Newbie weekend finds: Sansui 350a & Aiwa p80 set

[andyd]

Hey everyone,

So I went home this weekend to visit family and managed to pick up a few new toys. I found a Sansui 350a for $25 (money went to a charity which I thought was nice) and a Aiwa mini set, with the p80 amp, preamp, tuner and tape player for $14. So far, both sound great. Here is a pic of the aiwa, Sansui pics to follow later:

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Any thoughts on these finds? And idea of values??

 

[RamblinE]

Those little Aiwa's sound great. When they work. Beware of extra noise coming from the amp. The powerpack outputs weren't that reliable. The preamp may also need a recap by now. Mine does.

 

[andyd]

So far no noise, but I am getting a little scratchiness when I push the buttons on the preamp. Also the tape player doesn't spin. Not a big deal for me I suppose since I listen to the tuner and my phone mainly. I may take it to a local guy to go through.

 

[RamblinE]

Pop the top and try to get some Deoxit into the controls before you get it looked at. Could maybe save you some bucks. Before I got my current headphone amp that little guy was an awesome preamp for my desktop system.

Sent from the driver's seat or the desk at work via my Google Nexus 4

 

[Roy Skinner]

Is 87.5 your public radio station? Have a 350A that was hooked to Bose 301s. Sounded great till the right channel went out. Now it is something to learn on.

 

[Gang-Twanger]

That Sansui is from their uber-consistent early '70's line. Not much power, but find a pair of good tube-era speakers (or early solid-state era), and you'll have yourself a real-nice-sounding low-power setup. That 350a would sound great powering one of my Wharfedale pairs, but go with any reasonably-efficient vintage speakers that like a tube-like sound, and you'll be all set. I have A LOT of faith in those low-powered early solid-state Sansui models. LOVE my 2000x.

Pair the 350a with some early, 2-way W60's or W40's, and you'll have a sweet setup for jazz and classic-rock/pop, funk/soul, R&B, blues, country, and classical (If you like Hendrix, Zeppelin, Floyd, and that sort of thing, that setup is your ticket... Check out the link in my signature if you want to hear what the 2000x/W60's combo sounds like... The 350a has the same kind of sound, just less power). You could even power a pair of W70's or W90's (which are REALLY-nice for the music I mentioned), but the earlier the better because the later ones aren't as efficient as the earlier ones. The 350a should be good for old Fisher and University speakers. Dynacos too. Just pick an efficient speaker that likes a tube/tube-like sound.