• Please note that Audiokarma will be offline briefly for updates early on Monday morning, September 28th.

Sansui SP-3500 - An AK'er Gift and Restoration Project

Hmm, yeah maybe just some windex window cleaner and a toothbrush will get the grills clean enough to do what you want with them. It's a tedious job! The cabinets you can clean with some wood soap, then just rub in Restore A Finish with 0000 steel wool, 2 applications. The RAF isn't a permanent solution, but it gets the job done and you can get to listening to your speakers within the afternoon. And when you want to sand them down completely, the RAF will not impede that process.

Biggles
 
As someone who recently purchased and repaired and recapped a pair of SP-3200’s, this was a really fun post to read. Your’s turned out wonderfully indeed. I may open mine up and tack the insulation to the walls like you did, currently my insulation is loose and I think it sometimes obstructs the very short square-shaped woofer port.

Anyway, I paired mine with a small Klipsch Promedia sub I had laying around unused and it’s a wonderful combo. The Sansui’s definitely aren’t rocking much bass but the mid-bass and above frequencies are super clear and sharp (and highs are comfortable without tearing my eardrums like sets with supertweeters often do).
 
Hey Jozeppy,

Thank you for the kind comments! I remember modifying the insulation just a bit, giving the woofer a little more room to play in. The difference was very, very subtle. I wonder what they'd sound like with another cubic feet or two worth of internal volume would do for the bass performance. They do have great slam though, good for rock. And with new capacitors, the mids and highs really cleaned up well. I sold both pairs of my 3500's some time ago. Thank you for stopping by and enjoy the SP's!

Biggles
 
drbiggles said:
Hey Jozeppy,

Thank you for the kind comments! I remember modifying the insulation just a bit, giving the woofer a little more room to play in. The difference was very, very subtle. I wonder what they'd sound like with another cubic feet or two worth of internal volume would do for the bass performance. They do have great slam though, good for rock. And with new capacitors, the mids and highs really cleaned up well. I sold both pairs of my 3500's some time ago. Thank you for stopping by and enjoy the SP's!

Biggles
Click to expand...

I am seriously considering adding some cabinet volume and figuring out port adjustments afterwards. I am a bit worried though that not much would change and that the limitation in bass response is a limitation of the woofer itself and magnet size or something beyond my current understanding.
 
Hey Jozeppy26,

Excellent question, and as far as I know, nobody has the Thiele/Small parameters for those drivers. So, at this point we simply don't know how exactly the woofer will perform. Here's where I'm at with it. We know the 3500's woofer is 14", pretty darned big. We know that the 3500's cabinet is really small, probably less than 2 cubic feet. For any manufacturer to make a 14" woofer that bottoms out in a 1.5 to 2 cubic foot cabinet doesn't make sense. Then, the question would be, how low will that woofer actually go? Let's speculate on the conservative side and say from the mid to the high 30Hz range. I know that quite a few 12" woofers from the 1950's into the 1960's require a minimum of 5 cubic feet to dig as low as they're capable. From personal experience with 12" woofers from the 50's and 60's, the Sansui 14" woofer would greatly appreciate a cabinet of 3 to 5 cubic feet. In a larger cabinet, the bass will dig down remarkably lower. But the response will be softer, not as much slam. And that's what you want if you listen to rock. If it were my experiment, I would probably opt for a 3 cubic foot box.

All this is of course, speculation based upon my custom builds with other manufacturers.

If you'd like to the T/S parameters for any driver, you could buy the DATS v.2 or Woofer Tester. With some effort, you'll get modern data for the drivers and be able to build proper cabinets and proper crossovers.

Biggles
 
Hi. I haven't tried re-capping a speaker before, but have done other soldering work. Are there any brand / model caps recommends over others? They are a pair of 3500s I was planning on updating.

Also, any recommendations of a touch-up paint or putty to use for a couple scrapes on one of the Sansui grilles?

EDIT: Had just started reading this thread from a link in a more recent thread. Didn't realize this was quite so old or I might have looked elsewhere to ask.
 
Danzilla said:
Are there any brand / model caps recommends over others? They are a pair of 3500s I was planning on updating.
Click to expand...

Guy will be able to help you,
@drbiggles

Danzilla said:
EDIT: Had just started reading this thread from a link in a more recent thread. Didn't realize this was quite so old or I might have looked elsewhere to ask.
Click to expand...

We're all still here and it was a trip to see this thread pop up on the new post page for me.
 
Hey Danzilla,

Welcome! If you glance through this thread, more towards the beginning, I tackle the crossovers with new caps. Ultimately, the fact that you replace your original caps with new ones will make the most difference. Dayton Audio, Solen, whatever poly caps, are all fine choices. I generally buy mine from parts express. I'll go with whatever brand makes the value that I require.

These crossovers are a moderate level of difficulty. The crossovers are on a circuit board, which is affixed to the plastic cup that holds the binding posts, screws into the back of the speaker. In this thread, I describe how to separate the circuit board from the plastic cup. At the time, this was the only online mention of being able to separate the two. I was pretty proud of that. However, you can simply snip the caps closest to the capacitor. This leaves some of the lead coming out of the circuit board. You can tie the new caps to the existing leads, this is an acceptable route.

As far as repairing your grills, I would suggest starting your own thread and including pictures. Without pictures, we're just speculating on what method would be best. And that doesn't do anyone any good.

Biggles
 
drbiggles said:
Hey Danzilla,

<snip> As far as repairing your grills, I would suggest starting your own thread and including pictures. Without pictures, we're just speculating on what method would be best. And that doesn't do anyone any good.

Biggles
Click to expand...

I used wooden matchsticks cut and sanded with emery boards (think: finger nail files) then glued into place in the grid-work of my SP-50's, and then "stained" the repaired sections with those furniture-scratch-repairing magic markers. From across the room, it is acceptable.

Say what you will about Sansui speakers - they sure are a tribute to over-detailed work...
 
drbiggles said:
Wait. What? This thread has over 35k views? Egads man, that's a fair amount.

Biggles
Click to expand...

Kewl! Means that there a more than a few here that remember that Sansui - along with Kenwood and Pio - could be seen in like every other dorm room of a GI in the young 70's! Takes me back to my yute!
 
scritto in italiano , così magari traducete meglio :angel:
Stiamo ascoltando in contro fase , con questi sansui ?
ciao ragazzi sansui ... avete visto , all'interno il collegamento Xover , con i driver ?
non notate , che H .squeequer e C .squeequer
il Tweeter nò !!
i cavi neri sono sul pallino rosso , mentre il blu , ed il giallo nel cross over , sono sul - ?
ora non saprei , se son montati così originariamente ,
io ho provato ad invertire , sul cross over
bene , ora i bassi ci sono ...e non gridano più
fatemi sapere..

questo non sò se sia vero , ma come letto i driver di questi sansui , son costruiti così dicono da JBL ...
e JBL su alcuni monitor , teneva il pallino rosso collegato al cavo nero come positivo !

traduction:beerchug:
Are we listening in against stage, with these Sansui?
Hi guys sansui... Have you seen, inside the Xover link, with the drivers?
Do not notice, that H. Squeequer, and C. Squeequer while the Tweeter no
The black wires are on the red dot, while the blue, and the yellow in the cross over, are on the-? :naughty:
Now I do not know, if they are mounted so originally, I tried to reverse, on the cross over well, now the bass there are... And they don't shout anymore :naughty:
Let me know
This does not suit whether it is true, but as read the drivers of these Sansui, they are built so they say by JBL...
and JBL on some monitors, he kept the red dot connected to the black cable as positive!

Maybe I'm wrong;)
ciao
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20190404_174346.jpg
    IMG_20190404_174346.jpg
    62.1 KB · Views: 33
  • IMG_20190404_174418.jpg
    IMG_20190404_174418.jpg
    74.5 KB · Views: 33
  • IMG_20190404_180257.jpg
    IMG_20190404_180257.jpg
    71.2 KB · Views: 30
nobody tried?
the topic ended up in oblivion :dunno::(
edit ... I was wrong to write for the diffused monitor JBL!
the red dot was the negative, but even if it were so ...
on the Sansui ... just reverse, the black cables and put them on the crossover
ciao
 
Last edited:
Guys, I put everything back as it was
Originally, I felt that there was something, not coming back...
It's really true the psychoacoustics makes bad jokes!
 
blues 66 said:
Guys, I put everything back as it was
Originally, I felt that there was something, not coming back...
It's really true the psychoacoustics makes bad jokes!
Click to expand...

Blues,

Maybe you have a tweeter or a midrange driver that's not working?

Biggles
 
Bumping because I acquired a pair of the 2500’s yesterday. I’ve always had a hankering for these, so I defied common sense and got a pair listed locally. Frankly, these are probably some of the prettiest speakers ever made. The cabinetry is incredible, the hand carved fretwork is stunning, and even the driver complement is is beautifully symmetrical. Even the internals are beautifully clean, and I love that the crossover is mounted on a nice big circuit board. It takes 16 screws alone to take the back off! A far cry from my KLH 6’s, with their drab brown vinyl cabinets, understated cloth grilles, point-to-point crossover wiring, and downright industrial baffles. We’re not even gonna talk about the Sansui SP5500X’s I had last year. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the hatred for Sansui’s speakers stemmed from the SPX line.

Sound-wise? Well, the crossover needs some love, for sure. Treble’s gotta be cranked, even after cleaning the dials. However, once brought up, these are very crisp and clear. These simultaneously have a very strong center image and a huge soundstage, something I always assumed was a trade-off. The mids can sound somewhat goofy on some material, and gorgeous on others. Same goes for the bass, which is certainly a bit dry compared to my KLH’s. Some pop on FM radio gets kinda boxed and squawky, but they’ve already had the life and punch squeezed out of them long before they hit my speakers. Streaming and vinyl sound very pleasant.

As for the infamous Sansui lack of bass? It’s reasonable, and they’ll deliver when asked politely. They won’t shake the room like my KLH 6’s or Bose 501’s, or slam like my HPM40’s, but it’s about on par with the KLH 17’s or Bose 301’s. Seems to fill in once you start applying volume. As others have noted, the surrounds are hard as a rock, and the woofer has absolutely zero free movement at all. I’m going to replace them with foam or rubber, which I saw someone do with a pair of SP3500’s with good results.

As usual, I’ll be sure to include measurements before/after recapping and refoaming.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom