Sony SS-CS5 - Look inside

A quick look at some of the components of the legendary Sony SS-CS5 Speaker.
This will be in an upcoming 4 way speaker review comprised of the Pioneer SP-BS22LR, Pioneer SPC-22, ELAC BS41 and of course the Sony SS-CS5.

PSA
Personally, I do not think these are a very good candidate for mods *unless* you are extremely confident in your abilities, and experienced at speaker modification.
These speakers, unlike so many of its competitors, are not designed to be taken apart without significant risks of damaging the box, face plates, or worse, the drivers.
Even for someone who has lots of experience taking apart speakers, taking these apart and modifying them is a somewhat tedious chore.

That said if you want to mod them, check out cheapaudiomans video where he shares the schematics of one of his viewers. (Email in the description)

[joseph-owhf]

I'm impressed there are poly caps and a couple of air core chokes at this price point. First thing I'm gonna do is line cabinet w/ No Rez, get rid of all the push on connectors (direct solder) and upgrade binding post to pure copper. (although the stock ones are far nicer than on most cheap speakers) At some point I'll prolly redo the crossover as biggest issue is a resonance peak at 1K that adds a level of harshness. But not a bad little speaker at all for desktop computer audio.

[NeilBlanchard]

The woofer trim ring is tricky to remove, but it can be done. After the 4 screws are removed, there are 4 posts that are hot glued into shallow holes - at the top, bottom, left and right. Basically the midpoints between the screws. With a thin pry tool, you can get it out, with care to move the tool as close to each post as you can.

[dbnpoldermans]

Thanks so much fpor showing how to take these speakers apart. I was struggling same as you. And same thought process. Only before taking out an exacto, I thought to google it first

[HappyJ]

The Cheap Audio Man recently did a video on how to upgrade the cross over as well as other enhancements to them.

[BostonMike]

I was just ready to crack mine open now I don't need to thanks man

[Anurania]

I bought a pair on Amazon Warehouse for $66 a few days ago but there was something heavy loose in one of cabinets so I decided to return them rather than risk ignoring it. Now I have to wait for them to be that price again.

Don't understand why the price keeps roller-coasting between $75 and $225 to and fro ! Appearance-wise the speaker looks cheap to me.

[chillwil]

Is it safe to drill in the bottom of the speaker for mounting?

[raymondroberts]

Thinking about getting these. Want to switch to 3-way speakers; 2-way is causing some listening fatigue...

[BostonMike]

It looks like it has a decent crossover. They are good speakers for the money. They are a little idk what you call it I guess bright but they match good with my floor standing speakers I made with a 2 way design and a 10" woofer and, , 1.5 " soft dome tweeter it's a very deep sound not two much tremble I like the sound I can listen to them with out fatigue but with the high end of Sony's it's a good match

[califmike]

I have owned these based on reviews and all the hype that surrounds them. Midgrange is good, highs are good, bass is just not there, for the money hard to beat but over hyped.

[linandy]

I think the Sonys are ok for watching tv. They don't live up to the hype but were cheap enough imo.

[robertorodriguez]

the low quality build and the use of a "super tweeter" tell me this is a very mediocre speaker even at its price.