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Sony loudspeakers in the 1978 German catalogue |
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 Sony SS-G5 (From HiFiEngine) |
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My Sony SS-G5D speakers (1978?), bought in June 2020 as a project |
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Just arrived in Andrea Bedosti's shop |
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One of the two is not bad (left), but the other one is a mess... The tweeter has been broken, possibly in transit |
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Serial numbers showing that at least one of these speakers has been carelessly handled, possibly left in the open, during its 42 years of life |
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As the SS-G5 wooden enclosures were really too ruined to be restored, I decided to dismantle them and use their high-quality components for another enclosure. Doing this allowed me to appreciate the interior and the general quality of the box; it really shows how much care Sony put in these speakers in 1978. Too bad that during these years Japanese speakers, even of the highest level, were not thought to be worthy of an adequate care, and many were dumped or left rotting everywhere... |
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The semicircular 'box' hosting the tweeter and midrange assembly |
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Those huge Carbocon woofers have a cast aluminum structure |
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Midrange and tweeter level controls of the dismantled G5Ds |
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A surprisingly artisanal-looking crossover |
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The autopsy of the SS-G5D reveals the well-thought details of their heavy, strategically-reinforced enclosure |
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26 July 2020: Another pair of SS-G5 |
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Serial numbers. Apparently, my SS-G5D are older than my SS-G5... |
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Usual warnings |
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The tweeter and midrange are mounted on a heavy, rigid iron plinth with a cork back |
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SS-G5 tweeter and midrange, front/rear. They don't work now, so they have been sent to a noted restorer in Bologna |
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The restoration of the wooden enclosures has been quite satisfactory, thanks to a very interesting 'impregnating' paint after lots of good old elbow grease. While their original components are being restored, I've tried to fit to the G5s some 'normal' modern components. Not that you can find the right stuff at the first try: this Pyle PDMR5 midrange is not bad, the tweeter (a cheap thing by another manufacturer) is simply awful... |
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...so I chose to install a pair of Pyle PDBT19 'bullet' tweeters, the same that I had fitted before to my G1 MkIIs. Though I did test them with a 'provisional' fitting (I adapted the tweeter to the existing holes on the Sony mounting plate, they didn't match perfectly and therefore I could use only 3 screws...) this proved to be a good idea: the G5s now sound a bit better. Waiting (July 2020) to get the original midrange and tweeter back from the reparation service |
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11 December 2020 |
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I finally got my speakers back, and they look fine. Unfortunately one of the two tweeters doesn't work so after I have spent some time to fit it on one SS-G5 I had to remove it. Now I have to take it back to the repair service |
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I fitted the only working tweeter on one of the speakers (right) replaicing the cheap but impressive Pyle supertweeter (left) that I had provisionally fitted whilst the original components were being refurbished. The SS-G5 restored with its original components sounds as well as I expected these large 'European' Sony products to be: they are well balanced speakers, very different from the harsh sound of cheaper Far East products. The Pyle supertweeter sounds more 'aggressive' and it's fine for low-level ambient music but in this application it leaves an unavoidbale 'hole' between its lower range and the upper range of the original midrange; the original Sony tweeter is good for listening to real music. When I shall get the original tweeter back and working, these SS-G5s will be a really decent pair of classic loudspeakers |
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26 December 2020 |
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The original tweeters were reinstalled but they feel a bot 'feeble' against those punchy woofers and very 'present' midranges, so I got back to reinstalling the Pyle supertweeters and this made the SS-G5 much more pleasant to the ear |
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The final result after the Pyle supertweeters were painted to look less aggressive in this very understated speaker |
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hifiengine.com is the best site for Sony manuals |
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