Sansui SP-V100 (circa 1982)
The Sansui SP-V100 is a three-way, three-driver bass-reflex bookshelf speaker from around 1982, priced at ¥46,000 per unit in Japan. It's rare. One Russian-language source calls it the rarest of its class and compares it to contemporaries like the Onkyo D-5, Pioneer S-170, and Technics SB-M5. The same source calls the SP-V100 a "Japanese relative of JBL."
The interesting part is the "bicrystal" diaphragm material, used for both the 27 cm woofer and the 13 cm midrange. Sansui combined polypropylene with crystalline mica. The company claimed two to three times the rigidity of paper or plain polypropylene, with double the internal loss of paper. The woofer uses a large strontium ferrite magnet (10,500 gauss flux density) with a T-pole, an aluminum die-cast frame, and a micro-corrugated cone. The midrange also gets a die-cast frame, with a 12,000 gauss ferrite magnet. The 2.5 cm tweeter is a hard-domed design with a three-layer vapor-deposited diaphragm using chromium sputtering, backed by a 15,000 gauss magnetic circuit.
The enclosure is bass reflex, with 20 mm high-density acoustic boards on the front and rear baffles, plus internal bracing. The crossover is an orthodox parallel 12 dB/octave design. The midrange and tweeter inductors use oxygen-free copper, and there are level controls for both the mid and high ranges.
Known specifications:
- Max input: 120W
- Impedance: 8 Ω
- Sensitivity: 91 dB/W/m
- Frequency response: 30 Hz - 35 kHz
- Crossover frequencies: 800 Hz, 5 kHz
- Internal volume: 43.5 liters
- Dimensions: 335 × 600 × 325 mm (W×H×D)
- Weight: 18.1 kg
Beyond the technical documentation, the record is thin. One seller listing says they play "excellently, without any complaints." A Dzen article (circa 2023) reports the author sought out these rare speakers personally, and puts them in the same weight class as the Onkyo D-5, Pioneer S-170, Victor 30FX, Diatone 66, and Technics SB-M5/SB-6. No independent lab measurements, detailed reviews, or production quantity figures have surfaced. No manual is known to exist on the usual archives.
Similar items on eBay
No exact Sansui SP-V100 listings are live right now — these searches show current Sansui and similar vintage audio gear on eBay:
As an eBay Partner, we earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support our independent vintage technology research.
Related Models
- Sansui 2000A (1968-1970)
- Sansui 5000X (1969-1971)
- Sansui 6060 (1975-1977)
- Sansui 7000X
- Sansui 881 (1974-1976)
- Braun AUDIO-1 (1965)
- Braun AUDIO-250 (1965)
- Magnavox Component Systems (1972)
- Acoustic Research AR (1967-1976)
- Acoustic Research 11