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Sansui speakers

F

foghead

Active Member
Howdy all...

Does anyone have any experience with Sansui XL-500 speakers? I have a chance to buy and old set but am unable to test them to see what the general sound is like.

Granted, I'm just looking for opinions here and my mileage may vary, but any and all input would be fine. Good, bad, otherwise... :yes:

Happy Holidays!!! :music:

(Currently enjoying a pair of Cerwin Vega VS-150's, but also an owner of some Polk RTA-8T speakers that I love as well.)
 
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not familiar with those but sp1500, sp1700 and sp3500 have had em all and do like em all. have now the 1700 & 3500. just for waht its worth.
 
Ask the guys on the AK 'Sansui' forum. They will all tell you 'exactly' about them immediately! Good or Bad. These guys know Sansui's speakers.

I have Sansui's SP-2000s, AS-100s, and AS-300s. Just got the 300s and they need some internal work (vibrating woofer on a few songs and probably new caps) but the SP-2000s and AS-100s sound really fine.

'Some' Sansui speaker models are 'much better' than others.

Ask the AK Sansui forum guys!!! They have the experience in all of Sansui's speakers. See ya over there Foghead.
 
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Those were some of the best sounding Sansui speakers. I'm a big Sansui fan but their speakers are not the best. Some of the worst sounding ones sound great with tube gear but not solid state. Whatever...

I've owned 1 set of XL300s and 2 sets of 'PCM whatever they were's' which were their predecessors. These all had one cast frame carbon fiber coned woofers.

The XL-500 has TWO 12" cast frame carbon fiber coned woofers.

The XL-300s went pretty daggone deep but you had to put the stones to them. 100 watts is not enough. With a sub snyth and 200 they were impressive.

All these models sound harsh to my ears but are not nearly as bad as other Sansui models. I did own them for a couple of years, so they can't be that bad...

I always thought it might've been crossover design or execution, but after looking at them they were pretty well made. I could only assume the drivers were not well done.

NOTE: ALL, and I mean all of the tweeters blew on ALL of these models. If the ones you find are still working, they won't be working after a few more years of listening. They are not easy to find a suitable sub either as they were very efficient. I tried.

So, they are cool speakers, but I wouldn't spend a bunch on them, 200 or less on the 500s. They have their "sound", which won't be sought after, and the tweeter issue. They'd be a really nice cabinet to re-driver though. They have VERY substantial cabinets. Think JBL 4312 or Pioneer HPM-150 like.
 
Wooferman93 said:
Sansui Makes decent speakers. I have some SP200's and like 'em.
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Lets not start talking crazy here. They made some decent speakers but that pretty much ended with the sixties right around 1970.

though on the case of the XL-500's DCinDC pretty much summed it up they're not bad (especially when you look at what else they've made in the speaker realm) but don't go spending crazy with the money. Honeslty I'd say the XL line was one Sansui's best post-four digit series speakers. They aren't the best but they are light years better than anything the SPX series had to offer thats for damn sure.
 
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phatster said:
If you can find them I recommend sticking with the prefix AS- as in AS100,200 or 300. My .02.
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Yeah the AS and the SPL line were probably the best of the best when it comes to Sansui speakers and neither of those sold in any large numbers unfortunately. If you can't get the XL's for lest than 100 bones (I'd say 55 at best) than I'd walk, the Cerwins you're running are probably still better than the Sui's.
 
Fantastic! That's the kind of info I was hoping for... :thmbsp:

Oddly enough, I was thinking that they'd be worth about $50 or so to me, IF that as I'd likely wind up re-doing them with modern components as DCinDC mentioned.

Or... just keep hanging on to what I currently have and continue to be satisfied... :yes:
 
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