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I got the AU-11000... But there's a catch

Connor G

Connor G

Ear conditioned
Subscriber
As some of you know, I bought a Sansui online about week and a half ago... Well, today it arrived.

Good News: It was in 1 piece, after servicing it and cleaning it, it looks and sounds great.
Bad News: It was damaged during shipping :bs:

The back left corner was dented in, crippling the metal, and the top left corner of the faceplate got dented in, like someone dropped it on the corner. The front isn't terrible, but it is noticeable *sigh*
The back on the other hand, isn't so great. The damage is pretty bad, but not unfixable.

I paid a substantial amount to have it shipped from NJ to MA (insured), and the guy told me that he is a super experienced shipper who ships model trains all over the country and nothing bad has ever happened during transit.
Well, when it came to me, it was in 2 decent boxes but the packing material was sub-par.
only a handful of packing peanuts in the bottom of the first box supporting the second box, and some extremely thin bubble wrap tucked between two sides. in the second box, there was more thin bubble wrap, wrapped around the amplifier a few times... I'm surprised that it didn't have more damage than it did!

I recorded the whole unboxing for proof incase of damage, which did occur.

The guy got it overseas while in active duty, which is deterring me from disputing the damage with him, because he is a veteran.

I'll post some pics tomorrow, along with a video of the unboxing, cleaning, servicing, and sound test.

Any advice if I should do something about the damage?

Thanks for looking :lurk:
 
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It's not that bad as long as faceplate isn't damaged during shipping. Use a black marker on the corners of faceplate to hide bare aluminium. As for the rest of metal casing I would disassemble damaged parts and straighten them up with hammer and other tools that would do the job. Shipping model trains vs shipping 20kg lump of metal is huge difference. Post/courriers are so rough with packages that you have to have plenty of luck to get your goods undamaged especialy this heavy.
 
Hi, nice unit, l would love to own one. Sorry to hear about your situation with the shipping damage. My Dad is a Vietnam vet and l have the highest respect for those that have gone to war for our countries but l don't think this should be a factor in taking it up with the seller. You really cannot use bubble wrap and expect it to survive and peanuts are useless.

I bought a Pioneer amp from interstate a while back and the seller didn't use anything as filler, just a couple of layers of cardboard between amp and box which was only very slightly bigger than amp, somehow by a miracle it survived.

All the best with your Sansui, hope you can get it resolved quickly.
 
How frustrating that must be. Any competent body shop could straighten out the rear corner without much fuss, the ding in the front corner will be less noticed if you blacken out any bare aluminum, you will know its there however the casual admirer would not. Given that these are somewhat rare and yours is functional I would have a hard time surrendering it to the shipping gorillas since usually when that happens the piece is never seen again.
 
I'm sorry to read this. The damage to this rare and beautiful unit makes me furious and I don't even have any stakes in it. The disrespect of the shippers and couriers in light of the substantial fees they charge is way more than annoying and I have a hunch it won't get solved without federal regulations or at least some mega gigantic class law suits... They probably don't give a f&*k because they are insured, but they pay premiums too and enough consumers that won't stand down will probably bring a change. However (hard to even say it) it could have been worst. Like mentioned earlier it's fixable. Not easy b/c of all the dismantling - but doable. Anyway... Cheer up!!! It's a classic and it's working. I'd trade with ya any day of the week. It's a cool and highly respected Sui. Very nice!!! :thumbsup:
 
Message the guy and let him know that it was damaged in shipping, and give him a few packing tips so it wont happen to the next one he ships.

If he is a stand up guy, he will respond, and perhaps offer you a partial refund. I doubt insurance would cover it because of how it was packed.

Rob
 
I messaged the seller and basically said that I wasn't too upset about the damage because most of it was repairable, and gave him some tips like not use use the thinnest bubble wrap he could find, don't use packing peanuts, stuff the box with dense foam, etc... I was able to take most of the damage off of the back by gently bending it back. I can hardly notice it now, other than the chipping paint, which I am going to get repainted in the future.

Next step: Internal restoration - Caps, Check / Replace output transistors, etc... -

It's looking really good so far, compared to how I got it last night... I'll update with pictures / video in a little while :D
 
Alright... Here's the video of me unboxing, servicing, and cleaning the 11000


All of the switches were sticking from being bent in during shipping, and all of the knobs i.e. bass, mid, and treble were all frozen, probably from sitting in an attic for a decade.

I cleaned everything with both DeoxIT F5 & D5

I'll be posting the sound test and a good look at the unit a little later.
 
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Hi, don't want to sound harsh but that was a very poor packing job and l am very surprised that all of the knobs and switches especially survived the journey. Could have been much worse l would say.

All the best with your new purchase, l hope it gives you many hours of enjoyment :).
 
Oldsansui441 said:
Hi, nice unit, l would love to own one. Sorry to hear about your situation with the shipping damage. My Dad is a Vietnam vet and l have the highest respect for those that have gone to war for our countries but l don't think this should be a factor in taking it up with the seller. You really cannot use bubble wrap and expect it to survive and peanuts are useless.

I bought a Pioneer amp from interstate a while back and the seller didn't use anything as filler, just a couple of layers of cardboard between amp and box which was only very slightly bigger than amp, somehow by a miracle it survived.

All the best with your Sansui, hope you can get it resolved quickly.
Click to expand...
Wow man! you lucked out on not having any damage done to it!
Thanks so much for the optimism!
 
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Overundr1 said:
How frustrating that must be. Any competent body shop could straighten out the rear corner without much fuss, the ding in the front corner will be less noticed if you blacken out any bare aluminum, you will know its there however the casual admirer would not. Given that these are somewhat rare and yours is functional I would have a hard time surrendering it to the shipping gorillas since usually when that happens the piece is never seen again.
Click to expand...
Hey man. I was able to straighten out the back without much hassle... looks almost like it didn't happen, except for the chipped paint of course... IMG_4659.JPG
Thanks for commenting!
 
tnsilver said:
I'm sorry to read this. The damage to this rare and beautiful unit makes me furious and I don't even have any stakes in it. The disrespect of the shippers and couriers in light of the substantial fees they charge is way more than annoying and I have a hunch it won't get solved without federal regulations or at least some mega gigantic class law suits... They probably don't give a f&*k because they are insured, but they pay premiums too and enough consumers that won't stand down will probably bring a change. However (hard to even say it) it could have been worst. Like mentioned earlier it's fixable. Not easy b/c of all the dismantling - but doable. Anyway... Cheer up!!! It's a classic and it's working. I'd trade with ya any day of the week. It's a cool and highly respected Sui. Very nice!!! :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
Thanks man!
 
Who did you buy that from, because they can't pack for sh!t.

Packing like that =
giphy.gif


They deserve notice.

Willy6 had it worse.
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/g9000.693759/
index.php

index.php


I think it is well past time AK started a packing / delivery angels and devils forum.

May help to suss out who does it right and who to avoid.
 
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Ronito6 said:
Who did you buy that from, because they can't pack for sh!t.

Packing like that =
giphy.gif


They deserve notice.

Willy6 had it worse.
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/g9000.693759/
index.php

index.php


I think it is well past time AK started a packing / delivery angels and devils forum.

May help to suss out who does it right and who to avoid.
Click to expand...
Hello!
I bought it off of some guy on eBay...

I had faith in the fact that it would arrive unscathed, because the seller sent me this:
FullSizeRender.jpg
"Packed Well" MY ASS!

I just read Willy6's saga, and it almost made me tear up seeing that beautiful G-9000 get what looks to be a curbstomping.
So sad.
 
Here she is... after a couple hours of cleaning the grime and dust of of the front, cleaning the potentiometers, dusting it out, and bending back the dented case...
It sounds awesome!

I can't wait to get the caps switched out, along with the transistors if they prove to be faulty... I can't see how they would be though, because this thing sounds so damn good!

 
I feel better about driving my 20000 3+ hours each way (twice) for the restoration. It would have been a crime for it to suffer in transit. I bought something on ebay recently. He had it packed and shipped by the UPS store. it was heavier than this. Th e outside was double heavy bubble wrap. Some cardboard around some pieces. Then peanuts in a single box. Box looked ok. Outside of unit actually looked ok but inside had some broken brackets (which fortunately can be replaced and seller refunded me cost of brackets). I'm sorry to see a nice piece like that suffer. On the other hand, it still looks very good! Nice job on the straightening. Enjoy your new piece!
 
HackWhite said:
Here she is... after a couple hours of cleaning the grime and dust of of the front, cleaning the potentiometers, dusting it out, and bending back the dented case...
It sounds awesome!

I can't wait to get the caps switched out, along with the transistors if they prove to be faulty... I can't see how they would be though, because this thing sounds so damn good!

Click to expand...

Niiiice.

The RCA jacks on the side, inset, with a cable pass-through is to me a best design choice by Sansui.

I suppose it was a design feature that was too expensive or difficult to manufacture to continue to incorporate it in later amps.

Sounds real good though!

I look forward to the restoration thread to come.
 
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