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Compatibility of Vintage Sansui 881 with Modern Speakers

F

fongalv

New Member
Hi All, first post here!

I’ve been “lucky” enough to score(an impulse buy more likely) a Sansui 881 in good physical appearance that still works properly. I should be getting them before end of next week, so doing up a bit of research right now. Main reason I got the 881(apart from the generally good feedback here) was for it to match my equally vintage turntable and CDP.

As I’m looking to put together a new audio rig in a small 3x3m room(turntable into phono and CDP into AUX-1), I’m also looking to upgrade my speakers from the ones I’m using now(scavenged them from an old Pioneer HT system). While I understand the adage of buying the best I can afford, and having recently auditioned the modern Dynaudios (and fell in love with them), I am wondering if the 881 is enough to power the modern 4ohm/85db speakers?

I suppose what I’m trying to do is to streamline the systems involved. An alternative I’m trying to avoid is to use the 881 in the study with the TT/CDP and some equally vintage speakers, and get an entire separate system(modern receiver+modern speakers) which could also double as a HT system, but this just feels like I’m doubling up in equipment in a relatively small apartment.

So, have anyone here tried mating the 881 to anything modern? I would like to gather some opinions before I lug the receiver down to demo the speakers.
 
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Just found an 881 at a Goodwill outlet store. It is pretty trashed, but I will attempt to rejuvenate it, may be an impossible task, but for 2 bucks I have to try.
 
It isn't as much a matter of modern/vintage as it is a matter of power/efficiency. If the 881 is in healthy condition and you don't tend to play your music loudly or constantly, you would probably be OK with that combination. If it were me, I'd pick something easier to drive with that receiver just to be on the safe side.
 
The Dynaudio are going to work that receiver pretty hard. I have a pair of the 4Ω 82db "Special One" model and I think it's asking a lot from a vintage receiver to drive them. I drove mine with a Harman Kardon 755vxi that had (iirc) 90 wpc and high-current capability and it ran extremely hot with the Dynaudio's even in a 12 x 16 room at moderate listening levels for a short period of time.
The Luxman 90wpc receiver ran them with no sweat...as does the McIntosh MC-2100 amp.
 
I do agree with Ths364,Earlier i was using Sansui AU 719 to drive my Dynaudio Audience 52 but after i switched it to my other Exposure XX Integrated Amplifier,I feel the sound is much more open and the bass is tight. The Exposure is only rated at 35watt and it really suprise me.
 
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Hi All, thanks for the quick replies!

First and foremost, I do not listen to my music too loudly(when I do, I use headphones), so regardless of which speakers/receiver/amplifier, I don't think I will be pushing them overly hard. If I’m really treading close to the limits with the 4ohm speakers, I guess another option worth exploring is to get the previous generation Dynaudios which came in 8ohm flavours?

Ths364 said:
The Dynaudio are going to work that receiver pretty hard. I have a pair of the 4Ω 82db "Special One" model and I think it's asking a lot from a vintage receiver to drive them. I drove mine with a Harman Kardon 755vxi that had (iirc) 90 wpc and high-current capability and it ran extremely hot with the Dynaudio's even in a 12 x 16 room at moderate listening levels for a short period of time.
The Luxman 90wpc receiver ran them with no sweat...as does the McIntosh MC-2100 amp.
Click to expand...
As I’m relatively new to the power/efficiency specs, the 881 user guide did state that the 881 is able to drive 4-16ohm speakers, in this case would it still overheat? From all the digging around I’ve done, it seems like there are varying feedback from people, with some getting extremely hot while others had no thermal issues at all? Correct me if I’m wrong(kinda regurgitating all the information I’ve collected), but your 82db speakers will need 2X the power to achieve the same volume of a pair of 85db speakers right? I seem to be missing something, but why is it that your HK 90wpc ran extremely hot while the Luxman 90wpc was fine? What was the determining factor here?

rasenthiran said:
I do agree with Ths364,Earlier i was using Sansui AU 719 to drive my Dynaudio Audience 52 but after i switched it to my other Exposure XX Integrated Amplifier,I feel the sound is much more open and the bass is tight. The Exposure is only rated at 35watt and it really suprise me.
Click to expand...
Hi rasenthiran, I’m having some trouble understanding your experience, are you saying that the Exposure XX rated at 35Watts(into 8Ohms) perform better than the AU719 rated 90W(into 8Ohms)?




Sorry for the barrage of questions, thanks in advance!
 
The 881 is pretty robust. I can't see it having any problems driving a 4 ohm load. I ran my 771 with a pair of 4 ohm Harman Kardon HK 40's and various 8 ohm speakers on the b channel running a and b at once, (not a good idea, I know) and not a whimper out of the 771. I ran it like that for 2 or 3 years. I don't do that anymore now that I found a pair of speakers I like. ;)
 
hi fongalv,

Based on my experience with this speaker,i feel the exposure suite's it well. May be it has better synergy with the Dynaudio speakers then the sansui. Some says the advance regulated power supply design by exposure or naim makes it easy to drive power hungry speaker although they are rated 30-50 watt rms only. Technically i cant prove my claim but i still feel the exposure does the job best. Sansui AU 719 is now being paired with Monitor Audio Studio 2 8 ohms/89db speaker.
 
Upon further digging, there seems to be slight differences of the 881's rated power consumption depending on whether the unit is running on multi voltage(160Watts), or 117V(320Watts) only? Could this be the reason why different units heated up differently? For the record, my incoming unit is multi voltage as my region mains are 230V.




55Redneck said:
The 881 is pretty robust. I can't see it having any problems driving a 4 ohm load. I ran my 771 with a pair of 4 ohm Harman Kardon HK 40's and various 8 ohm speakers on the b channel running a and b at once, (not a good idea, I know) and not a whimper out of the 771. I ran it like that for 2 or 3 years. I don't do that anymore now that I found a pair of speakers I like. ;)
Click to expand...
Hi 55Redneck, thanks for your input. I suppose there is no way of knowing for sure until I test them out together. For now, I’m pretty sure I won't be running more than a pair of speakers at a time, but again, the 881 is built to drive 2 or more pairs at 8Ohms(4Ohms equivalent), so I’m really not sure why there is feedback that it runs HOT when driving a single pair of 4Ohms.



rasenthiran said:
hi fongalv,

Based on my experience with this speaker,i feel the exposure suite's it well. May be it has better synergy with the Dynaudio speakers then the sansui. Some says the advance regulated power supply design by exposure or naim makes it easy to drive power hungry speaker although they are rated 30-50 watt rms only. Technically i cant prove my claim but i still feel the exposure does the job best. Sansui AU 719 is now being paired with Monitor Audio Studio 2 8 ohms/89db speaker.
Click to expand...
Hi rasenthiran, so what you are saying is that your sansui has less synergy than your exposure for the Audience 52’s. While I appreciate your input, it doesn't address any of my concerns because it just means that it is technically possible for a lower power amp(regardless of brand) to drive the 4Ohm speakers better than a higher powered one.
 
Hi Fongalv,

The picture you have posted is the power consumption of the unit which is not related to the the real rms power your receiver produce. If i am not mistaken Sansui 881 produce around 60 watt perchannel in 8 ohms. I recommend you to give a try the dynaudio speakers with the receiver but do not connect other speakers to the amplifier. Use only speaker A option.
 
fongalv said:
Hi All, first post here!

I’ve been “lucky” enough to score(an impulse buy more likely) a Sansui 881 in good physical appearance that still works properly. I should be getting them before end of next week, so doing up a bit of research right now. Main reason I got the 881(apart from the generally good feedback here) was for it to match my equally vintage turntable and CDP.

As I’m looking to put together a new audio rig in a small 3x3m room(turntable into phono and CDP into AUX-1), I’m also looking to upgrade my speakers from the ones I’m using now(scavenged them from an old Pioneer HT system). While I understand the adage of buying the best I can afford, and having recently auditioned the modern Dynaudios (and fell in love with them), I am wondering if the 881 is enough to power the modern 4ohm/85db speakers?

I suppose what I’m trying to do is to streamline the systems involved. An alternative I’m trying to avoid is to use the 881 in the study with the TT/CDP and some equally vintage speakers, and get an entire separate system(modern receiver+modern speakers) which could also double as a HT system, but this just feels like I’m doubling up in equipment in a relatively small apartment.

So, have anyone here tried mating the 881 to anything modern? I would like to gather some opinions before I lug the receiver down to demo the speakers.
Click to expand...

First, let me reiterate earlier comments regarding your concern about modern speakers with a vintage amp. The age of the speakers or the amp are by and large irrelevant. What it comes down to is whether or not the amp has the power you need to drive your speakers to the loudness you want to achieve with no (or minimal) clipping of the signal.

Given the size of your room, and assuming it is in good working condition, that amp is quite capable of driving those speakers to a nominal output of 88dB or thereabouts (which I consider to be quite loud) with 9-12dB of headroom to accommodate transient peaks. In other words, it is fully capable of meeting your needs without overtaxing it. And you are correct that it is rated to accommodate a 4 ohm load.

Of course, I'm not saying that you will like the sound of it with those particular speakers...that is a much more subjective question. But that series of Sansui receivers is quite well-built and well-regarded. Give it a try and see how you like it! Good luck.
 
rasenthiran said:
Hi Fongalv,

The picture you have posted is the power consumption of the unit which is not related to the the real rms power your receiver produce. If i am not mistaken Sansui 881 produce around 60 watt perchannel in 8 ohms. I recommend you to give a try the dynaudio speakers with the receiver but do not connect other speakers to the amplifier. Use only speaker A option.
Click to expand...
Exactly, I know the numbers behind do not refer to the receivers output power. What I'm referring to is that for the same 881 unit, the 117V version consumes up to 320Watts while the multi voltage version appears to consume only 160Watts(exactly half of the 117V version). Not that it matters to me since my unit is the multi voltage version(consumes less power while still outputting 60Watts), but perhaps this is the reason why some units overheats(assuming its the 117V/320Watt consumption that overheats). This is definitely something I will have to test on my own when the unit arrives.



kcbluesman said:
First, let me reiterate earlier comments regarding your concern about modern speakers with a vintage amp. The age of the speakers or the amp are by and large irrelevant. What it comes down to is whether or not the amp has the power you need to drive your speakers to the loudness you want to achieve with no (or minimal) clipping of the signal.

Given the size of your room, and assuming it is in good working condition, that amp is quite capable of driving those speakers to a nominal output of 88dB or thereabouts (which I consider to be quite loud) with 9-12dB of headroom to accommodate transient peaks. In other words, it is fully capable of meeting your needs without overtaxing it. And you are correct that it is rated to accommodate a 4 ohm load.

Of course, I'm not saying that you will like the sound of it with those particular speakers...that is a much more subjective question. But that series of Sansui receivers is quite well-built and well-regarded. Give it a try and see how you like it! Good luck.
Click to expand...
Yup, thanks for reiterating...Now I know better, and will definitely test it out before buying. Just wanted to make sure I don't run the risk of damaging anything!
 
Some updates:

Due to room placement restrictions(had to go with sealed or front ported), and me chancing upon a good deal on a 2 month old set of ProACs, I bought them without an audition(but after research that they are quite close to the Dyns, but much easier to drive), so I should now not have any issues with the amp power.

The 881 came in yesterday, its dated back to March of ’75 and oh my, its much bigger and heftier than I expected!

As the set came rigged to operate at 117V, does anyone know what needs to be done to convert it to 240V? I’ve checked both user manual and service manual but there does not seem to be any information on this? On the back of the unit, I’ve unscrewed the faceplate and found the jumpers, and also changed to a 30mm 3A slow blow fuse.

Just want to be sure, is there anything else that needs to be done? I’ve seen other models which require changing internal fuses, and some even internal qiring/jumpers?



 
Hi,

All that needs to be done is to pull out the plug with the arrow on it, and plug it back in with the arrow aligned ( pointing to) 240v. If you are unsure, take another photo it after you have moved it and post it up here.

Cheers

John
 
Hi John, thanks for your reply.

I've no issues with pointing the jumpers, in fact my areas mains are 230v, and I will probably turn it to point at 220v instead. So apart from this and the fuse, and I'm good to go ya?
 
Hi,

Yes, you are good to go, there are no internal fuses etc that are input voltage dependent.

Just the mains input fuse (as you have already done) and swap over the plug and then enjoy..... The 881 is a nice receiver!!

Cheers

John
 
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