1978 Sansui retail prices in NYC

BobP

Member
In online ads for vintage audio often manufacturer's list price is used to illustrate how valuable component was ("sold originally for $ xxx.xx in 1978)

But, if memory serves me right, it was possible to buy Sansui and Marantz at huge discounts in NYC in 1978/79.


Does anyone have NYC retail prices for Sansui AU-717 AU-919 TU-717 TU 919 then?
 
Bob- I was 14 back in '78. My older brother bought an AU-717 brand new back then- if I recall correctly, I think he paid about $350 for it, maybe $325. I can ask him as I'm pretty sure he still remembers. I believe he bought it at Crazy Eddie. Uncle Steve's on Canal St was another good place ( I got my Technics SL-D2 turntable there and my brother bought his Teac A-3440 open reel).

I dont know about there being huge discounts, but the prices were decent. I have a whole collection of hi fi mags from that time- there are some ads in the back with prices but not alot and those that are in there, are from states other than NY, I checked one mag and saw a price listing for the Pioneer Line with the most expensive SX-1980 selling for $788 (keeping in mind of course the value of the Dollar/Cost of Living in 1978).

I'm sure that newspapers from that time (such as Uncle Steve's ads in The Village Voice that I recall) listed models and prices but unfortunately I dont have any that I kept from back then. Perhaps if I'm in the library sometime and I'm inclined to do so, I can check the newspaper archives.

Regards, B/F.
 
BobP is mostly right. About all mass-market Hi-Fi was heavily discounted...the SX-1980 being a good example with a list price of about $1300, yet available at 40% discount. Anyone who paid list for any of the Japanese 70's stuff was pretty foolish. For that same reason quoting what a piece of vintage gear sold for new in an attempt to justify a high resale price now is equally fraught with pitfalls for the unwary, including the common "..that's like $3000 in today's dollars" that many sellers love to state.

Thw worth of a piece of vintage gear is only loosely based on its original selling price, which the 40% example of the Pioneer is fairly typical of the discounts available to a savvy shopper (the more inexpensive gear --under $500-- generally had a 30% discount or therabouts).

Base your buying price on what other similar gear is going for, not a 25-year old selling price that has little to do with reality.
 
Price paid for new AU & TU 717

I realize its a late response, but I just found this forum and I thought I'd give you first hand info.

I purchased my AU&TU 717 from Stereo Warehouse (Flatbush, Brooklyn) on Nov 4, 1977.

A few decades of superb sound.....priceless at $519.
 
Did you give Paul (Morden) the serial #'s in the back of your units so that he can add it to his Sansui s/n database?

The AU-717 I have is #: 228011375, a Jan. 78 unit. I bought mine on Ebay about 3 years ago and it works/sounds great. My main tuner is a TU-719, s/n: 849010436, a Jan 79 unit, ditto great looks/sound.

B/F
 
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