PRE-PURCHASE QUESTIONS ON SANSUI STACK

[J U Stone]

I have the opportunity to purchase a small stack of Sansui equipment that includes an au717 amp, tu-717 tuner, and the matching cassette deck. Apparently they all have rack handles. My question is this... I have read that the Sansui equipment sometimes has a caustic glue holding down the capacitors. That possibility concerns me. Also... I have heard great things about the amp, but it would replace the Technics SE-9060 and Carver C1 that currently power my system. I dont know if it would be an upgrade, downgrade, or even swap... So... any answers on the glue are appreciated. As to the rest of my system, I use Klipsch quartet speakers, Klipsch kg 2.2 speakers and sometimes I throw my original advents in the mix as well. Other than that my turntable is a project with a Pickering XV-15/625 cart. My R2R is in the shop, and i have a few,other pieces of equipment. At b this point I power my subwoofers with a separate monoblock amplifier so I'm not sure how I would handle that in the future but I will figure something out I'm sure.

 

[mroboto]

The AU-717 is one of the models affected by the glue.

And is not an easy to refurbish amp.

http://www.cdkands.com/AU717-1.html

 

[Overundr1]

Like this



Any original AU-717 needs to be gone through at this point as the Sansui glue syndrome will have really chewed up the power supply. Once a quality rebuild is done there are not too many integrated amps in the sub 100wpc category that will compete without playing in the nose bleed price point arena.
Here is another rebuild thread---

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/au-717-the-leestereo-way.770991/

 

[LBPete]

The glue problem is real but not nearly as widespread as people make it out to be. All Sansui models built in the mid to late 1970s have the glue but only in a small number of cases does it actually become corrosive. In my experience it's one of two things, humidity, heat or other environmental factors that turn it corrosive or a bad batch or batches of glue.

That said, its always a good idea to remove the glue when doing a restoration but I wouldn't hesitate to buy a particular model just because it was built with the glue.

- Pete

 

[Robisme]

Not that hard of a rebuild. Most I have seen have had the glue turn corrosive and corrode the leads of other parts. Also 6 transistors to replace on the tone board.

I have one that needs a rebuild. Glue went rogue.

Rob