Sansui 4000….harshness

[musiclver]

I recently picked up a Sansui 4000 receiver. I have had a tube amp before and wanted to see if could get that warm, fuller sound without the hassle of tubes. I'm new to the vintage receiver world. Everything seems to work well with this receiver. However to my ear the sound is somewhat harsh, especially in what I would call the high mids and highs.
I should say that the mid tones and bass sound very nice but I'm not enjoying the harshness that I also hear.

My question is.. is this how these receivers sound or is it something about the age and it's a fixable problem?

I'm listening with Pioneer SP-BS22-LR speakers, MSB Link DAC III and older Sony CDP-550 CD Player.
Also using a Squeezebox for streaming my ripped WAV music collection and TIDAL, Pandora…

Any thoughts or advice is welcome.

 

[PPstereo]

Hmmm ... well first off I have to ask if the receiver has gotten any kind of service or verification of operating within parameters? Many here and I would agree, this is almost always a must. Part of why the dc offset thread is always atop. Easier said than done tho for many owners. But this could easily account for it sounding off to your ear.

Also imo that is a darn fine example of vintage solid state receivers. And well worth the effort. I grew up listening to my fathers 2000x and it never blew up or gave any indication of failure. Brought it to a tech and shure enough it needed caps replaced on its drivers section. And a tune up. Crossing fingers for it to be good for another generation

Many here feel all of the 1,2,3,4,5 000 series are some of the best around. I own many tube and solid state amps and im in the camp of there differences are over exaggerated in general. That being said a tube amp can no doubt have a distinct sound of its own. Pleasing to the ear overall. But I cant help but wonder if many have fallen in love with the sound of failing parts / weak tubes in addition. Thats the blessing/curse of tube gear. They fail graciously and some unknowingly like it.

But imo your receiver most likly has the potential to be as rewarding as its tube counterpart. May just need a little technical help to be in its prime again. Who knows...

All the best

 

[ConradH]

It has at least a couple of the infamous "low noise" 458 transistors that get noisy and weird. Those can cause harshness, and it could easily have some tired caps or other issue that need attention. No reason for it to sound harsh, but if you're used to something a bit rolled off, you might find any solid state amp harsh.

 

[musiclver]

Hmmm ... well first off I have to ask if the receiver has gotten any kind of service or verification of operating within parameters? Many here and I would agree, this is almost always a must. Part of why the dc offset thread is always atop. Easier said than done tho for many owners. But this could easily account for it sounding off to your ear.

Also imo that is a darn fine example of vintage solid state receivers. And well worth the effort. I grew up listening to my fathers 2000x and it never blew up or gave any indication of failure. Brought it to a tech and shure enough it needed caps replaced on its drivers section. And a tune up. Crossing fingers for it to be good for another generation

Many here feel all of the 1,2,3,4,5 000 series are some of the best around. I own many tube and solid state amps and im in the camp of there differences are over exaggerated in general. That being said a tube amp can no doubt have a distinct sound of its own. Pleasing to the ear overall. But I cant help but wonder if many have fallen in love with the sound of failing parts / weak tubes in addition. Thats the blessing/curse of tube gear. They fail graciously and some unknowingly like it.

But imo your receiver most likly has the potential to be as rewarding as its tube counterpart. May just need a little technical help to be in its prime again. Who knows...

All the best

That's helpful info. My hunch was that it was worth keeping…So I don't know much about this stuff. The receiver hasn't been serviced as far as I know. The guy I got it from had used Deoxit on the controls…. but no servicing.
So what does that mean to service this? What would you suggest I do?
Thanks fort the reply.

 

[musiclver]

It has at least a couple of the infamous "low noise" 458 transistors that get noisy and weird. Those can cause harshness, and it could easily have some tired caps or other issue that need attention. No reason for it to sound harsh, but if you're used to something a bit rolled off, you might find any solid state amp harsh.

Conrad,
Thanks for the reply. Sounds like it may need a servicing.

 

[PPstereo]

Yes allot of folks sell gear they acquired and deox it and sell it as "serviced". To me its the equivalent of selling a car and wiping the windows down and calling it ready to go. Some units are fine for many possible reasons. But most need a little work. Hey how many of us folks can go 40+ years without needing a little work. Nothing to fault a unit for.

I get the impression your not super tech oriented. If you have a digital volt meter you can, at a minimum, just set the meter to dc and with the speakers disconnected and the unit on with the input set to say tape. No music needed just idling. Get a measurement of whats going out on the speaker taps.

If you can do this many here can help you interpret the findings to some extent. This might tell us something.

But I would also advise you update your user info with a general area of living. Then we might be able to let you know of a reputable tech that might be in your area. Who knows...

But yes its well worth fixing up. And after a fix up you might like it more than the tube unit. I find myself using my solid state gear more personally. But love tubes too. I find I like good solid power from my ss amps quite nice

Let us know

 

[musiclver]

Yes allot of folks sell gear they acquired and deox it and sell it as "serviced". To me its the equivalent of selling a car and wiping the windows down and calling it ready to go. Some units are fine for many possible reasons. But most need a little work. Hey how many of us folks can go 40+ years without needing a little work. Nothing to fault a unit for.

I get the impression your not super tech oriented. If you have a digital volt meter you can, at a minimum, just set the meter to dc and with the speakers disconnected and the unit on with the input set to say tape. No music needed just idling. Get a measurement of whats going out on the speaker taps.

If you can do this many here can help you interpret the findings to some extent. This might tell us something.

But I would also advise you update your user info with a general area of living. Then we might be able to let you know of a reputable tech that might be in your area. Who knows...

But yes its well worth fixing up. And after a fix up you might like it more than the tube unit. I find myself using my solid state gear more personally. But love tubes too. I find I like good solid power from my ss amps quite nice

Let us know

Thanks for the technical direction. I'm not technically oriented in this area so that might be more than I'm interested in doing. MIght be worth it to me to take it to a tech to have them check it out. I'm in the Atlanta area so if you or any one knows of a reputable tech in this area I'd appreciate the referral.

Thanks for the info.