Sony SS-AL5
Sony SS-AL5 Mk2
SS-AL3
(1996 -1999)

Collabortion between Arflex of Italy and Sony of Japan.
Successful collaboration, very successful, because the SS-AL5 sold very well. Even if mainly in Japan...

Silk-coated Kevlar drivers, strong, shielded magnets, thick filter coil wires and high quality parts for said filter - all enclosed in a very thick enclosure designed to avoid diffractions. Surprising little speakers, surprising and... successful.

The SS-AL-3 mainly parts with the carved enclosure and high-end drivers (Polypropylene instead of Kevlar) but retains the magnetic fluid damping of the tweeter and the one-piece diaphragm/edge structure. Not as successful as the AL5 but there are plenty of them in Japan.

The SS-AL5 was upgraded as SS-AL5 Mk2 later on (with revised drivers) and that version sold even better than the original ! Shown here is the original SS-AL5 but the Mk2 is essentially, visually, identical.

The SS-AL5 Mk2 is about the same as the SS-A5 La Voce masterpiece : you can blindly spit on Sony loudspeakers all you want... until you've heard those in the long run. Then you'll revise your blind judgement, and very quickly.

Click the "more" button below for the complete description of the AL5 and AL3's features, PLUS a 2001 review from Hifi News & Record Review !!