Sound of vintage Sansui vs. Marantz vs. Pioneer

Every manufacturer has their own ideal of what sounds good. And even different models from that manufacturer has its own characteristics. Now put into play how many speaker manufacturers and models and all those models have their own characteristics, how many stereo slash speaker combinations are out there to change the sound of every stereo receiver manufactured. I like clear And fined with space and depth, somebody else like warm and full and blended, somebody else likes strong Bass and loud, with blazing treble. It's hard to nail down sound.
 
Shouldn't we break down the sound of Sansui in two eras though?

In my limited experience, there's the "AU-X17 and newer" era, and then the stuff earlier than that forms another era. not that there's a TON of difference between the two, but the shift in philosophy is notable IMO. Early stuff is wamer. But latter stuff is still a bit warm compared to most modern gear I guess. Both eras offer very fast response in those amps. There is tons of information in that sound, it really is clear and fluid


What do you guys think?
 
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One Marantz = 2325
Two Sansui = G7500, 800
One HK = Citation 16A (amp)
Two Realistic = 2000 / 2100
One Technics = SA800
Pioneers = SX850, SX950, SX1250, SX727 (getting ready to gift)
One MCS = 3253
One Yamaha = DSP-A1
Two Kenwoods = KR-8010 (most overlooked monster)

Sansui = Amazing Sounding Little Guy 800 / G7500 Best Looks & Sounds Great
Marantz = Sounds Sweet
Pioneer = SX--50 Line are Badass

One day I stumbled onto a SX-850, and things have not been the same since.

All have been fully recapped. I like them all, they all sound a touch different = but they all sound amazingly good. If I was forced to keep just one - it would be the SX-1250.

Just finishing a SX-950 and listening to now = what a well made piece of equipment.

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I figure this has been discussed before but I would like to hear what people say about the "typical" vintage Sansui receiver sound vs the "typical" vintage Marantz receiver sound vs. the "typical" Pioneer vintage sound. Being new to this, I'm trying to get all the input I can.
Thanks!
I know this thread is old but I have to give my two cents because audio karma helped me immensely when looking for the right receivers. I started with a marantz sr225 when I was about 12(roughly 1982).i have been into audio ever since. I have a marantz 2252b, a Sansui g7000. And I just recently found a pioneer sx850 that I will be gifting to my son for Christmas.i have them all connected to the same set of speakers(4 cerwin Vega d9) all running through a technics sh8058 equalizer.i can tell you they are all very similar sounding. To my ear the pioneer has the deepest bass. The Sansui probably has the crispist sound.But the marantz is the best all around sounding and also the loudest of the three. I really love the fm tuning on the Sansui... no static while moving dial.you cannot go wrong with any of these three models. I can’t speak for lesser or better versions of these. To me the Sansui looks the best at night. I am going to put the blue leds in the pioneer for my son when it gets rebuilt.finally if I had to rate them overall..marantz number one..Sansui number 2.. followed very very closely by the pioneer. If your on a budget the pioneer is the best deal for the money. Thank you audio karma and all the posters for all of the advice over the years. First time posting, hope it helps someone
 
I think people can try to describe the sound to you but in the end, it is you who has to make a decision on how each of the receivers sound like. I had my share of Marantz, Sansui, Pioneer and other receivers and kept Marantz and Sansui. Not because they are the best but because I like their sound

Im quite surprised that on this forum i find so many people with common sense. As ive been browsing through foreign audio forums i sometimes see extreme fanboy attitude . I mean fans of particular hi-fi brand are completely trashing, dissing other brands. They cant stand others critical opinions. Here i see folks have other brands besides sansui...Here i see other attitude and i like it. It all comes down to what sound we like isnt IT?
 
Pioneer is glassy and etched, Marantz is swirly and imprecise, Yamaha is flat and finnicky, Sansui is just right.

How's that for my last post of 2012? :).

Oh, and Accuphase is like Sansui but even better.
This is the best description ever!!! And I have a dozen sanuis and they rarely require any work. The pioneers I have are constantly breaking down! Marantz is a close 2nd but I absolutely love pioneer sound that is when they are working. I spend more time trying to figure out what's wrong with my pioneers than I spend listening to them.
My Sansui 9090 just keeps on singin. In my opinion Sansui was the best sounding, well built longest lasting and best looking vintage gear. Just imho. There is something strangely amazing about sansui sound. Marantz has it too but there is a warmth and accuracy thing that they cornered the market on.
 
Hold a pioneer Tuner knob in your hand! The thing feels like its made of polished lead! Pioneer had a way of building really nice heavy duty gear. The problem is some of the component were only made to last 20-30 years so recapping and bad transistors/diodes is in the near future if you choose this great brand. Sansui on the other hand especially the early stuff is solid gold. Still may need a bit of work but they sound so good and just last forever. Cant go wrong with 8080 9090 or the G
 
Marantz had some of the all-time bad advertising with the giant cartoon heads, even the ads without people and the flower-power backgrounds were stinky. If there was one that I liked it was the crispy-fried reciever that "fired" right back up.

When it comes to boomboxes I'd probably compare the Superscope by Marantz CRS-4000 (1978) to the Pioneer SK-900 (1979) to the Sansui CP-99W (1983?). Superscope and Pioneer jumped in fully into the portable stereo arena in the early 70's, by the late 70's they had released dozens of models.

The Superscope is a beast and somewhat rare, it really puts out well defined music but is not a bass-cranker, easy to listen to and somewhat loud for a 70's boombox. The Pioneer SK-900 sings really nicely, maybe a little more melodic than the Superscope, the sound is also well-defined and very clear, it can also get loud with little distortion. The Sansui is a classic three-piece for it's time, very square with high-tech touch buttons, I don't know if Sanusi made these or someone else, other boomers in their line-up were actually made by Marantz of Japan but there isn't a similar model of this one. It's a great boombox but it doesn't have the portable component stereo sound like the other, slightly older models.
 
The fried Marantz receiver ad is stuff of legends.

I have a small collection of vintage stuff.
And a friend of mine has a bunch of vintage low wattage receivers and amps that he recappes and sometimes connects to a self made switchbox, 6 at a time, on 3 pairs of speakers. We compare sounds in his Man Cave.
He is crazy about Marantz. Although I’m more of a Tandberg and Sansui kind of guy, the low wattage Marantz receivers do have that warm, open sound.
A clear distinction when comparing however can be made between capacitor coupled design or not. The caps coupled amplifiers usually come up trumps, regardless of brand. It’s that open, cohesive yet spaceous and at the same time warm, rich sound that is quite addictive to me. Involving but in no way fatigueing. Has been described so often on AK. Sansui did it great, but we find it
When comparing Marantzes, Akai, etc. I have no comparison of such a Pioneer to my SX 737, but suspect the difference can be found there as well. It’s a sound that is a little bit reminescent to my old Telefunken radio’s, but more open sounding.
And as so many others here have found out, to me the Sansui AU 777, 555,etc amps are exceptional in that regard ( even apart from build quality).

Somehow to me it seems Marantz tried to keep some of that sound signature into their later amp sections in some artificial way. Nice, but just not exactly the real thing.

About Accuphase. I only had one, a E206, and found it less involving than the Sansuis I had or have.
Tandberg on the other hand ...
 
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This is the best description ever!!! And I have a dozen sanuis and they rarely require any work. The pioneers I have are constantly breaking down! Marantz is a close 2nd but I absolutely love pioneer sound that is when they are working. I spend more time trying to figure out what's wrong with my pioneers than I spend listening to them.
My Sansui 9090 just keeps on singin. In my opinion Sansui was the best sounding, well built longest lasting and best looking vintage gear. Just imho. There is something strangely amazing about sansui sound. Marantz has it too but there is a warmth and accuracy thing that they cornered the market on.
I was raised on Sansui.
Since 1970.
My Sansuis always sounded great-the standard by which I’ve judged the rest.
 
The fried Marantz receiver ad is stuff of legends.

I have a small collection of vintage stuff.
And a friend of mine has a bunch of vintage low wattage receivers and amps that he recappes and sometimes connects to a self made switchbox, 6 at a time, on 3 pairs of speakers. We compare sounds in his Man Cave.
He is crazy about Marantz. Although I’m more of a Tandberg and Sansui kind of guy, the low wattage Marantz receivers do have that warm, open sound.
A clear distinction when comparing however can be made between capacitor coupled design or not. The caps coupled amplifiers usually come up trumps, regardless of brand. It’s that open, cohesive yet spaceous and at the same time warm, rich sound that is quite addictive to me. Involving but in no way fatigueing. Has been described so often on AK. Sansui did it great, but we find it
When comparing Marantzes, Akai, etc. I have no comparison of such a Pioneer to my SX 737, but suspect the difference can be found there as well. It’s a sound that is a little bit reminescent to my old Telefunken radio’s, but more open sounding.
And as so many others here have found out, to me the Sansui AU 777, 555,etc amps are exceptional in that regard ( even apart from build quality).

Somehow to me it seems Marantz tried to keep some of that sound signature into their later amp sections in some artificial way. Nice, but just not exactly the real thing.

About Accuphase. I only had one, a E206, and found it less involving than the Sansuis I had or have.
Tandberg on the other hand ...
I’ve never heard Tandberg audio gear, although I know of it.
They had a stellar reputation, back in the 70s.
I have a couple of 6000X RTR decks, which have really good specs at 3 3/4 ips, which for most home users was the most used speed for recording.
 
In my collection i have Sansui's,Tandberg,Trio,pioneer,yamaha

They're all different but it's the Sansui's that have that little something that i really like
 
I own or have owned some and only Sansui vintage models, so I'll talk in that way. I had lot of other modern gear and there is nothing that can be compared to Sansui, through building quality and sound.

In my opinion, Sansui is one amazing brand that wanted to achieve purest and most natural sound in their build history.

I was enjoying in the sound of little but most worm sound of receiver 221, then G4700. After while I purchased Tu 717 and switched to Au317mk2. Boy, Tu717 has some of the best sound I ever heard from Hi fi component. After that I bought Au517 and got it restoration. It sound little less worm than older Sansui gear, but still amazing Sansui sound.

I just know that Sansui has never made bad sounding equipment. Some of them are better, some of them are High End, but they all have Sansui signature.

If you never heard Sansui, you probably just don't know how good that brand was.

In last few months I had lot of time so I was comparing it with some other gear (Nad C740, Sony Home Theater Hi fi, Onkyo TX-8270, Pioneer 656 mk2 reference series). They were all blown away with Sansui.
All of them sounded good and I was really enjoying, but when I listen Sansui after them is like coming home feeling. Just the way music meant to sound. No heights, no bass, no midrange, in apart. Just good sound that has it all.

Sansui is waiting for some Hegel guy in future, so I'll tell you what comparation results are.
 
MilanBogovac, it is great to read your words about Sansui, and how much you enjoy the Sansui sound.
I have enjoyed this sound since my father brought home his first Sansui-a Sansui Eight receiver, in 1970.
The gear that you mentioned has great sound.
For myself, I really enjoy that Sansui Eight-my father’s-and my AU-7900.
But there are so many other models to try!
 
Thanks Bubhardy. Mine father also brought Sansui 221 in 1979, and I was born in 1982. So from the beginning of my life it's just Sansui. Your gear is also great and I couldn't agree more, there are plenty of Sansui models that still needs to be heard. Cheers
 
Curious what speakers you are running with your Sansui gear. I have an 881, 5050, 1000x and a pioneer SX870. I like all of these with my Polk LS50s. I have some older Klipsch KG 2 &3 that sound good, but in side to side comparison the polks are punchy and crisp. Klipsch are better with low vocals (Hagar, Segar, etc). Anyone have recommendation for speakers that won’t break the bank? I’m new to the vintage audio affliction and I might have to start hiding my purchases from my wife. Thanks.
 
Hi Mitch. Mine are Wharfedale Diamond 11.4. They seems to be warmer in sound, but still lot of details and easy listening. But don't worry, every speaker sounds good enough with Sansui.
 
Hi Milan, I think I agree with you. My first vintage was the SX-780 and I do love it, but then I rebuilt a 5050 for my office at home. I hooked it to KG3s and now I find myself just sitting and listening. No work getting done here. That said the 881 is a new purchase and I am floored by the sound with the Polks. Thanks for the reply!
 
I figure this has been discussed before but I would like to hear what people say about the "typical" vintage Sansui receiver sound vs the "typical" vintage Marantz receiver sound vs. the "typical" Pioneer vintage sound. Being new to this, I'm trying to get all the input I can.
Thanks!
Could never find of speakers that made my sansui G-7500 sound anything but clinical and sterile. Tried different Infinity, AR, OHM, Monitor Audio, Harbeth, a few KEF models and even my friends pair of Wilson puppy's. The sound is "all there" but never sounded as real as I like.
 
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