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

[drbiggles]

I found with my 5000s they were soft and mushy with my SS 85w pushing them. They're rated a@ 90w, now with the two 275s in mono @ 180w tube power. Well lets just say they love it, they have long legs over the stated wattage. Much more responsive clear hard hitting bass with optimum tube power driving them.

Agreed. That's why over the years I kept moving up as quick as I could. I found amps rated at 120 were lacking too. I have an unused ESS 500n power amp that I used for years. But it's been sitting for even longer and I'm not going to bother with it until I can get it checked out. A stunning little beast at 250 a channel, I loved the sound it produced. Maybe some day in the near future I can get a pair of high powered something or others. Right now this Toshiba hits a sweet spot and couldn't possibly be in any nicer shape.

Biggles

 

[whitey]

Oh, everyone bashes pretty much everything if you wait long enough. I was bashed since the 70's for being keen on Radio Shack's offerings, laughed at and dismissed. Now the Mach 1 has a huge following and they sell off CL before noon. If you wait long enough, it'll all come back in to fashion.

Gotta a pair of those too! I must be nuts.:lmao:

 

[whitey]

Oh, everyone bashes pretty much everything if you wait long enough. I was bashed since the 70's for being keen on Radio Shack's offerings, laughed at and dismissed. Now the Mach 1 has a huge following and they sell off CL before noon. If you wait long enough, it'll all come back in to fashion.

Gotta a pair of those too! I must be nuts.:lmao:

 

[Copa1934]

Had three pair. Down to 2 pair. One pair of Mach Two as well. Just watched Prometheus. Those Mach Two work really nice for HT. Look forward to this post growing.

 

[4-2-7]

Realistic suck

 

[automojo]

I would be cautious with the surrounds-do some research before treating them.
You might just give them some exercise and be fine.
Madisound offers a free speaker calculator that works good.
Just Google Madisound free speaker calculator.
I mentioned it because I thought it would be helpful to know the box tuning.
I'm not sure why they adding the dampening material originally.
My guess would be to smooth the woofer response, probably because the box is smaller then optimum.
Some of this can be subjective to the listener.
If the speaker sounds better with the material removed-I would leave it out with little worries.
You can always put it back in if you change your mind.
In my experience with ported enclosures-a piece of Auralex 2" Studio Foam Wedges behind the woofer is all you need for midbass/midrange reflections.
It works better then anything else I have found-and takes up a lot less space then other materials.
It also doesn't seem to impede air flow in ported enclosure as much as most other foams/dampening materials.
Curious is the "mid chamber" isolated from the woofer chamber?
IF not-maybe some of this dampening material is used to cut down interference between the woofer and midrange drivers.

 

[drbiggles]

I would be cautious with the surrounds-do some research before treating them.
You might just give them some exercise and be fine.
Madisound offers a free speaker calculator that works good.
Just Google Madisound free speaker calculator.
I mentioned it because I thought it would be helpful to know the box tuning.
I'm not sure why they adding the dampening material originally.
My guess would be to smooth the woofer response, probably because the box is smaller then optimum.
Some of this can be subjective to the listener.
If the speaker sounds better with the material removed-I would leave it out with little worries.
You can always put it back in if you change your mind.
In my experience with ported enclosures-a piece of Auralex 2" Studio Foam Wedges behind the woofer is all you need for midbass/midrange reflections.
It works better then anything else I have found-and takes up a lot less space then other materials.
It also doesn't seem to impede air flow in ported enclosure as much as most other foams/dampening materials.
Curious is the "mid chamber" isolated from the woofer chamber?
IF not-maybe some of this dampening material is used to cut down interference between the woofer and midrange drivers.

All understood and thank you again. I had a short chat with 427 last night via PM and with his experience with these Sansui's, he said not to worry about the surrounds. He worked them pretty well and I've been doing the same. Time to move on. Will visit Madisound later today or in a day or two and do me some calculations. Auralex comment is noted.

The mid and tweeter array is completely isolated from the woofer and all of it's business. Then entire volume of the enclosure is all for the woofer, now.

Biggles

 

[automojo]

Had three pair. Down to 2 pair. One pair of Mach Two as well. Just watched Prometheus. Those Mach Two work really nice for HT. Look forward to this post growing.

Nothing against the Mach I or II's, but I'm thinking these Sansui's have the edge image wise.
Personally I think the Mach's would have been served better with a good 12" woofer in that size enclosure.
A selling point, the 15" for sure-but I always had a issue with the mid bass bump the Mach I seemed to have which usually indicates a woofer in tooo small of enclosure, among other things.
Maybe why they vented the enclosure on the second model-to help smooth out the impedance-never heard one of those.
Part of this may well have been the Realistic receivers they were hooked up to, as they seemed to have a bit of a overly warm character to them
Matters of taste.
HT probably wouldn't be so much of a issue.

 

[4-2-7]

Nothing against the Mach I or II's, but I'm thinking these Sansui's have the edge image wise.
Personally I think the Mach's would have been served better with a good 12" woofer in that size enclosure.
A selling point, the 15" for sure-but I always had a issue with the mid bass bump the Mach I seemed to have which usually indicates a woofer in tooo small of enclosure, among other things.
Maybe why they vented the enclosure on the second model-to help smooth out the impedance-never heard one of those.
Part of this may well have been the Realistic receivers they were hooked up to, as they seemed to have a bit of a overly warm character to them
Matters of taste.
HT probably wouldn't be so much of a issue.

I have thought about stepping down in woofer size on these Sansui's. They do sound fine to me but thought of going two a 12" or 10" woofer out there other model. Plenty of them around to see if any improvement is made.

 

[drbiggles]

I have thought about stepping down in woofer size on these Sansui's. They do sound fine to me but thought of going two a 12" or 10" woofer out there other model. Plenty of them around to see if any improvement is made.

In my travels here over the last year my hankering for a router and round hole jig have increased exponentially. It's one of the things in my major wants list. With that I would think I could start making my own baffles! Then? Modifications such as fitting these 3500's with 2 10" would be doable.

Biggles

 

[4-2-7]

In my travels here over the last year my hankering for a router and round hole jig have increased exponentially. It's one of the things in my major wants list. With that I would think I could start making my own baffles! Then? Modifications such as fitting these 3500's with 2 10" would be doable.

Biggles

A cut off wheel and a sheet of aluminum would get it done in short order.

Plenty of SP-2500 & SP-1500 woofers on the bay. However I would rather keep the 14" and extend the back of the box. A frame can be added to the back panel and made whatever size turned out to be optimal.

I also still believe speakers can only be judged with what is being put in them. Hence the bad rapping. My experience will be different than say someone using a cheap sony amp.

 

[drbiggles]

A cut off wheel and a sheet of aluminum would get it done in short order.

Plenty of SP-2500 & SP-1500 woofers on the bay. However I would rather keep the 14" and extend the back of the box. A frame can be added to the back panel and made whatever size turned out to be optimal.

I also still believe speakers can only be judged with what is being put in them. Hence the bad rapping. My experience will be different than say someone using a cheap sony amp.

There is so many different factors that make out systems sound as they do. If you brought your entire system here and we jacked in, it'd be so completely different. It's a good thing we like to play with our toys, eh?

Making the 3500's deeper would be fine by me! We need to get going on that one.

Biggles

 

[4-2-7]

There is so many different factors that make out systems sound as they do. If you brought your entire system here and we jacked in, it'd be so completely different. It's a good thing we like to play with our toys, eh?

Making the 3500's deeper would be fine by me! We need to get going on that one.

Biggles

ya at least to try, a cheap wood frame hand sawed for test. 3x 3/4, 2x3/4,2 1/2x3/4 pine board.

 

[drbiggles]

In regards to the refinishing of the enclosures, this is what I've got in front of me. In the past, my veneer has been so badly trashed the only avenue I had was to use a finishing sander or re-veneer. These really aren't that bad, although they do present a little puzzle and that's going to take some patience.

Here's one of the main puzzles that need to be taken care of. Today, am considering carefully cutting the corner off. Soaking the exposed particle board with the penetrating epoxy along with using a brad or similar embedded in to the corner. With those two things, when I use an epoxy filler I'll get a molecular bond and a mechanical one. For me the tough part is going to be sanding the filler down to the correct level so the replacement veneer will be seamless. One step at a time!

Not quite sure right if I'm going to do anything at all with the tiny missing veneer on the back of the speaker. A stain or hide-a-scratch will darken the particle board and it won't be so obvious, that may be enough.

For the tops and bottoms of the enclosures it's going to be a little chemical stripper to remove the lacquer. Then moist cloth with an iron to raise the gouges, then a light hand-sand and that should do it. The sides do not have lacquer, so we'll see how all that goes.

Biggles

 

[drbiggles]

ya at least to try, a cheap wood frame hand sawed for test. 3x 3/4, 2x3/4,2 1/2x3/4 pine board.

Oddly enough, I do have a hand-saw. But the wood stock, pine or otherwise just doesn't exist in my stash of goodies. This is one of the things I'm going to concentrate on for this coming year. I've been perusing CL for free scraps of lumber. It'll come, just nothing I can do with it at the moment. Feh.

Biggles

 

[4-2-7]

The corner you take a fine tooth saw and cut a slit on the edje. This is horizontal to the top, then you wedge it up flat to the veneer surface and glue.

This way your attempting the save the veneer on the top surface. The edges are alway easier to fill and touch-up

 

[4-2-7]

Oddly enough, I do have a hand-saw. But the wood stock, pine or otherwise just doesn't exist in my stash of goodies. This is one of the things I'm going to concentrate on for this coming year. I've been perusing CL for free scraps of lumber. It'll come, just nothing I can do with it at the moment. Feh.

Biggles

I have lumber:thmbsp:to bad we didn't think of this. Well I mentioned it but didn't know what you would be doing.

Don't you want to flip them. Get some money lol?

 

[Copa1934]

Man what is with people? The ones I bought from an estate sale WOULD have been mint, but some idiot stacked the speakers, but DIDN'T clean the bottoms of the ones they put on top. Looky loos would turn the speakers and further damage! I bought them anyway, knowing some work was ahead for me. I tried heat/moisture and raised the grain some, but didn't want to push my luck. I'll try again, but after doing a little more research on technique. Also, working the bottoms first will allow for some practice before doing "visible" areas.

 

[4-2-7]

The whole speaker is lacquer finished

 

[4-2-7]

Man what is with people? The ones I bought from an estate sale WOULD have been mint, but some idiot stacked the speakers, but DIDN'T clean the bottoms of the ones they put on top. Looky loos would turn the speakers and further damage! I bought them anyway, knowing some work was ahead for me. I tried heat/moisture and raised the grain some, but didn't want to push my luck. I'll try again, but after doing a little more research on technique. Also, working the bottoms first will allow for some practice before doing "visible" areas.

Yep bottoms are good for beginners to practice.:sigh:
ha ha ha No this is how a pro approaches a job. You alway test in less conspicuous places.

There is even times that using the bottom for the top is an option.