I found this Sansui 2000 and I wonder if it's worth it...

[bartekm]

Hi there,

I was looking for some interesting vintage electronics in Ibarra, Ecuador, where I'm currently living and I found Sansui Model 2000.

I went to see it, it's working well, every potentiometer/knob does the job. It has some scratches on it though.
The guy asks $140. I think I could get down to $120, maybe $110.
But I'd like to know some opinions of experts.

Here are some photos I took: http://bit.ly/1RaDGPU

Tell me what you think. I appreciate that.

Thanks,
Bartek

PS. I don't have any experience with Sansui so far.

 

[Sansuiman]

The 2000 is a nice little receiver, solidly built and a good performer overall. I personally think the later 2000A and 2000X variants are slightly better in design and sound quality. That said, I don't know anything about the general level of availability of vintage gear in Ecuador so this may be a rare opportunity for you to purchase locally there (or not, depending on how much is readily available locally and whether you are willing to import gear from elsewhere). If the prices you posted are in USD then $120-140 is not too bad a price if everything works. Of course, pricing is also affected by availability. If selection is thin in a given area, prices will generally be higher than in the US where we are quite lucky to have a large quantity of vintage kit for sale.

I'm sure others will chime in with good input here.

Kevin

 

[bartekm]

Thanks, Kevin, appreciate that.

Due to high import taxes, the prices are crazy here. Also, there is not much vintage stuff. For instance in the olx.ec (which is the default site if you want to put an advert for selling a used item), there are only 3 pieces of audio equipment by Sansui. So availability is next to zero, I think. The problem is the demand may also be next to 0.

Thanks!

 

[Sansuiman]

I kind of suspected that. Seems the biggest markets (and thereby supply available presently) were US/Canada, Western Europe and Japan though not certain if it was always in that order. Clealry later models (1990 onward) were not heavily exported if at all so are found mostly in Japan.

Looking at old literature (servicing agent listings and the like) Sansui did sell internationally for a number of years. But, the respective economies of various countries would have had an impact on how much was sold new and in turn how much is still around for second hand sales today.

It seems by way of anecdotal evidence that there was much less product sold anywhere in South and Central America by an order of magnitude than even places like Australia which do have a decent but certainly not large quantity of vintage gear available. Much of Eastern Europe also suffers from limited local selection as well since a lot of it was under Soviet control during Sansui's peak production era so likely little to none was sold there new and had to be imported later after those countries opened their economies again in the late 1980's and early 90's. Add to that that many of these countries had economies that were in a terrible state then so buying luxuries like Hi-Fi wasn't a priority in any case.

Which, I suppose, leads me to say that this 2000 may be one of the better opportunities you will have to pick up a nice vintage receiver without the cost and hassle of importing it. For what it's worth, unless you have previously owned much larger and more powerful models, I don't think you will be disappointed in the 2000. It is a solid, high quality piece with plenty of power for a listening room or just for casual background music in an average residence. With speakers of even average efficiency it can get loud enough to run you out of the room. I have a little 350A receiver in my brother's workshop that is less output than the 2000 and it is plenty strong with some 8" full range utility speakers.

I'd say try to get the price down to $110 if possible. If not, $120 or so is still fair under the circumstances and considering the condition. Good luck!

Kevin

 

[Djcoolray]

It's seems by way of Internet inquiry that the low ball price is $150, so anything lower than that is a savings !

 

[bartekm]

@Sansuiman: Kevin, this is great. I was just looking something I could connect my computer to (through external USB audio interface), anything, and I came across this beautiful piece which made me search into vintage Hi-Fi and now I'm about to buy it, I think.
What you wrote is definitely true. I am originally from Poland, I remember the last years of communism there and I remember people from my parent's generation were going to West Germany to buy something second hand. In Poland in 80's we literally had nothing.
Ecuador has been always struggling economy-wise and now with the import tax being so ridiculously high everything is so expensive.
I'll try to get with the price as low as I can. My ideal price would be $100, and I don't want to spend more than $120 after some check-ups. I'll let you know how much I paid.

 

[bartekm]

It's seems by way of Internet inquiry that the low ball price is $150, so anything lower than that is a savings !

So, today the owner brought a big (huge!) Sansui speaker to test it. It sounds sweet. The price he's asking is $140, but I think I can go further down. Thanks for the info!