karister

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
This is an awesome sounding retro piece of work by Sansui:) Very open and deep sound stage with great detail. I'm using them as spare speakers and lovin it. Very well built heavy and solid.

jstone

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 2.00 votes

Price Paid:  $125.00 from Private party

Summary:
Wonderful sounding speaker with excellent midrange and bass. When I first got these massive speakers home and connected them to my Technics SA-300, I was a bit disappointed. All I could hear was midrange. Then I coaxed them a bit by turning up the bass and treble beyond their normal settings and viola! The Sansuis came to life. I realized that I had been missing the midrange entirely on my previous, German-made Heco 3 SFs (3-way). The 4-way Sansuis deliver excellent midrange making vocal passages come alive. Piano solos will sound like the piano is in your house! You'll need a sufficiently powerful receiver/amp to unleash the bass from the 14" woofers (mine is a 45 w.p.c. Pioneer SX-780). Highs on the SP-3500S seem to roll off a bit early so you'll need to boost the treble to compensate. Cosmetically, these speakers are stylish but sedate looking, like they belong with your grandma's stereo. But take off the wooden lattice (hand-carved?) speaker grills, and you will see that these babies mean business. 6 drivers per speaker arranged symetrically in the cabinet deliver a powerful sound that seems to get better at higher volume levels. To my wife's dismay, I can't stop listening to them! If you find a pair that you're thinking of purchasing, make sure that you set the attenuators on the rear of each speaker consistently before listening.

Strengths:
Midrange and bass response Power handling capability (100W per speaker)

Weaknesses:
High freq response (can be compensated for).

Similar Products Used:
Heco Phon 3 SF (hardly similar)

Price Paid:  $0.00 from N\A

Summary:
My parents bought a house in 1983 and there were four of these speakers in the house.(sp-3500)along with a quadraphonic 8 track and reel to reel.

Strengths:
These things are brutes, I played them very loud on a old Fisher amp for years and never hurt one of them. The mids and subs are great very clear. I've got mine about a foot off the ground and they sound wonderful. To get something new with the same sound you would pay big bucks. And can you believe i have four of these monsters.

Weaknesses:
There big and heavy and the highs are a little muffeled. But if they are put with a decent surrond system then no problem.

Similar Products Used:
many

Price Paid:  $0.00 from Inherited from Broth

Summary:
I have a pair of SP-3500's that have obviously been through some pounding music. Most of the speakers in this 6-way speaker sound pretty terrible. The 15" woofer's surround is almost peeled off most of the way around. I know they were top of the line 30 years ago. I'm just hoping I can find replacement drivers to do them justice.

Strengths:
Everything about them is great. They are clearly built to last. Awesome lattice work grilles. Very heavy. These ain't no KLH's...

Weaknesses:
Old. My brother in law was in a band. From the looks of these drivers these were used as PA speakers during their practices. Such a shame...

Similar Products Used:
None...

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
As in earlier reviews, my Sansui 3500's also came over from Vietnam in the early 70's - I too have all original paper work - I believe they were made available at Navy exchanges - the price paid back then "$84.50" - not too shabby even in 1970. The spec sheets are also impressive - my father in-law purchased an entire Sansui system, turntable (amazing machine), reel to reel (also amazing), mic, and receiver (massive tuner). I only use the speakers right now as the other components require some work. The speaker sound is very impressive - a big step forward over my old Bose 501's and 301's combination (that was a costly mistake). Very full smooth range and natural sound - similar to higher end JBL's that I have heard (and love as well). I love the wood veneers too. Mine have a very impressive wood mesh front to them (called Kumiko, made of Walnut)- can't imagine anyone putting something like that on the front of a speaker these days for under a couple grand. I run them off a smaller HK receiver and when cranked they rock. From my wife's Boccelli to my Beethoven symphonies and Jethro Tull golden oldies - these speakers can be mesmorizing. One problem I had was that the glue on the woofer surrounds broke down - I repaired that and they have performed like champs ever since. Some tech notes from the paper work: 14" woofer; 1st midrange 4" 2 cone-type; 2nd midrange 4.5" horn-type; tweeter 2" two horn-type; 100watts Max; 8ohms; 58lbs; ~25"x17"x11"; sensitivity 96dB/W; Range 25-20KHz normal listening; Crossover freq 700Hz,2,000Hz,6,500Hz; Cross directional firing. Lastly, the package I have also has a Sansui dust cloth - not sure if it came with the speakers or other component, but it is certainly a nice touch.

Strengths:
Full smooth range and rich sound

Weaknesses:
30+ year old technology and specs

Similar Products Used:
NA