This is the history of Sansui as I know it.
I really don't have much knowledge, but this page is a start. I would LOVE to know why Sansui went down the tubes. They didn't have a problem selling good stuff when they made it, but once they started making junk, it killed them.
If you know more, please share it with the world by emailing it to me, and I'll post it here.
Sent to me by a kind reader are the following facts, and a pic of the original Sansui location.
I attach a drawing of the first Sansui "building" when the employers were only 9 people.
The house was located at 1315 Yoyogi-Uehara, Shibuya.ku, Tokyo
This is a photo of the founder of Sansui, Mr Kosaku Kikuchi.
I can only say, This is an honorable man!
Here are some very early models from Sansui's lineup
I assume that Sansui started as a transformer company. This is borne out by the fact that they made some of the best iron ever available. And that they were known as the Sansui Electric Company in the early days. They made fine equipment that employed their skill in heavy metal, such as reel to reel decks with motors that continue to function flawlessly to this day. The motors and transports just keep on chugging long after competitors decks have gone to the great scap heap in the sky.
They went on to make valve equipment in the 60s and some of the very best transistor equipment ever made anywhere. They forced the semiconductor industry to develop transistors that would do what they needed them to do. That is why many of the semiconductors used in their power amps are no longer available. Nobody else demanded as much.
Then the bean counters got to them and they used off the shelf ICs in their power amp sections, and the cabinets went to plastic junk, from the previous beautiful aluminum extrusions. After this, it was only a matter of time.
Nowadays, you see the Sansui name on all manner of consumer electronics, but it is only labelling. The fine engineering and manufacturing processes of yesteryear are gone.
It's a crying shame. But it happened to many other fine names, as well. Marantz, Sherwood, Fisher, etc. C'est la vie...
All the info below I've received thru email.
I've just reproduced it here rather than trying to rewrite it.
Hello There
Just found your site. Very Interesting! Didn't know there were so many Sansui Lovers out
there.
Just a few bits of info regards Sansui.
My father worked for Sansui for roughly 30 years. In that time, I lived around the world
as we moved from Japan - New York - Los Angeles - London England.
By the time we were in England (1981), he was the technical director of Sansui Electronics
of UK (england) and was also briefly the general manager of the Los Angeles office in
Gardena in the late 70's.
Sansui was indeed originally a transformer manufacturer. They then moved on to quality
audio, where the founder, Mr Kikuchi, had a policy of always showing the worst test specs
for brochures, ensuring the products always exceeded spec. I believe there was some kind
of scandal, which, although Mr Kikuchi was not directly responsible, he had to resign as
he was the company president. One of the company shareholders, Tokyo bank, then put in
charge a bean counter from its own ranks to the top of Sansui, to improve profitability.
This caused a shift in policy, resulting in poor quality mass market audio to be produced.
he was not concerned regards specifications, quality etc - and hence the beginning of a
downward spiral. Product ranges like "super compo" - cheap plasticky gadgety
stuff started to appear.
The company still failed to do well, and there then followed a succession of presidents,
still from Tokyo bank, none of which was up to the job. However, with the company in debt,
it became inevitable that the presidents came from there. In 1987, there was a change of
company Logo, with a "s" shape formed between a profile of two "faces"
supposedly communicating with each other. This was a brand relaunch, which still failed.
Around this time my father was Technical Director in the UK branch office. The company
struggled, and I recall my father bringing home prototype Sansui badged Goldstar (now LG)
walkmans, in a desperate attempt to keep the company in business. These walkmans were so
naff, even I thought they were cheap and nasty, although I was only 16. This was purely a
UK initiative, trying to buy cheap stereo's from low cost labor Korea.
The UK branch was closed in 1988, and he went back home. A distributor was appointed, and
all European sales were to be directed through Germany. More and more people were leaving
Sansui, (unusual for a Japanese to leave a company in the boom time 80's) and I recall my
Dad coming home from work sighing "we've lost another good engineer. This one's gone
to Nakamichi". Many times he was frustrated that cost cutting of components
were carried out in between prototyping and production.
When he returned to Japan, he ended up in the Saitama office - (now closed and demolished-
an unusual building, with an intricate outside facade designed to look like a
Sansui
speaker grill from the early 70's). As the company wouldn't make him redundant, and he
wouldn't resign, he ended up doing odd jobs. The worst was when he had to work as a sales
person in a retail store, trying to recommend Sansui to customers. He used to demo Sansui
Midi systems to college kids, and would raise the volume slightly louder than the rest to
make it sound better! Here was a guy that had worked at Sansui for almost his whole
career, having overseas postings, senior positions, and now he was working in a shop! The
last role he had was in the Osaka service center, where he was the service manager. All
day long he would have to field calls from angry customers with faulty Sansui products.
Luckily, he was headhunted by a former Sansui employee who worked at a employment agency
now, and he got a decent well paying job with a company that
makes semiconductors. Soon after that, Sansui was bought by Polly Peck, run by Asil Nadir.
He was embroiled in a tax scandal soon after, Polly Peck disappeared and Sansui got sold
off again, to a Hong Kong company.
Sorry for the long email. However, I hope this gives a little glimpse of how Sansui
declined in the late 70's, early 80's. My Dad doesn't have any nostalgia regarding Sansui
now, as he was treated so badly near the end. I have more fond memories I think, looking
through the eyes of a child, although hearing my father coming home saying "This
company is going to go bust" very often was not so good.
Regards
Name withheld by request
<, Thanks so much for taking the time to send me
the history as you lived it!>
If anyone has a Sansui story, please send it to me for posting.