Sansui SP2500 parts are on the way!

slong115

New Member
Ordered some replacement crossover caps for my four ancient Sansui SP2500 speakers that I bought while I was in Vietnam. I have had the speakers stored unused in my basement for many years and just recently got two of them connected to a receiver out in my 3 season room as the weather here in Michigan is finally showing signs of Spring.

The speakers don't sound as good as I remember them sounding in my younger days when they were part of my house party sound system being driven by a Sansui Eight receiver that is sadly no longer with me. I am hoping new crossover caps bring the life back to these even though I am mostly keeping them for sentimental value.

Got the caps coming from Parts Express and they shipped today. Took the back plate off of one of the speakers before ordering the caps and it looks like a really simple job to replace the 43 yr old originals except that they look to be epoxied to the circuit board. I think I will just do what this guy did and cut the leads off of the old caps and use them to solder the new ones while leaving the old, disconnected ones in place. His speakers look exactly like mine...even the caps are the same color!

http://blog.kf7lze.net/2011/04/05/refurbishing-vintage-sansui-sp2500-speakers/

I was an electronics tech in the Marines and also built lots of Heathkit stuff, including a 25" color TV set that took me about 6 months to build, so I am quite comfortable with a soldering iron. Heathkit was located in my hometown about 2 miles from my house and my best friend from high school was one of their lead audio techs and he would get me their kits with his employee discount! I sure miss those days and building their kits.
 
Did you get the crossovers done, and how do they sound now? I have a set of these as well, haven't changed the caps yet on mine.
 
Change the caps! I've got 2 pairs of the 3500's and they need new caps. Auditioning these rigs with the old ones in place isn't fair. And the surround goo should be removed and replaced, the bass suffers quite a bit after nearly 40 years. I haven't done this yet though. That's another one of my projects waiting for my inspiration.

Biggles
 
Yes, I did get the caps replaced but until you replied, nobody seemed to be too interested in my project so I never updated this thread.

New caps were fairly easy to install although I wish I had been able to remove the old caps rather than just install the new ones alongside of them. The old caps look like they are epoxied to the circuit board and I didn't want to take a chance of damaging the board trying to remove the old ones. The speakers do sound noticeably better...not quite so "muddy" for lack of a better term.

I am running two of them in my 3-season room using an older model Insignia amp and a FIIO X1 as a music source. That setup is 'good enough' for me there but I will probably give it a break and bring everything inside before winter returns. That room is unheated and winters here in Michigan can get rather cold. I am not sure what the cold would do to the speakers but I know what it does to me...so I don't use that room for much other than a giant freezer from about November until April.

Anyway, back to re-capping. I do recommend it. I cut the leads off of the old caps as close to their bodies as I could and just twisted the leads together soldered the new caps' leads to the old leads that were sticking up from the circuit board. It isn't too pretty but I have good physical and electrical connections this way. First one took about 20 minutes but I got better and faster and by the time I did my 4th speaker, it was probably done in 12 or 13 minutes.

I think it was a worthwhile project for such old speakers.
 
Cool beans. Sometime threads get lost in the forums if there's a lot of active threads. I had this one bookmarked cuz having the same, was curious to hear your experience after the re-cap.

The changing environment in an unconditioned room will wreak havoc on the speaker's cabinets and grills. Don't suppose the drivers will fare well either.

As for the old caps being epoxied to the boards, not sure if there is a thread addressing that. Maybe someone will chime in pointing us in the right direction.

If the new caps are secured and ain't turning loose, I won't see 'em from my house....lol

Thanks for the update.
 
If you do decide to recap your speakers, let me know how it turns out and what you think of the experience. I had not done any soldering in about 10 years but I thought it was an easy project overall. It actually took me longer to find all of my soldering supplies than it did to replace the set of caps in the first 2 speakers that I did.

My SP-2500 cabinets have gotten many 'battle scars' over the years from parties and from moving to new houses. I am sure that even my modest Polk Monitor 70's are probably better sounding speakers, but I don't have the heart to get rid of my Sansui's. My wife probably wouldn't shed any tears if they were gone but they have been with me since 1972 and I consider them to be 'old friends' with lots of good memories. Of all the stereo equipment that I bought while in Vietnam, these are the only pieces remaining. I foolishly got rid of the other pieces over the years (including a mint Sansui Eight receiver that I REALLY regret selling in a garage sale in the 1980s). If I ever do decide to get rid of my SP-2500s, I have two long-time buddies who remember them from our younger party days who would take them in nano-second and appreciate them.
 
Hey!

I won't put the speakers into full rotation until I replace the capacitors, just listen to make sure all drivers are good. That's how I feel about it.

I found out the method for replacing the capacitors properly, for the most part.

Hunker down and listen up. I used a battery powered vibrating cutter tool to cut through the epoxy holding each capacitor on. It leaves a little indentation where the new caps can sit. Lightly sand old epoxy and the new capacitor where it will glue down. I used the Amazing GOOP adhesive for mine. This is the process for removing the old capacitors and getting the new ones into place.

Then, remove the knobs and locking nuts on the back of the speaker. Unscrew the little philips head screws holding the circuit board onto the plastic cup.

Take a look on the circuit board and find where the binding post/clips come through the circuit board, see the two metal tabs coming through? This is the 3500 crossover, but yours is similar. See?

SP3500051.jpg


Grab the crossover and put it at eye level and notice that you can actually see 2 tabs soldered together. YES. Remove solder there.

SP3500052.jpg


The crossover circuit board and plastic cup will now actually fall into 2 pieces in your hands. Neat, eh?

Now you can desolder the old leads, clean up the holes. Tuck new leads into holes, bend leads, solder. Now you have new capacitors installed just as they were meant to be. Reverse process to put back into place.

Here's my thread on restoring my 3500's. The post where I start the crossovers is #249. http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=565201

Biggles
 
If you've had those speakers all this time, I'd be hard pressed to let 'em go. Just like that ole dog who showed up here days after I finished moving in here on this land.

Never figured out whose dog it was, could have been dumped on the road. Heartless folk do that out here in the sticks....

Woke up one morning, cup of coffee in hand, stepped out the front to enjoy my new home...and there lay dog. Raised up his head, looked at me a second...and laid his head back down.

Pulled up a chair and told dog to git his butt home. He raised up that head again, blinked, laid it back again. He didn't bother to follow the two other rules I immediately laid down: no digging in the yard, or crapping in the yard either.

Those 2500's I have probably aren't in some books best in show, but they are good ole dogs nonetheless. They haven't crapped in the yard either. They played well for the short time I had them hooked up. I'll do the cross-overs before they go back into operation.


Thanks for the thread link Drbiggles, will have to read through it here soon. I've a pair of Forte I's to rebuild first.
 
If you've had those speakers all this time, I'd be hard pressed to let 'em go. Just like that ole dog who showed up here days after I finished moving in here on this land.

Never figured out whose dog it was, could have been dumped on the road. Heartless folk do that out here in the sticks....

Woke up one morning, cup of coffee in hand, stepped out the front to enjoy my new home...and there lay dog. Raised up his head, looked at me a second...and laid his head back down.

Pulled up a chair and told dog to git his butt home. He raised up that head again, blinked, laid it back again. He didn't bother to follow the two other rules I immediately laid down: no digging in the yard, or crapping in the yard either.

Those 2500's I have probably aren't in some books best in show, but they are good ole dogs nonetheless. They haven't crapped in the yard either. They played well for the short time I had them hooked up. I'll do the cross-overs before they go back into operation.


Thanks for the thread link Drbiggles, will have to read through it here soon. I've a pair of Forte I's to rebuild first.

You can't buy nostalgia, nor can we afford to either. You don't have to tell me twice, some speakers and some of my treasures just aren't for sale.

I'd like to rebuild some Forte's too, maybe some day I'll get the chance. But they'd need to be in absolutely deplorable condition though, something destined for the dump.

Biggles
 
The cabinets on this pair I picked up are shot. All drivers are fine, but for longevity's sake...will do new surrounds.

Posted a thread already for a later-this-summer rebuild.

The Sansui speakers I have, they are in almost flawless condition. Love the lattice grille fronts. These will be my fall project after the Forte's are done.

I bought a pair of 3500 drivers and parts, no woofers though, and no cabinets, for a future project. I was thinking maybe an open baffle with a bass box/sub design for use with TV/movies viewing. Still pondering that one.
 
I'd like to find 1 3500 woofer so I can experiment on cleaning and re-sealing the surround. I'm sure I'll end up practicing on one of my good ones, gotta try it.

Biggles
 
I forgot to mention that even after recapping my SP2500's, they sound much better when I play them medium loud or even higher rather than at lower volumes. It seems that they like to 'stretch their legs' a bit. I can't remember if they were like that back when they were newer as I tended to crank the volume a bit more in those days. Now, since I have them on a screened porch for summer, I want to be a good neighbor and not blast my stereo too loudly.....but once in awhile, I blow the carbon out of them for a song or two. LOL

They sound 'okay' at lower volumes but seem to appreciate the extra power when I give it to them.
 
I forgot to mention that even after recapping my SP2500's, they sound much better when I play them medium loud or even higher rather than at lower volumes. It seems that they like to 'stretch their legs' a bit. I can't remember if they were like that back when they were newer as I tended to crank the volume a bit more in those days. Now, since I have them on a screened porch for summer, I want to be a good neighbor and not blast my stereo too loudly.....but once in awhile, I blow the carbon out of them for a song or two. LOL

They sound 'okay' at lower volumes but seem to appreciate the extra power when I give it to them.

I gifted a set of 2500's to my son two or three years ago. they do struggle on the low end but sound very good other wise. I added in a sub which was the perfect fix especially for lower volume listening.
 
Mine sound pretty decent. But I didn't run them in library mode either. They did sound like they appreciated the exercise the volume knob gave 'em.

How many hours you have on the new crossovers now?
 
I run these speakers quite a lot during the daytime as we are experiencing a very comfortable summer this year and I spend a lot of time in the sun-room/porch where I have them set-up. So I would guess several hundred hours on them since the re-cap. Of course I am only using 2 of the 4 speakers that I own. The other two have also been re-capped but still stored in my finished basement after I briefly tested them to make sure the new replacement caps worked.

Once the weather turns cooler and I have the windows shut on the porch, I will tend to play them louder for a few weeks before I have to bring them into the heated part of the house before the real cold weather arrives.

Overall, they are not bad for 43 year old speakers other than some small nicks and chips in the cabinets. I have moved 6 times in those years with a possible 7th move in the not too distant future and all of the 'battle damage' came during those moves.
 
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