Sansui 5500

thumper69 I live in Elizabethtown and used to have a 5500. I traded to another guy in E town that deals in vintage gear. I got it at goodwill and if I remember correctly it had a SSN etched on it so I’m sure I belonged to service member.
 
thumper69 I live in Elizabethtown and used to have a 5500. I traded to another guy in E town that deals in vintage gear. I got it at goodwill and if I remember correctly it had a SSN etched on it so I’m sure I belonged to service member.
Mine has zero marks of any kind. Not even a scratch on the wood case. Only factory stickers and numbers, none have been added by any previous owners. I would like to hear it's story though.
 
Models like the 5500 and 7000 are a bit of an enigma. They don't fit well in our understanding of the US distribution model. Some think they were unique to the Military PX. There is also a possibility of secondary US distribution. At this time, the US stereo market operated with very aggressive pricing and very low margins. Many outlets would guarantee price match with competitors. Having alternate models like these allowed chain stores to have models that weren't in direct competition with the main stream distribution. The AU/TU 710 probably fall into this category too. This is purely a theory, I have no real evidence to back it up.

I've added the serial numbers in this tread to the database February upload file.

- Pete
 
Pete, I like your theory on the 5500/7000.they really don't fit in any of the established receiver series we normally speak of here. Is it your thinking that the 5500 and 7000 are related models, and constitute a series of their own then? There is also the 3300, which looks to be part of that group of models.

I've long been of the understanding that the AU/TU-710 were rebadged 717's just for the armed forces exchanges. Why they bothered to do that I don't know as it appears the 717 versions were also sold in exchanges at some point. I've seen no evidence that the 710 variants were sold at regular retail or even mail order. They are very uncommon, an apparently not many were produced.

Incidental to this side discussion is the small Classique (model number escapes me now, 2020 maybe?) reciever discussed here some months ago, which was a rebadged 221 with cosmetic tweaks apparently made for sale at some retailers as part of a bundle of inexpensive gear. Almost like a precursor to the infamous rack systems that were prevalent in the mid 80's.
 
I've haven't done any kind of direct circuit comparison between these models. The 7000 kind of fits as a follow up to the 1000/2000/3000/4000/5000 series. The 3300, 3500 and 5500 just don't fit. You can find Sansui Brochure/catalogs from 1969 and 1975 on line. We need information between these point in time. I tried to upload a Navy PX brochure from the era in question but the file size is too big. It shows the 800 ($129), 1000X ($140), 2000X ($154), Eight ($258) and 7000 ($228). The 7000 gets a 1/2 page display, the others just get 1/4 page. The specs posted in this brochure don't comply to the FCC requirements so this brochure was published before May 1974.

To put these prices in perspective, the $129 800 in 1973 dollars is equivalent to $733 in today's money. The $258 Eight would be a whopping $1,466 today. Also keep in mind these prices were well below retail. This stuff was seriously expensive in it's day.

- Pete
 
Hi
Just purchased 5500 from original owners spouse, asked if he had been in the service an the answer was yes
 
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