February has been another extraordinary month for the database. Yesterday I uploaded 2,747 new previously unreported serial numbers. Almost all provided by the new, king of the serial number search, AK member @Peter lye. He, together with @Oilmaster, @Reidy12 and all of the individual contributions have substantially expanded the size and scope of the database in the past few months.
To put it in perspective, the original database had just under 5,000 serial numbers when it became inactive in 2009. After re-launch in 2017, we hit 10,000 serial numbers last October and since then we have added almost 4,500 more bringing the total to 14,455.
The original database was active approximately 6 years. We added almost as many serial numbers in the past 4 months as the original database compiled in those 6 years! THANKS to EVERYONE that contributed.
You may be asking why are cataloging serial numbers so important. Primarily it helps define when specific models were available and it gives some idea of how many of a particular model were made. For those ranges to be accurate you need as large of a sample size as possible. This helps capture the actual production range and helps identify errors in the serial numbers. Believe me, it’s easy to misread a digit in a serial number.
For example, if you have 35 serial numbers for a given model and they are all in a consecutive date range and you have one that is 5 months out of that date range, it’s likely that the 4th or 5th digit that identifies the month of production in that odd serial number is incorrect. If you only have 5 or 6 serial numbers for that model, that odd serial number is as valid as the other 5 because you don’t have a big enough sample size to determine the likely production range.
As most of you know, the serial number captures production line, year and date of manufacture and a sequential count of units manufactured on that line that month. Sansui routinely manufactured different models on the same production line in a given month. So a month’s production numbers can reflect the production of several models.
To have any hope of separating production numbers you have to determine what models were manufactured on a given production line in a given month. The larger the sample size, the more likely you will identify all the models produced on a given assembly line in a given month. More serial numbers = greater accuracy.
I’m concerned that the huge amount of serial number data being posted by our mega contributors might discourage some members from taking the time to post what they have. EVERY serial number counts. The more we have, the more accurate the database. Keep them coming!
- Pete
To put it in perspective, the original database had just under 5,000 serial numbers when it became inactive in 2009. After re-launch in 2017, we hit 10,000 serial numbers last October and since then we have added almost 4,500 more bringing the total to 14,455.
The original database was active approximately 6 years. We added almost as many serial numbers in the past 4 months as the original database compiled in those 6 years! THANKS to EVERYONE that contributed.
You may be asking why are cataloging serial numbers so important. Primarily it helps define when specific models were available and it gives some idea of how many of a particular model were made. For those ranges to be accurate you need as large of a sample size as possible. This helps capture the actual production range and helps identify errors in the serial numbers. Believe me, it’s easy to misread a digit in a serial number.
For example, if you have 35 serial numbers for a given model and they are all in a consecutive date range and you have one that is 5 months out of that date range, it’s likely that the 4th or 5th digit that identifies the month of production in that odd serial number is incorrect. If you only have 5 or 6 serial numbers for that model, that odd serial number is as valid as the other 5 because you don’t have a big enough sample size to determine the likely production range.
As most of you know, the serial number captures production line, year and date of manufacture and a sequential count of units manufactured on that line that month. Sansui routinely manufactured different models on the same production line in a given month. So a month’s production numbers can reflect the production of several models.
To have any hope of separating production numbers you have to determine what models were manufactured on a given production line in a given month. The larger the sample size, the more likely you will identify all the models produced on a given assembly line in a given month. More serial numbers = greater accuracy.
I’m concerned that the huge amount of serial number data being posted by our mega contributors might discourage some members from taking the time to post what they have. EVERY serial number counts. The more we have, the more accurate the database. Keep them coming!
- Pete
