Sansui was founded by Mr Kikuchi in 1947 in Tokyo, Japan, originally as a transformer manufacturer. “Sansui” refers to a style of drawing that originated in Ancient China, characterised by black ink on white paper depicting scenes from nature. Sansui drawings are admired for their strength and simplicity, and it is these qualities that the founders of Sansui wanted to inspire in their products. The relation to this style of drawing is reflected in many of the designs of Sansui products – most Sansui classics have black front paneling with white lettering.

It was not until 1954 that Sansui began to manufacture amplifiers and the company produced some masterpieces of audio equipment, including the legendary AU-111 tube amplifier. Mr Kikuchi placed emphasis on quality, but was forced to resign and was replaced by a former employee of the main shareholder, Tokyo Bank, who were more concerned with turnover and profit than quality audio manufacture. This resulted in poor quality mass-market audio production and the introduction of cheaper and inferior products. The loss of Mr Kikuchi signaled the beginning of a downward spiral for the company.

The company enjoyed its heyday in the late 1970s to mid 1980s, and was a well-known brand name internationally. But by 1999, Sansui had lost its presence in the audio arena. They retreated from the US market in the late 1980s, although equipment of reasonable quality was produced up until 2001 when the corporate headquarters were closed in Shin –Yokohama