Sansui 8 differences

Its only marketing. In fact the parts inside and the overall quality of the deluxe is not as it is at the Eight or the 7000. In fact the 7000, in my opinion, is the best"Eight". But Eight and Eight deluxe are legendary - that makes them expensive.
I had all three, but let the deluxe go for good money. So today only Eight and 7000 are playing at my home. One 7000 is stored in his original box and another one is waiting to be restored. One channel is dead.
 
See this thread http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=379631

beginning with post #6

I own an Eight, but an earlier version as it doesn't have the speaker protection relay

The original Eight was not complimentary and did not have a relay. The addition of a relay and complimentary outputs to the Eight was a production line change but resulted in no extra power. The Eight Deluxe is a slightly more powerful version of the last Eight and took advantage of the cheap power offered by complimentary amps. The 7000 is a version of the Eight Deluxe with less appealing (and less expensive) cosmetic details.
 
The original Eight was not complimentary and did not have a relay. The addition of a relay and complimentary outputs to the Eight was a production line change but resulted in no extra power. The Eight Deluxe is a slightly more powerful version of the last Eight and took advantage of the cheap power offered by complimentary amps. The 7000 is a version of the Eight Deluxe with less appealing (and less expensive) cosmetic details.

Sounds like the Eight Deluxe is the one to have. There just aren't many out there.
 
The one to get is a late production Eight (non-Deluxe) with relay. The 7000 is not that special and the cost cutting is easy to spot. While I have not had the good fortune of owning a Deluxe, see post #3 comments which is good enough for me not to want one.
 
The one to get is a late production Eight (non-Deluxe) with relay. The 7000 is not that special and the cost cutting is easy to spot. While I have not had the good fortune of owning a Deluxe, see post #3 comments which is good enough for me not to want one.

Hmmmm...other then asking the seller to listen for a relay click, something they might not know about on E-bay..how to tell if it's a later model??
 
Hmmmm...other then asking the seller to listen for a relay click, something they might not know about on E-bay..how to tell if it's a later model??

The other way would be to have the seller to look at the outputs to see if there are complimentary. If the outputs are all the same, then it is an early unit. However, this is harder than simply listening for a click. Getting a look at the outputs requires removing covers.
 
I picked up an Eight at a garage sale for $3 - (they wanted $5) fixed it up and gave it to a friend of mine that was restoring his AR3's or 3a's - refoamed them and damn near blew them up the next day.
 
The design of the amp in the Deluxe is superior to the eight and has been described as the finest amplifier section of any of the Sansui models, past or present.
 
I have to chime in here. All the "standard" Eights have the excact same output set-up, which is push-pull quasi complimentary. Only difference to the Deluxe is a that they have a newer generation amp design, still push-pull, but the outputs are arranged in a full complimentary darlington design.

I have a late production Eight from MAR 1972 with relay. I just replaced all the outputs and they are all NPN's, meaning Quasi complimentary, that is NPN-NPN driver to output vs. PNP-NPN driver to output. In other words the push-pull is obtained by using only 1 driver PNP. In the deluxe you will find a more robust NPN-NPN vs PNP-PNP. While the full complimentary have less distortion, they are also more succeptible to cross-over distortion by mismatching outputs, something not as critical in the quasi design. Amps like the 9090, 881 are quasi's whereas 9090db and G's are full.

I recently A/B'd a SEVEN, full complimentary like the Delux against my Eight - I simply could not tell a difference in sonics or resolution, except for more "basement" in the Eight. Both Eights are a step above the other single digits...and probably most other Sansui receivers, less the biggest of the big G's. They are both exceptionally enginered and well above same era wattage Marantz which I used to tinker with.
 
I use a Sansui Eight (not deluxe) in my home office daily and love it. It has been rock solid since the day I bought it. A few of the lamps are out but I can't take it out of use to repair it, lol.

I have a lot of other receivers that come in and out of my rotation but this one is so flexible that it has never move out of my home office. I love that I can connect 3 sets of speakers, 2 turntable and 2 tape units at the same time. Make it easy to compare all the speakers, turntable and tape decks I pick up.
 
I'm doing my reading up on Sansui receivers because I'm looking to upgrade from my "newbie receiver" a Luxman R-113. I've been reading through several of the sansui 8 threads trying to decsifer the differences between 8, 8 deluxe, and 7000. I'm sure I've overlooked it, so I apologize now for asking(probably the simplest question), what year is considered a "late model 8"? That seems to be the one I see most preferring.
 
I am listening to my Deluxe right now with my TF-400s. I found it at a TS. It had been dropped and had some physical damage. I sent it out for rehab and am glad I did. This was a lucky break for me because the TS was gone the next time I went back.
 
I'd like to clarify a few things. The 7000, Eight and Eight Deluxe share the same chassis so their appearance is very similar. Based on the serial numbers on file in the Serial Number Database, The Eight predated the 7000 by a couple of months but they were both built concurrently on the same assembly line. That's where the similarity stops. The internals of the 7000 are completely different. Internally, they don't share a single circuit board.

As has been stated, the Eight Deluxe has a significantly updated amplifier. It also has some cosmetic contenting, the engraved face plate was dropped early in production and the knobs have plastic inserts rather than the solid knobs used on the Eight.

I want to document the production changes in the Eight and Eight Deluxe. To do so, I need your serial numbers and whether or not your Eight has the relay production change and whether your Eight Deluxe has an engraved face plate. That information can be tagged to serial number listing in the database.

- Pete
 
We're talking about the differences between the Eight, Eight Deluxe and 7000. The 5000x is a totally different series. It has nothing in common with the Eight or Eight Deluxe.

- Pete
 
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