Opinions? Sansui 4000 to Sansui QR-6500 Quad

[Steve White]

Hi, Advice please

I have a Sansui 4000 and love it. Looking at a Sansui Quad QR-6500 as I have 4 classic Klipsch legendary speakers so could do it.

Is it worth the upgrade? My room is around 16x20' in size?

Never heard quad and do not know anyone with it.

Is the amp quality, sound and anything else better on the 6500 Quad?

Thanks all!!

 

[SmileyFaceEQ]

Would be cool if it works properly. These are very difficult to service as there a a lot of boards crammed into the chassis. Access is limited and a lot of removing boards to access areas to service.

 

[SmileyFaceEQ]

Sansui Quad repair and service

Here is a great video from YouTube source Jordan Pier - his channel is pretty awesome.

 

[Steve White]

Hmm, not sure now. Ideas on what I would checkout as critical issues?

 

[SmileyFaceEQ]

No, but serviceability is an important factor in selecting a piece of equipment. If you search for info on that particular model, I'm sure you'll find things to look out for. I'm not trying to put you off your purchase, just a heads up more or less.

Good fortune.

 

[tcdriver]

... Is it worth the upgrade? My room is around 16x20' in size?

...Is the amp quality, sound and anything else better on the 6500 Quad?

It could be worth the upgrade. Your room size should allow for a good quadraphonic setup. One can read here on Audiokarma a lot of opinions on quadraphonic sound, pro and con.

If you are considering buying the Sansui Quad QR-6500 you may want to make sure everything is working as it should. If not, can you make the repairs yourself? If so good. If not, you may want to look elsewhere for a multi-channel sound experience. Good listening.

 

[Steve White]

Okay, so my soldering skills are from 50 years ago, not I expect sufficient but I do know a very good local tech guy that does classic stereos at a decent price. I will shop around.

I also have to decide if i switch up from Heresy to La Scala speakers instead. In the end, always some upgrade.

 

[CrSens]

Okay, so my soldering skills are from 50 years ago, not I expect sufficient but I do know a very good local tech guy that does classic stereos at a decent price. I will shop around.

I also have to decide if i switch up from Heresy to La Scala speakers instead. In the end, always some upgrade.

QR-6500 is an early quad model, so it does not have proper SQ quad mode, the most commonly available on vinyl. It can mostly be used in QS synthesizer mode, where it will produce four channels out of a stereo signal, sort of artificial quad. Also it does QS quad. Some people like it a lot in synthesizer mode, just to put some sound in the rear and increase sense of space in the room, but later models are much improved.
QRX-6500 is newer and much more featured, but more complex quad boards mean the probability of having to service it and change noisy transistors is greater.

 

[smead]

I am quite smitten with my qrx 6500. I got lucky, everything worked perfect, just one lamp out. Even in two channel mode, the 38wpc sounds BIG, comparable to my 881.

If the price is reasonable, get it. The sound will be different from your cap and coupled 4000, a little tighter bass, but still warm. They are both great sounding.

 

[KeithD]

QR-6500 is also cap-coupled, just like the 4000. I'm not sure if you'll hear much difference in 2 channel stereo mode between the 4000 and QR-6500.

However, the QR-6500 is a very high quality, well built receiver. Judging from Sansui literature of the time, they were quite proud of their acheivement. It's true, the QR-6500 has one of the earlier versions of Sansui quad processing and does not have built-in SQ processing, just QS and their "synthesized" quad mode. Be aware that a major plus to the QR-6500 and QRX-6500 is they are both dual mono in the pre-amp, so some people actually use them as pre-amps for two separate amps. The build quality is excellent, and contrary to what some have said, it is easy to service and access all boards. The entire tuner is on a tray that is easily removed without disturbing the dial string. Driver boards are on cards that are easily removed for service. Plenty of room on the bottom to access boards, and on the top when the tuner tray is removed. I've partially restored my QR-6500. I still need to re-cap and service the tone boards. I had nothing wrong with mine, just thought it was time for a refresh.

If the price is good and you want to experience Sansui synthesized quad, the QR-6500 is a great candidate. There are others also that are (still) on the lower price end that give a very good quad experience.

Edit: corrected SQ/QS mistake

 

[smead]

Wow I learn something new every day on AK. I always thought my qrx 6500 was early direct coupled. Was made from '73-75 around the time of the ##1 series.

So now I know why I like it so much! Some of my favorite receivers are my 5000a and pioneer sx9000.

 

[CrSens]

QR-6500 is also cap-coupled, just like the 4000. I'm not sure if you'll hear much difference in 2 channel stereo mode between the 4000 and QR-6500.

However, the QR-6500 is a very high quality, well built receiver. Judging from Sansui literature of the time, they were quite proud of their acheivement. It's true, the QR-6500 has one of the earlier versions of Sansui quad processing and does not have built-in QS processing, just SQ and their "synthesized" quad mode. Be aware that a major plus to the QR-6500 and QRX-6500 is they are both dual mono in the pre-amp, so some people actually use them as pre-amps for two separate amps. The build quality is excellent, and contrary to what some have said, it is easy to service and access all boards. The entire tuner is on a tray that is easily removed without disturbing the dial string. Driver boards are on cards that are easily removed for service. Plenty of room on the bottom to access boards, and on the top when the tuner tray is removed. I've partially restored my QR-6500. I still need to re-cap and service the tone boards. I had nothing wrong with mine, just thought it was time for a refresh.

If the price is good and you want to experience Sansui synthesized quad, the QR-6500 is a great candidate. There are others also that are (still) on the lower price end that give a very good quad experience.

Actually it has QS (Sansui developed format), but not SQ. They couldn't have made it more confusing than it is with QS and SQ names .

 

[KeithD]

Actually it has QS (Sansui developed format), but not SQ. They couldn't have made it more confusing than it is with QS and SQ names .

Right, got that backwards , sorry for the confusion. I edited my post above to correct that.

Wow I learn something new every day on AK. I always thought my qrx 6500 was early direct coupled. Was made from '73-75 around the time of the ##1 series.

So now I know why I like it so much! Some of my favorite receivers are my 5000a and pioneer sx9000.

Yes, it's cap-coupled. Sansui changed a few things moving from the QR-6500 to the QRX-6500: quad processing boards, some selector switches and slider knobs, but otherwise the internals are nearly the same. The low end of the xx1 series was also cap-coupled. Sansui continued making cap-coupled receivers after other manufacturers gave up on the design.