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The Best of SANSUI    - Vintage Stereo, Classic Audio Products and Company History -

Quick Jump to International v.s. Japanese Domestic Models,  Production Date, Did Quality Go down?, Company History by Sansui (Translation), Product History by Sansui (Translation), What does Sansui mean?, About this Site

Product Introduction Date

One of the hottest issues among Sansui enthusiasts has been the introduction date of key products.  The best known method to determine the introduction date is to check production date of each unit, and make a database to find the earliest production date for each questioned model.

The method to determine the production date is to look at the third digit of the nine digit serial number.  If the unit is old, and has only eight digit serial number, the second digit should be the production year.

Another method, I have just discovered is to look at the back side of the front panel.  If you find a small paper tag, or ink print that has 99-99-99 format on "M.D." row, it represents the production date in Japanese calendar.  The first two digits is the Japanese Showa Period year, that is 1925 is the year one.  Then, the next two digit is the month, and the last two digit is the date.  Therefore, if one tag says 53-01-30, it means that the tag was printed on January 30th in 1978.  This rule applies only models made between sometime mid 1970's to early 1980's.  AU-9900A's does not follow this rule yet.  Some later models, such as AU-G99X does not have any tug or print on it.

Either method that I have mentioned has short comings.  Year code is the production year of particular unit, not the introduction year of the model.  I have discovered better way to find the introduction year by studying maintenance manuals.

From one of the earliest solid-state integrated amplifier, AU-999, to the newest international model, AU-911DG, Sansui used the consecutive parts number for internal boards.  By focusing on driver boards, that is the most common part on amplifiers, I have constructed a table that is sorted by driver board number.  Then, I plugged in known introduction years for certain models.  In this way, it's possible to pinpoint the introduction year for uncertain products.  The following table depicts the final findings.

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Last modified: 02/08/04