Partially true, however the real Sansui had already decontented their product and reputstion by the late 1980's by making a lot of substandard plastic gear. Admittedly, this could.be seen as a necessary move down-market as the public demand for hifi and changing economic conditions made the continued mass-production of the type of gear that made them legendary impractical.
While the high end product line remained extant, it was reserved for the Japanese domestic market, as Sansui had pulled out of North America and other [previously] major export markets by the early 90's. There was demand for the type of high end amps Sansui was offering in the JDM, but still not enough to make it a profitable endeavor. Since the mass-market gear is we're the profits are made, and they abandoned the mass market, they were doomed from that point onward.
Those who carried on the tradition of true hifi at Sansui until it's closure are worthy of admiration for their efforts, but regrettably they were simply coasting over the edge of a cliff by pursuing these "vanity" projects that couldn't be counted on to make the company profitable. Maybe that's all they could do under the circumstances, or perhaps there was some hope of reestablishing the brand on a larger scale at some point, and they simply ran out of time and money to bring such plans to fruition.
A distinction is made, of course, between the real Sansui of pre 2000 or so, versus the use of the name by different corporate owners who took it on after Sansui Electric Co. Ltd. closed up. I don't know the exact circumstances of the closure, whether it was an orderly wind-down, or if a bankruptcy/liquidation. took place, but it doesn't really matter as that was the end of Sansui as those of us here think of it.
What came after was the fate of so many previously admired brands. The name came to be used on on cheap stuff with no relation to the original company to try and capitalize on the former well earned reputation it held. Eventually, this business practice destroys the good reputation so that even the name has little residual value. That's where it stands now.
I really see no way they could ever come back, as the first step would be for a group of interested and well fudned investors to buy back the rights to the name, which would be quite costly I'm sure. Then a new company would need to be established and staffed to start design and manufacture. Since little of the staff that worked at Sansui when it closed almost 20 years ago now would likely be available or interested in returning (I would guess many are retired now simply due to age) who would pickup where the last designs left off? A tall order especially if the detailed design data for the last generation of amps has been lost to history. With enough effort they could be recreated and improved on, but there is simply no reason for it now, as the type of market needed to sustain such an operation doesn't exist. When even a well diversified big player like Pioneer has pulled back from that segment of the market, it just isn't worth pursuing.
The original Sansui left a legacy of exceptional gear, with build quality that ensured longevity well beyond what would be expected of consumer electronics. That has contributed to a continuing interest in - and a healthy market for - the gear they made from the late 50's until their demise as a going concern.
There's a LOT of gear out there, really almost a startling amount, considering how long it's been since these units were made and how disposable our society is (speaking from an American perspective in any case) so we can continue to restore and enjoy what was done decades ago. And that will have to be good enough, as the conditions under which that gear was created will never exist again by any means I can see from a 2018 point of view.
