Sony SS-TL5. Hot DAMN these are good!

[ZUCK02]

I just picked up a pair of TL5's for $25 at a thrift store. The only thing wrong with them is that one of the dust caps is torn badly and some minor cosmetic work. Its black veneer and you can see it was painted on. Its missing 1 SONY logo on the front and 1 metal plate also. If the 5s & 6s are identical, then I really have a 6. I cant believe this thread is still going.

 

[Hifiaddict]

I just picked up a pair of TL5's for $25 at a thrift store. The only thing wrong with them is that one of the dust caps is torn badly and some minor cosmetic work. Its black veneer and you can see it was painted on. Its missing 1 SONY logo on the front and 1 metal plate also. If the 5s & 6s are identical, then I really have a 6. I cant believe this thread is still going.

May I suggest that threads about speakers like these will never die, let alone fade away.



Why, I am myself recently stumbled across a pair of listed for a C-note on FB in my little town. I’m bored so I can’t not see what they’re about.

An hour later, they were enthusiastically delivered (stuffed in the trunk of a slightly beat up Ford Fusion) for my review.

 

[Mahctagon]

I'll chime in and keep the thread going, I acquired a pair of TL6's about a month ago. I paired them with a STR-6800SD and I couldn't be happier with this combo. Great clear detailed sound, with just about any genre of music I can throw at them. I can also confirm the comment (posted earlier in the thread) about how it sounds like you've got a sub hidden somewhere.

 

[mozcho]

There is one pair of Sony SS-TL20 available for $100 near me-one tweeter and one bass driver. Any thought on these?

 

[srinath]

Picked up a TL-3 at a garage sale - may have paid too much for them. $40 for the set, yet to listen to them.

 

[mozcho]

So, I've been kind of bummed since I sold my Wilson Watt/Puppy 5s a few months back. I never really thought about keeping them as I couldn't really justify a $4,000 pair of garage speakers (or the kind of gear needed to really take advantage of them). Alas, a kind AKer took them off my hands and now they have a proper listening space in California.

I say this only to preface the following sentence: The Sony SS-TL5 are the best speakers I've ever heard in my life besides those Wilson's.

I had heard some rumblings about them here and elsewhere and kind of assumed it was rarity substituting for quality which is so common in this hobby. When a pair popped up about 45 minutes North of me for not much money, I jumped. This, of course, was the day of a VERY large protest in Seattle that started just after I had secured the speakers. What should've been a 90 minute round trip turned into a snarling 3 hour disaster. "These f'ing things better be worth it!" I yelled at nobody in particular having not moved from the stop light for 15 minutes.

So, yeah, not a great start.

Finally got home, hooked them up and did some testing. Damnit! I hear a rattle, must be a woofer. Nope, the bass was so clean and powerful that a metal sign above a shelf was rattling.

Moved them around a touch, read up on them, and am currently wasting most of a Saturday laying in my garage listening to music. Just amazing. They're great for everything. I keep trying to find something that they don't just nail and I'm becoming convinced it doesn't exist.

They look pretty okay too! THICK Oak veneer. Nice, built in platform, built like goddamn tanks.

These will be it for a while. I'm not doing as much selling and I'm pretty positive I'm not going to find anything this good for 20x the price I paid.

Tl;Dr If you see them, buy them!

PS driving them with the ridiculous Sunfire TGR-401 receiver. It's sideways because it doesn't fit properly on my bench otherwise.

View attachment 1151514

From your pic, the tall speakers in black on the shelf, are they TDL's? How do they sound compared to the Sony's? As both these seem to be transmission line speakers, curious as I have owned TDL RTL-2's before.

 

[bstabinger]

Got my SS-TL5's rocking! Man, I love these speakers. As a lot of posters have noted, the bass is kind of magical. Where does it all come from?! Maybe a little too much, for my room's garbage acoustics. But the mids and highs are just incredible. So much presence!

I was going to re-cap the crossovers, but once I removed them... Not a chance. The caps look fine, and the speakers sound great, so I decided not to even mess with it. There are many inductors and capacitors, on both sides of the PCB. I'd love to see a schematic of this thing! Just another example of the outstanding value of this loudspeaker.

 

[patriotoil]

May I suggest that threads about speakers like these will never die, let alone fade away.



Why, I am myself recently stumbled across a pair of listed for a C-note on FB in my little town. I’m bored so I can’t not see what they’re about.

An hour later, they were enthusiastically delivered (stuffed in the trunk of a slightly beat up Ford Fusion) for my review.

Sorry to break it to you, but those are NOT the factory titanium tweeters that go in the TL5’s.‍

 

[gizzyman47]

Those Sony's remind me of a pair of Pioneer S-T500 I have. The Sony I'm sure are a higher quality speaker though.

 

[Ziinda]

Got my SS-TL5's rocking! Man, I love these speakers. As a lot of posters have noted, the bass is kind of magical. Where does it all come from?! Maybe a little too much, for my room's garbage acoustics. But the mids and highs are just incredible. So much presence!

I was going to re-cap the crossovers, but once I removed them... Not a chance. The caps look fine, and the speakers sound great, so I decided not to even mess with it. There are many inductors and capacitors, on both sides of the PCB. I'd love to see a schematic of this thing! Just another example of the outstanding value of this loudspeaker.

I have to save this reply, I believe it's the first time someone did not alter the crossover in a set of speakers they just bought. Although it was on your mind instantly, which is not good. Maybe if all crossovers were complex and the chance of tearing foil traces was very high, it would reduce this way of thinking. If it's not exploded it's probably working fine that's my school of thought on crossovers.

 

[Lark]

I have to save this reply, I believe it's the first time someone did not alter the crossover in a set of speakers they just bought. Although it was on your mind instantly, which is not good. Maybe if all crossovers were complex and the chance of tearing foil traces was very high, it would reduce this way of thinking. If it's not exploded it's probably working fine that's my school of thought on crossovers.

I bought a pristine set of AR9, just needing a refoam job, of course. I've heard how incredible these speakers are, and have been aware of their legendary status for years, so they have been on my radar for a LONG time. I finally got lucky, and snagged an absolutely mint pair, grills and all. Seriously, I looked them over very well, and could not find ONE imperfection - not even a nick or scratch on the wood, anywhere, on either speaker. All that being said, that is the ONLY reason the thought popped into my mind, about recapping the crossover. But, once I actually SAW the crossover, the thought quickly changed to "F*ck all that!"... I am looking forward to finishing them, and giving them a listen, after a few hours of break-in. AR has really grown on me, since owning a pair of the AR-91, my 1st serious pair of AR. They were freshly refoamed when I bought them, but I had to replace a bad tweeter. I wound up replacing them as a set, with a direct fit replacement that can be found at Parts Express for like $20 each. Of course, I figured this out after over paying for a pair I bought off of ebay, from some asshole who was buying them then reselling them for a profit. I got no problem with that. My issue was that all of the pictures he had put on his auction did not show the part where the name is, INTENTIONALLY. Or I would not have bought them, as I had seen the same ones on Parts Express web page. He made it sound like he had a line on some special tweeter that only he could get. Anyways, for as cheap as they were, they have a much bigger mahnet, and were a big improvement over the originals. I was able to compare them, as I still had one good original tweeter. I also have a smaller pair of AR-11s that I refoamed, which are surprisingly good for as small as they are. And last, but certainly not least, I have (3) of the TSW-910 and a pair of the TSW-100, both needing refoamed. I am pretty excited about getting to the TSW-910 as well - there is a great thread on here about a pair that was completely rebuilt/restored, that would make anyone want to own a pair after reading it. I know this thread is about the Sony SS-TL5, I don't know why I got off on a tangent about AR! Lol. THAT being said, I do still have my pair of those, and doubt that I will ever get rid of them. They are in oak veneer, and near perfect condition as well. I took them out of the rotation a few years back, because I think I may have cranked them just a hair too much, and the woofer in one of them has a "crack" sound when the bass hits pretty good, once you reach a certain volume. I need to look them over and make sure all the screws are tight, etc , before going too crazy in tearing into them, but deep in my heart, I'm thinking I'm going to be rebuilding a woofer...

 

[Lark]

I bought a pristine set of AR9, just needing a refoam job, of course. I've heard how incredible these speakers are, and have been aware of their legendary status for years, so they have been on my radar for a LONG time. I finally got lucky, and snagged an absolutely mint pair, grills and all. Seriously, I looked them over very well, and could not find ONE imperfection - not even a nick or scratch on the wood, anywhere, on either speaker. All that being said, that is the ONLY reason the thought popped into my mind, about recapping the crossover. But, once I actually SAW the crossover, the thought quickly changed to "F*ck all that!"... I am looking forward to finishing them, and giving them a listen, after a few hours of break-in. AR has really grown on me, since owning a pair of the AR-91, my 1st serious pair of AR. They were freshly refoamed when I bought them, but I had to replace a bad tweeter. I wound up replacing them as a set, with a direct fit replacement that can be found at Parts Express for like $20 each. Of course, I figured this out after over paying for a pair I bought off of ebay, from some asshole who was buying them then reselling them for a profit. I got no problem with that. My issue was that all of the pictures he had put on his auction did not show the part where the name is, INTENTIONALLY. Or I would not have bought them, as I had seen the same ones on Parts Express web page. He made it sound like he had a line on some special tweeter that only he could get. Anyways, for as cheap as they were, they have a much bigger mahnet, and were a big improvement over the originals. I was able to compare them, as I still had one good original tweeter. I also have a smaller pair of AR-11s that I refoamed, which are surprisingly good for as small as they are. And last, but certainly not least, I have (3) of the TSW-910 and a pair of the TSW-100, both needing refoamed. I am pretty excited about getting to the TSW-910 as well - there is a great thread on here about a pair that was completely rebuilt/restored, that would make anyone want to own a pair after reading it. I know this thread is about the Sony SS-TL5, I don't know why I got off on a tangent about AR! Lol. THAT being said, I do still have my pair of those, and doubt that I will ever get rid of them. They are in oak veneer, and near perfect condition as well. I took them out of the rotation a few years back, because I think I may have cranked them just a hair too much, and the woofer in one of them has a "crack" sound when the bass hits pretty good, once you reach a certain volume. I need to look them over and make sure all the screws are tight, etc , before going too crazy in tearing into them, but deep in my heart, I'm thinking I'm going to be rebuilding a woofer...

Correction - AR18s, not AR11s

 

[Beachmover]

Has anyone found anymore information about the differences between the TL-5, TL-6, and TL-60. I currently have a set of the TL-6s and they have a different style tweeter than the 60s and 5s. They also have the same Sony and Model plate as my other pairs of TL-3s.

A bonus if anyone has a crossover schematic for these.

 

[Ziinda]

I bought a pristine set of AR9, just needing a refoam job, of course. I've heard how incredible these speakers are, and have been aware of their legendary status for years, so they have been on my radar for a LONG time. I finally got lucky, and snagged an absolutely mint pair, grills and all. Seriously, I looked them over very well, and could not find ONE imperfection - not even a nick or scratch on the wood, anywhere, on either speaker. All that being said, that is the ONLY reason the thought popped into my mind, about recapping the crossover. But, once I actually SAW the crossover, the thought quickly changed to "F*ck all that!"... I am looking forward to finishing them, and giving them a listen, after a few hours of break-in. AR has really grown on me, since owning a pair of the AR-91, my 1st serious pair of AR. They were freshly refoamed when I bought them, but I had to replace a bad tweeter. I wound up replacing them as a set, with a direct fit replacement that can be found at Parts Express for like $20 each. Of course, I figured this out after over paying for a pair I bought off of ebay, from some asshole who was buying them then reselling them for a profit. I got no problem with that. My issue was that all of the pictures he had put on his auction did not show the part where the name is, INTENTIONALLY. Or I would not have bought them, as I had seen the same ones on Parts Express web page. He made it sound like he had a line on some special tweeter that only he could get. Anyways, for as cheap as they were, they have a much bigger mahnet, and were a big improvement over the originals. I was able to compare them, as I still had one good original tweeter. I also have a smaller pair of AR-11s that I refoamed, which are surprisingly good for as small as they are. And last, but certainly not least, I have (3) of the TSW-910 and a pair of the TSW-100, both needing refoamed. I am pretty excited about getting to the TSW-910 as well - there is a great thread on here about a pair that was completely rebuilt/restored, that would make anyone want to own a pair after reading it. I know this thread is about the Sony SS-TL5, I don't know why I got off on a tangent about AR! Lol. THAT being said, I do still have my pair of those, and doubt that I will ever get rid of them. They are in oak veneer, and near perfect condition as well. I took them out of the rotation a few years back, because I think I may have cranked them just a hair too much, and the woofer in one of them has a "crack" sound when the bass hits pretty good, once you reach a certain volume. I need to look them over and make sure all the screws are tight, etc , before going too crazy in tearing into them, but deep in my heart, I'm thinking I'm going to be rebuilding a woofer...

That crack noise could be many things but mostly related to the voice coil, it could be sperating from the cone due to glue failure, it could be bottoming out in the magnet and if it is, it will eventually destroy the former (the part that the voice coil windings wrap around) if it's aluminum it can squish it and end up scraping on the edges of the pole piece or in the gap. It can also destroy the windings and depending on how it's made the windings could be in any position on the former. Typically both woofers would be bottoming out if they are the same exact drivers in each speaker. So if it's one woofer it could be the glue or it could be in the crossover, a bad connection thats getting hot and it's arcing across the gap could in theory cause a noise, there could be other parts that are failing or out of spec as well. Once you consider all of the parts are working in tandem with each other and you start to drift out of spec you end up with changed points and the midrange would be more likely to suffer from that rather than a woofer. Since the mid range crossover point could be lowered by this it would be feeding more power to it at its lowest possible point and making it bottom out, more likely though it would burn the wires before making it bottom out (depending on how stout it's made) most mids burn out. I'd would check the resistance of all drivers in both speakers and compare them to each other and check original specs to see what they should be. If you find some drivers with lower resistance then check the model numbers to be sure they're stock or suitable original drivers.

Keep in mind that manufacturers will (at times) change drivers mid production and not change model numbers, this will not affect the sound if done properly, but, if there's a problem with a driver and the owner replaced one along the way and didn't check to see which driver was used according to the serial numbers on the cab or more soecifically on the magnet will cause issues.

This is typical of old speakers where a set is made up of the same model numbers only they have distant serial numbers, one is made with a different crossover and\or drivers but the owner finds one that's from the wrong date of manufacture. You'll need to research by serial number to be sure if the drivers are correct first. A low resistance on the correct drivers signals possible shorts in the coil windings. Most likely the noise you're hearing is a glue failure in the spider or voice coil attachment. The physical noise emitted by bad glue is way louder than the sound the driver is reproducing , like tapping two drum sticks together can be heard easily even when the environment is rather loud or noisy add that at the base of the cone and it's projected out even louder than the vibrations made by the electrical signal.

 

[Beachmover]

Is there any crossover schematic for the TL-5 floating around out there? Or is there anyone that could help me figure out the crossover from photos?