Sansui Amps Owners & Discussion Thread

[Snapper()]

I would say you are spot on with your summary. I found the larger 7900 ran a bit hot for my liking and the slightly lower powered ones were better in this regard.
Out of the triple range - i preferred the AU222 and AU777 to the 505/555, but the 101 remains special since it was the first amp i bought many years ago without any knowlege of Sansui and recall really liking it but discounted it because thought the brand was cheap and nasty at the time.
Currently selling off gear to give the 9900a a shot at the title. It certainly wins on looks alone!

[Odyssey]

10 hours ago, Snapper() said:

Currently selling off gear to give the 9900a a shot at the title. It certainly wins on looks alone!

I'll let you chase that while I set my sight on more earthly goals. For some reasons I'm thinking of a AU-717 or AU-719 for my 3rd Sansui. I seem to recall that I heard the AU-717 driving a pair of blue JBLs at @Powerglide home and thinking to myself that that sounded very nice !

 

Hope I wasn't mistaken but I think it's the AU-717 that I heard.

[Powerglide]

10 hours ago, Snapper() said:

since it was the first amp i bought many years ago without any knowlege of Sansui

I fluked my way into Sansui, My TT of 30 years seized and without any research (pre stereonet for me) I brought a SR525 locally, it was hooked up to a 517 and I thought it was magic. It didn't take long before I had a 417 which wasn't the best fit for me so I switched to a 5500, that was a great pairing. Never say never but I'll never sell that amp. 

I brought Snappers D11 which has a great phono stage and a ton of drive to light up the more difficult speakers and yet retains a lot of the softer 5500 traits.( more than the 417)  

A broken tone arm cable on my main TT at present has the 525 on duty with an Ortofon Rohmann and the D11's phono stage matches my Exposure/Benz Wood, little less bass, but I think that's mostly in the cart. 

 

Thats the amp you heard @Odyssey funny thing @pete_mac has had his hands on it and Skippy has been in the 5500 

 

 

[wen]

Sansui in the house, pick up a one owner Sansui 555A in very good condition, you could say mint but the woodcasing has damage to the back , but the rest of the casing is unmarked, front panel is superb, guy had it serviced just before sale, he said he could hear the improvement on return, sound great in the system

[Cafad]

I guess I can add the Exposure 2010S2D to the amps that the SP-300S work well with.  I've fitted the new inductors and caps to the right hand speaker today, I've got them running in on the Exposure as I type.  And they're sounding just fine.

[Odyssey]

To say that I'm impressed with the Sansui AU-717 is an understatement. I've never heard the HD800 and LCD-2f sound so good !

 

It's a bit of a fluke that I got this unit. I wanted to buy a AU-719 on Gumtree and I again consulted Pete on that. He told me it's a good unit but that the stars were aligned for me because Skippy has a 717 ready to be released. Naturally I'm interested because the 717 has a nicer build quality and a warmer and more tube like tone.

 

So today I met Skippy for the first time ... and the 717 too. They are both swell guys !!! It's a delight talking to Skippy (John).

 

An internal picture of the 717 provided by John. Very clean and totally overhaul. Love it. The amp is in very good condition. The front facia is perfect. The sound? So far only listen to it via headphones - HD800 and LCD-2f. My search for a nice tube headphone amp is over. After 9 months wait for a DNA Stratus, I cancel the order..... all because these 3 Sansui(s) sound really good with the headphones...... and the speakers too no doubt when I try that later.

 

[pete_mac]

I love a happy ending!

[huxmut]

Minty

Odyssey by name Odyssey by Sansui adventure

 

 

[Odyssey]

Thanks to you Pete. I'll see you again in a year's time for a Alpha series  but I'm not sure that I will need to upgrade from the 717. It's sounding superb.

 

... and John did something magical with the headphone socket. It's totally silent when inserting the headphone plug. Smooth.

[Cafad]

It is very interesting that these speakers don't seem to like Sansui amps.  Also rather ironic and a little on the disappointing side but definitely interesting. 

I've given them a run with the only 607 I have left, the MR, and while the combo sounds pretty good that extra detail that the MR series seems to have (noted way back with the 907MR) starts to fatigue my ears a little after 4 or 5 songs.  It isn't a deal breaker and I suspect that is exactly what spinners of black discs would be seeking but since I'm a silver disc spinner I have enough detail on hand already thank you very much.

 

The Exposure 2010S2D is a match made in audio heaven with these SP-300S stand mounts.  The laid back nature of the 2010S that I recall from years ago seems to have been enhanced with just a little upper mid air and crispness without really changing the laid back nature of the bass.  The top end comes across a bit faint and dull on my Lenehan S2Rs but it sounds just right on the Sansuis.  The Exposure/Sansui combo is, in many ways, just as enjoyable to listen to as the Lenehans are with most decent amplifiers.  Of course the Lenehans can handle more power and if we were to compare the Exposure/Sansui combo to a Lenehan/Sansui NRA or Luxman combo I have no doubt which one I would prefer but that wouldn't really be a fair comparison in pricing.

The Exposure has that laid back, smooth and almost sultry feel to it, combine its mid range with the SP-300S focus on the mid range as well and vocals are extremely good (perhaps not quite as good as some of the Lenehan/amp combos I've heard in the past but I can only think of 3 or 4 amps that would top them).  

 

I guess what I'm trying to say is that these are very decent speakers if not great ones but, as with most gear, they need to be paired with amps that work with them rather than against them.  As I said above the NAD 3120 was also a good match (and you can pick up one of them, or a comparable model, for around $200 aussie from ebay on a fairly regular basis) though not quite as good as the Exposure.  The Linx Nebula was also a good fit, a little more detailed than the NAD perhaps but just as enjoyable, not that they come up for sale very often.  

 

Extrapolating from this I would also predict Audiolab gear to be a good match, earlier model Sansui amps (555, 101, 5900, pretty much any of the lower wattage models from before about 1980), Perreaux's Audiant range, Rega's Brio-R, Heed's Elixir amp, and I'm sure many others.

 

So Sansui did build some rather good speakers, they just didn't export them.  And they didn't build them quite as good as they did their amplifiers. (but I think we already knew that, didn't we?)

[huxmut]

I hope my 101 gets to meet these in May

 

[Cafad]

3 minutes ago, huxmut said:

I hope my 101 gets to meet these in May

 

I'm sure we could work something out.  

[The Fez]

That must reduce the 717 count for John to around 4x717's I reckon!!

[Powerglide]

23 hours ago, Odyssey said:

I again consulted Pete on that. He told me it's a good unit but that the stars were aligned for me because Skippy has a 717 ready to be released

Ahhhh the old line him up knock him down move, looks like you got played! 

Got to watch those two Matt Shady. I feel a bit responsible after introducing you to the Sansui sound so I guess I can take it off your hands. 

 

3 Sansui's in a fortnight!  Time to slow down Grasshopper 

 

 

[huxmut]

31 minutes ago, Powerglide said:

3 Sansui's in a fortnight!

 

I see an alpha in his future
 

 

[Odyssey]

19 minutes ago, Powerglide said:

Ahhhh the old line him up knock him down move, looks like you got played! 

Got to watch those two Matt Shady. I feel a bit responsible after introducing you to the Sansui sound so I guess I can take it off your hands. 

 

3 Sansui's in a fortnight!  Time to slow down Grasshopper 

 

 

This 717 will not leave my hands for the next 40 years.  Btw don't you still have your 717?

 

I've forgotten that short listening session at your home. I was there to pick up the Audio-Gd dac but was privilege to listen to your system.

 

Tonight I move the 717 to the lounge and connected up the Axis LS88. Playing 'Love Over Gold' album, it was love at first listen. Problem is deciding what to listen to. Great on the speakers and great on the Audeze LCD-2f, which has a magical tone driven by the 717.

 

3 Sansui(s) in a fortnight. That's right. 505 arrived on the 5/3, 7700 arrived on the 11/3 and 717 arrived on 17/3. I was deeply into rolling tubes on my headphone tube amps but rolling amps on these 3 Sansui(s) is more fun. Each of the amps are quite similar yet uniquely different in their tone. I'm having a ball plugging my headphone jack into the amps.

 

I like your deadpan humour but John and Pete are the nicest people in this hobby that I've met in a very short time... not withstanding I've to turn to them again in the future for an Alpha.

 

Cheers

Matt

[TerryO]

The answer to this quandary you find yourself in is quite simple Cafad ... you need a PrimaLuna amp to make those speakers sound sweet. ... 

 

cheers Terry

[Cafad]

Oh come on Terry, does anyone ever really need a Prima Luna amp?

 

[Odyssey]

2 hours ago, huxmut said:

 

I see an alpha in his future
 

 

 

Not so soon. The LCD-2f is sounding crazily good with these 2 amps.

[sloper]

Goodaye all

 

Bugger, got another Sansui last night.

A AU222, wasnt working, but is now.

 

Had to remove some crazy mods from the outputs and replace fuses.

Cleaned switches plugged it in and it came alive perfectly and has been playing for the last hour on my test speakers.

 

l can hear great potential in this little amp, l had said to the wife l was going to get it working and sell it

for funds for the AU717.

New caps would really make this thing sing.

What to do.

 

Like l really need another amp like a hole in the head.

 

l'm not addicted l can give up anytime just need one more Sansui fix.

 

regards Bruce

[liemjerry]

Hi,

need advise for Sansui AU-D707

 

- is this amplifier powerful enough?

- what is characteristic of it's sound? I mean bright, warm, or other nuance?

- I usually playing Jazz music, 60% from vinyl, 30% from cassette dan the rest from CD, is this amplifier suitable? I use ADS L470/2 loudpspeaker

 

thank you

 

[sloper]

Ahhhhh

Put the AU222 on the main speakers and cranked it up.

 

This is a lovely little amp, do you think the wife will notice.

 

regards Bruce

[noddyc43]

Hi All

 Was lucky enough (or unlucky) to purchase a sansui 8080db in non working condition. The original owner reports many years ago connecting a cd player input into the auxiliary and when turned on smelt smoke. That was many years ago and it has been sitting in the cupboard ever since. I took the cover off for a look and there is definitely some dark patches  on the power supply circuit board of the RF section with some sad looking green resistors.

I took it to a local repairs place in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne and they were not interested. 

Can I ask if any one knows of a Sansui specialist around Melbourne? Seems as though all the gurus are in Sydney likes of skippy124 or Pete Mac.  An 8080db is an amplifier definetly worth repairing I would think? 

[sloper]

Try Truscots in Croydon.

 

regards Bruce

[noddyc43]

1 hour ago, sloper said:

Try Truscots in Croydon.

 

regards Bruce

Thanks Bruce reading throught the thread looks like some have used them before and they know their way around a Sansui. Apparently this model is a bit complicated due to the Dolby section so will see what they can do. 

Cheers