Sansui SP3500 spkrs

Some people love em and some don't care for them all that much. My thoughts are they're very bass shy, and have a honky overbearing midrange. An eq is essential but it still won't solve all the problems. Cabinetry is top notch and despite all their shortcomings I just can't seem to part with mine.
 
Prefer blondes or brunettes?

As stated , highly subjective!

Some like them, some don't!

A pair with those sexy wood lattice grilles and beautiful cabinets "fooled me" once when I was a young'un, but it didnt take long for the honeymoon to end!

Try to give them a good listen before buying if you can!

As stated elsewhere : "You're the only one that has to like the sound of your system". :yes:
 
if you do buy them...mate them with a sub woofer. and yes they can be bass shy. but its still there. i hear they sound best with tubes.
 
How strange!

The plate on back says (I forget) 14" or 15" woofer. So I did not expect bass deficiency!

Thanks everyone.
 
with these speakers. they have alot of midrange. which can be a good thing at times. its just that the midrange over powers the bass. a result is that they have alot of detail. and they portray a convincing guitar pluckings. and they can play loud and clean when ever you want to. you will notice sounds you never noticed before, with other speakers. i did with the sansui speakers ive had.

they are good speakers. you just fotta find the proper combination of electronics. and like i said they sound best with tubes.
 
My brother has two pair hanging from his garage ceiling. He works on his Harley and sports cars and blasts them out with blues and rock. They do the job, for sure. :music:

I like them. Kind of a 'club' atmosphere in there. So they're not perfect but after 35 years they still sound as good as new.

Rick
 
I got a pair in the shop and found on a good tube amp they do sound good on classical and jaz and some 50's and 60's stuff, on newer music not so good, i ran mine at first with ss gear and almost sold them till i got my sansui 500A repaird, that was like night and day with that amp.Now i run one speaker on a rca sp20 mono block with a one tube pre amp with no tone controls and it sounds real good.
Just play with them and try different amps if possible and you don't need loads of power with them at 100db at 1 watt they drive easy.
 
Can anyone comment on these please?

Very good? Or Kabuki? Other?

the Thing about these is ,

the are designed for the typical japanese apt.

small concrete room.

in such, they work Very Well.

not as well in wood frame houses .

like what we have in the USA.


sansui was the jbl distributor in japan for a long time.

in the right enviroment, they sound like JBL's.
 
with these speakers. they have alot of midrange. which can be a good thing at times. its just that the midrange over powers the bass.

It's not going to take a lot of mid-range to overpower the amount of bass all these 10", 12", 14", and 15" Japanese woofers deliver. 8" Advent, KLH, and AR woofers go deeper, in much smaller boxes.
 
I love my pair. Definitely looking for a powered sub to complement them though - bass is cranked and their output is not sufficient by any means. I got mine for $80 with a couple of small dings on the cabinets, but in overall great shape.
 
the Thing about these is ,

the are designed for the typical japanese apt.

small concrete room.

in such, they work Very Well.

not as well in wood frame houses .

like what we have in the USA.


sansui was the jbl distributor in japan for a long time.

in the right enviroment, they sound like JBL's.

Sound like JBL's? I didn't know that, but maybe that's why they sound so good to me. Thanks for the info.

Edit: I was in Japan back in the days when the speakers were being manufactured. The homes I visited were made of wood! But I never saw a pair of the 3500s in a Japanese house, so it doesn't matter.
 
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If you didn't want to go the subwoofer route, maybe try a BBE-462 sound maximizer off eBay for $75 used. I like em so much I got two. BBE-462s work wonders for base, especially with CDs.
 
I had what I believe to be sp3000's with a Marantz 2325. Had a huge woofer with no bass. They sounded so odd to me that I thought something was wrong with them. Everything checked ok, so I sold them a week later.
 
I'm finally convinced that my fomer 3500's have no sonic merit whatsover. I've been playing around quite a bit with the drivers and crossovers from a pair that I had gutted. I put them in them in a much bigger cabinet hoping to cure the no bass issue but no dice. I unhooked most of the midrange drivers and that helped out somewhat but it's still nasal sounding. I recapped the crossovers as well and now I'm thinking that it's the combination of everything not working well together. It's been a fun learning process but the end result is that a lowly pair of ar4x's readily trounce my former 3500's even with all those modifications. I guess you just can't stretch, mold, and morph a volkswagon beetle into an eldorado. In this case though I would've been happy with an old buick. Live and learn.
 
Motor stereo, What combination of electronics were you using...As with all speakers synergy matters.

Ive personally found that out with the RSa speakers i have...As you probably know bynow they dont have a dedicated midrange drive...BUT when driven withthe right amp I hardly notice a deficiency in the sound...depends on the amp being used. Along with others in teh chain...dont get me wrong...im not saying your system is deficient.
 
I had a pair of 3500s. Liked them quite a bit, until the day I brought home a pair of Mission Argonauts and did an A-B comparison. The 3500s went out the door shortly after.....:yes:
 
I have my 3500's hooked up to a Sansui 1000A. Sounds fine to me but yes I will agree-could use a tad more bass maybe that is because their high end is fantastic and it over powers the low end --- but I get around that with my tone controls.
 
Motor stereo, What combination of electronics were you using...As with all speakers synergy matters.

Ive personally found that out with the RSa speakers i have...As you probably know bynow they dont have a dedicated midrange drive...BUT when driven withthe right amp I hardly notice a deficiency in the sound...depends on the amp being used. Along with others in teh chain...dont get me wrong...im not saying your system is deficient.

Right now I'm using a sansui au9500 because it's the best combination I found when using the 3500's in stock form. Completely removing the overpowering horn midrange unit helped a great deal on the nasty midrange. Taking out the dual horn tweeters and replacing them with one emit helped out on the lack of imaging. Cabinet is about 4 cubic ft. and well braced so there's no excuse for the lack of bass. It's not a question of electronics synergy it's just that I'm trying to do something that isn't possible.
 
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