Old Sony Monsters SS-3300

[Old_School]

I fell into a pair of Sony SS-3300 monsters form around 1968. Hooked them up in the garage (they need a little cabinet refurb before they will be deemed "acceptable for interior use" by The One To Whom I Wish to Remain Married.

Sounds like one tweeter is either gone, or something else is wrong. No highs in the right speaker. I've read the few threads on this model, and despite some great advice, I'm left a bit wanting when it comes to disassembly. I've got the veneer panel off the back, exposing the screws. Apparently the back will come off failry easily when unscrewed, however, are the drivers attached from the back (i.e. can I remove them from the rear)? Or is there a way to get the grill off without breaking anything?

The good news is, if the tweeter is toast, I have a pair of SS-3100s as well (you can see one to the left of the 3300s in the pics), which use the same woofer and tweeter - only the midrange is different.

Any advice on sorting these would be appreciated. My intent is to tri-amp them with some tube gear I have, as they're high-sensitivity, 16 ohm, and apparently very suitable for tubes.

 

[Old_School]

Anyone?

 

[M Jarve]

I remember listening to a set at some AK get-together down in the Cities. Very impressive speaker indeed, and sounded much more modern and refined than most other speakers of that era. I seem to recall we tried them with my Yaqin MC-10L II and the combination was superb.

 

[geiman]

I fell into a pair of Sony SS-3300 monsters form around 1968. Hooked them up in the garage (they need a little cabinet refurb before they will be deemed "acceptable for interior use" by The One To Whom I Wish to Remain Married.

Sounds like one tweeter is either gone, or something else is wrong. No highs in the right speaker. I've read the few threads on this model, and despite some great advice, I'm left a bit wanting when it comes to disassembly. I've got the veneer panel off the back, exposing the screws. Apparently the back will come off failry easily when unscrewed, however, are the drivers attached from the back (i.e. can I remove them from the rear)? Or is there a way to get the grill off without breaking anything?

The good news is, if the tweeter is toast, I have a pair of SS-3100s as well (you can see one to the left of the 3300s in the pics), which use the same woofer and tweeter - only the midrange is different.

Any advice on sorting these would be appreciated. My intent is to tri-amp them with some tube gear I have, as they're high-sensitivity, 16 ohm, and apparently very suitable for tubes.

Try using DeOxit cleaner on the tweeter level control pots. The tweeters might actually be ok. In my experience dirty control pots is usually the problem.

 

[SteveP]

Hi,

There are several posts on these speakers on AK (which it sounds like you've found), and also some good info to be found by googling. Nice find! I've got a pair running full time in my living room and really enjoy them. The drivers are indeed attached from the inside of the front baffle, so you need to take the back off first (gently, the crossover is attached onto the inside of the back baffle. If you already have a tweeter you're set to get these going again. PM 'NumbDiver' on here as he has experience repairing these tweeters. You may want to just try that tweeter on the other speaker first of all to determine if the tweeter is toast or if the problem lies in the wiring or in the crossover. I do have some literature on these that I should be able to dig up (parts are decipherable, but most of the text is in Japanese).

Be careful of your plans to tri-amp. If you trace out the wiring and the crossover on the back of the back baffle I think you will find that turning the switch to tri-amp takes the internal crossover out of the equation. Sony sold an external crossover (TA-4300) that I think was meant to be used between your amps and the speakers if you wanted to tri-amp. Unfortunately, tri-amping is not as easy as just turning the switch and hooking up 3 amps.

Good luck with these, I think that you'll like them. If you don't, feel free to send them on the bus to me :yes:

Steve.

 

[Old_School]

Try using DeOxit cleaner on the tweeter level control pots. The tweeters might actually be ok. In my experience dirty control pots is usually the problem.

As soon as I get the backs off I'll do that. Fingers crossed.

PM 'NumbDiver' on here as he has experience repairing these tweeters. You may want to just try that tweeter on the other speaker first of all to determine if the tweeter is toast or if the problem lies in the wiring or in the crossover. I do have some literature on these that I should be able to dig up (parts are decipherable, but most of the text is in Japanese).

Thanks Steve, I already PM'ed Numbdiver - his first reply was lost, but we have contact now. I'd be really interested in any documentation you have, regardless of language. If it's something you can scan, I'd appreaciate it. I found the service manual for the SS-3100 through AnalogAlley (a great source for manuals, both original and scanned). I hope to have time to get the back off (carefully!) either later in the week or on the weekend. I'll try the deoxit mentioned above and check out the wiring. I'm hoping it's not the driver itself.

Be careful of your plans to tri-amp. If you trace out the wiring and the crossover on the back of the back baffle I think you will find that turning the switch to tri-amp takes the internal crossover out of the equation. Sony sold an external crossover (TA-4300) that I think was meant to be used between your amps and the speakers if you wanted to tri-amp. Unfortunately, tri-amping is not as easy as just turning the switch and hooking up 3 amps.

I've familiarized myself with the issues of active crossovers and multi-amping. I don't have the TA-4300, but I do have a Pioneer SF-850. While the crossover points on the Pioneer don't match, they don't on the TA-4300F either. I'll be carefull messing with things, of course, as the availabiulity of spares is likely limited to pretty much what i already have in my garage. The 3100s are fully functional, by the way - hooked them up today. The mids need re-foam though.

it looks really old

They are - almost as old as I am.

 

[SteveP]

Scans for you.

Steve.

 

[NumbDiver]

PM received and PM sent :thmbsp:

For the record, these are great speakers. The only reason the left Casa NumbDiver is I had no more room. I don't like equipment to sit unused. They were made to sing, and sing they must! Thanks to SteveP, my (his) Sonys continue to do today, what they were made to do some 45 years ago! :tresbon:

 

[cdfac]

those tweeters are also nearly identical to those used on the Sansui SP-2000, from what i can see. i expect the SS-3300 sounds much better than the SP-2000 though!

 

[Old_School]

Thanks Steve for the brochure. Great info, even when "encrypted." Thanks also to Numbdiver for the info.

cdfac - that's interesting. I have a pair of SP-2002s (I think they're basically 2000s with tri-amp capability). If the tweeter is the same, they're certainly a better source of parts than the SS-3100s, which I'd like to keep intact.

My tube amp rebuild has been delayed, but I figure I should have my pair of SE amps up and running in a couple of weeks at the latest. I should be able to get the tweeter sorted one way or another by then. I may even be able to refurb the cabinets by then, which will increase the odds of them being "allowed" in the house.

 

[Old_School]

I finally got a chance to test-run them tri-amped this weekend. Discovered an issue with one of my amps, for one thing. The speakers have no highs though, and I think one mid may be problematic. I'm getting what sounds like full range from the left channel, but nothing from the tweeter when I cut the levels of the low and mid. The right channel just sounds "wrong." Hard to describe, but it just seems that something major is missing. The good news is that the SS-3100s I have are working fine, so I have replacement tweeters if the problem isn't solved by something simple once I open the back.

What's with the variation of binding posts on similar era speakers from the same manufacturer? The 3100s are one down from the 3300s in the line, but the posts on the smaller speakers are truly garbage. The 3300s have real 5-way posts (which surprised me - I didn't know that design went back to the '60s). I also have/had some Celestion Ditton speakers (currently running Ditton 44s in my main system), and have seen the same problem. My 44s have simple screw-down posts, and the 25s I recently sold had proper 5-way posts as well. I'd bought both pairs from original owners and know they were purchased within a year of each other at the same dealer.

Anyway, slight digression. The other thing about the Sony setup for tri-amping is the common ground post for the speakers. Maybe it wasn't such an issue in 1968 when lamp cord was the rage. I can see I'll need stackable bananas or spades, as my 16-ga wire bulks up pretty fast with three ends together.

These monsters were clearly not meant to be taken apart either. The back panel is screwed on, and then a veneer (actually a thin sheet of ply - about 1/8 in) is nailed and glued to the back, covering the screw holes. I managed to get one sheet off, but it's pretty painstaking work to do it and avoid cracking it.

 

[Old_School]

Well, the 3100 tweeters aren't the same. Same size, but different p/n and 8 ohm, not 16. Time to crack open the Sansuis and see if they're the right specs and design. From some stuff I've read, a lot of Japanese drivers from this era are pretty similar.

 

[Horn Head]

Interesting....There's a pair of these Sonys at a local music store - and they've been sitting in the showroom for well more than a year. Been wondering since I saw them why they haven't sold (shop guys say they're fully operational). Beautiful condition too.

If they're that good as the comments here suggest, may be worth taking a second look.....

 

[Old_School]

Interesting....There's a pair of these Sonys at a local music store - and they've been sitting in the showroom for well more than a year. Been wondering since I saw them why they haven't sold (shop guys say they're fully operational). Beautifull condition too.

If they're that good as the comments here suggest, may be worth taking a second look.....

Depending on what they're asking for them, and if you have the space, they may well be worth it. Of course, I can't say for sure, as mine aren't up and running yet.

 

[Horn Head]

Well, they're under $200. I have room but WAY too many speakers already.

Will be interested in how you think yours sound when finished.....Maybe they'll displace some of the others I have if very good review.

 

[toxcrusadr]

Read this thread pretty fast so I may have missed something, but if the deoxit on the tweeter pots doesn't work, could be bad crossover caps. Of course taking the xover out of the loop would fix that.

 

[Old_School]

Well, they're under $200. I have room but WAY too many speakers already.

Will be interested in how you think yours sound when finished.....Maybe they'll displace some of the others I have if very good review.

Mine may take a while. I'm waiting on some parts right now, and like so many of my projects, my two under-5 kids take away the time. Plus the room will need a bunch of work to fit them in. My SS-3100s will be servicable by the weekend though, and I intend to tri-amp them with some SS amps I have. If they sound good, it'll motivate me to get the 3300s sorted sooner.

Anyway, sub $200 price and fully functional tempts me to make the 8 hour drive to your area. You should get them before I do

 

[Old_School]

Read this thread pretty fast so I may have missed something, but if the deoxit on the tweeter pots doesn't work, could be bad crossover caps. Of course taking the xover out of the loop would fix that.

I'm not fully sure how the crossover functions, but I hooked it up in the tri-amp config, and got nothing. I don't know if there are protection caps in the circuit though. If so and they were duff would the tweeters still work?

 

[SteveP]

The L-pads in these are made up of discrete resistors, so no variable ones to deoxit, but it is possible that the switch contacts themselves are dirty, so a cleaning might help (but just rotating the attenuation knobs back and forth a bunch of times should work as well).

If you look at the attached picture there is still one little board (the left-most one with the 2 white wires coming out of it) that adds a few components across the terminals of the tweeter and it is still in place when in the tri-amp configuration (it must be a late addition as it is not shown on the schematic on the pamphlet I scanned). Could be a possible problem, but you will really need to get in there to check things out. That capacitor all by itself by the little board may also be in play in the tri-amp configuration--I can't make it out for sure on the picture. Are you saying that you think both tweeters are shot now? That will rule out trying the good one in the bad cabinet to see if it is the tweeter itself or the crossover. That's bad news if there is a mid gone also :cry:

I had mine cranked fairly loud last night listening to the new Neil Young 'Le Noise' CD and it was great

 

[Old_School]

I got no sound from either tweeter, but as you say, I really won't know for sure until I open it up. I'm going to try to make time this weekend. The task is less daunting than re-installing the dashboard and instruments in my 1984 M635CSi (which is one of those "other projects").

There was some odd sound from the left mid, but I think it was the amp, as I had a similar sound when I hooked the setup to the 3100s. The amp I was using on the mids was an old TA-3140F which probably needs work.