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  1. smurfer77

    Vintage Luxman showdown: MQ60, MQ70, MQ80, SQ38FD, ?

    Sadly, I sold all of my Luxman gear in the move. Any of those Luxman amps I owned were worthy of being lifetime keepers. The build quality and sound is outstanding.... just some different flavours (which you can adjust a bit with tubes etc). Sorry that's not more definitive but they were really...
  2. smurfer77

    Sansui AU-777A vs all contenders

    I've owned both the Sansui AU-777A and the Sony TA-1120A. The 1120A is incredible inside, with it's banks of impressive film caps. The layout is not as nice to work on though, and in my subjective opinion the AU-777A was superior in sound, but I must admit my 1120A was not rebuilt yet.
  3. smurfer77

    Sansui 7000 (Eight, Six, Seven & Eight Deluxe) button labels

    Update: I'm doing another production run on labels for 6/7/8D, 7000, and Eight. Will make a post over on barter town with details. Or feel free to DM me.
  4. smurfer77

    Hi, I'm actually starting up production again now after an international house move. DM me if...

    Hi, I'm actually starting up production again now after an international house move. DM me if interested still
  5. smurfer77

    Adding "Pre-amp out / Pwr amp in option" to Sansui AU-217

    The AU-217 isn't really an amp that is designed to drive multiple pairs of speakers simultaneously, and that is why it has only one set of speaker terminals. If your friend loves the sound of the AU-217 (and I don't blame him, I love it too), a good option may be to buy another AU-217 and use...
  6. smurfer77

    Sansui AU-777A vs all contenders

    I tried some nice tube amps with my vintage JBL horn setup and got some good results but nothing that I would say was superior to the 777A. I really thought the 777A would have too much noise, or not enough bass control, but it does the job. That's not to say it's the best... I will have other...
  7. smurfer77

    Sansui AU-777A vs all contenders

    I've not been on AK much lately and I've missed a lot of messages and posts aimed at me and wanted to give a bit of an update here. As good a place as any I guess... Yes, I'm still alive. No I haven't been on AK much lately, but I do read all messages and try to response to all when I can (but...
  8. smurfer77

    Sansui solid state 7000 repair, recap, and restore

    Due to an international house move I've stopped the availability of the button label reproductions, but I do have stock and will make them available again, but it may be a few months or more until I'm settled.
  9. smurfer77

    The Sansui 8, a beautiful machine

    Due to an international house move they are temporarily not available. They will be available again in a few months after I'm settled. Cheers
  10. smurfer77

    Sansui AU-70 / TU-70 : my first Sansui tube adventure

    My bullshit meter is going off the chart when I read those comments :). Be very careful when reading opinions of others; you don't know their testing conditions, whether they really heard something different or whether the imagined it (which might effectively be a 'real' difference for them, but...
  11. smurfer77

    SONY TA1120 odd value resistors need to be replaced

    Firstly, if the TA-1120 is anything like the TA-1120A I just worked on, you need to get those carbon comp resistors out. I had preamp and power supply issues both caused by carbon comp resistors that had drifted to high values. I found about 20 others that were out of spec. Ended up replacing...
  12. smurfer77

    Recommendations pls for "small footprint" AU amps

    The AU-222 is a special little amp. And, it's the only one that fits underneath my bedside table. Much smaller than the AU-217 I had. The AU-222 is tiny. Mine benefitted from new semiconductors, particularly in the preamp.
  13. smurfer77

    Sansui AU-111 restoration

    Adding cathode resistors is the safe way to do it. And it's what I did. Adding those small resistors has probably no impact on performance but if doing it again I would just use 'OPT' method of current measurement, instead of adding the resistors. The OPT method is one I find very accurate and...
  14. smurfer77

    Sansui AU-111 restoration

    Very very good idea. I many times thought about bypassing speaker impedance switch entirely because I hate the idea of the circuit going 'open' and there being no load on the output transformers. But cleaning is a very good option too! Good work on your restoration.
  15. smurfer77

    A very slow AU 111 restoration/upgrade

    Hi, yes, the pots on the AU-111 can be very out of spec. As reported in my AU-111 thread the volume pot can be very unbalanced and problematic. I wrote "volume pot VR7/8 (250k with centre loudness tap) can be very unbalanced (40% different). Replaced mine with AU-555A. Some other models have...
  16. smurfer77

    Sansui 2000

    I 100% understand. I remember doing my first recap still. It was about 9 years ago. I knew nothing. My approach then was still to learn how to select and order the parts myself. You have lots of help on the forums if you need advice on basic part selection. Making a cap list isn't as hard as...
  17. smurfer77

    AU-111 Seperate Tuner?

    Wow, I love the brochure scan showing the TU-777 recommended with the AU-111. A couple of other thoughts: - you could consider the slightly older TU-70 if you want to go all-tube. Completely different style but was a stereo tube tuner sold with AU-70 which came just before the AU-111. - While...
  18. smurfer77

    Sansui 2000

    Personally, I recommend not buying any cap kits available on ebay. I can see the appeal for a novice, but consistently when I inspect the ebay kits they use parts I wouldn't choose, due to there being better parts available. That aside, making a cap list, and understanding which types of caps...
  19. smurfer77

    Vintage Luxman showdown: MQ60, MQ70, MQ80, SQ38FD, ?

    I got it, otherwise there wouldn't have been a smiley face in my comment. Yeah, it's heartbreaking. Perhaps one or two units will make the trip with me.... :)
  20. smurfer77

    SV03 & SV04 diode replacement

    Yes, but you will have to (or should) do the exhausting work I did for the first post in this thread, checking the characteristics of your LED's junction voltage and how it tracks with current and temperature. The point of this thread was to find nearly exact matching junction characteristics...
  21. smurfer77

    Vintage Luxman showdown: MQ60, MQ70, MQ80, SQ38FD, ?

    :) Luxman is amazing quality. I can only speak for the vintage stuff though to be fair. My units were purchased from Japan; I use to live there and have connections. I have 3 MQ60 (sold one a couple of years back so used to have 4), MQ70, MQ80, 3x SQ38FD, SQ301 and SQ505. I think that's about...
  22. smurfer77

    Vintage Luxman showdown: MQ60, MQ70, MQ80, SQ38FD, ?

    I bought 20 of the Chinese tubes nearly a decade ago. I guess I'm set for life :). It's actually easy to by used NEC 50CA10, but at a price that is about the same as the new Chinese tubes it's hard to say what to go for. You could get lucky with those NEC tubes but they could also be on their...
  23. smurfer77

    Vintage Luxman showdown: MQ60, MQ70, MQ80, SQ38FD, ?

    I've finally gotten around to servicing the Luxman power amps. Still haven't finished off the integrated amps. But for the power amps I have done some comparisons and they do sound quite different. More on that soon. I've also compared my Luxman MQ60 head to head with original NEC output tubes...
  24. smurfer77

    Sansui AU-777A vs all contenders

    The trick with the MC2505 is you absolutely have to do blind tests because the face is so beautiful :). The MC2505 is a very very special amplifier. I prefer it over many newer McIntosh. As for the head-to-head competition with the 777A I need to revisit that as I haven't listened to the MC2505...
  25. smurfer77

    Sansui AU-777A vs all contenders

    I've actually revised my thoughts on damping factor a lot lately; I now like plenty of amps that have high damping factor. I theory, high damping factor is the best; it keeps woofers under control. However, older speaker systems were sometimes 'voiced' to have the right amount of bass with low...
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