonder what recommendation (and panther) these sony speakers would have received with EQ.

 

[MrPeabody]

I would like to hear that update too because Danny referred to it as a Unicorn. But, watch out, there are many Danny Richie haters on this forum who'll start spewing the venom shortly.

"Spewing the venom"? I've read most of the posts here that have taken issue with Danny Richie's practices, and I haven't seen a single one that did not seem well-founded in facts. Using a smiley emoticon in this kind of post isn't really appropriate because it clearly is meant to say that the people who have been critical of Danny Richie deserve to be laughed at. Why? One of my issues with Richie is the way he uses the label "flat-earthers" for people who don't buy the nonsense he spews, particularly with respect to cables. A "flat-earther" is someone who rejects mainstream science. Richie has never offered any genuine scientific evidence to support his claims about cables, so how would it be reasonable for him to label people who call him out, over his bogus claims about cables, "flat-earthers"? He is not any sort of scientist, and when scientifically-minded people point out that his claims are contrary to well-established scientific understanding of cables (for example), he calls them "flat-earthers". This just seems much too disingenuous to me.

As for this Sony speaker, over the years since it was introduced there have been any number of documented improvements. I haven't studied any of them very closely, but it goes without saying that they will generally be just as good as the mod that Danny came up with, some of them most likely better, and that the only likely important difference between Danny's mods and some of the other mods is that whereas the others are reasonable in cost, Danny is going to charge you an arm and a leg to sell you premium crossover components that are not especially likely to sound different from counterparts with moderate cost. This is one of his standard practices, that has been documented, and it is one of the well-justified reasons for the criticisms of him.

 

[richard12511]

I like to idea of 2 recommendations. I wonder what recommendation (and panther) these sony speakers would have received with EQ.

These speakers actually have fantastic measurements. Given how great the measurements are, and the fact that this is a $70 speaker, I would honestly expect a golfing panther. With or without EQ. Amir's headless panther really confuses me here. I guess it just shows how much more important the subjective part is.

 

[skymusic20]

These speakers actually have fantastic measurements. Given how great the measurements are, and the fact that this is a $70 speaker, I would honestly expect a golfing panther. With or without EQ. Amir's headless panther really confuses me here. I guess it just shows how much more important the subjective part is.

Hi, I have read a few comments from other people saying measurements for these Sonys are very bad, awful, terrible, etc, etc. There are several reviews in Youtube about these Sonys and yes, in youtube some people say these Sony have very, very bad measurements. How is that?

I totally understand that, subjectively speaking, some people can say these Sony are awful terrible sounding cheap toy speakers while at the same time, subjectively speaking, some other people can say these speakers sound fantastic and are so great and so remarkable. Im ok with that.

But how can people have totally different opinions about measurements?

Measurements are objective.

I must say that Im new to audio so my undersanding of measurements is limited. So I can not say whether these speakers measurements are either great or awful.

(Subjectively I can say I very much like the sound from these speakers. Not saying they are the best I have heard but certainly and honestly I very much enjoy these speakers and I believe there is nothing wrong with them.)

 

[richard12511]

Hi, I have read a few comments from other people saying measurements for these Sonys are very bad, awful, terrible, etc, etc. There are several reviews in Youtube about these Sonys and yes, in youtube some people say these Sony have very, very bad measurements. How is that?

I totally understand that, subjectively speaking, some people can say these Sony are awful terrible sounding cheap toy speakers while at the same time, subjectively speaking, some other people can say these speakers sound fantastic and are so great and so remarkable. Im ok with that.

But how can people have totally different opinions about measurements?

Measurements are objective.

I must say that Im new to audio so my undersanding of measurements is limited. So I can not say whether these speakers measurements are either great or awful.

(Subjectively I can say I very much like the sound from these speakers. Not saying they are the best I have heard but certainly and honestly I very much enjoy these speakers and I believe there is nothing wrong with them.)

The measurements here are objectively excellent, SOTA even for $70 speakers. Only speakers that are legit better for the price are probably the Pioneer and modded Pioneer. I totally disagree with Amir's headless panther here. This was very early in his reviewing career, and I honestly don't think he was an excellent judge of "value" at this point. You could see this by looking at the overall list and sorting by price. Decreasing price correlated very strongly with decreasing panther score.

IMO, Amir has gotten much better at taking value into account as time has gone on, to the point where he's great at it now. I now value his relative value assessment more than anyone's.

Also, this speaker has a snake oil super-tweeter, and I think that subconsciously biased Amir against it .

 

[skymusic20]

The measurements here are objectively excellent, SOTA even for $70 speakers. Only speakers that are legit better for the price are probably the Pioneer and modded Pioneer. I totally disagree with Amir's headless panther here. This was very early in his reviewing career, and I honestly don't think he was an excellent judge of "value" at this point. You could see this by looking at the overall list and sorting by price. Decreasing price correlated very strongly with decreasing panther score.

IMO, Amir has gotten much better at taking value into account as time has gone on, to the point where he's great at it now. I now value his relative value assessment more than anyone's.

Also, this speaker has a snake oil super-tweeter, and I think that subconsciously biased Amir against it .

Thanks for your answer.

When you mention the Pioneer I guess you mean the Pioneer SP-BS22 Andrew Jones, right?
Subjectively speaking, I auditioned those Pioneers some time ago and certainly liked them very much but Im unsure how would they handle bass. I didn't play all of my fav songs so I don't know.
Now, objectively, do those Pioneers have better measurements than these Sony?

Thanks!