I did not say Sansui's build quality was shabby or substandard. I've had the following receivers extensively refurbished to near new specs by my technicians. 1. Pioneer SX-1980, 2 Pioneer SX-1280's, 1 Pioneer SX-1250, 1 Pioneer SX-1080, 2 Pioneer SX-1050's, 3 Pioneer SX-950's, 1 Onkyo TX-8500-MKII, 1 Hitachi SR-2004, 1 Marantz 2330B and finally 2 Sansui G-9700's. I received the repair and upgrade bills from all of them so I know what had to be repaired. I never forgot that my technicians showed me a flaw in the Sansui design. Problem was under the right circumstances this power supply issue would be a single point of failure in its power section that could ruin the G-9700 receiver. The solution to add redundancy and resolve the single point of failure was a new circuit board that just cost $200.00. My technicians said Sansui is a great brand but they did cut a few corners in some receivers to save money.
EVERY receiver company from the golden age made a few crazy decisions that did not age well. My beautiful Marantz 2330B is a lovely piece and Marantz generally makes fine vintage audio. However my Marantz 2330B is a widely known as a problem child to repair because they stuffed two capacitors inside each of its two filter capacitors. Problem is it is hard if not to find two capacitors stuffed into one these days as the practice is obsolete. So to fully repair my Marantz 2330B my technicians had to build a standoff card, that allowed the placement of (4) FOUR capacitors the Marantz 2330B needs for optimal function. My Marantz 2330B is a 130 watt per channel pristine beast I would not trade yet it has its issues. My Pioneer SX-1980 had power stage and other design issues from the 1970's that required purchasing $500 card upgrades to resolve the situation. That does not make the Pioneer SX1980 and SX-1280 bad receivers but the initial as designed build quality could have been better.
No receiver company made a perfect line of hit receivers without any issues at all. With the benefit of time we in 2023 get to see which design decisions stood the test of time and which did not. Sansui made some of the most beautiful receivers out there. Sansui radio tuners, sound processing and filter caps were among the best but nothing including Sansui is perfect. I adore my Sansui G-9700. I'd almost give my left testicle to get a Sansui G-9000 as I think its the prettiest monster receiver ever made. However just because I love any brand does not mean I will be blind to the areas that need redesign to eleminate known issues that have come to light over the years. I TRY to write posts that allow others to benefit from my experience with receivers I had repaired. I'm not here to bash Sansui, Pioneer, MCS, Radio Shack, Marantz, Kenwood or any other receiver. Kenwood for example made a lower end receiver compared to many of the day but even their receivers were fine judged against the build quality of today's gear.
Pioneer's, Hitachi's and Sansui's were usually over engineered and feature rich. Marantz is a fine receiver but it's engineering and design is often simplistic and straight forward just like a Kenwood. Marantz wins for design and the fact that while simple Marantz receivers tended to be engineered to the highest stands using great parts. Marantz designs were extremely fault tolerant. I consider Marantz the McIntosh of receivers which explains the so called Marantz tax. In the final analysis I agree with you Sansui IS a fine brand but even the finest brand of the time had their weaknesses. That's all I am saying. If we don't agree we can both respectfully agree to disagree and move on.
