Is the Sansui 1010 receiver really only rated 8 watts?

Alan-in-NC

New Member
Hi ALL,

I came across a Sansui 1010 stereo receiver at a yard sale this past weekend. Took it home for 10 bucks. It had some static in a couple of switches, and a burned out dial lamp. I gave it a good cleaning and replaced the dial lamps, and this thing ROCKS!

I tried finding some specs, all I could find is simple power output rating of 8 watts... seriously?! Obviously, it's one of their budget receivers, doesn't even have FM muting, but for 8 watts, it really sounds great and drives my Pioneer HPM-100s very nicely. It has a nice, warm sound, and lots of clean-sounding bass, even with simple tone controls.

If anyone has more complete specs, I'd be interested in seeing them.
 

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If you have good speakers, 8 watts is plenty unless you need ear-bleeding volume levels. A lot of lower powered solid state receivers sound better than the higher powered models from the same manufacturer. The higher powered models use multiple output transistors in parallel, and that seems to hurt the clarity of the sound. The low powered models are much more likely to use class A output circuits also.
 
Point well taken. I guess it's just been so long since I've owned lower-power units that I've forgotten that they can sound equally well at lower volumes.

I wish I could find complete specs on this, these little units seemed to have been forgotten by a lot of collectors.

Thanks for the reminder! :thmbsp:
 
With all due respect to Olorin67, that answer is vastly oversimplistic. There are countless "good" speakers for which 8 wpc is entirely insufficient. Indeed, clipping could easily develop long before "ear bleeding" sound pressure is realized (depending on the speaker's sensitivity). Tweeter damage/destruction can easily result.

Generally speaking, I would not use this receiver to power any speaker with a minimum power rating that is considerably above 8 watts.

Whether vintage or modern, a watt is the same.
 
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When Japanese receivers first started coming into the US in the late '60s - early '70s, many of them did indeed have low power output - kind of like the underpowered cars from Japan in the same time period. Even by '74, Sansui had a 10 watt receiver in the line (210), so 8 watts wouldn't have been unreasonable. Not really a problem, you just need to be aware of what you match t it to for speakers.

For receivers in general, there's a fairly reliable rule-of-thumb. Look on the back and see what it draws from the wall. Amps in general are roughly 50% efficient. In other words, let's say it reads, 115 volt, 60 Hz, 100 watts. Divide that in half, and in half again, and you get 25 watts - roughly what that amp is capable of (per channel). There are exceptions to this, but it's a pretty good rough-and-ready guide.

As always, just my opinion, YMMV.
 
8 watts. let's just be realistic...

Think about dynamic, headroom and transient.

JUST don't overdo it and you'll be fine:smoke:
 
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For years my main system Has had a amp from a voice of music console, push pull 6aq5s... Probably 10 watts max, maybe Less since I'm driving 8 ohm electro voice LS12s in big sealed cabinets, and the transformers are wound for a 4 ohm load. With the right speakers you dont need much power at all. , if your speakers are real dogs for efficiency, you can hardly find an amp big enough... There are many other factors, such as impedance and dampening, that can affect whether an amplifier and speaker get along well, also. Had some old Harmon Kardon speakers, that would not work with the amp at all, they would break into low frequency oscillation, but sounded great with a well damped solid state amp.
 
Back in the day Radio Shack sold a ton of receivers in the 7 - 12 wpc range that worked just fine thank you. Many times I listen to my music in the 2w meter range. I very seldom use more than 10 wpc in my 30' rec room, and the bass at the back of the room is punishing with 90 db/w speakers. I think if more people used power meters they would be surprised at how little power we listen to.

Back in the day reputable brands didn't comprise on SQ with their lower priced offerings. Just power and features. Not like today. That's why some AVR's are best used for HT and not music. And even their stereo amps and receivers may not sound much better than those entry level low power receivers from the 70's. It's a race to the bottom now. Their are some fine new amps and AVR's out there, You just have to do some research before you buy. And they won't be cheap.

FWIW My new 95 wpc Yamaha Aventage RX-A770 Dolby Atmos AVR has 95 old school wpc. As in Cont. RMS @ 8 ohms, 20 - 20,000 Hz @ .06% THD, 2 channels driven. It has a Huge power supply and heat sinks. And it will knock your socks off in stereo, or Dolby Atmos. It too plays very loud at just 10wpc.
 
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Mid 70's I would say and I believe it is in the 5050/7070/8080/9090 family of receivers, which are well regarded.
 
Back in the day Radio Shack sold a ton of receivers in the 7 - 12 wpc range that worked just fine thank you. Many times I listen to my music in the 2w meter range. I very seldom use more than 10 wpc in my 30' rec room, and the bass at the back of the room is punishing with 90 db/w speakers.

A couple of years back I pulled a bedraggled Realistic STA-430 out from under a pile of junk in a Goodwill buy-the-pound bin.
I paid $4 for it.

It cleaned up quite well, but the tuner was way out of alignment.
However, the 10 W/ch amp in that receiver was AWESOME.
I would buy another low-end Realistic any day.
 
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