Sony SS speaker mods

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fraserh

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Joined 2008
#1
Hello, i have some old sony ss-g1 speakers which i'd like to improve. My first step is to line the cabinets with better material and then move onto the crossover and later look at better drivers. Some of the parts are very unfamiliar to me though- has anyone come across the weird design for the mid-range before? It fires into a plastic cone rather than into the cabinet; the tweeter and bass are as normal. Also i can't make sense of the resistor values in the x-over... I've included photos of the speaker below... if anyone could recommend any good replacement drivers that would be good too... thankyou!!
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/fraser1985/DSCN0937.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/fraser1985/DSCN0936.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/fraser1985/DSCN0935.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/fraser1985/DSCN0934.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/fraser1985/DSCN0933.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/fraser1985/DSCN0931.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/fraser1985/DSCN0927.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/fraser1985/DSCN0925.jpg
 
#3
3R9 means 3.9 ohms. It's a non-inductive wirewound, and probably is of fine quality. I would probably only change the series caps with poly caps, and leave the rest alone. I don't find that there is a big difference in the sound of a parallel electrolytic cap, if any at all.

The midrange is pretty standard. The "cone" is a subenclosure to properly load the midrange, and to keep bass frequencies from modulating the midrange. This is a common practice in many speakers.

You can't really just change drivers willy nilly and have things work out. Changing to "better" drivers without optimizing the crossover will not improve the sound any. I would love them alone, make only minor mods, and be happy. If you want better sound, build new speakers from scratch with a tried and true design, or design one for yourself. Or buy better speakers. You can modify and improve the crossover, but that will require careful measurements and a good understanding of crossover design. I have done this, and have posted my results.
 
#4
I also just noticed that those drivers are made in Norway, meaning they are probably made for Sony by Seas, and thus are very good drivers. Given their age, they are probably better than most people would realize. Again, I wouldn't touch the drivers unless you plan on redoing the crossover.
 
#5
Thanks for the helpful replies- and yes they sound very very nice in standard form; for more neutral than any others i've heard before.

Could anyone tell me how these were designed to be placed? At the moment i have them against the back wall with quite a heavy toe in.. It's difficult to experiment with different positions as my 'stands' are heavy concrete blocks with granite on top... Should they be further into the room? thanks
 
#7
I've replaced the stuffing that was in there with some egg crate shaped foam and some thick, heavy underlay which would normally go underneath a carpet; also replaced some wool loosely behind the mid and tweeter- left space behind the bass driver and damped the legs with putty... not night and day by any means but there's a definite improvement.

I tested A/B with dusty springfield 'son of a preacher man' and the bit where the bass walks all over the place towards the end was MUCH more coherent.. also played 'little sister' by QOTSA as sometimes the kick drum gets lost in the heavy parts but nope- pretty coherent all the way through even at louder volumes so i'm pretty pleased!!

I was wondering if the caps would be out of spec by now? That was my initial reasoning for replacing some parts of the speaker despite the good sound-

p.s. thanks for the link antipodean- i love that website!! some fine stuff on there
 
#8
You could try replacing the capacitors used in series with the tweeter and midbass for MKP/MKT. If the value is large and MKP becomes expensive you could bypass only 1/3 of the value with MKP.

The coil used for the woofer (the one with the ferrite core) can be replaced by an air core coil with similar dc-resistance (this becomes very expensive though if the value is >3.3 mH)

Only do so, if you are happy to invest more money, say ~100 euro. Otherwise, leave it alone and enjoy the music.
 
#9
My initial reaction was to investigate the orientation of the coils replace the caps with better quality and use better stuffing in the box but keep those original drivers.
If you need better speakers than these start planning a new pair from the ground up.
Just my $0.02
 
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