Best and worst sansui speakers.
- Thread starter Locobreth
- Start date
turbid
Active Member
at home we have a set of spx 8500, 4 way speakers, with the massive 17 inch woofer, but frankly speaking i am not impressed with how they sound, but it may be our fault that they dont sound good. Let me explain.
I bought this set dismantled without enclosure, just the drivers, this way i could save quite a lot on postage. the owner sent a couple of pieces of the enclusure as measurment to build the new enclosures on. we thought the enclosures were too narrow for such a woofer, being only 9 inch deep and everything seemed too crammed fitting. so we made them a 2inch deeper, an inch wider and an inch taller, plus we heavily padded the woofer and a brand new set of crossovers was installed. Bass is barely existent, and the woofer has very, very limited excursion. the mids seem overly bright. we may have lost the sonic timbre by enlarging the enclosure, and to be fair, the paper cones are a bit brittle as well.
I have never ever heard these model of speakers so i may have set my expectations too high, seeing the massive woofer. i went with the gut feeling that these would pair well with a bone stock au 999.
this same 999 sounds very good on a set of home made philips with 12 inch woofers, the bass goes much deeper and is much more solid.
I bought this set dismantled without enclosure, just the drivers, this way i could save quite a lot on postage. the owner sent a couple of pieces of the enclusure as measurment to build the new enclosures on. we thought the enclosures were too narrow for such a woofer, being only 9 inch deep and everything seemed too crammed fitting. so we made them a 2inch deeper, an inch wider and an inch taller, plus we heavily padded the woofer and a brand new set of crossovers was installed. Bass is barely existent, and the woofer has very, very limited excursion. the mids seem overly bright. we may have lost the sonic timbre by enlarging the enclosure, and to be fair, the paper cones are a bit brittle as well.
I have never ever heard these model of speakers so i may have set my expectations too high, seeing the massive woofer. i went with the gut feeling that these would pair well with a bone stock au 999.
this same 999 sounds very good on a set of home made philips with 12 inch woofers, the bass goes much deeper and is much more solid.
super98lsc
Well-Known Member
Turbid,
The enclosures are key to driver alignment/tuning. Are the crossovers also the same exact values as factory? If not that is another huge change. To properly design the enclosure you must use the TS parameters for the drivers and work from that. Just making it larger will do all sorts of bad things. Then factoring in the tuned port diameter/length vs the box size = huge impact.
The enclosures are key to driver alignment/tuning. Are the crossovers also the same exact values as factory? If not that is another huge change. To properly design the enclosure you must use the TS parameters for the drivers and work from that. Just making it larger will do all sorts of bad things. Then factoring in the tuned port diameter/length vs the box size = huge impact.
stereofanboy
Addicted Member
That ^^^ said, don't feel bad. Chances are they didn't sound too good in the original cabinets. I know none of the SP X series I've heard sounded very nice. The SPs I've heard were better, but still didn't come close to living up to the Sansui amps and receivers sound quality.
JOMARK911
Super Member
Guys !!! speakers are a very different and biter story than the amps.
It's a whole different thing , with a thousand parameters that change every second.
The easy thing is to built an amp that sounds good. The most difficult thing is to built a speaker , that sounds good. Actually every speaker can sound from horrible to magnificent , given the room.
It's a whole different thing , with a thousand parameters that change every second.
The easy thing is to built an amp that sounds good. The most difficult thing is to built a speaker , that sounds good. Actually every speaker can sound from horrible to magnificent , given the room.
turbid
Active Member
the crossovers have more capactors and are better made and physically larger than those made by sansui, now as for the value of the caps, i'm not sure if they are the same or higher, the crossovers were taken care of by a tech, so i did not pay too much attention.
I believe, from what you told me that the enclosure needs to be redone and see how sound will change. I need to pay more attention to the TS paraments you mentioned and learn more about them.
turbid
Active Member
Nah, I don' t feel bad at all, its a learning curve, which can, at times turn expensive :sigh:
cfowler
Active Member
I finally got around to recapping my AS-100's and cleaning the potentiometers with deoxit and they sound sweet as.
The AS-100's image well but not with the same exactness as my smaller and more recent bookshelf speakers. They fill the space and manage depth and height well but the image wanders a little. The image seems to stabilize a little more at higher volumes.
I am not sure if that is my room, or where I sit, or perhaps a characteristic of the speaker. There certainly is no beaminess but my other speakers including AR19's, Usher S-520's, Atoms V3's or QAcoustics 2020i's are more stable in the imaging area.
After a while I am no longer sure if I am imagining things or not. Do you have any of the same experiences BlueSky?
They are great speaker and each time they have aced out any other speaker after a while, keep coming back to AS-100's.
I dunno:scratch2: I'm betting several models of their early kabuki line would give those things a real run for their money for the best of the worst:yes:.
bluesky
Lunatic Member
??? Best of the worst ???
I've never heard Sansui's APS speakers (console) but I bet they sounded fine. Must have...they were in a stereo console! Most probably Coral AlNiCo speakers, but I don't know for sure.
The earliest, stand alone, Sansui kabuki speakers were made with Coral speakers, of which many early Coral's are 'highly prized' by audiophiles today. * Wish I had a minty pair of those.*
The earliest 'all made by' Sansui kabuki speakers, like the SP-200 and SP-2000, were all AlNiCos and sounded 'outrageous' for 1968-1970. They were highly desired at the time and still sound great today... if you get the right used pair! The SP-2000s were Sansui's 'best seller'.
The 'early' Sansui model speakers sounded great.
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JOMARK911
Super Member
If you want corals you can find many on yahoo jp, various pairs come and go , even the early ones of 68-70, I have bought some pairs of drivers , and a pair of speakers from yahoo.jp, apart from my 929 and sony dat 2000 . Most of the time they are very reasonable priced , but the shipping is quite expensive. For a pair of 15" corals woofers , I paid 5500 yen to buy them and 22200 yen for shipping.
But just not quite as good as the klh 5's that you yourself picked as a better speaker than the sp-x6000s?
Those 6000's you commented on in the speaker forum were made in 78.......I'm thinking that qualifies them as "early".
bluesky
Lunatic Member
But just not quite as good as the klh 5's that you yourself picked as a better speaker than the sp-x6000s?
I'd LOVE to have a 'minty' pair of vintage KLHs or ARs. Especially maybe ARs. :yes:
The AS-100s sound really nice and have a kind of magic sound to them. AlNiCo 10 inch woofer and a super sensitive 'adjustable' tweet. They certainly are 'keepers'. So much so I bought a 3rd spkr off ebay just for spare parts. When I got it, I connected it just to check it out and it sounded fantastic too! Nice speakers.
For Sansui speakers, I like the SP-200, SP-2000 (and SP-3500, which I've never heard but everyone seems to really like them.) models. Also...the SP-L700 which I've never heard but I'd love a pair! Yeah...just try to find spare parts for those! I can't even find a spare W-112 woofer for my AS-300s, which are rare in USA. AS-100s and AS-200s are around. With the AS line, 1970-1972, if you want spare parts you need to buy a whole set of speakers, for parts, when they come up for sale. The good thing: then...you have plenty of spare parts!
I only see like one pair of AS-300s come up for sale like every 2 or 3 years. 100s & 200s every few months or so.
The AS model line is so simply designed, and sound so good, I have no idea why Sansui China just doesn't make new ones. ??? Maybe to old fashion looking... being a 'box' and all. Granted, they would be ferrit vice AlNiCo but that still would be ok. Maybe.
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Yessir:yes: Get yourself some vintage klh (12's, 5's,23's, 6's) or better yet a pair of AR9's and you'd quickly forget about every single pair of sansui speakers you just listedI'd LOVE to have a 'minty' pair of vintage KLHs or ARs. Especially maybe ARs. :yes:
The AS-100s sound really nice and have a kind of magic sound to them. AlNiCo 10 inch woofer and a super sensitive 'adjustable' tweet. They certainly are 'keepers'. So much so I bought a 3rd spkr off ebay just for spare parts. When I got it, I connected it just to check it out and it sounded fantastic too! Nice speakers.
For Sansui speakers, I like the SP-200, SP-2000 (and SP-3500, which I've never heard but everyone seems to really like them.) models. Also...the SP-L700 which I've never heard but I'd love a pair! Yeah...just try to find spare parts for those! I can't even find a spare W-112 woofer for my AS-300s, which are rare in USA. AS-100s and AS-200s are around. With the AS line, 1970-1972, if you want spare parts you need to buy a whole set of speakers, for parts, when they come up for sale. The good thing: then...you have plenty of spare parts!
I only see like one pair of AS-300s come up for sale like every 2 or 3 years. 100s & 200s every few months or so.
The AS model line is so simply designed, and sound so good, I have no idea why Sansui China just doesn't make new ones. ??? Maybe to old fashion looking... being a 'box' and all. Granted, they would be ferrit vice AlNiCo but that still would be ok. Maybe.
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