Sansui SP-300

Reviewed Jan 14th, 2020 by SennSay

I picked these Sansui SP-300's up in a whole system really cheap! I'd heard a pair once before at a friend's place running with a vintage 15W JVC and it was quite something there. I sold off all the rest of the gear, 110W amp, turntable and tuner and when I found out I actually had a set of the same SP-300s my friend had, I was stunned at my good fortune. I was looking for something really efficient to run with my recently fully restored and upgraded 1973 10W Pioneer SA-5300 amplifier, connected it up and popped on a few LPs ... I haven't stopped grinning since their arrival 8 weeks or so ago now. Stunning! These things are going nowhere, even if I had to live in a very small home these things are coming with me! Transparent, extremely fast, dynamic, alive, communicative in the very best ways, the way they load the very air in the room is superlative, unlike virtually all conventional directional speakers. It's as if the very air itself is alive with music. They never shout at me, yet the amount of sheer natural detail is immediately conveyed. They are never strained in the least, volume control with the SA-5300 is almost never over 2.5/10, loading the whole 20' x 12' (steeped ceiling) x 15' living space. Astonishing! Distortionless music at all times. I gave the Pioneer a rest recently and changed to using my upgraded Elekit valve pre-amp with my 50W homebuilt amp (from a great little design in Adelaide, Sth Australia). Take what I had before with the Pioneer and add even more image density and weight, presence. Horns and saxophones are exquisite, I'm almost rolling on the floor in ecstasy. Volume with no need to push beyond 7:30-8 o'clock, thanks to over 100dB efficiency, I've seen 104dB somewhere but have no idea if that is actually true. All I know is they take almost nothing to drive a moderate sized room to loud levels with no strain. I've owned systems over $9000 before, with Japanese valve amp and beautiful Triangle Antal EX speakers and they only approach what I have now in some small areas. I won't be trading what I have here for anything else! From Jazz to classical and everything in between, the SP-300s are a 45 year long musical treat and I utterly adore them. Build quality is excellent and I haven't touched the 51 year old crossovers, only soldering the speaker cables to the terminals as they weren't gripping anything any more.
I have discovered since owning them that I now have no desire to buy anything else! I have no need to have a walk-in soundstage 10 feet deep and I would especially will never trade that for sheer communication and Life, that the Sansui's do so much better than virtually everything I've owned in 45+ years of hifi and music. Utterly brilliant! I'd really love to shake the hands of the team that designed these SP-300s. They get so MUCH right, that everything else just falls away. Sated.

Reviewed Oct 10th, 2017 by douglaslmitchell

I really don't understand why I here so many people hate on Sansui. I own a lot of different brands of speakers from JBL to Yamaha EPI Pioneer Advent Utah AKAI B&W. Yea my wife of 34 years thinks I'm crazy, sorry I digress. Anyway out of all my speakers I would have to say my favorites are the JBL. Ok that being said over the last five years I have came to the conclusion that my Sansui SP-300's are now a close 2nd I truly love these speakers. If I had to get rid of all my speakers except two sets I would choose my L166's and the SP-300's.