Sansui SP-L Series Speakers

larry777

Active Member
Who has this series speakers and what can you say about them ? Do you like the sound ?
These are more rare than the SP and SPX series so just wondering how many people own them or listened to them. Has anyone ever recapped any of these speakers ? What information do you have about this series ? Any comments would be welcome.
 
I Wish I had a minty pair of SP-L700s. Those are my dream speakers, I think, never heard them.

L800s & L900s would be 'a bit to powerfully overwhelming' for my needs. :) I only have a home, not an auditorium. lol.

I've heard folks who know (including Stene) say that they are some of Sansui's very (very)best, comparable to JBLs, but I've never heard any of the 'L' series myself.

They rarely come up for sale. In the last 12 years, in USA and Japan, I've seen 2 pair of L700s and 1 pair of L800s come up for sale. In USA: 1 pair of L700s and 1 pair of L800s were 'Local Pickup' only.

I'd love a pair, but in all seriousness... maybe too rare, for spare parts, if you know what I mean - if you needed them. Been there, done that, played that game - it's not fun. Rare speakers have rare impossible to find parts... like if you needed a new woofer - forget it. Pretty big cabinets to be sitting in the closet for years.

But super fine Sansui speakers !!!!

Rarest Sansui speakers (seems to me): AS-300, SP-L700, and even more so the SP-L800, and the even super more so super rarer SP-L900. I've never even heard of anyone who even had a pair of SP-L900s - ever. Never seen a pair for sale, anywhere in the world. Can't even find a one photo of them on the internet, in any international search engine (image). It's like they don't exist. Maybe they don't. But... there is a Sansui Brochure on them! They must be monsters.

Hope this helps. :)
 
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I Wish I had a minty pair of SP-L700s. Those are my dream speakers, I think, never heard them.

L800s & L900s would be 'a bit to powerfully overwhelming' for my needs. :) I only have a home, not an auditorium. lol.

I've heard folks who know (including Stene) say that they are some of Sansui's very (very)best, comparable to JBLs, but I've never heard any of the 'L' series myself.

They rarely come up for sale. In the last 12 years, in USA and Japan, I've seen 2 pair of L700s and 1 pair of L800s come up for sale. In USA: 1 pair of L700s and 1 pair of L800s were 'Local Pickup' only.

I'd love a pair, but in all seriousness... maybe too rare, for spare parts, if you know what I mean - if you needed them. Been there, done that, played that game - it's not fun. Rare speakers have rare impossible to find parts... like if you needed a new woofer - forget it. Pretty big cabinets to be sitting in the closet for years.

But super fine Sansui speakers !!!!

Rarest Sansui speakers (seems to me): AS-300, SP-L700, and even more so the SP-L800, and the even super more so super rarer SP-L900. I've never even heard of anyone who even had a pair of SP-L900s - ever. Never seen a pair for sale, anywhere in the world. Can't even find a one photo of them on the internet, in any international search engine (image). It's like they don't exist. Maybe they don't. But... there is a Sansui Brochure on them! They must be monsters.

Hope this helps. :)

What he said exactly. EXCEPT. i HAVE heard both SPL700 SPL 800 and i believe 700 are a nuch better choice for medium rooms. 800's are very big with dual 12 inch woofers suffering in the mids. 900's never seen them , never even knew their existence , seen a brochure here in AK i think . Dual 15 inch woofers ? wow.
 
Also from my quests in yahoo.jp i've found out that the SPL series , were sold in japan as SPG series. SPG200=700 SPG300=800 , SPG500 = SPL 900.
Never saw one SPG 500 for sale , even in yahoo.jp.
 
I have a pair of the SP-L500 speakers. They are a three way three speaker system with a 12 inch cone Woofer that has a long-travel voice coil, a 6 1/2" cone Midrange in its own separate enclosure and a 2 1/4" Rear Drive Horn Tweeter. The tweeter and midrange have separate high temperature type continuously-adjustable potentiometers with ceramic bases to adjust the sound for each driver.
Frequency range is 27 to 45,000Hz. Sensitivity is 92db and Impedance is 8 ohm. Dimensions are 15 3/16" Wide, 26 5/8" High and 16 5/8" Deep and they weigh 61.7 lbs each. Build quality is excellent and the cabinets have cross bracing inside. They are finished in thick walnut veneer and have the Kumiko Grilles and the Sansui emblem at the bottom. Under the Woofer is a wooden L shaped duct for bass reflex. I bought them in 1978 when I purchased my Sansui AU-717 and I have to say they do sound excellent. But I was always curious as to who else may have speakers from this line. I don't know of anyone else who has these speakers and I remember that I had to order them in at the time of purchase. I have the original 8 page color brochure and it also has the SP-L300 and SP-L 200 models listed with all the details. If you run across a set of these speakers it would be worth while picking them up.
 
I picked up a pair of the smallest (i think) L series today at a thrift store, SP-L100. They were still in the basement and had not hit the floor yet. Really good overall condition, grills intact, no pushed in dust covers. Of course they need surrounds but I will get to that over the winter. Heavy for an 8" 2 way. Seem to have solid cabinets. From the little info I can find it looks like they share the same tweeter as the L150 and maybe some of the other models??
 
I picked up a pair of the smallest (i think) L series today at a thrift store, SP-L100. They were still in the basement and had not hit the floor yet. Really good overall condition, grills intact, no pushed in dust covers. Of course they need surrounds but I will get to that over the winter. Heavy for an 8" 2 way. Seem to have solid cabinets. From the little info I can find it looks like they share the same tweeter as the L150 and maybe some of the other models??
It will be interesting to hear how the SP-L100 speakers sound when you are ready to test them. I didn't have to replace the surrounds on my SP-L500 speakers because they have the doped cloth surrounds and they don't have to be changed. Let us know how the speakers sound when you are finished testing them.
 
Ive had a pair of SP-L150s which I bought new in 1978, together with an AU217 and TU217. Great combination. It's still with me now. Replaced the woofer surrounds with rubber (not foam) about 12 years ago.
In mid 2017, I recapped the 2nd Order 12db crossover and replaced the internal wires. Sansui used two electro caps in series each for the tweeter and 10 inch Woofer bypass. I replaced them with a single Dayton 1% film cap each. Also replaced the pad around the tweeter cone. Am extremely pleased with the result.
I understand that the drivers used in the SP-L series was manufactured by JBL. If so, it explains the excellent quality of this range.
BLAH2, I would grab that L150. You won't regret it.
 
Hola, adquirí unos sansui SP L150, el año 2018 y estoy muy satisfecho con el sonido entregado, esta serie SPL para mi es igual a JBL. Sucedió en ese tiempo algo que Sansui fabricara esta serie SPL con controladores de JBL. El Mismo tweeter que JBL L100 century, L60 etc. con un corte de frecuencia hasta los 50 hertz. Excelente tweeter o agudos. Esta serie es la mejor de sansui. Las demás series SPX son cajas duras.
 
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