HISTORY:
Classic Golden oldies (that's why it has the Gold jack plug!) from my youthful days. I had a lot of SANSUI domestic audio gear at the time (sorry but my AU7700 has gone although I have some other "lesser" SANSUI's to check out!) and now I will be seeking a new home for these SS-10 headphones.
Later in life, when I started my audio production facilities in the late 80's (post audio and manufacturing) our studio engineer saw me with these in my hand one day and decided he would like a listen, just for fun!
Our standard kit in the studios were various AKG's and he quickly put these SANSUI's back in the storeroom!, mainly because they are so heavy. Later we thought it would be fun to upgrade the horrible SS-10 "Y curly cord" that was used originally and replace the old plug/socket with a nice Gold 1/4" jack plug - sort of suits the headphones place in time!
Since the late 1990's these were again barely used (just for fun, NEVER for professional purposes) and last week I got to thinking it was time for these to "leave home" and find a new owner who may appreciate their historical value and possibly the sound, although in my honest opinion these SS-10's are "OK" but nothing to write home about.
SANSUI - Stereo Headphones
Circa mid 1970's
Owned (and cared for) since purchased new in the 70's
Modified output lead, see the details below ...
Lead is 2 metres length x 4mm diameter, almost the same diameter as the original
MODEL: SS-10
8 Ohm impedance
Maximum drive 500mW
Manufacturer's claimed frequency response 20Hz ~ 20Khz (3dB points)
Maximum SPL capability 110dB
NOTE: Sounds impressive? Well, most listening should be made at 70dB or lower, 110dB is very loud and anything exceeding this level can permanently damage hearing. I personally feel this was thrown into the spec's to make the headphones "sound better" on paper.
Volume is adjustable on EACH EAR - nice!
Construction is plastic, soft (tough) vinyl and Chromed metal framework
WEIGHT: 625g (!) see my notes about this below
Separate volume control on each ear
Output lead has been changed, we (my audio engineer and I) hated that Y curly cord and professionally fitted a decent "straight" cable with a nice Gold plated 1/4" stereo jack plug (just for fun)
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
Very nice condition (truly! I saw some folks advertising these on other sites and they look like they have been sitting in the back garden for months ...)
All plastic (White muffs, Volume control coverings etc) are unmarked and CLEAN
The soft vinyl (tough actually, it needs to stretch so that the pads can be removed to access inside the "ears", no problems at all but take care.
NO damaged stitching and NO cuts to the vinyl (all around the ear pads and across the wearer's head)
Metallic Silver coated Volume knobs are both undamaged or marked.
When the output lead was changed (quite some time ago), the original exit rubber boot was retained.
The two metre lead to the 1/4" jack plug has NO damage to the sheath, NO markings either.
The Gold jack plug WAS new at the time of "upgrading" the cable, it is nothing special (not a Pro grade jack plug) but it is clean and looks pretty!
TESTING:
When I was a youngster (way back in the mists of time), these Sansui's sounded great. My ears were young and inexperienced! In later years I moved into the world of audio production and found far "nicer" (and lighter!) headphones, particularly offerings such as the AKG K240 (Monitoring) then the K712 Pro & K872
But the SS-10 was never targeted at the professional or audiophile market, SANSUI's market was the consumer. Nothing startling in the specifications, in fact a bit "bumpy" up above 2Khz but "good enough"
At the time, these were one of the headphones a Hi-Fi owner "should" have but they will never give you "killer" sound quality!
I go on a bit here because in the world of audio there are a lot of "self taught experts" who say the most ridiculous things about these headphones - they are nice, primarily from a historical perspective, but it would be unwise to start comparing them to contemporary headphones. I see online that some actually modify these to try and make them sound "better" or add baffling to drop the resonances, fair go! It's a 1970's two way headphone, leave it alone for goodness sake.
I have been "inside" (I mean right inside) and cleaned both pots, checked the wiring (bit of a rat's nest) and all is honky dory inside - these SS-10's are absolutely ORIGINAL and have not been modified internally (I once saw a pair with a big fat cap added to boost the low end)
Oh, why TWO WAY? It is all to do with the 8cm speaker element that SANSUI uses in each ear. The cones are both paper and polyester, each material has different frequency responses and this improves the overall frequency response. It is not innovation by SANSUI, this "two way" technology was already being used in floor standing loudspeaker systems, SANSUI just bought it up to your ears.
Plugged into my ancient NAD 7155 (the office workhorse) and away we go ...
I have listened with these "cans" on my head over the last two days, an hour or so at a time - it's the most I would like my ears/head to handle. THEY ARE HEAVY!
How heavy? 625g heavy - that's over half a kilo - compare this with say the AKG K240's at 240g. You could put on 3 pairs of AKG K240's at the same time for the weight of the SANSUI SS-10 (and look rather stupid to boot)
Now my ears are OLD now (so is my music! so we get on well together) but I have done my best to give a reliable audible evaluation.
Left-Right Balance seems really good, with the Volume set to the same level on each side it all sounded good to me.
Frequency response was "OK" in my books but I did feel the Bass end was lacking (cuts off at 50Hz according to the specs but I feel it is actually a bit higher than this) and the top end was, well acceptable. Critical listening, nup it's not going to do if for you but if you just want to kick back and listen to your favourite music on that fabulous SANSUI system you have, without annoying the rest of the family, yep these are fine.
Although I did clean the Volume pots on each side (tiny little hole on the side of the pot to access inside with the spray can) I noticed there was this tiny little "flat spot" right up near full volume (10) on ONE ear only. It didn't drop out completely but you could hear the change in level. Otherwise, nice smooth volume variation on either ear.
So there you go, quite a detailed description with lots of personal comments. I just don't want someone thinking "are these better than my JBL's?" Geez, you are looking at history here, not high quality.
Closing funny story, I showed these to my daughter (teenager) and she was horrified - "why are they so FAT?" Hmmmm, very uncool apparently.
