Sansui Speakers

I bought a pair from Service Merchandise in the 80's. I can't recall the model but they were like the line radio shack and pioneer sold. Very dull sound as I remember
 
Is there any successful treatment for the hardening surrounds on these?

I have a pair of SP-1500s that I just ordered caps for (I liked the sound of the dome tweeters better than the horns), and I noticed that the surrounds were rather stiff.

Good question, and this has been brought up several times over the years. I started a thread on this topic and another member followed through and tested it on his Sansui woofers. In his opinion the results were good and he did a good job of documenting his procedures. Hopefully this will help some of the Sansui owners.

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...ning-hardened-cloth-speaker-surrounds.846570/
 
The SP5500X's I had definitely had some stiff surrounds, and probably would have benefitted from a redope. I did some averaged frequency sweeps when I first got them (granted, with a not flat mic in a not flat room), and the bass sharply cuts off around 120Hz. 80Hz at -3dB from 1kHz, 70Hz at -5B, and 58Hz at -10dB. Bear in mind my mic starts to gently roll off around 200Hz and I'm correcting it with a basic +6dB/oct at 100Hz. I have a copy of the original flyer, which shows a gentler roll-off occuring around 80Hz, and I'd guesstimate the -10dB point as being around the high 40's-assuming the curve wasn't just made up on the spot and that my mic correction is spot on. Still pretty lean for a 15" woofer, but it could show that the driver has lost some of its flexibility over the years. I doubt it was ever designed to have much excursion-much like how the old Caddy's used biiiiig V8's for smoothness and not raw horsepower, Sansui and others likely used the big driver to get a lot of sound without a lot of excursion (and thus distortion). Given that the Klipsch Heresy is also famously lean on the bass and famously efficient, I’d just accept it as part of the sound and not fret too much about it. To me, it’s part of the charm.
 

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I recently acquired (was given) a pair of Sansui SP-1700's. I was not very impressed with the overall sound. I spent some time reading about the speakers and decided to re-cap them before I got rid of them to a friend. Once inside the speakers I noticed that the mid drivers (squakers) were wired out of phase as compared to the tweeter and the woofer. (on both of the speakers) On the back of the crossover, the terminals for the woofers, squakers, and tweeters are clearly makers with + and -...and the speakers themselves are marked with positive and negative terminals. The negative terminal on the crossover was connected to the positive terminal on the back of the squaker enclosure, and the positive terminal connected to the negative. So I swapped them. I wonder if it was just a mistake in the factory or would they be wired out of phase on purpose?

Since I had the speakers apart, I also removed the cardboard port tubes. (something I read about on one of the forums)anyway, when I got them back together the sound had improved dramatically. Prior to my tweeks they had almost no bass. I had to run the bass control on my amp at nearly full to get appreciable bass out of these speakers. After these changes I now run the bass control at about 1 pm and I have decent bass, and the mids now sound very realistic. Tom Petty's Wildflowers album sounded very detailed, esp the vocals.

So if you are an owner of the sausui Sp-1700 you mkight want to check the mid drivers to see if they are out of phase.
 
I recently acquired (was given) a pair of Sansui SP-1700's. I was not very impressed with the overall sound. I spent some time reading about the speakers and decided to re-cap them before I got rid of them to a friend. Once inside the speakers I noticed that the mid drivers (squakers) were wired out of phase as compared to the tweeter and the woofer. (on both of the speakers) On the back of the crossover, the terminals for the woofers, squakers, and tweeters are clearly makers with + and -...and the speakers themselves are marked with positive and negative terminals. The negative terminal on the crossover was connected to the positive terminal on the back of the squaker enclosure, and the positive terminal connected to the negative. So I swapped them. I wonder if it was just a mistake in the factory or would they be wired out of phase on purpose?

Since I had the speakers apart, I also removed the cardboard port tubes. (something I read about on one of the forums)anyway, when I got them back together the sound had improved dramatically. Prior to my tweeks they had almost no bass. I had to run the bass control on my amp at nearly full to get appreciable bass out of these speakers. After these changes I now run the bass control at about 1 pm and I have decent bass, and the mids now sound very realistic. Tom Petty's Wildflowers album sounded very detailed, esp the vocals.

So if you are an owner of the sausui Sp-1700 you mkight want to check the mid drivers to see if they are out of phase.


and so after spending some time reading about 3 way speaker design...apparently it is common to have the mid drivers wired out of phase...so I opened up the sansui speaers..put them back to original...and they sound even better now...lol
 
What does removal of the port tube do for the speaker?
Is it not sized properly?

I also question the depth and width of the port tube (more accurately - a port ring...) on my SP-50's as well. It seems to only be a hair deeper than the "baffle board" itself, and looks a bit too wide for what is meant for.

What is really bizarre is that area on the baffle board around the "mouth" of the tube had a thin, foam ring - reminiscent of the rings you sometimes see around tweeters - mounted to the surface which makes no sense to me.


ETA - my port "ring" is not removable in that Sansui inserted the plastic ring in the hole and then used a staple to staple it - from inside the ring itself - to the baffle. Talk about fiddly attention to build quality...
 
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What does removal of the port tube do for the speaker?
Is it not sized properly?

well...it is hard to say as I did two tweaks at the same time. I removed the port cardboard tubes and I partially removed some of the speaker dope with acetone. Before I did these tweaks, I would have to run the bass control at between +6 to +8 (+10 is the maximum setting on my amp) to get any decent bass out of these speakers, After the tweaks, I run the bass at +2 and I have plenty of bass. I canno tsay which tweak did the most. I suspect it was treating the surround.

I should reinsert the port tubes and see if I get a reduction in bass. I will try that tonight when I get home and report back!
 
After reading this thread I had dig out my SP70s. I dont really care for the multi driver Sansuis but these 8in two ways in a big cabinet that is freaking heavily built sound amazing. In the pics they are on top of my Optimus 5s. And they go toe to toe with them.

20190325_152618.jpg 20190325_152734.jpg 20190325_152650.jpg
 
OK. I thought that I havd enough speakers, but now I have to look for some 10-series Sansuis.

Like many speakers from the 70s that did not look exotic or have huge woofers etc they did not sell very well. Who wants an 8 in two way when for $25 more you can score some sweet looking units with 6 drivers and 12 in woofer? No matter that most had woofers way too big for their cabinet size and all those drivers smear the sound like crazy.

The SP70 is a simple two way speakers with a great size cabinet and 8in woofer. Great bass and accurate sound.
 
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Like many speakers from the 70s that did not look exotic or have huge woofers etc they did not sell very well. Who wants an 8 in two way when for $25 more you can score some sweet looking units with 6 drivers and 12 in woofer? No matter that most had woofers way too big for their cabinet size and all those drivers smear the sound like crazy.

The SP70 is a simple two way speakers with a great size cabinet and 8in woofer. Great bass and accurate sound.
I can't remember, and I apologize if you've posted it previously. But did you ever get your SP 70s recapped? Just curious
 
Time and again, I'm always slightly fascinated by the outrageous maximalist approach of these things. I don't think I'd want to own a set, even if given to me for free (although I've been tempted and did indeed bite the bullet with the SP5500X's), but I'd love to just dissect another pair of Sansui's or Kenwoods and put them against my KLH's or my Polks. Y'know, for science.
 
Time and again, I'm always slightly fascinated by the outrageous maximalist approach of these things. I don't think I'd want to own a set, even if given to me for free (although I've been tempted and did indeed bite the bullet with the SP5500X's), but I'd love to just dissect another pair of Sansui's or Kenwoods and put them against my KLH's or my Polks. Y'know, for science.

I have a pair of SP-3005, which have a 12" woofer in an appropriately sized enclosure, with three mids, and two tweeters. Should sound like a big confused mess, but it sounds a lot better than that.

I recently put out my feelers for a pair of the big woofer late 70s Sansuis, and came back with a pair of SP-X8000 speakers. Top of the line "Kabuki" in the year I was born. A friend of mine is going to bring them to me from another city, and I'll get to learn what makes them tick. The woofers are huge, and they're full of gimmicks - I'm thinking they're more like an enormous ghetto blaster than a real stereo, but that's kind of why I want to play with them.

Finally, I have a pair of SP-10 - tiny bookshelf speakers with a full range 6.5" driver. They sound quite nice for what they are.

I get the impression that there's a few eras of Sansui. I read that the company experienced a big scandal, involving labor relations, a drug deal gone bad, and the Japanese mafia, which resulted in the resignation of their founder in the mid 1970s. Products made after this point in time seem to be much cheapened and less focused on sound quality, than those made before the resignation. Apparently he wouldn't let anything out the door without listening to it first, but after he was gone, quality took a nose dive, with new management looking to maximize profit and sales instead of make high quality sound equipment. I think speakers were the earliest casualty of this shift in corporate philosophy, with amplifiers staying high quality a few years longer.

You can easily tell the shift in quality from the SP-0000 series to the SP-X0000 series, when you see the enclosures went from real wood to vinyl veneer on particle board, woofer magnets went from being very generously sized to being tiny for the size of the woofers, and crossovers went from elegant PC board designs, to a mess of glue and solder on a piece of plywood. The later speakers don't even have a low pass filter on the woofers, while the early ones have a 12dB/octave filter. I personally think both eras of product are interesting, but for sound quality alone I'd be cautious about buying anything with an X in the model number. On the other hand, the X series has the most outrageous looks, and some of the largest woofers I've ever seen in domestic hifi speakers!
 
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I can't remember, and I apologize if you've posted it previously. But did you ever get your SP 70s recapped? Just curious

Nope, I dont think they need it yet. They dont sound muffled or anything like that. When hooked to my Yamaha 1040 they can be piercing on the top end. I am expecting two more receivers this week and I will try them with the SP 70s. A Kenwood KR 8010 (125wpc) and MCS 3260. Should be fun. I not found anything they dont sound good with. I am actually keeping the Sansuis and am selling my A 25s.
 
Nope, I dont think they need it yet. They dont sound muffled or anything like that. When hooked to my Yamaha 1040 they can be piercing on the top end. I am expecting two more receivers this week and I will try them with the SP 70s. A Kenwood KR 8010 (125wpc) and MCS 3260. Should be fun. I not found anything they dont sound good with. I am actually keeping the Sansuis and am selling my A 25s.

Those grey ELNA caps Sansui used in the 70s seem to last better than many of the competitive brands from the same era.
 
Those grey ELNA caps Sansui used in the 70s seem to last better than many of the competitive brands from the same era.

I will have to open them up and take a look and see what they are. I am in the camp of "if it aint broke, dont fix it" so I am no hurry. Man they are heavy though!
 
I will have to open them up and take a look and see what they are. I am in the camp of "if it aint broke, dont fix it" so I am no hurry. Man they are heavy though!

I tend to replace crossover caps, because it's usually almost an insignificant amount of cost and effort to do it. With amps I am less eager. I'm kind of curious what kind of crossover Sansui put into those - my guess is you have a maximum of two caps per speaker to change.
 
I tend to replace crossover caps, because it's usually almost an insignificant amount of cost and effort to do it. With amps I am less eager. I'm kind of curious what kind of crossover Sansui put into those - my guess is you have a maximum of two caps per speaker to change.

I would bet you are right. I cant get to it today and probably not tomorrow but I will try before the end of the week to open them up and take some pics.
 
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