Sansui AU-777A vs all contenders

[Yellowyoda]

A real beauty Smufer- one day I hope to do the right thing by my untouched Au777. Did you just recap and service or did you go down the modification route?
I just bought a Sansui 555a from an Aker- he told me he just recapped and I have to say it sounds marvellous.

 

[bsandovalb]

Stick with your Pioneer/Marantz, Sansui is too good for ya!

Ok ok... better keep listening to my g8000 until I can "upgrade" to the au777a

 

[smurfer77]

A real beauty Smufer- one day I hope to do the right thing by my untouched Au777. Did you just recap and service or did you go down the modification route?
I just bought a Sansui 555a from an Aker- he told me he just recapped and I have to say it sounds marvellous.

Hi Yellowyoda, sorry I haven't replied yet to your PM... I'm really burried in work at the office and at home these days and I find it hard to trouble shoot other peoples amps without having the device in front of me to play around. About the AU-777A the details are in this thread here; the AU-777A requires absolutely no circuit modifications and sounds amazing in stock form. The only 'mods' I did were with 'upgrading' a few caps and a mod underneath to move some hot resistors off of a PCB.

Ok ok... better keep listening to my g8000 until I can "upgrade" to the au777a

HAHA. I have never heard a G8000... i bet it is no slouch!

 

[corbin]

I wonder how an early solid state Pioneer, e.g. SX-828 (1972; direct coupled) or SX-1500TD (1970; cap coupled)... would fare? Trying to decide which of the early solid state cap coupled receivers I'd like to try... hopefully something warm and tubelike.

 

[smurfer77]

I wonder how an early solid state Pioneer, e.g. SX-828 (1972; direct coupled) or SX-1500TD (1970; cap coupled)... would fare? Trying to decide which of the early solid state cap coupled receivers I'd like to try... hopefully something warm and tubelike.

Honestly, I suspect that many late 60s and early 70s models from various brands are nice sounding units. At that time many brands were really trying hard to show that solid-state can 'do the trick' and quality of construction was valued highly back then too. The Yamaha and Sony units I tested from the era did very well (to be fair, i hand picked exceptional models), and I don't see why an early Pioneer and other brands wouldn't also have some nice models.

 

[RS65]

awesome photo ;-)))

My AU-777a has 4700uF/80V Nichicon-coupling caps now, my AU-222 4700uF/50V. Both are wonderful sounding, i think a better sounding amplifier is really hard to find.

I checked the frequency response with my Test System. I think it is not so bad...

Greets Rainer

 

[smurfer77]

awesome photo ;-)))

My AU-777a has 4700uF/80V Nichicon-coupling caps now, my AU-222 4700uF/50V. Both are wonderful sounding, i think a better sounding amplifier is really hard to find.

I checked the frequency response with my Test System. I think it is not so bad...

Greets Rainer

The output coupling caps in these amps is one of the biggest factors in the sound of these amps. I played with different coupling caps and the differences were wild (with the most expensive caps btw being the worst... no bass at all).

I love that your AU-222 now has 4700uF nichicon coupling caps!!! I will one day get around to my AU-222 for some further upgrades (I already played with the small signal semiconductors but haven't touched the caps)

 

[RS65]

I am just waiting for a delivery from Mouser. 10xNichicon 6800uF/63V, one for the supply (Au-222) instead the 4700uF-Nichicon (Original Elna 1500uF/60V). After that i will post a Photo with the changes.

Last week i bought a Sansui 350 Receiver and a second nice Sansui TR-707E(1965) total original, fully working and with all original Caps and Transistors, sounding wonderfull and with a more powerfull bass as the 777a, but also more noisy.

I like the 350 too, it has the same PowerAmpBoard and power supply like the AU-222, and in the bigger case, there is much more place for bigger recapping.

 

[corbin]

Honestly, I suspect that many late 60s and early 70s models from various brands are nice sounding units. At that time many brands were really trying hard to show that solid-state can 'do the trick' and quality of construction was valued highly back then too. The Yamaha and Sony units I tested from the era did very well (to be fair, i hand picked exceptional models), and I don't see why an early Pioneer and other brands wouldn't also have some nice models.

A lot has changed in my setup since my last post... ended up getting a Sony from the era you mention as you can see in my signature. I enjoy the sound very much and suspect it is quite similar to your AU-777a.

 

[RS65]

Here they are:

With these mods the AU-222 sounds really powerfull, i have to test it against my AU-777a and my just this weekend ready restored Modell 3000 (4x10000uF, totally reapped and all Bulletin Mods for safe operation. I only have checked it today for a few minutes after biasing with my DT-880, sounds nice too.

Just one naked of the Modell 3000 from the top

Greets Rainer

 

[afroaudio]

Great thread, love to hear more comparisons... I still have not heard much about the differeneces between the AU777 and AU777a.. (I am busy recapping a 777 at the moment) Also have 555, 555a, 999 and 717 all recapped now.. love switching these in and out.. no out n out favourite as of yet. Also where can one find these Sansui service bulletins? HAve not seen them anywhere on the net.

 

[slimecity]

I am expecting a partly-restored 555a to arrive at my door any day now. An old fella was retoring it then he died, his son is selling off his stuff. I suspect I may need to do a bit of reverse engineering as he had ordered some cheap 'n shitty caps to put in there.....

I will be focussing on the output caps in my 555a to get best results - is there a consensus on brand & value for best results?

Also - dont forget @Leestereo's recent thread on restoring a 555a to a really high standard (and also making some mods like a Baxendall mod whatsit to reduce distortion) - I will be following that as I have had two 555a's before and sold both of them - however this time I reckon I can get some really great sound out of one!

 

[kevzep]

I am expecting a partly-restored 555a to arrive at my door any day now. An old fella was retoring it then he died, his son is selling off his stuff. I suspect I may need to do a bit of reverse engineering as he had ordered some cheap 'n shitty caps to put in there.....

I will be focussing on the output caps in my 555a to get best results - is there a consensus on brand & value for best results?

Also - dont forget @Leestereo's recent thread on restoring a 555a to a really high standard (and also making some mods like a Baxendall mod whatsit to reduce distortion) - I will be following that as I have had two 555a's before and sold both of them - however this time I reckon I can get some really great sound out of one!

Oh so you got that one....I wondered who was going to end up with that...

 

[slimecity]

Can someone clarify (sorry if its already been discussed in earlier posts here - I didnt look) what the difference is between the 777, 777a, and 777D?

I saw a 777 come up in NZ for sale but didnt know if it was worth pursuing - ie: if it was wildly different from the design of the respected 777a being discussed here.

Cheers!

 

[kevzep]

Get it, don't worry about the A,B,C bollocks, just get it.....Look at what they are selling for on the bay......

I recapped/restored one for a customer recently, awesome little amp...

 

[smurfer77]

Can someone clarify (sorry if its already been discussed in earlier posts here - I didnt look) what the difference is between the 777, 777a, and 777D?

I saw a 777 come up in NZ for sale but didnt know if it was worth pursuing - ie: if it was wildly different from the design of the respected 777a being discussed here.

Cheers!

What kevzep said. A seems to be more common in the USA. There are quite a number of differences in parts between 777 and 777A, so many that i started counting ones and stopped a 30 something, but the sound is very very very similar. From memory the 777 may have run hotter and you have a couple of extra things to look out for but I would have to check my notes. But no time bombs that I recall. just get it. I have never had my hands on a 777D so I couldn't say much about that.

 

[stereofun]

777D is just "domestic" japanese version of 777A, sorry I can't remember the source, but it was a from a scannet brochure showing both model numbers, where the 777d in parenthesis said "domestic version"

 

[RS65]

777D only works on 100V. 777A works from 100V-240V. The rest is the same. 777 ist different to them.

OT: I just bought an original AU 555, really nice amp. Will be restored next, after my Kenwood KA4000... OT

Greets Rainer

 

[smurfer77]

After a bit of a hiatus from the amp comparisons and trying to knock the 777A off of the pedastal as my place, I'm going to be ramping up activity again. It feels a bit narcissistic to announce that, rather than just come here with the outcomes, but I'm just so thrilled to be getting back to it. The story is that, as some of you may know, we've had our first child here and things slowed down.... except for amp purchases.

So aside from some overdue comparisons to existing models in the collection (like AU-9900, Eight, Eight Deluxe, AU-111, HF-V60/PR-330). But I've managed to get an AU-X11 going in the meantime, plus collected some other newer stuff (Alpha907Limited, Alpha607MR, AlphaNRAII, Alpha707, AU-X111 MOS).

Oh and some older stuff like some HF-L60 to compared to the HF-V60 in particular. Also a pair of rather old and rare Q-16 mono amps. And a Q-3535 stereo power amp.

Although not an integrated amp I've picked up a CA-F1 preamp (or two) which will also be interesting to pair with some units and see what happens (and this preamp will be compared to the Marantz SC-6, which I think is a great unit).

Hmm, what else, oh I've already compared to some Yamaha, Sony and Pioneer units but I've now gotten around to getting my Luxman collection into service including SQ38FD, MQ60, MQ70 & MQ80.

Oh and I think one more unit, which is very special to me already, needs to be brought into the competition; I got a McIntosh MC2505 with one blown channel which I fixed up recently and initial impressions are very very good. So good that I have collected a bigger McIntosh or two (but I think the MC2505 is really the best comparison to the AU-777A so that will be the focus).

So now I'm just thinking where to start. I just recapped a Pioneer A-400 (the so-called NAD 3020 killer), so that might be a good starting point. From there I don't know if to continue with the older unit comparisons or get straight into the alphas etc. Anyway, It's going to be a fun next few months.

I sincerely hope that doesn't come off as a brag about the collection growth. I'm just so excited to get back to some hifi after a bit of a break (although, I never stopped listening to music)

 

[nj pheonix]

I enjoy your comparisons.
Also the more stuff you accumulate , the less crazy I feel about the stuff I have