• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

a few questions about a rough 551

T

TeeDeeJr

Active Member
Hi everyone, long time member (mostly lurker) first time Sansui forum poster (I think). I had a few questions I was hoping someone could help me with regarding a decent (but rough) Sansui 551 I've been using in my shed. Here goes and i appreciate any info you can pass on:

- Can anyone tell me if the stereo dial indicator lights up? It doesn't appear to have a bulb near the tip and mine doesn't illuminate. I'm just wondering if I've got a burnt bulb or if it never lit up.
- Can anyone verify if the size of the speaker knob is the same as the balance, treble and bass or larger? I'm missing this knob and would like to get one there.
- Speaking of parts, what are the best places to look (i know ebay, but anywhere else?) I need the speaker knob and would like to replace the faceplate, since there is some lettering that's been rubbed off over time.
- I've noticed the dial pointer is about a 1/3" off of where it should be. The station comes in strong but the dial is off. Anyway to easily adjust this or am I better off leaving well enough alone? The FM Stereo light doesn't seem to work, any way to check this or is it easier to try and replace the bulb first to see if that fixes the problem?
- Probably the biggest issue I've found so far ( I haven't tested the phono stage yet) is that the volume knob doesn't take the volume all the way to zero, meaning that the knob is pointing to 0 and I can still hear the source (music). I haven't given the pots & buttons a super through cleaning yet, and I'm not sure if this could be fixed with a cleaning or a symptom of something more serious. I'd appreciate some thoughts on this.

Thanks in advance for any info anyone can offer, i appreciate it.
 
Register to hide this ad
Stereo indicator light should illuminate if the stereo multiplex decoder is functioning as designed and the lamp is good. I'll have to open one up here to have a look.

Dial pointer indicator can be adjusted manually if you have basic mechanical skills.

Volume knob. If it has no been deoxidized do that. If after deox it still does not completely reduce output to zero then the carbon discs in the pot may have degraded. Basically live with it or look for another pot. I have had one or two of these in the past 20 years with this issue.
 
TeeDeeJr said:
Hi everyone, long time member (mostly lurker) first time Sansui forum poster (I think). I had a few questions I was hoping someone could help me with regarding a decent (but rough) Sansui 551 I've been using in my shed. Here goes and i appreciate any info you can pass on:

- Can anyone tell me if the stereo dial indicator lights up? It doesn't appear to have a bulb near the tip and mine doesn't illuminate. I'm just wondering if I've got a burnt bulb or if it never lit up.
- Can anyone verify if the size of the speaker knob is the same as the balance, treble and bass or larger? I'm missing this knob and would like to get one there.
- Speaking of parts, what are the best places to look (i know ebay, but anywhere else?) I need the speaker knob and would like to replace the faceplate, since there is some lettering that's been rubbed off over time.
- I've noticed the dial pointer is about a 1/3" off of where it should be. The station comes in strong but the dial is off. Anyway to easily adjust this or am I better off leaving well enough alone? The FM Stereo light doesn't seem to work, any way to check this or is it easier to try and replace the bulb first to see if that fixes the problem?
- Probably the biggest issue I've found so far ( I haven't tested the phono stage yet) is that the volume knob doesn't take the volume all the way to zero, meaning that the knob is pointing to 0 and I can still hear the source (music). I haven't given the pots & buttons a super through cleaning yet, and I'm not sure if this could be fixed with a cleaning or a symptom of something more serious. I'd appreciate some thoughts on this.

Thanks in advance for any info anyone can offer, i appreciate it.
Click to expand...
Attached is a photo of my 551 which shows that the volume knob is larger
 

Attachments

  • 20200612_133047_resized.jpg
    20200612_133047_resized.jpg
    95.2 KB · Views: 29
The volume knob is the largest. The selector and speakers knobs are the same size and are slightly smaller than the volume knob. The balance and tone are smallest.
 
Here are a couple photos,

the firstone you can see the dial indicator, it is held in place by 3 tabs pressed down on to the string. you can loosen them and slide the thing to adjust but a word of warning, the dial cord if old, will be brittle, it may not be worth it. new dial cord is about 5-10 bux on Ama Zon and instructions for changing it is in the owners manual, it takes a while, lots of trial and error but you will figure it out. as for the knobs, that is what the second photo is for.as far as I can tell the dial indicator does not activly light up, there is no bulb there, it just picks up surrounding illumination. The "Stereo" light, is on a small board, I havent had mine out but I would like you could test it with a multimeter.

View media item 22306View media item 22308
 
Thanks for all the replies! I’ve been messing around with it this afternoon and noticed that the FM Stereo indicator does illuminate, but it seems to just blink or jitter even if the station seems pretty strong, although it won’t come on when I tune my closest, strongest station and the signal meter seems to be pretty strong.

question - is the FM Muting button strictly to mute static while tuning between stations or was there another use for it. It seems to pretty much kill 100% of the stations when engaged. Is this correct or does it just mute up to a certain strength (ie the strongest stations will come in but all the weak ones would be silenced)?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom