Tuners

Bill

Active Member
I recently got a AU-G99X integrated amp off of eBay and need to know if Sansui made a good digital tuner that would be a good match. I am impressed with the sound and quality of the AU-G99X but experience tells me tuner quality went down in the 80's. Any advise or info on Sansui tuners from the mid 80's would be apreaciated.

Bill
 
The matching tuner for the AU-G99X is the TU-D99X. Sansui always made excellent tuners, any decline in quality in an 80's Sansui tuner would be seen only in the use of plastic for the case and the various switches. Its ability as a tuner itself to receive stations and so forth is still excellent.

Its your choice if you wish to wait until a TU-D99X turns up on Ebay or elsewhere, otherwise the next closest matching tuner is the TU-D55X which is the tuner for the AU-G77X amp. (And thats not a typo- dunno why the matching tuner for the AU-G77X isnt called the TU-D77X which would make the most sense as they correspond with the 99 amp and tuner).

Another model I recommend if you want a digital tuner that is very good is the TU-S9 - the matching tuner for the Sansui AU-D11 amp of the early 80's.
 
Sansui, sansui, sansui, is that all you guys talk about?

What forum do you think this is.... oh....never mind..:p:

Lefty
 
Hi Lefty,

Well speaking for myself, I can be easily be easily distracted if the subject matter is interesting enough ===> J Lo's derriere, for instance :)


Regards, B/F. "Pure Power".
 
'Ya see the 'be easily' typo above? I just proved already how distracted J Lo's caboose can make me :)

Later, B/F.
 
Thanks Fred I will keep my eyes peeled for the TU-D99X. I saw an ad for the TU-D99X in an old stereo mag and it don't look to bad. The reason for the post was that I never was to impressed with the digital tuners from the 80's. I own a couple of Kenwood digital tuners and they are not even close to being as sensitive as there good old analog tuners from the 70's.


Bill
 
Just a note for anyone that is interested. Jim Rivers over at the Tuner Information Center (http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/) has had a tuner shootout going for quite some time now. His rankings after Shootout #38 look like this. Note that Sansui tuners take positions #2, #3, #7, and #12. Four out of 12 ain't bad at all. I'm quoting the site now.
>
"Rankings after Shootout #38:
1: -C- Kenwood L-02T - Most natural sound, good bass. Pinpoint imaging. Lifelike, three-dimensional sound.
2: -C- Sansui TU-919 - The prince who could be king.
3: -C- Sansui TU-X1 - Very good sound top to bottom. Big soundstage, three-dimensional. Very slight diffuse sound.
4: -C- Philips AH-6731 - A very natural, neutral sound. Stereo separation best with a good signal.
5: -C- Revox B760 - Great bass, lifelike midrange and extended highs.
6: Luxman T-117 - Very good-sounding tuner. No real faults, top to bottom. Not as three-dimensional as the L-02T and gives up some bass richness.
7: Sansui TU-717 - Good bass and midrange with nice "depth" to the soundstage. More forward than the L-02T.
8: Technics ST-9038 - Very good bass, nice midrange, smooth treble.
9: Magnum Dynalab MD-108 - Bass OK, very good imaging and realistic midrange, extended but forward highs.
10: Kenwood KT-917 - Good bass, midrange and treble. A very pleasant sound but more one-dimensional when placed next to the L-02T.
11: Pioneer F-90 - Great sonics with a slightly lighter sonic presentation than the top dogs. Upper midrange and treble are top-notch.
12: Sansui TU-D99X - Good bass. Bass, midrange and treble work well together for a balanced sound."
>
Another tuner you might be interested in is the TU-D99AMX. It's the version of the 99 with AM stereo. It and the plain 99 come up for auction on eBay from time to time. Usually at less than $100.
 
Hi Bob Adams & Beatle Fred! I just read the above threads & have a question with regards to the "tuner shootout". Never having owned anything but receiver/amps I did not realize that just the tuner could have that much effect on the sound? Obviously he is running all these thru the same amplifier for test results fairness. So does this mean that one of these top tuners would give me better results if say it was hooked up to my Sansui 7070 or Pioneer SX-780 than listening either one of these on their own? God I guess I am getting too old, the new stuff scares me & I don't know what I should know about the vintage stuff that I started with! Thanks, great forum too! Dave
 
Hello fellow PA! I agree with you. I love mid 70s gear myself! Sansui and Marantz for me! JBL for speakers (new ones though)!
 
Hi Dave:

Well, you can certainly try and connect a tuner thru either of those two receivers and then evaluate the resulting sound quality to determine if you think you hear any improvements.

The thing is, are your listening needs that critical such that you feel there is something lacking in the 7070 & SX-780 tuners? I actually have both of those models and I feel their tuner sections are pretty good (as they are on most vintage 70's hi fi receivers). If you do think they could give you better performance, then its possible that the tuner section of the receivers need an alignment or maybe you can get better performance by upgrading whatever it is that you are currently using as an antenna.

Judging from the Sansui TU-719 tuner I have, I would say that Yes, a separate dedicated tuner will offer better performance than that of a receiver, though in my case being that I have several Sansui integrated amps as well, I run the tuner thru an integrated not thru a receiver. Someone who owns a Sansui AU-717 amp and its matching TU-717 tuner or Sansui AU-919 and TU-919 can be a very happy person - these models are all truly superb Sansui products.

The thing with radio broadcasts though is the very heavy compression thats used (that "squashed" quality to the sound)You can easily see visual evidence of this if you connect a tape deck with meters to record a radio broadcast- the levels on the meters will not fluctuate much at all which indicates a limited dynamic range (d.r.), as compared to recording music from cd's which have a much wider d.r.

Myself- I am curious to try (when extra time allows) and record some FM radio broadcasts- but run the signal thru a DBX dynamic range expander (there's alot of them on Ebay, I have a vintage '78 DBX 3BX) and see if I can "decompress" the compression :) before if gets recorded onto tape. Or perhaps the method is to record the signal as is (compressed) and THEN run it thru a DBX. I have to look into it some more, as I said when time allows. That tuner site is Excellent, maybe to save some time, I can ask them about the DBX idea, I'm sure they can provide all the essential Info on that.

By the way, I recall that the Sansui TU-S9 was given some favorable comments in its review on that site. Keep in mind it might not be on the Shootout List simply because the Site hasnt had the chance to acquire one yet and try it in the Shootout contest. I have a TU-S9- great reception ability but the plastic switches are rather flimsy- the AM/FM button has a tendency to get stuck when you push it in. Personally, I'd say if anyone acquires a TU-717, you can live happily ever after- gorgeous tuner, very good build quality, exquisite feel when turning that tuning dial. Price is alot more reasonable than what a TU-919 would cost you on Ebay.

Finally, let it be noted that Stereophile magazine, which is not one to have ever reviewed many Sansui products, had some Sansui tuners listed in their Recommended Components issue from what I recall seeing in some of my backissues from the 80's.

Regards, B/F.
 
Dave:

I have a Pioneer sx-828 reciever and a sansui tu-717 tuner (bought it from Jim Rivers, hes a good guy) and did a rough tuner comparison a few days ago. The pioneer has an excellent tuner section (I understand it is essentially a tx-9100) and the ability to receive weak stations I found pretty comparible to the Sansui seperate tuner. But the sansui had much better sound. It was noticeably better. In my opinion its worth having a good tuner for listening to fm.

As a side note....both of these simply blow away the tuner section in the expensive and relatively new B&K avr-202 five channel reciever I use for home theatre. The pioneer reciever I got from the thrift store for $10:) I LOVE this vintage high end stuff.

B/F: you arent kidding about the tuning knob on the 717. That tuner is a joy to use.
 
Last edited:
A receiver to me is only good for background music. A good tuner is a must for anyone who is serious in FM music listening. If you only listen to AM then you don't need a good tuner. :cool:
 
Don,
In general I agree with your last statement about not needing a good tuner for AM listening.......... but not totally! There are still a few good AM stereo stations out there. In Greenville, SC where I live there is this AM stereo station (WCPI @1490) that is as good or better as any small college or public broadcasting station. NO commercials., NO talk, NO news! It's all blues, old rock & roll. world music, etc. There is a recorded voice that comes on to identify the station about once an hour. A friend of mine who is a radio engineer for several stations in the area told me that this station is owned by a rich guy who just always wanted to own a radio station. Long may he live and prosper. I don't know who the guy is if you're out there anywhere ......THANK YOU MAN....YOUR STATION IS A CLASS ACT! But I digress.
>
Sansui made two AM stereo / FM stereo digital tuners that I know of, the TU-S77AMX and the aformentioned TU-D99AMX. As someone mentioned, the TU-D99X, TU-S7 and TU-S9 are supposed to be great digital tuners. These and others ( the T-E550, T-1000 etc.) would probably work great with the amp mentioned.
>
Now we going to have to talk about antennas to use to get the most out of our tuners!!!!!

:cool:
 
Back
Top Bottom