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Rare Forgotten Sansui SP-2500X speakers

Yes the 5's are a very nice sounding speaker. I have a pair of 12's with the dual mid set up and it's one of my favorites. You don't have to look to hard to find something better than a sansui kabuki. Just don't be fooled by their looks when you take the grills off. They're not the prettiest speakers by any means but Mr. Kloss knew what he was doing soundwise.
 
CharlieBee said:
Does anyone else have the SP-2500X's? Do you have any specs, or sales material on them you could share? What do you think of them?

Charlie
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Here are the specs. I have never owned a 2500 pair, but own 3500s, 5500s and used to own the original 5000 which I bought new from the PacEx Catalog in 1971, along with my Dokorder units.
 
kbs48 said:
Those specs look different than the 2500X's.
Click to expand...

Oh Shoot! I forgot that Damned "X" thing again. The "X" series was the first generation where Sansui started cutting corners and making less quality items. If you will notice, they are not included in the site. Go and closely look at the cabinets. They are made out of that cheap particleboard, and sport a plastic cover, not wood veneer.

Sorry to sound like such a party pooper, but Sansui purposefully took a dive in the mid to late 70s and finally wound up in the sewer in the 80s, all because they resorted to Expediency over principle.
 
John L said:
Oh Shoot! I forgot that Damned "X" thing again. The "X" series was the first generation where Sansui started cutting corners and making less quality items. If you will notice, they are not included in the site. Go and closely look at the cabinets. They are made out of that cheap particleboard, and sport a plastic cover, not wood veneer.

Sorry to sound like such a party pooper, but Sansui purposefully took a dive in the mid to late 70s and finally wound up in the sewer in the 80s, all because they resorted to Expediency over principle.
Click to expand...

Hey now! Play nice!!!! I have the sp2500 AND sp-2500x and the x model is better for sure. They may have cut corners, but they are nice and neutral to me. The tweeters are totally different. The thing is, I use them for my TV mains also, and voices tend to be in the midrange frequencies right? Well the warm/soft/neutral knob is on the front, and seems to affect both tweeters AND the upper mid. This means both mids can be dedicated to more speciic frequencies, thereby allowing it to almost be a 4-way.
More mids, more detail to the movies (if you watch movies):yes:
The 2500 model is okay, but like the 1700 has two 4" mids, which are on the same tone at all times, and the size is not ideal.
or some reason, the 5.25" mids just kick ass..... And both mid sones are shaped different or dispersal (convex/concave):smoke:

And yes, the plastic fake-ass veneer really sucks. I am a carpenter, so I am planning to add veneer to the outside of them!!! Should add a little weight too.... :smoke:
 
Carpo420 said:
Hey now! Play nice!!!! I have the sp2500 AND sp-2500x and the x model is better for sure. They may have cut corners, but they are nice and neutral to me. The tweeters are totally different. The thing is, I use them for my TV mains also, and voices tend to be in the midrange frequencies right? Well the warm/soft/neutral knob is on the front, and seems to affect both tweeters AND the upper mid. This means both mids can be dedicated to more speciic frequencies, thereby allowing it to almost be a 4-way.
More mids, more detail to the movies (if you watch movies):yes:
The 2500 model is okay, but like the 1700 has two 4" mids, which are on the same tone at all times, and the size is not ideal.
or some reason, the 5.25" mids just kick ass..... And both mid sones are shaped different or dispersal (convex/concave):smoke:

And yes, the plastic fake-ass veneer really sucks. I am a carpenter, so I am planning to add veneer to the outside of them!!! Should add a little weight too.... :smoke:
Click to expand...

They really did cut corners, but they were not alone. Keeping the equipment reasonable, in an era where we had just done away with the gold standard, and runaway inflation, they had to save money. It's just a fact. Thank you Tricky Dick.

Also, Thiele/Small parameters were just starting to be felt. In fact Mr Thiele did not publish his landmark paper until 1972 or 1973. Before that, getting the best sounding speakers was a "hearing" thing only. Once T-S measurements were possible, it became much more scientific. I have a pair of 5500X speakers, and the cheap plastic veneer is starting to come off. There is a huge difference between those and the 5000s I brought home with me from Korea, back in 1971.
 
I am a little trepidatious here as the coals seem about to flame, but...

As someone who still has his SP 2500 and 3500 sets, and have dumped a pair of the 5500x (pretty sure it was a big number and 55 sticks in the mind), I will tell you they did cut back on build quality. Also, they went in the direction of loud is better.

I will agree that the "no X" versions do not sound good on some other receivers or amplifiers, but I really believe that is because they were meant to be played as a quad set-up. Read the ad shown in the "ClassicSansui" site.

As a test, I hooked each pair up to a Sony TA N220 and compared them to Utah HS1C, Kenwood KL777 and Pioneer 911A...no contest. The Sansuis both sucked.

Pulled the QX-4500 out of the basement, and the quad set (all four) sang.

My conclusion is the X-less 2500 should be hooked up to a receiver of that period with another Sansui being the recommended choice. And the X models should be in the garage cranking AC/DC at full crank.

Just saw another Sansui reference to speakers X5500. Those may be the ones I gave away.
 
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Here is another thing. The 1000/1500/2500/5000 series were made for tube audio, and low powered solid state amplifiers. The later ones were built to handle higher output. Consequently the earlier speakers were much more efficient.

When I was in Korea, Yong-san had a huge PX, and in the audio section, all the speakers were hooked up for comparison. I tested all of them, and the Sansui 5000, which were the top of the Sansui line back then, beat out all other speakers. The Pioneers just had too much bass, but not the quality of midrange.

Here is someone's take on the original series SP-5000, which is what I purchased over there in 1971. I still wish I had them, because they were simply beautiful and sounded great with my Dokorder 800X.
 
Hi everyone! been away a bit too long...work is kickin' my ass :) I just picked up a pair from GW but some idiot spray painted them all black & I mean all and then covered the cabinets with black felt....but I only paid $12 bucks for them and they do sound great for their age. The only problem is that the one cover is kinda stuck and I'm afraid to try too hard I could bust it. Any advise as to get it off? The other one had some kind of glue on one of the tips so maybe they did the same thing to this one. Thanks a bunch. I thought also of removing the paint to get them to the original color but then again might leave well enough alone.
 
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