Price Paid:  $50.00 from flea market

Summary:
first i will say that after a lot of comparative shopping 20 years ago i bought a pair of advent 8006 speakers that i loved. i would take those over any kef, b&w, thiel. i had to sell those when out of work for a long time. while cheap is cheap price alone does not indicate quality. buy a jolida jd1701 you will see. anyway, i got an old marantz and a pair of klipsch sf-1 speakers. the system was nice. i got a pair of kef c75s and those were a little better than the klipsch. you see, like listening to music and i have been putting together a nice system again on a budget. well, i have a pair of sansui sp30 speakers in my office connected to an old, small pioneer receiver. that has always sounded very nice in the back ground. the speakers are beautiful with the wood cabinets and lattice work in front. people have made numerous positive comments. a couple have wanted to buy the system. well, i decided i would like to find a nice set of larger sansuis with the beautiful woodwork. finally i did - at a flea market i found a pair of sp-1500s. they looked good. i took a chance. i cleaned them up, polished them, touched up a few places, oiled them. they look beautiful. i got some high qaulity speaker wire. i hooked them up. i adjusted the treble, mid, and bass controls on the marantz. i played the speakers a few time without listening too critically - i wanted to let the dust get blown off, etc. luckily there are no problems with any of the internals.
the sound? i think they sound much better than the kefs or the klipsch. i think they sound very mellow. that is what i like though. i do not like booming bass. i find that when the bass is there in the source material, i.e. material that does have strong bass passages the speakers do reach down there and get it. the midrange is great- listening to james taylor, nora jones, or paul simon is really nice. i set the midrange to natural on the back of the speakers. i set the high freq to clear. i get nice, clear highs. the solid cabinets with furniture grade plywood and real wood veneer adds to the beautuy of the sound. think of an antique violin. or guitar. wood matters. these are mellow and clear. and, these look beautiful along with my beautiful furniture. sansui did make some inexpensive stuff. but they made some nice stuff too. they made a couple of real nice turntables. they made some nice speakers. a couple of their old tuners are sought after and considered the best. i can tell you after listening to some clean vinyl on an old sony turntable with a pro quality shure cartridge and needle through my marantz and these sansui speakers i can walk into the store selling rotel and b&w and tell right away the precise, clinical sound is not for me. i love that mellow, natural sound. get a pair of these if for no other reason than to refinish the cabinets just for looks. if you are lucky enough to get some without internal damage you will listen for a while and begin to appreciate what that wood introduces to the sound quality. the speakers were built with cloth surrounds and made to never rot. at least appreciate the build quality. almost as nice as the old advents i once had.

Strengths:
beauty, nice wood for mellowness, very clear mid-range. very sensitive- >=93db.
with good tube amp would sound wonderful.

Weaknesses:
preconceived notions; weight- but if i figure cost per pound? a cadilac costs more than a buick - why? basically it weighs more!

Similar Products Used:
kef c75, klipsch sf-1.

Price Paid:  $5.00 from Lifeline

Summary:
I have had about 12 other speaker sets in the cinema room but these are the best speakers that I have ever had. The sound quality is the same if not better than my fathers $5,000 Yamaha sound system. I just went to lifeline one day and then there they were. I took them home straight away and connected them up to my stereo by themselves and i was very suprised at the sound quality. I can't believe that i picked them up for $5.00 Each. My friend Troy recently purchased a $500 Sony stereo system and I am sure that the sound quality of my stereo is better than the quality of his brand new speakers. one main differences is that his stereo has an anti distortion system and mine doesn't, yet the speakers still don't distort very easily. If anyone found them for sale anywhere then i would highly reccommend that you pick them up, you will be very suprised with the quality.

Strengths:
Very good sound quality for the low price

Weaknesses:
It sometimes distorts when the volume is up full blast and I mean FULL BLAST

Similar Products Used:
GE (General Electronics) 5 CD Courasel Surround Sound System.

Summary:
These speakers were my mother's when she went to college, and now they have found their way into my basement room where i listen to music from various sources, watch TV, and just dink around with them all the time. These things have had their problems, but they have all been minor and easy for a home user to fix (loose wires, older type speaker connections on the inside that a little solder can fix, that sort of thing). These things do not have the best sound in them that I have ever heard, but for their age... They're pretty decent. Not great, and not bad. I've heard worse stuff on the market today, let's say that.

If you find a pair of these for cheap, pick em up. You can not find driver replacements for most of these speakers, so make sure they work. For example, I can no get mine repaired because the sizes are odd. The midrange on both of my speakers are ripped all the around, so a lot of sound quality is lost there. Other than that, these things live on.

Strengths:
They last, and last, and last...

Weaknesses:
They have lasted so long, they are starting to die a bit

Price Paid:  $4.00 from Garage sale

Summary:
I disagree with the previous reviews. I ended up reconnecting all kinds of gear thinking that these fine looking speakers shouldn't be making these crummy sounds. But when I was all done, I reconnected the Bozaks in the same spot and they sounded infinitely better (and those are my #3 or 4 system).

I keep thinking maybe a driver is shot - there are 5 of them. No matter, though, they aren't a total piece of crap and they are sooo nicely made.

The lady I bought them from didn't want to haul them back to her barn. I bought 22 very mint records (2 from Blue Cheer!!!), a bike lock and two tomatoes from her. All that was supposed to cost $6.45. She wanted me to take it all with the speakers for $10. I gave her $12. Her husband had brought the speakers back from Guam (probably 30 years ago).

Strengths:
Construction - lasted all this time

Weaknesses:
Distortion, coloration, imbalance.

Similar Products Used:
Beautiful homebuilt speakers, a pair of Bozaks, JBL's and Bose. This pair comes after all those in the list of speakers I own.

Summary:
I bought these in Okinawa in 1970 for $66 each. I have auditioned countless speakers since, and always came back to these beautiful-sounding Sansui's. I had a dealer offer me a $1,000 trade-in for the pair about 5 years ago. I auditioned everything in his demo room and refused the offer.

Two months ago I invested heavily in a new home theater setup and had to get rid of the Sansui's. They wouldn't fit and are not magnetically shielded. What I have now (Energy Take 5) is vastly inferior. Oh well...

But the 1500's are still creating joy...I gave them to my son. He and his family love them. If you can ever get a set, don't pass them up.

Strengths:
Very smooth sound when set up with a test CD and good EQ.
Beautiful walnut veneer cases with hand-carved Kumiko grill.

Weaknesses:
Very heavy.

Similar Products Used:
None that compare.