New to me Sansui TU-9900

damacman

Resident Psycho
I've owned a lot of fine tuners over the years, mostly McIntosh. Every time I would see you guys posting your BA / CA / TU stacks, I'm like - I gotta get me some of that shit.

A few years back, I found a AU-217 / TU-217 / SC3110 in a GX-5 rack parked outside the electronics bin at the dump - so I rescued it. Turned out, the only thing necessary was belts for the tape deck. I've been using the integrated and tuner in my garage ever since and for entry level gear, have been overly impressed.

So, I've had the Sansui bug for a bit now. I came across this TU-9900 in Barter Town a bit ago for a very reasonable price ($350 plus shipping). I didn't even dicker. Sold. It arrived safely due to excellent packing, I powered it up, and it sounded excellent right out of the gate. As it warmed up, it could no longer lock a Stereo signal. However, the selectivity and sensitivity were already better than my serviced and aligned Kenwood KT-8300.

So, off to the Audio Doctor it went. Hey, he's just right down the road from me!

I got it back today. Cornell, like always, was very fair and it needed just one hour of service. Nice! I picked it up today. Cornell was quite complementary about its performance so I was anxious to hear it in my setup.

Now it's back home, plugged in, and I'm listening to it as I type. The TU-9900 is easily one of the finest tuners I've yet owned. I especially like the Noise Canceller - a very handy feature for listning to KBAQ. For now, it's displaced my KT-8300 in my office. Soon, it will go downstairs to replace my MR75 (also recently serviced and aligned).

Let me listen to it for a bit before I opine about it's SQ. Initial impressions are quite favorable. As for fit, finish, and feel, it trumps both the Kenny and Mc easily.

Now for some low quality grainy iPhone 5 pics . . .
 

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Welcome to the club. As a guy who has looked longingly at Mac gear for years, but never jumped in because of the needed budget and the fact I own so much Sansui (and am quite happy with it) it is nice to hear a longtime McIntosh owner speak highly of Sansui. Kind of reassuring in a way.

And that rack/amp/tuner/cassette score you got for free is one hell of a nice find, congrats on that; even if belatedly. Consider me a bit jealous, I've made very few free finds of that magnitude. Just picked up some speakers I need to post about separately.

Hopefully your initial impressions will hold up with further scrutiny. I think you'll like it, it's a great tuner, certainly one of the legends. Now if only we had some top quality FM stations here to listen to. Maybe you care better in they regard than here in STL, where FM is largely a wasteland of corporate programmed 50 song play lists and piss-poor audio chains from studio to transmitter. Sure ain't like the good old days.
 
FM is largely a wasteland of corporate programmed 50 song play lists and piss-poor audio chains from studio to transmitter. Sure ain't like the good old days.
Certainly not where I live sir!! We have excellent sounding FM stations, the one I listen to mostly has a library of 8000 songs, which they keep adding to, and they certainly play more than the top 50.
It happens one of my good friends is the manager of the network so after some pointers, the transmission engineers did a great job of retaining the dynamic range of the music and don't overdo it with the multiband compression....

Nice to see you're entering the Sansui world Tony!! There are only two tuners I have had on my bench that rival the MR78 and MR80, and that is the TU9900 and the G22000 tuner, they are extraordinarily good!!
 
Welcome to the club. As a guy who has looked longingly at Mac gear for years, but never jumped in because of the needed budget and the fact I own so much Sansui (and am quite happy with it) it is nice to hear a longtime McIntosh owner speak highly of Sansui. Kind of reassuring in a way.

And that rack/amp/tuner/cassette score you got for free is one hell of a nice find, congrats on that; even if belatedly. Consider me a bit jealous, I've made very few free finds of that magnitude. Just picked up some speakers I need to post about separately.

Hopefully your initial impressions will hold up with further scrutiny. I think you'll like it, it's a great tuner, certainly one of the legends. Now if only we had some top quality FM stations here to listen to. Maybe you care better in they regard than here in STL, where FM is largely a wasteland of corporate programmed 50 song play lists and piss-poor audio chains from studio to transmitter. Sure ain't like the good old days.
You Sansui guys are a great bunch for sure. I love McIntosh - have since I was a kid. But, there is a plethora of great gear out there from many brands. For example, I've not yet heard a CDP that would best my Pioneer PD-T07 and it's nearly 25 years old at the moment.

We enthusiasts simply have to acknowledge that occasionally some brand outside of our wheelhouse got something right. Either that, or we're simply flying a brand flag for our own sake . . .
 
Certainly not where I live sir!! We have excellent sounding FM stations, the one I listen to mostly has a library of 8000 songs, which they keep adding to, and they certainly play more than the top 50.
It happens one of my good friends is the manager of the network so after some pointers, the transmission engineers did a great job of retaining the dynamic range of the music and don't overdo it with the multiband compression....

Nice to see you're entering the Sansui world Tony!! There are only two tuners I have had on my bench that rival the MR78 and MR80, and that is the TU9900 and the G22000 tuner, they are extraordinarily good!!
kev - oddly enough, I've never owned either of those Mc tuners. I mean, I've had every other one up to that point and several examples of some . . . the MR71 and MR77 are my faves of the ones that I have owned.
 
kev - oddly enough, I've never owned either of those Mc tuners. I mean, I've had every other one up to that point and several examples of some . . . the MR71 and MR77 are my faves of the ones that I have owned.
Ah ha, I see....
Well, look, welcome to the world of Sansui!! Its a great brand and sits right alongside my interest in McIntosh, IMO, the two best brands, bringing us closer to the music!!
 
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I have 2 of the beasts, and many others. My TU919 matches later gear better for looks, but the TU9900 is a better performer by far. FM means free music....
 
I had one in my main rig back in the 70's, Great tuner and great looking as well. I'm glad you saw it on BT before me. We have lousy FM reception here in the valley, but I would have bought it at that price anyway! Congrats!
Regards,
Jim
 
Well, I've been at my desk all day with the TU-9900 playing mostly background music while I work. Very smooth with an excellent presentation. And, man is it drop dead gorgeous. I can't wait to get this thing down into the main system. Imma' be flat out spoiled.
 
Curious what was wrong with the tuner and the measures taken to repair it.
 
Just age really. From the repair invoice:

Aligned as required. MPX and RF were off slightly. Also disassembled and cleaned tuning capacitor ground flanges. Tested and confirmed proper operation.
 
Just age really. From the repair invoice:

Aligned as required. MPX and RF were off slightly. Also disassembled and cleaned tuning capacitor ground flanges. Tested and confirmed proper operation.
The one I did was perfect, it didn't need any adjustment at all!!
 
Sounds like you found a beautiful Sui' and your happy with what your hearing.
It's a win-win.
Congrats and Enjoy
(man she looks nice)
 
Indeed! IMHO, SQ is easily up there with the best I’ve yet heard from a solid state tuner. Cornell aligned an MR77 thay a friend of mine owned a few years ago. I held it hostage at my house as long as I could it sounded so damn good. This is right there.

Now I wonder how something like an AU2000 may sound ... dare I?
 
Now I wonder how something like an AU2000 may sound ... dare I?
I assume you mean the AU-20000 - which is more in keeping with the McIntosh gear I suspect it will have to measure up to. ;)

An absolute Powerhouse of an amplifier, and looks really good too, but perhaps not the best sounding Sansui there is. ;)

Glad you like the TU-9900, I've never had the pleasure... maybe one day.
 
Now I wonder how something like an AU2000 may sound ... dare I?
Nah, you want to venture into AU-X1 territory, this is one Sansui that wiped the floor with the C33/MC2205 I had, which was in fact most of the reason I moved it on.
My G22000 (Max Bling value) is also in the same league, you might want to also check out the AU MOSVintage amps too....
 
Indeed! IMHO, SQ is easily up there with the best I’ve yet heard from a solid state tuner. Cornell aligned an MR77 thay a friend of mine owned a few years ago. I held it hostage at my house as long as I could it sounded so damn good. This is right there.

Now I wonder how something like an AU2000 may sound ... dare I?

I've had Cornell work on mu Sansui 11000a and my TU-517 and a couple of mac pieces. He does great work. Try tuning into the Prescott Station KAHM 102.1. Great music. I have several tuners that pick that station up, 90 miles away.
 
I've had Cornell work on mu Sansui 11000a and my TU-517 and a couple of mac pieces. He does great work. Try tuning into the Prescott Station KAHM 102.1. Great music. I have several tuners that pick that station up, 90 miles away.
I'm near the Santans . . . but I can get it at night!
 
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