MA-7 Consolette & Cue Speakers

[Sansuiman]

Yes, it"s been up on there for 2+ weeks, apparently either the price is putting off potential buyers or the market is showing signs of weakness; I more suspect the latter. I'm just watching to see what it goes for, I already have the MA-7 main component and am not much concerned about the monitor cue speakers.

A couple of years ago I expect it would have sold quickly at the asking price. Appears to me that many are now keeping their powder dry as there are numerous rarities presently going begging at prices that while substantial, wouldn't have impeded a sale all that long ago. Botton line is that I smell a trend, and a "correction" is in the offing.

 

[Reidy12]

Interesting, I only just noticed it....been a bit quiet lately. I take your point as I’ve seen a few “gems” the past months that have moved for not pie-in-the-sky prices. All the same to see both consollette & speakers in good condition together would be a good find given their very low numbers so it must be the $$$’s holding them back. They are a great rack mount addition. Use mine daily, mainly for power out reading and visual pleasure between RTR level setting.

I’ll watch the MA-7 out of interest.....should add serial to Pete’s database.

 

[Reidy12]

That MA-7 in the above link ended yesterday $583 USD.....originally listed at $530 so looks like it sold. That is a big price so might see more on the market trying to fund Covd-19 lockdown. I still can’t find a copy of the Owners Manual....even rarer than the actual unit.....maybe one day my luck will change .
Keep safe AKers, stay indoors and enjoy a Sansui led recovery

 

[Sansuiman]

Meh. Took almost 5 months to sell, and had the opening price reduced a few times in the time it was up there. I believe the market for vintage gear was already getting weak - with some notable exceptions - and present circumstances are going to make a big dent as the economic impact coming up is going to be deep and painful.

Not that buying and selling gear should be a big focus now anyway, we all have (or are about to, depending on your locale) much more pressing concerns.

 

[Reidy12]

I agree, this whole situation will have a huge effect on sentiment towards discretionary spending. Down here is AUS the mood is changing fast as panic buying is setting in...but not in watts! Let's hope the good Sansui gear holds out and keeps value better than some of the stock market is doing at present. It will pass, just how long and how hard the effects kick in which is basically up to Government action and personal activity.
Great music on good gear will always help sooth the beast. Looking forward to having my US sourced AU-517 back from restoration, should rock with the JBL 4412s I recently picked up locally. Cheers all.

 

[Sansuiman]

Agreed. If nothing else, this will provide plenty of extended listening time at home for many of us who have invested in good gear. That is a small consolation to the crisis being faced, but I'll take it as there isn't much silver lining to be found presently.

 

[JL07]

That MA-7 in the above link ended yesterday $583 USD.....originally listed at $530 so looks like it sold. That is a big price so might see more on the market trying to fund Covd-19 lockdown. I still can’t find a copy of the Owners Manual....even rarer than the actual unit.....maybe one day my luck will change .
Keep safe AKers, stay indoors and enjoy a Sansui led recovery

That was me who just purchased the unit @Reidy12 - I can’t say the price really reflects more than just my desire to get a unit in my hands. I currently run an AU and TU 517 setup and wanted to run meters, and save for swapping for a Yamaha A-S1100 (I love my Sansui), this was my only option.

@Reidy12, I’d also like to run the meter on my amplifier output stage - I’m curious how you’ve routed it as I’m completely at a loss with the path and number of speaker terminals, etc. without a user manual. Also, as I’m running 65W from the AU-517 and the meters are marked for 100W, is there a way to calibrate their position to more accurately reflect the relation to 0dB/full power coming from the amp? I’m considering upgrading to the AU-717 which might help bridge the gap on the actual “truthfulness” of these meters, but I’m excited to see once it arrives regardless. I’ll surely take some detail shots and post to AK, but any help is appreciated!

 

[Sansuiman]

@JL07, congrats. It's a steep price to pay to get these rarities; and I seriously considered buying this one myself but just couldn't pull the trigger. I already have a main unit (sans the monitor speakers which i considered non-essential). It's a neat unit to have if you want to match the Sansui amps/tuners from the same series.

Basically, to monitor your amplfier output the MA-7 goes between the amp and the speakers, so speaker out from amp > MA-7 amp in > MA-7 speaker out > speaker input terminals is the connection sequence. It works decent for that, and also line level signal monitoring. The calibration tone facilities are only really useful if you are recording to tape, though I almost never use tape anymore so it is there mostly for the eye candy in my setup.

And hey, it still cost less than a Pioneer SD-1100, but of course it also lacks the scope. I kinda wish Sansui had offered one.

 

[Reidy12]

@JL07, you wanted those meters...so congrats on making the move. Without the owners manual I have no reference for how to connect the amp speaker leads but as the meters are basically a volt meter I reckoned to run a second set of light speaker leads from my AU-217 (417 & 517 being repaired/restored) speaker terminals to the corresponding MA-7 “Power Amplifier”.speaker terminals. Like putting your multi meter across the terminals. Works great.
As for the meter range, with the input “Power” and sensitivity “0db” selected then the 100W will be 100W. The scale is logarithmic I think but the tick marks are 10W, your 65W will be between the 3rd & 4th mark down. Also the AU-517 is 65 watts RMS, so use the “Peak Hold” to see what really goes on!
If you ever source an owners manual please make a copy for me! It’s a great piece of gear....enjoy.

 

[JL07]

@JL07, you wanted those meters...so congrats on making the move. Without the owners manual I have no reference for how to connect the amp speaker leads but as the meters are basically a volt meter I reckoned to run a second set of light speaker leads from my AU-217 (417 & 517 being repaired/restored) speaker terminals to the corresponding MA-7 “Power Amplifier”.speaker terminals. Like putting your multi meter across the terminals. Works great.
As for the meter range, with the input “Power” and sensitivity “0db” selected then the 100W will be 100W. The scale is logarithmic I think but the tick marks are 10W, your 65W will be between the 3rd & 4th mark down. Also the AU-517 is 65 watts RMS, so use the “Peak Hold” to see what really goes on!
If you ever source an owners manual please make a copy for me! It’s a great piece of gear....enjoy.

Thanks @Reidy12, I was contemplating that, but now I’m wondering whether I can just run a set of speaker wire from the B speaker output of my AU-717 and operate the amplifier with the A+B speaker configuration. I’m just unsure if this will mess with the output impedance of the amp, or even overload the input of the MA-7 seeing as that configuration would mean I wouldn’t run speaker outs from that (I’d rather not run the audio signal through it tbh).

Ed. I should specify I’m running Triangle BR03s which have an 8 ohm impedance to match the amp.

 

[Reidy12]

I'd reckon that's a no. Even with A+B setting the B speaker terminals will have no load, nothing to drive power into and should read zero as the impedance of the meter is way too high to load the amp. The MA-7 will monitor the change in voltage across the speaker terminal and calibrated so that with an 8 ohm load and sensitivity set to 0 the 0 - 100 scale can be interpreted directly as watts. V=IR so if R=0 then Volts=0.....No Load, No Go !
Unfortunately both my A+B amps are away for surgery and the AU-217 is a 1 set amp so I can't photo display for you. I trust my theory is correct. Have fun.

 

[Reidy12]

The uploaded .png was by mistake...I was looking at this ad as I have the smaller 100mm draw and was amazed at the asking price!! Rare yes, maybe even more so than the MA-7.....mmmm. Mine came from Canada, this was the ad;