Sansui HF-V60 tube power amp & PR-330 tube preamp/tuner restoration

[smurfer77]

Earlier this year I came across a clean Sansui HF-V60 mono power amp, and a decent condition Sansui PR-330 (mono preamp/tuner). I've got a few other projects I want to finish first so this thread will be a slow moving one for a while but just wanted to share a few pics of the beautiful units and share the entire journey.

The packaging used to ship them to me was okay but the when I pulled the items out of the box I could hear some rattling inside... that suspicious smashed glasses rattling sound coming from inside of the PR-330.

The tube was a 6BE6, and I ordered a nice replacement and a week later brought it up on the variac. The 'eye' tube doesn't work. The tuner works but needs mechanical and electrical adjustments.

After some lube Aux inputs and tone/volume all work.

The bottom cover was bent out of shape, and was not able to be screwed into the chassis. beat it into shape now and it looks almost flat and now it screws into the chassis. It also didn't have feet, so I used some feet from a Pioneer RT-707 reel-to-reel tape machine which has the same thread - fits perfectly and looks the part.

There is an issue with the switch - the unit is always on, no matter what the switch position is.

There is a lot of axial oil caps underneath that I will look into - coupling caps will definitely get replaced, but I know those oil caps (especially suzuki) are problematic so we'll see what happens on the the way in this journey.

I have never found a schematic for the Sansui PR-330 preamp online before. Luckily the schematic was still glued underneath the cover - I took a pic and am sharing it here. If it does exist online somewhere, please let me know, especially if it is a better quality image. For now, it is the only schematic I have seen of this unit. I've uploaded to hi-fiEngine and it should available there soon.

Here are some pics after a clean-up. I might be able to clean more but for now I'm going easy, trying not to cause any damage.

I will post some nudes inside of the unit later when I get stuck into the restoration. Also slightly related, I wanted to share here another schematic I just uploaded to hifiengine... a Sansui SP-220 preamp schematic which I have also never seen online. I don't own one of these, but managed to grab a screen shot from an auction listing that didn't last very long.

Some pics of HF-V60 coming soon.

 

[BLAH BLAH]

Very nice...thank you for sharing..

 

[Hyperion]

Very nice...thank you for sharing..

+1 very nice indeed.

 

[Overundr1]

Yes, interesting early Sansui. Quite the power cord block I note, also, how are you working around the 100v line voltage, a variac or are there long term plans to change resistor values internally? Thanks for sharing btw.
-Lee

 

[Hyperion]

Quite the power cord block I note

That's called a 'Jones Plug' - rarely seen these days.

 

[bluesky]

Excellent.

 

[smurfer77]

Yes, interesting early Sansui. Quite the power cord block I note, also, how are you working around the 100v line voltage, a variac or are there long term plans to change resistor values internally? Thanks for sharing btw.
-Lee

Will run off a high-power variac. The schematic I will post below for the power amp (which powers the preamp) shows a "110 V" tap but I don't think my unit has that (will have a closer look soon but I am almost sure). I usually add in-rush current limiting thermistors, which also knock down the voltage across the primary windings by a few volts, but my line voltage here is ~125 V, so I may be stuck with the variac/transformer unless my amp does indeed have the "110 V" tap.

The cable is really neat. I have the original cable designed to go between the power-amp and the preamp which shares the power supply including ground. Here is the schematic for the HF-V60 amp which is from a photo of the one glued inside the tube cage (I found a schematic online but it was in two parts so I though I might as well share this complete one!). Note the cable to the preamp in the HF-V60 schematic. Have posted on hifiengine but feel free to post all these schematics to the AK database (i've never had luck logging in for some reason).

And one more from inside the HF-V60 tube cage.

A couple of translations for you... the stuff a long the bottom from left-to-right says:
INPUT,
PREAMP (i.e., power to preamp),
OUTPUTS,
DC BALANCE,
BALANCE (this is the one for AC heater hum, near pilot lamp in schematic) &
FUSE.

Here is a pic of the matching cable, and a tease of the HF-V60 amp... a few more pics to come.

 

[smurfer77]

As promised, a few pics of the Sansui HF-V60 amp. I will touch up the paint on the transformers I think. Also, will post nudes when I start on the restoration of the electronics. She's a beauty isn't she?!

 

[bluesky]

Nice!!

 

[Overundr1]

WOW just WOW

 

[stereofun]

Super - I am signed up

 

[BLAH BLAH]

...

 

[craggd]

Damn that is pretty, keep us posted!

 

[smurfer77]

Thanks for the encouragement everyone. This project is going to be a slow one for a few reasons. I want to take my time with these (and not ruin them with unnecessary new parts installed during my initial unbridled passion) plus I have a few other projects half completed that I'm keen to finish. Most importantly, I plan on - one sweet day - having a matching pair of these amps to rebuild together, and that could take me years to achieve. I guess I will get started on these before I find a matching amp since who knows if that will happen though, but I will clear a couple of part finished projects first (RT-707 tape machine x3, Revox PR-99, Luxman MQ60, MQ70, MQ80, AU-70, AU-888.......).

 

[Westy56]

Welcome to the classic Sansui tube club.
My setup is very similar to yours.
You'll be very happy with the way AM sounds when you get yours up to par.

Here's an HFL60 with the pr330.

 

[smurfer77]

Welcome to the classic Sansui tube club.
My setup is very similar to yours.
You'll be very happy with the way AM sounds when you get yours up to par.

Here's an HFL60 with the pr330.

wow looks great. I'm not familiar with that model amp.

 

[smurfer77]

wow looks great. I'm not familiar with that model amp.

Oh, now I understand that the HF-V60 is the 6V6 version and the HF-L60 is bigger 6L6 version - obvious from the naming .

Funnily enough there is a thread over on the tube forum right now for a quad set of HF-L60 amps: http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/sansui-hf-l60-monoblocks.717162/


I've been researching the various models a bit these last few days... and may need some help on a HF-V60 variant (*hint hint tease tease* - this thread is going from mono to stereo shortly!).

 

[johnny_fever]

Tell you what. I have an extra Pr-330's. Pm your address and I will send you one.

 

[smurfer77]

After sitting way too long in my 'to-do' list, I've finally gotten around to my two HF-V60 amps and PR-330 preceivers. I just didn't want to do them until I had time to do them properly. And, I didn't want to run them until I at least did the coupling caps, rather than risk the transformers.

So at first, the HF-V60's go onto the bench.

And with the summary document for the kit version in hand as a reference, forth I ventured; it doesn't contain some adjustment info.

Here is inside one of them:

and here is the other:

In the previous two pics, if you squint you many notice that they are wired to 100V. but have a 110V tap. So i rewired to 110V.

I have pushed well past here and will update the thread soon but just want to take a moment to share a few more pics for now. Look at the physical DETAILS on this old amp:

 

[BLAH BLAH]

Simply beautiful! Here's hoping it sounds as good as it looks!