Another big Sansui day for me and general state of the collection update. BA-2000 and TU-777 are in the shop. Should see them back in a few weeks. AU-X11 deal didn't close. Maybe another time.
5000A is out of the shop with updated driver boards and other upgrades. Returned with a big baggie of old replaced parts. Bit of a **** show this was. All seems to be working well. Probably one and done with that tech. The 5000A gave him fits. First he claimed that the F-1040 kit from AFA was short parts and he had to supplement. I doubt it, but okay, whatever. He didn't have any problems with the left side. Nonetheless, he somehow managed to blow the right outputs. Seems like the whole point of this exercise was intended to avoid exactly that. Anyway, he managed to source an og pair of Toshiba outputs and all is apparently well. Sounds great, everything is working, and all appears in order under the hood. Yes, I checked.
Then, out of the clear blue sky, I found an original owner, untouched, mint 3300 nearby. So, I'd just picked up and paid for the 5000A and was off to the ATM! This guy was a pilot for TWA and he flew MAC (Military Airlift Command) shuttles out of Vietnam. He thought that he'd bought it in Guam, but his wife said it was Okinawa. He didn't argue. This supports the theory that these were military-only units and that's why we don't see as many of them. This 3300 was built in 1972. The only thing he didn't have was the box. He'd finally thrown it away during the last move. It sounds excellent and the functionality and features are simply amazing. I have to get some tape machines. Then, given my enthusiasm I suppose, he says, "take the speakers too." He threw in a rather elegant pair of Canadian stand mount Energy Connoisseur C-2 speakers. I've never really seen anything like them. Not really my style, but they sound great and we'll see where they end up.
Otherwise, it seems I have a little AU-217 en route. Might be a project. I'm not sure. OEM Sansui rack handles arrived today and I'm debating adding a TU-217. Credit to
@JimEGR for this one. Somewhere out there he said, "focused perfection" if I'm not mistaken. For someone who thought he'd have nothing to do with tuners in these modern times, I seem to have choked on that one. I mean, it is a vintage hobby right?
Lastly, I think I like the look of the 4000 and the 800 best in this line, and I really want a 7000. I'm also looking at tube phono stages to mix in with my collection. Could be deadly with the 777. Now, some pics.
5000A and 3300.
