I picked up a sansui eight.. can it be saved??

[Tyler Prock]

I picked up a sansui eight and a sansui 800 amongst some other solid cassette decks that “need belts” one being a tandberg all for $50 all the decks powered on and buttons were functional but the receivers are a different story. They were possibly rained on, the 800 I’m almost positive has had a lot of rain. But the 8 was in a warehouse under a ton of junk. I didn’t want to plug it in out of fear of possibly frying it in its current state (I don’t know a lot about the internals) looking for some thoughts and possible first steps before powering on and testing it out. I will spend a fair amount to get it back up in running if it isn’t going to cost me the $900 plus to get me one to begin with. I’ll post a few photos of the inside.. it’s very rough. It breaks my heart especially being such a fan of the 5000a I had years back.

 

[markd51]

Hate to sound harsh, but I would say the Eight is likely now a parts unit, nothing more.
And yeah, it does look bad inside.

Your choice of what to do with it, and I will never say never. That yes, it might be able to be restored, even with things like a fried Transformer, etc. But at what cost, and amount of work involved?

I know many components just don't take kindly to water-liquids. An innocent looking IC on a board, yep, all susceptible.

Who actually in their right mind would bring such to a tech to repair, and invest possibly $300-$450 into?
Probably the majority of good techs wouldn't even touch it with a 10' pole.

Again sorry, but there could be a silver lining. The Eight might be worth something to someone else that are in need of certain parts. Thus you could probably recover your investment, and move on.

 

[markd51]

I know playing the vintage game today has it's winners and losers. And many in between.

Meaning you could run into a pretty nice, and totally unmolested Sansui Eight/Eight Deluxe for a song, $30-$40 if one is lucky and at the right place at the right time.

Or walk into an audio store of some sort, drop the $5-$6 bills like you say.

We all for sure like and prefer the first scenario!

I know many today desire and search for certain cool units they either had, or wish they had. Right now, it's very easy to get burned.

 

[Fairlane]

At this point I would (speaking for myself only here) blow it out good and clean the boards as best as you can and look for obvious potential problems like a small finish nail, paper clip or screw. Be surprised what can find its way between the case slats. Look for any burnt or blown caps or obvious signs of shorting, heat etc. Check the fuse is the right size and hook it up to a dim bulb tester and variac and power it up slowly and see what happens.

Had some dirty units fire up and work well over the years. Dont think you would do any more damage to it given its neglected condition. The DBT will save you and be ready to shut it down etc.

Good luck, still a bitchin find in my book.

 

[Tyler Prock]

That’s what I was thinking fairlane. It was a $50 haul so it literally take as much as you want. So I figured what’s the worst that can happen? The unit doesn’t work? It didn’t cost me any extra to take it. I found three solid, one pretty expensive cassette decks that were all clean so that was worth far more than $50 the sansui was a bonus working or non working… but man it would be nice if it fired up. I’m on vacation rn and I will be cleaning it like crazy when I get back and order me a dbt while I’m away. And trust me Mike I was right there with you that’s why I had to post it. I pulled it essentially out of the trash so I know my odd aren’t good. I almost didn’t grab the 800 knowing it had definitely been in the rain.. but there always that chance.

 

[Tyler Prock]

Hate to sound harsh, but I would say the Eight is likely now a parts unit, nothing more.
And yeah, it does look bad inside.

Your choice of what to do with it, and I will never say never. That yes, it might be able to be restored, even with things like a fried Transformer, etc. But at what cost, and amount of work involved?

I know many components just don't take kindly to water-liquids. An innocent looking IC on a board, yep, all susceptible.

Who actually in their right mind would bring such to a tech to repair, and invest possibly $300-$450 into?
Probably the majority of good techs wouldn't even touch it with a 10' pole.

Again sorry, but there could be a silver lining. The Eight might be worth something to someone else that are in need of certain parts. Thus you could probably recover your investment, and move on.

I really wouldn’t mind spending $400 on a restore. A $400 restored sansui 8?? Count me in. It was free. I have no qualms about it.

 

[KingBubba]

I too would spend the funds to rehab to Eight. It is a fine sounding receiver. You don't yet know if it's working. Find out, you could be lucky. Water, by the way, is not always the curse it is thought to be. There was an AK member years ago that actually put his vintage electronics in the dishwasher for a full cleaning and after a full drying out period had clean, working electronics. I am not lying or exaggerating.

 

[Tyler Prock]

No totally what I was telling my wife! I don’t understand the workings of circuitry, but if I remember correctly water isn’t what ruins them (though I’m sure water does all kinds of damage in other way) it’s the water itself making connections in different areas with conductivity of the water, when on. And luckily this baby hasn’t been plugged in in quite some time. Still not trying to get my hopes up here though. Need to keep thinking of it as a total hunk of trash. Expect the worst hope for the best.

 

[Ray Gianelli]

No totally what I was telling my wife! I don’t understand the workings of circuitry, but if I remember correctly water isn’t what ruins them (though I’m sure water does all kinds of damage in other way) it’s the water itself making connections in different areas with conductivity of the water, when on. And luckily this baby hasn’t been plugged in in quite some time. Still not trying to get my hopes up here though. Need to keep thinking of it as a total hunk of trash. Expect the worst hope for the best.

You're right, water is only a problem if you energize it while wet.

It looks dirty, but I've seen worse ones that cleaned up and worked fine. Definitely build a dim bulb testers and power it up with that before plugging it straight into the wall.

Where are you located?

 

[KeithD]

I would agree with @Fairlane , you have nothing to loose by doing some cleaning, checking for debris, and then power up on DBT. The driver boards are mounted vertically and are somewhat sheltered by the metal shield over them. PS, phono and equalizer board are on the bottom. Would be good to see a pic of the bottom with the cover off, but they likely are in better shape than the top boards, which are the FM and AM boards which are exposed. Worst case, you might need to look for replacements for those boards if you want them working. Best case, they might work. I would agree the Eight is worth the effort.

 

[Tyler Prock]

I would agree with @Fairlane , you have nothing to loose by doing some cleaning, checking for debris, and then power up on DBT. The driver boards are mounted vertically and are somewhat sheltered by the metal shield over them. PS, phono and equalizer board are on the bottom. Would be good to see a pic of the bottom with the cover off, but they likely are in better shape than the top boards, which are the FM and AM boards which are exposed. Worst case, you might need to look for replacements for those boards if you want them working. Best case, they might work. I would agree the Eight is worth the effort.

I am not using the tuner so it’s great to know the tuner probably took the hit

 

[Bone Yard]

I watch that guy on YouTube pull cassette decks out of swamps and cleans the hell out of them to get them working. Back in the 80's my bosses building burned, everything on the first floor was soggy and full of soot but it was amazing how much still worked after cleaning.

 

[egellings]

Just clean that baby up.

 

[Tyler Prock]

I’ll update you guys when I get back from vacation!

 

[BLAH BLAH]

 

[Orwell84]

You could try washing or dipping the boards in 99.9% IPA isopropyl alcohol. It will displace any moisture and aid in cleaning the grime off.
Good luck

https://www.mgchemicals.com/product...CS reagent,surfaces, plastics, and elastomers.

 

[ossodiseppia]

In the vintage car world, the Eight would be a good candidate for a restoration, if the cosmetics were in good shape. Rust is the biggest consumer of $$ on vintage automobiles. So, for a vintage stereo unit, it would really depend on the condition of some of the more visual components. Just because the innards have a bunch of dust and grime does not mean it should be parted out. The Eight is a fabulous piece of equipment. If the various visible exterior bits are in good shape, I say fix it.

 

[Sharpstik]

I know playing the vintage game today has it's winners and losers.

Meaning you could run into a pretty nice, and totally unmolested Sansui Eight/Eight Deluxe for a song, $30-$40 if one is lucky and at the right place at the right time.

Indeed. 40 ? Like this ? At the flea, and I couldn’t believe it.

I agree with your points.

A full restore will cost double 400. I found a SX 990 that looked like that for nothing and it now looks and runs like new. But you need someone who knows what they’re doing. My 8 works but there is a lot of iron in there .

 

[Tyler Prock]

Indeed. 40 ? Like this ? At the flea, and I couldn’t believe it.

I agree with your points.

A full restore will cost double 400. I found a SX 990 that looked like that for nothing and it now looks and runs like new. But you need someone who knows what they’re doing. My 8 works but there is a lot of iron in there .

Luckily the guy Who does work on my stuff is THE guy in my region. And honestly pretty reasonable on his rates. Gary kawolski. I think that’s his last name? Either way love the guy always does me well. But man his wait is sooooo long

 

[bolero]

Everybody wants Kowalski