Just refinsihed a set of rare SP-5500's and....

centsless

centsless

Super Member
set it up with a G-8000 that Dr. Audio (Warren) so nicely recapped for me. Drove hour and half to get 'em and belonged to a nice gentlemen that had them since new. Shipped them from overseas when working for the military as they were never sold in the U.S. These things are BEASTS with each weighing 105lbs.

The cabinets are 1" fiberboard and has its own toe kick. I decided to refinish so stripped and sanded and restained. Sprayed three coats of satin poly for years of protection. The sound is phenomenal and powerful and have it matched with a set of Bose 901 Continentals and both are playing thru 901 eq.

I decided to share as it's a rare combo...:music: Enjoy pics...:thmbsp:
 

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stereofanboy said:
They look great, but I gotta ask, do they sound better through the Bose EQ than just straight?
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I only play them at lower volumes thru the eq. It's similar to a "loudness" button for them and sounds really good thru it. Anything over 11 o'clock on volume and I would just switch to them only. It is so powerful and rich; at at 9 o'clock position; it fills the great room with sound that is clear and loud. These are certainly the best that Sansui made in that time period. Here is the specs.....

This is a four-way system with six individual drivers, including a 15" woofer, a large midrange horn, 2 cone-type midrange speakers, and two horn tweeters. The 15" woofer has a massive 7" magnet, a copper voice coil, and a high-quality brass bobbin. It also employs a special voice coil assembly that operates as a high-cut filter, thereby eliminating the need for low frequency crossover. In addition to the large horn midrange driver, it has dual 5" midrange speakers that employ special aluminum concave radiators for smooth response over the entire range. The dual aluminum horn tweeters are coupled to an acoustical lens. There are dual 3-position switches on the back for high and low range sound tailoring to room acoustics and personal tastes.
 
Great job!

Did you use the original wires or put new ones in?

If new ones:
What size for:
1. tweets
2. mids
3. woofer
 
bluesky said:
Great job!

Did you use the original wires or put new ones in?

If new ones:
What size for:
1. tweets
2. mids
3. woofer
Click to expand...

Hi Blue and thanks.... all original wiring and in great shape. Well thought out as crossover is on back panel with slide clips for wires so super easy to recap when ready. Still can't get over how nice the construction of these cabinets are. He paid a good coin to ship these back in the day and I can see why he did it.

The great room that it plays in is 30'x 24' with 16' cathedral ceilings. With the 901's in the outside corners and up high and those in the center, the sound is powerful, filling, and cyrstal clear.
 
bd1886 said:
Those are tough to find. (A friend of mine has a pair and went through a lot to get them.)
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They weren't sold in the U.S. is why. I was lucky to find these as the seller had them for sale for a month before I found them. He only sold them because he lived in a smaller ranch and at 67...was a pain to move them around anymore.
It was fun and rewarding to refinish them and make them like new.
 
Nice Score!
Were these the ones for sale in central PA for a while? I remember seeing them and thinking about taking a trip from Ohio as well to pick them up. That midrange horn on those looks like a beast. I wonder how they compare to SP-300's which are one of my favorite speakers from any manufacturer. I'd highly recommend recapping those SP-5500's, it made an enormous difference in the SP-300's I have. It really cleared up the horn tweeters and opened up the big midrange horn as well as tightening up the bass. Post recap they even hold their own very nicely A-B'd against my recapped Cornwalls. Enjoy!
 
crustex said:
Nice Score!
Were these the ones for sale in central PA for a while? I remember seeing them and thinking about taking a trip from Ohio as well to pick them up. That midrange horn on those looks like a beast. I wonder how they compare to SP-300's which are one of my favorite speakers from any manufacturer. I'd highly recommend recapping those SP-5500's, it made an enormous difference in the SP-300's I have. It really cleared up the horn tweeters and opened up the big midrange horn as well as tightening up the bass. Post recap they even hold their own very nicely A-B'd against my recapped Cornwalls. Enjoy!
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Yes they were. Thanks for letting me buy them!..:) The mid horn is all metal and 19' wide...it is a beast. I have never heard the SP-300's but I see they are 40 lbs....these are 105 lbs. I have a pair of SP-2000's that aren't even close so I am still shocked when I play these bad boys.
Recaps are coming soon but no hurry as they sound wonderful.
 
Actually the SP-300's are 85 pounds and alot larger than SP-2000's or similar size Sansui speakers. The drivers are very unique with 4 cylindrical slug shaped magnets per driver as opposed to a round disc. I am imagining the SP-5500's as a hybrid of the SP-2500 design mixed with the SP-300 with the large horn as well as the cone drivers. How is the bass response on those? I'm wondering because I've had the SP-3500's which don't go much lower than 60hz but the SP-300's with their larger enclosure and massive port go have a good low bass response down to around 40hz without any problems and the SP-5500 looks to have a woofer very similar to the SP-3500's.
 
crustex said:
Actually the SP-300's are 85 pounds and alot larger than SP-2000's or similar size Sansui speakers. The drivers are very unique with 4 cylindrical slug shaped magnets per driver as opposed to a round disc. I am imagining the SP-5500's as a hybrid of the SP-2500 design mixed with the SP-300 with the large horn as well as the cone drivers. How is the bass response on those? I'm wondering because I've had the SP-3500's which don't go much lower than 60hz but the SP-300's with their larger enclosure and massive port go have a good low bass response down to around 40hz without any problems and the SP-5500 looks to have a woofer very similar to the SP-3500's.
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Here it is in all it's glory... Mechanical high-cut and high-compliance woofer-

An ingenious design which permits by-passing the crossover network and thus avoiding adverse damping effects. Adopted on the connecting construction between the woofer's voice coil bobbin and cone paper, this unique design abruptly attenuates the high end of the speaker's frequency response. As a result, the output signal of the amplifier is now directly- and not via such damping-deteriorating elements as coils and capacitors- fed into the woofer.

Consequently the woofer offers a very smooth frequency response even a very low frequencies, facilitating the reproduction of extremely well damped rich bass sound. Besides its mechanical high cut design, the woofer offers a big 15 inch cone speaker which reproduces very low frequencies below 35 Hz with excellent frequency response, intermodulation distortion and dispersion characteristics; a powerful magnetic circuit for steady piston action with superior transient response even in the face of the biggest allowable power input, and a copper wire voice coil and a brass coil bobbin, for excellent heat diffusion and strength and the ability to withstand a big 120 watts in maximum power input.
 
centsless said:
Here it is in all it's glory... Mechanical high-cut and high-compliance woofer-

An ingenious design which permits by-passing the crossover network and thus avoiding adverse damping effects. Adopted on the connecting construction between the woofer's voice coil bobbin and cone paper, this unique design abruptly attenuates the high end of the speaker's frequency response. As a result, the output signal of the amplifier is now directly- and not via such damping-deteriorating elements as coils and capacitors- fed into the woofer.

Consequently the woofer offers a very smooth frequency response even a very low frequencies, facilitating the reproduction of extremely well damped rich bass sound. Besides its mechanical high cut design, the woofer offers a big 15 inch cone speaker which reproduces very low frequencies below 35 Hz with excellent frequency response, intermodulation distortion and dispersion characteristics; a powerful magnetic circuit for steady piston action with superior transient response even in the face of the biggest allowable power input, and a copper wire voice coil and a brass coil bobbin, for excellent heat diffusion and strength and the ability to withstand a big 120 watts in maximum power input.
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Man you should have been a Sansui Sales person, you have some enthusiasm. I love those lattice grills, and you know I think I have one of the few models that didn't get those nice grills.
 
Ken Boyd said:
Man you should have been a Sansui Sales person, you have some enthusiasm. I love those lattice grills, and you know I think I have one of the few models that didn't get those nice grills.
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That is what I was thinking as I typed that off the rare pamphlet that I got for this speaker!..lol But hey, I figured they could explain it much better than me.....:yes:

As far as the lattice grills go....being curved is what makes then so bad azz. I would have liked to see how they done that as most wood is steamed to curve it.
 
I've been given,dropped on,and "help out" friends in need purchasing a few pair of Sansui speaks. With the speaks I have now, a pair of Sansui SP-200s' actually sound decent and still need to be compared to a pair of SP-3500s',SP-2000s', and SP-5500Xs''. All those will be gifted and if I ever find a pair of SP-5500s'....never. They have a sound that is unique, very nice, and the accumulative perfection of every "curved/flat egg crate beauty" type of speaker combined. The pinnacle and spellbindingly beautiful. (I look and they just aren't out there.)

Congrats.......really feels good to see someone find these!!:)
 
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Beautiful! I've always wanted a pair of SP-5500's....I had a couple pair of SP-3500's back when I first started out in the hobby but I ended up finding speakers that sounded better to my ears ( not that I didn't like the Sansui sound, mind you ). I've always loved their beautiful cabinets! :thmbsp:
 
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