Sansui 800 re-do.

Hello, I'd like to chime in as well. I recently bought a really clean 800 with the wood case from ebay. I have new caps coming but have no idea what to get for the xsistors. I'm getting distortion out of both channels with any noticeable volume increase regardless of input source. I'm guessing driver amps. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Don't assume it's in the amp and don't replace the caps until you find the source of the distortion. If throughly cleaning the controls doesn't change anything, disconnect the pre amp from the driver boards and see if the distortion continues.

- Pete
 
Thank you Rob, you were absolutely right. I hadn't even checked the fuses because, silly me, I thought that since they were labeled speaker fuses, and have a left and a right, that if one was blown you wouldn't get any audio out. But nope, took them out and sure enough one was popped. I couldn't track down 2.5 amp locally so currently using 2 amp and all is working and sounding great. Thank you very much.
 
So I just received all my caps. Is there any particular order I should do this in? I won't have the time to do them all at once, so it will have to be done in stages, just not sure if there's any preference for what should be done first.

Thanks!
 
Hi RodMan,

I'm seeing 6 posts under your name, so I'll chime in with newbie advice. First, start a new thread about restoring your receiver. That way we won't have to look for a thread by Robisme to follow a restoration by Rodman. Stick with that one thread until all issues are resolved and you have a working unit. Also, provide the list of parts you ordered. The experts here can't provide help if they don't know exactly what you're doing. The basic repair sequence is below. After completing each section, power up using a dim bulb tester (search this site for details). Check that there are no shorts and all voltages are within spec. Then do each remaining section one at a time to confirm proper operation. If you do all caps at once, then its much harder to correct problems. Does the order make sense? You can't test your amp board if your power supply isn't working correctly. You can't test your tone board if the amp isn't working.
  1. Clean all switches and pots (search for the Deoxit thread - use D5 for switches and F5 for pots)
  2. Power supply
  3. Amp
  4. Tone section
  5. Tuner
  6. Phono

For all the above, slow and steady wins the race.
  • Tell us exactly what you plan to do
  • Wait for the AK brain trust to reply
  • Do the work and post pictures
  • Wait for the AK brain trust to approve (we'll find backwards caps and transistors before you power up and cause more damage)
  • Power up with a dim bulb tester
  • Report results
It's important to take it step by step. If you get impatient and outrun your headlights, then guys won't waste their time helping you. But if you follow those steps, then you'll be a joy to work with and you'll get plenty of good advice.

Twodogs
 
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I while back I got an 800 with distortion on one channel, speaker fuse turned out to be bad. I replaced both with new and that solved problem. They are 50 years old - so could be as simple as that. However If you have any experience with these amps, then take cover off blow all dust out from the inside, then clean all the switches and turn-pots with something like de-oxit or WD-40 Electrical cleaner (not regular WD-40). Insert two new fuses with the correct Amp rating (see manual that can be downloaded for free at hifiengine.com) Also do a careful visual inspection - look for burnt resistors, bulging or leaking caps, check if any wires are changing color to brown/black right where they connect. If everything looks, good - start up and let us know.
 
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