Sansui Seven

playittwice

Super Member
Hello all, Ive been looking at the single digit series Sansui receivers and there seems to be quite a strong following with them. How will a Seven sound compared to a Eight? I can get a pristine Seven for 175 dollars. Is that a fair price? Also how will it sound compared to a AU 999, 9090 or 661 that I am currently using? Thanks.
 
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Hello playittwice,

I have a Seven, 7070, 881 and an AU717. The Seven sounds better to my ears than all of them. It has pre-outs, a good phono stage (vinyl was king back then) and great looks. I paid $175 from a guy I trust who had gone thru it. Best money I ever spent. Running a pair of efficient speakers (Klipsch Quartets) it is the heart of my vintage system. I'd say go get it.

Steve
 
You've got some nice Sansui units already. The Seven is a great receiver, the Eight is my favorite though. $175.00 for a pristine one, isn't a bad price. I'm not sure how much a difference sound wise you'll hear though. It would be marginal IMO.
 
If it's in good shape, buy it. Better built and better featured then the xx1 series. As far as sound I have a SIX and had a 331. Not a fair comparo but I kept the six.
 
Well I got the Seven home and hooked up and playing on my K-horns. It sounds nice, havent had time for any critical listening yet but at first listen it seems to have a deep sound if thats a good description. Dont know much about these models but is it normal for the right signal lamp to toggle off when rotating the source knob from fm radio? Thanks for all the input. Also correct me if im wrong but from what ive been reading the Seven sounds very close to the Eight? Couldnt find an Eight and I thought the Seven was a pretty decent deal. Also Eights fetch more money when they do show up!
 
Yes, it has "intelligent" lighting and the dial light goes off for non-AM/FM functions, and the tuning center meter goes off for AM.
 
IIRC, the 7 was actually higher in the pecking order than the 8. It has been a long time since I messed with those era units. I grew up listening to a 7 as a kid, so I have a soft spot for them.

I have had a few of those era units in the past and always liked them. They do have a dark sound. Deep black backgrounds is how I would describe them. Very enjoyable, though under powered compared to the later next era models.
 
Eight and Eight Deluxe are TOTL for the single digit series. Six and Seven are great too with awesome build quality as well. Just the weight of these things is impressive for their size.
 
Yes, the Eight is a step up from the Seven, but that's mostly in power and bulk. They sound very similar - had them A/B'd at one time, and really couldn't tell a difference except for a tad more muscle in the Eight. The Six, Seven and Eight deluxe have more modern amp designs than the Eight, full complementary output vs. Quasi (All npn outputs). But the Eight has something unique: an adjustment for the differential amp. It also features a coarse and fine setting for the DC. All in all 4 trim pots per. driver !!
 
Well the results are in on my newly acquired Seven! I had zero previous experience with the single digit series receivers, only knowledge I had is what i read about. So I drive 1.5 hrs. to audition this receiver and when I arrived he had it set up and ready to go! I had a seat and turned all the knobs and pushed all the buttons and they seemed like they hadnt hardly been used! Fired it up and wow it sounded nice. Told him without much thinking about it, yep its what i want (need). So before I left with it I told him I had never listened to tube equipment and had seen he had some. So he hooked it up to the same system and fired it up and we both took a look at each other and said simultaneously the Seven sounds better! So before he could change his mind I left! Any way I did a 1 hour critical listen and this thing is everything I read about! Warm, analog, deep, great separation, dynamic, just cant describe all the good characteristics about this beaut! I paid 3x this amount for a 9090 and have to say I like what Im hearing better with the Seven. A very solid match-up and synergy with the K-Horns. Thanks to all for the input and knowing I made a good choice. Happy listening!
 
Nicely done! Gosh, I should rotate my Seven into the K-horn setup! I haven't tried those two together. Sounds like a great combo.
 
I have kept my Seven DeLuxe over the years and it has seen a lot of receivers come and go. One of the reasons is the A+B+C and resulting combos of the speaker selection switch. It is in the living room now powering a couple of Heresy. I haven't hooked it up to my K-Horns yet myself!
 
Hello playittwice,

I have a Seven, 7070, 881 and an AU717. The Seven sounds better to my ears than all of them. It has pre-outs, a good phono stage (vinyl was king back then) and great looks. I paid $175 from a guy I trust who had gone thru it. Best money I ever spent. Running a pair of efficient speakers (Klipsch Quartets) it is the heart of my vintage system. I'd say go get it.

Steve
I agree.
 
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