Sony Series 5000

Set of high-end separates in very good looking shoebox format - with an itch :

- footprint-people don't buy high-end,
- high-end-people unfortunately don't buy Sony,
- design-people still have a crush on B&O.

The same fate did befall the 1978 Precise P7 and Falcon sets, the 1982 Syscon 353CD and, somewhat differently, the 1991 Scenario S7 and Placido systems - some things obviously never change.

In the # 5000 series, the 10mm front is reminiscent of what was planned for the pre-Esprit and ESPRIT series - the rest is very different. The slabs of aluminium making the sides and top are reminiscent of the Precise P7 units - but the rest is very different :-)

The components are :
TA-F5000 : integrated amplifier
CDP-X5000 : cd player
SS-AL5 and SS-AL5mkII : 'speakers

Optionally, one could add two more components from the Series 3000 set : ST-S3000 tuner and MDS-J3000 recorder.


Unlike what is commonly believed, the # 3000 and # 5000 separates are NOT part of the ES series.
Sony in Germany and, briefly, in France, attempted to unload their stocks more easily, late in time, by adding an ES logo next to the model scripting, and on the cartons, and in the manuals.

This however remained unseen elsewhere, including Japan, and was just plain bad marketing miscalculation : it didn't help sales, as proven by the very japanese sales which didn't need the ES tag to go for big numbers.