Sony SS-CS5 Performance
The SS-CS5 reveals its strengths and weaknesses quickly.
Its real benefit is voice reproduction; its weakness is that the 5.25-inchwooferdoesn’t put out much bass.
The overall sound was nice and full, even on non-vocal recordings, but the treble sounded comparatively unrefined.
Sony
It has some peaks and dips in the response above about 4kHz.
For a $150 speaker set, the woofer performed about as well as expected.
For a fuller sound with more bass, get a subwoofer or spend the extra for the SS-CS3 tower.
Sony
For a more detailed sound, get a more audiophile-oriented mini speaker like the Music Hall Marimba.
Generally speaking, the flatter and more horizontal these lines look, the better the speaker sounds.
The SS-CS5’s response looks pretty smooth, especially for the price range.
Lifewire
There’s a slight boost around 1.1 kHz, which may make voices stand out a bit better.
Averaged on/off-axis response is close to the on-axis response, which is good.
Impedance averages 8ohmsand dips to a low of 4.7 ohms/-28 phase, so no problem there.
Sony
Anechoic sensitivity measures 86.7 dB at 1 watt/1 meter, so figure around 90 dB in-room.
This speaker should work nicely with just about any amp with 10 watts or more per channel.
