Sony SS-CS5(M1) and Sony SS-CS5M2 bookshelf speakers - measurements, comparisons, and review.

Hey guys and gals, as shown above, I have pairs of both the Sony SS-CS5 (Mark 1) and the updated Sony SS-CS5M2 (Mark 2) bookshelf speakers here at home purchased through the usual retail outlets. As you might know from discussions online and videos on YouTube, opinions can be quite polarizing regarding these speakers. I think it's a combination of the low price (with associated biases as discussed recently) and the unusual "super-tweeter", 3-driver design. In this post, let's have a look, discuss, and go over a few measurements based on what I see and hear with these transducers.

For convenience, throughout this article, I'll often use "M1" and "M2" shorthand to refer to these Sony SS-CS5 variants.

Let's start with the original SS-CS5 (M1) that came out 6 years ago (May 2019 release). They have been dissected and measured across the years, so they're already very much a known quantity for those interested in this budget class of speakers.

For example, in this early YouTube video, we have a look inside the cabinet and a peek at the crossover:

Sony SS-CS5 M1 - crossover.

We see a combination of standard ceramic "sandcast" resistors, polypropylene caps, air-core inductors, one iron-core inductor. Looks decent enough unless you think this stuff makes a huge difference. There could be a bit more box bracing but the enclosure seems reasonable considering the price for a pair of these; potentially can drop to US$100 when found on sale!

As you can see from the pictures, this speaker is a tallish but slender 7" x 13.2" x 8.7", 3-driver design featuring a 13cm (5") woofer, 25mm (1") tweeter, and curiously that little 19mm (0.75") super-tweeter. They weigh around 4.5kg or 10lbs each. Crossover points are at 2.5kHz and an amazing 17kHz; a frequency that I bet very few of us adult male audiophile would still be able to hear! Hence this choice by Sony of including that little "super-tweeter" in a box selling at a very budget-friendly price instead of putting the money into upgrading the other drivers or enclosure is curious.

And so, among the media and forums out there, these little Sony speakers have been described as everything from "unmatched" budget speakers, "greatest cheap speaker of all time", an example of the "golden age of budget audiophilia", to being awarded the dreaded ASR "headless panther" and declared "so bright that if you play music in the dark, you may have to wear sunglasses". 😱 Let me have a look and listen...

Let's start with how these things look:

Nothing too fancy with the all-black boxy primarily plastic/wood enclosure except SONY lettering. Obviously, the difference between the M1 and M2 can be seen with the glossy fine-concentric-ringed M1 waveguides vs. the matte material of the M2 in front. I think the M2 looks more refined than that shiny ring. Once you put on the black grille though, it's almost impossible to tell the difference (there are slight variations on close inspection of material and edge shape).

Here's how they look from behind:

Note that I stuck on some footer pads on the M1.

The boxes are identical from behind other than the product labels. The M1 I have here was "Made in Malaysia" with a manufacturing date of July 2024, and the M2 "Made in Vietnam" with no discernable production date (probably summer 2025). They're rear ported, of ~2" circular diameter. 

The binding posts are of reasonable quality. I wish the posts provided a bit more banana plug insertion depth. As is, I find that typical length banana plugs stick out a little more than I'd like even though electrical contact should still be fine.

Beyond the cosmetics, what does the new M2 bring to the party? Based on specs, actually not much has really been announced other than supposedly a bit more bracing and maybe updated crossover from what others have said. 

Due to time constraints, I did not get a chance to run the full "qSpin" on these speakers, but let's hit some highlights on the performance and look for differences. First let's have a look at the electrical characteristics for these speakers as would be "seen" by the amplifier:

Notice how similar these are! Clearly, whatever design changes have been implemented are not likely major given the lack of electrical variation. The box resonance is similar at ~62Hz. Minimal impedance for both speakers sit around 5.6-5.7Ω (Sony accurately rates these as 6Ω). We can see box resonances causing "kinks" in the impedance and phase curves of a similar pattern around 250 and 500Hz.

Acoustically, let's see if the sensitivity is the same by arbitrarily setting my TI TPA3255-based amp to run a sweep ~90dB SPL at 1m starting with the M1:

And then we just switch speakers and measure again with the M2, no change to amp volume level.

Averaging output level from 100Hz to 10kHz, notice that my newer M2 speaker was 1.2dB louder than the M1. Be careful then if you A/B these speakers with the same amp output level; that extra dB could easily bias towards a preference for the M2.

Sony's specs for the SS-CS5 (M1) lists it as having sensitivity of 87dB/2.8V/1m (Erin measured it as 86.2dB). I have not seen an official SS-CS5M2 sensitivity spec, but based on what I have here, it'd be higher at 88dB if we go by Sony's number.

For frequency response comparisons, let's keep it simple here and measure a quasi-anechoic curve based on the "Listening Window" which is created by averaging the sweeps on-axis, +/-10/20/30° horizontally and +/-10° vertically. This provides a reasonable characterization of the direct sound coming from the speaker which defines its tonal character. Because I always leave my speaker grilles attached, let's keep them on for the measurement:

Note: "On-Axis" refers to being on the tweeter axis, not the "super-tweeter".

As you can see in the graph, I've included the off-axis measurements in dotted lines. For illustration, notice that the vertical off-axis can get very choppy at -30° which is not unexpected; as usual, try not to listen to speakers like these too far below the tweeter height.

With a small 5" woofer, we can't expect impressive deep bass. The -6dB point is around 60Hz which should be fine if we use an 80Hz subwoofer crossover.

While there's a 1kHz mid-range boost, the tonality is quite flat across the upper mids to "Presence" range from 2-8kHz. What's characteristic about this M1 speaker is that >8kHz treble bump in the "Brilliance" region.

Let's look at the new Sony SS-CS5M2 for comparison:

As you can see, the >8kHz brightness has been significantly reduced in the Listening Window. Notice with the grilles on, the on-axis response is a bit rough above 4kHz. Otherwise, bass extension is still about the same down to -6dB by 60Hz.

Knowing that we have about a 1dB difference in output level, let's match the amplitude at 1kHz and overlay the M1 and M2 Listening Window quasi-anechoic frequency response curves:

As you can see, I found no difference at all between the two speakers in the bass extension. Double checking my nearfield mid-woofer and port measurements show essentially the same curve. As best I can tell by visual inspection, the "Mica Reinforced Cellular (MRC) fiber" 5" woofer is exactly the same with both models. Tonally, it's really just that high-frequency variation between these speakers along with small sensitivity change to be mindful of, likely due to a combination of the waveguide, crossover, and maybe (super)tweeter tweaks.

Of interest, this recent Erin's Audio Corner video comparing the M1 vs. M2 suggested a 2dB difference in the bass:

Estimated In-Room Response graph - hence the
downward tilt in frequency response.
From Erin's Audio Corner video.

Clearly, I did not find this with my samples. I noticed that he measured the M1 back in 2021 which would make that an earlier production model while mine has a July 2024 build date. Maybe there have been variations across the life cycle of the product?

I think it's worth noting that all of the frequency measurements published online that I have seen for these speakers have been done with grille off. I suspect especially with a consumer item at this price range, listening with grilles off is unlikely to be how these speakers are going to be used in real life. We know that grilles do make a difference and companies like Sony might in fact be optimizing frequency response with them in place.

Here's a look at the time domain performance with the waterfall CSD from ~93dB SPL @ 1m, 30dB on the Y-axis, 3ms range for each speaker:

Considering the conditions, this looks good without mid/treble resonances extending beyond 3ms.

While the miniDSP UMIK-1 microphone isn't great for measuring distortions, we can have a peek to compare the two speakers at a reasonably high 93dB SPL output level at 1m:

Looks fair; nothing too scary at least. Elevated distortion below 200Hz, otherwise mostly <1%.

So, subjectively, how do these speakers sound?

IMO, as measured, it really comes down to that clearly audible >8kHz brightness of the M1. To be honest, while I agree that it's too bright for my taste, I don't find it horrific. That extra "sparkle" can add a bit of pleasurable "air" in some recordings. For example, the shimmer of cymbals will extend a bit longer and will be brought out more in the mix on something like George Michael's "Kissing A Fool". However, accentuated sibilance in female vocals (eg. Sarah Brightman on La Luna), the guitar work on Nils Lofgren's "Keith Don't Go" and the cacophony of alarm clocks on Pink Floyd's "Time" are a bit too aggressive and likely will add to listener fatigue. Since each of us hear things a little differently, it's quite possible that the brighter tonality might compensate for attenuated high frequency hearing as we get older or for those who might have attended a few too many loud rock concerts in life (hopefully with no regrets! 😁).

One could also consider the amplifier being used. For example, a slightly mellow tube amp with higher output impedance (lower damping factor, like this) could sound "flatter" in the upper treble with the M1. In comparison, the newer M2 is clearly more polite on the top end.

Transient response on these speakers is good and I did not experience any "muddiness". Have a listen to Yosi Horikawa's "Bubbles" for example; these Sonys did a great job with the palpable soundstage with surprisingly precise placement of those ping-pong balls projecting width and apparent height and depth when sitting at approximately tweeter level (ie. the middle driver). Obviously, small speakers like these with low bass limitations will not be able to project the dynamics or spatial presence of large high-sensitivity units; that's just the nature of the physics.

I can certainly see these little bookshelves used in a casual living room set-up or maybe in a small bedroom, ideally adding a capable sub to provide good coverage down into the 30-40Hz range if possible. Yes, I prefer the M2 for the less pronounced treble resulting in a more neutral tonal balance. Regardless, considering the level of performance for so little money, there's excellent value here especially if you find them on sale.

The "need" for that "super-tweeter" remains controversial. I suppose extending the frequency response out to well above 20kHz - Sony boasts a frequency response out to "50,000Hz" - allowed them to get the JAS "Hi-Res Audio" badge which is meaningless especially for loudspeakers. Beyond this marketing rationale, who knows, maybe Sony found the crossover + super-tweeter design better sonically than whatever dome tweeter with breakup modes they might have otherwise used at this price point?

In my basement sound room, I have a window ledge
and upper cabinet space to place the front height channels!
No need to drill holes in the ceiling or walls - at least for now. 😏

For my purposes, I'm going to be using these in my multichannel system as Atmos/DTS:X/Auro-3D height speakers where they will be crossed over around the standard THX 80Hz. As heights, they're not likely going to be producing high output levels and I'm always going to be using DSP correction with subwoofer crossover anyways (like Dirac Live), so speaker tonal variations will be compensated for with the M2 as front height, and M1 as my rear height channels.

In the rear, I placed the height channels on top of my
LP rack. As you can see, angled down.

I use angled foam pads to tilt the speakers down towards the listening position to reduce the number of degrees off axis between listening position and speaker. Something else one could do to improve this further is to rotate them upside down. Unfortunately, the grille doesn't quite hold in place upside down as well; an upside-down "SONY" badge still doesn't look too bad if I did this. Also worth exploring placement lying horizontally. As is, they're doing an admirable job with producing a height layer when listening to music and watching movies.

Sony SS-CS5M2 - speakers, small manual, and little plastic stick-on footers in the box.

Bottom line:

The Sony SS-CS5 (Mark 1) and the new Sony SS-CS5M2 (Amazon Canada) perform well as bookshelf speakers worth considering for audiophiles looking for high value.

Online, we'll see reviewers who love these speakers and also the detractors. As with most products, they perform somewhere in the middle and it's up to us to make sure they satisfy our use-cases. For me, they're performing very well as small, clean-sounding, well-imaging, limited frequency range height speakers for a multichannel system.

Wow, it's November already! If you're interested in these speakers, obviously be on the lookout for upcoming Black Friday / holiday sales. (MSRP currently US$200 for the M1 if you can still find them, and US$280 for the M2.)

I hope you're enjoying the music, dear audiophiles.