в ssp.class.php после catch (PDOException $e) { ... } добавить

$db->exec(set names utf8);
    return $db;

Должно получиться так:

static function sql_connect ( $sql_details )
  {
    try {
      $db = @new PDO(
        mysql:host={$sql_details['host']};dbname={$sql_details['db']},
        $sql_details['user'],
        $sql_details['pass'],
        array( PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE => PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION )
      );
    }
    catch (PDOException $e) {
      self::fatal(
        An error occurred while connecting to the database. .
        The error reported by the server was: .$e->getMessage()
      );
    }
  $db->exec(set names utf8);
    return $db;
  }
</code<