trehane

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Price Paid:  $50.00 from garage sale

Summary:
Mine are the SP-X7700. Seller had them running on a JVC system when I heard them. Sounded nice in the driveway. I had heard about 1970's Sansui from a friend though neither of us had ever heard any. I was running some small B&W's (DM4) which sounded lovely but were light in the base. These Sansui's give a nice warm, rounded sound. I power them with a 14W/channel tube amp. Found the efficiency is rated at 97db so they have a lot more volume than I can use and keep the bride as well. These are keepers there is no doubt of that. I have no hesitation in recommending these both from a quality and cost point of view. Mine were bought at a g-sail but a pair went on ebay recently for about $260. With two separate boxes for shipping, the cost to the buyer is likely another $150. These sound like more than $400 worth so to my mind, they are a bargain at that price.

Very impressive playing jazz. Vocals are particularly fine. Soundstage is excellent. The woofer is 15 inches in mine and is nice and tight. I have had more base from smaller woofers but I like jazz and classical piano so the base these speakers produce is perfect. Buy em if you can find em.

Strengths:
Overall sound quality combined with low cost make for a very high value package.

Weaknesses:
Haven't come across anything yet.

Similar Products Used:
B&W, Yamaha, Dynaco, Burhoe, PSB, Paradigm etc.....

Price Paid:  $50.00 from g-sailed

Summary:
Just found some SP-X7700 while garage-sailing. Small piece of lattice chipped off but hard to notice. One of them has a malfunctioning tweeter adjustment switch so I will be taking it to my tech to make it better. I don't normally pay $50 at g-sails but I had seen some reference to this era Sansui being good and more importantly, the seller had them hooked up in his driveway. Not disappointed with this purchase at all. I have them hooked to an Eico HF81 tube amp with about 14 watts/channel. Been playing a lot of jazz vocals. Excellent sound quality. They must be fairly efficient to do that. These are definitely keepers. All drivers working nicely. I'll do a little secret formula on the cabinets to bring them to perfection but they are in excellent shape generally. Found a website that has pics but no stats on them. My ears say if you can find these you really should buy them.

Strengths:
None that I can see so far.

Weaknesses:
No complaints.

Similar Products Used:
B&W, Burhoe, Advent, Celestion, Dynaco, Yamaha, Tandberg, Ohm

Price Paid:  $305.00 from eBay

Summary:
The Sansui SP-X8000 is among the very best vintage speakers I have ever heard. With 99db sensitivity, 8ohm impedence, they just sound magical with my 300B Single-ended triode amp (9w per channel). The richness and smoothness of the vocals are way too seductive. I have to disagree with the person who complaints about the bass (or lack of). What associated equipments do you use? This is just like an crazy guy (also in AudioReview) who used an cheap Adcom to drive an B&W Matrix 803, and then complainted about how bad the speakers sound and gave an 1 star rating. The bass I found is fast, pretty clean, and adequate with most jazz, classical and vocal music (including light pop). If you are the one who obsessed with bass drums in Mahler, or Metallica type of music, give up and look else where OR just get an fast subwoofer. You got to understand that strong, loud bass is not the strength of vintage speakers (and majority of modern speakers stink in that department anyway). Only those who seek the golden age sound of turntables and tubes seem to appreciate the gorgeous sound of vintage speakers. Back to X8000. The soundstage is spacious and precise. It is not as 3D as the B&W 801 nor Revel nor Coincident I used before, of course. But that's more make up by its wonderful midrange and crisp, airy highs. From what I know, in the Sansui line, the SP-X8000 is only surpassed by top-flight SP-X9000. ***** Associated equipments: - Toshiba SD9200 / Sonic Frontiers SFT-1 as CD transports - Monarchy Model 33B & Wadia 25 as D/As - Accuphase E205 amp - ICL-Softtone 300B SET amp - NBS Master speaker cables - NBS Monitor 4 digital coax - Red Rose Silver One interconnects

Strengths:
Very tube-friendly, even 5wpc SET amp would sound magical. Musical, smooth and airy. Vocal is very very seductive.

Weaknesses:
Very hard to find an very clean pair, esp with perfect lattice grills. Bass is not the strength and if you want loud, deep bass, get an subwoofer.

Similar Products Used:
Too many! Newform Research R645, B&W Matrix 801 Series II, B&W 605 Series 2, Coincident Conquest, many Wharfedale junks, some Infinity craps, Celestion (SL700, UL-6), Castle, can't remember it all!

Price Paid:  $50.00 from Yard Sale

Summary:
Excellent speaker. I have them hooked up to a Sansui 7900Z 2-ch receiver, and they crank! Clean throughout the wave band! All speakers frames are clean, no damage found on any cone, and the grilles are mint.

Strengths:
Everything meets the demand of this listener.

Weaknesses:
None that I can find.

Similar Products Used:
Pioneer CS-88A from the seventies, but they aren't as powerful as these.

Price Paid:  $0.00 from familly

Summary:
Cripes almighty people. Listen to these babies with a decent amp. I attached these babies to a lovable tube amp, a yamaha from 2001, and my Technics from 76. They sound great hooked up to everything. I inherited them from my grand pappy and I am happy. They are beasts. Workhorses. I recently checked the membrane and its better than a pair of speakers from 98! Talk about quality. Never seen daylight.

Strengths:
Good bass, mid range is decent (human hearing is accustomed to it) and the highs are good too.

Weaknesses:
Could use a little more high/mids