Sansui 8 Deluxe...how good?

[stratus]

Hello everybody
I am the owner of a Sansui eight Deluxe receiver, I would like to ask the more experts how good its amplification section is and if and to which Sansui amplifier of its time it can be compared... I know that the value is very good, but I would like to understand how much, certainly, the radio receiving section is of excellent quality.
Thanks in advance to anyone who wants to respond.

 

[markd51]

I'd say it's very good. This era, the Six, Seven, Eight, and Eight Deluxe, oh and not to forget the lesser known 7000 were my top favorite Sansui Receivers. Built like tanks.

I got a buddy in Florida running his Seven since the day he bought it new. I helped him buy it that day as he was short on cash. For many years now, it's been driving a pair of Cornwall II Speakers. Yeah, it's seen a shop once or twice over the years, but just minor problems, to be expected I reckon.

He has other nice receivers that sometimes go into rotation, but always returns to the Seven.

I might get flak for saying this from some Marantz lovers, personal bias I suppose, but all things being equal and all in tip top health, I'd likely take the Seven and Eight-Eight Deluxe, and 7000 over many of the 22XX Receivers. Sansui and Marantz did not sound similar. I always felt the Sansui's had the edge as far as dynamics, and clarity.

My cousin has a mint Eight Deluxe, and has owned it for many years. It was originally mine, he begged me for it, and I broke down and let him have it.

They are worth restoring and enjoying. All of them at this point if they had not been should be gone over with re-capping, cleaning, and Tuner Alignments done.

 

[markd51]

In the realm of things, and due to lack of personal experiences, I'd be inclined to say that there were probably a good number of Sansui Separates, and as well Marantz and others which were very fine performers. And that yes, some will surely give the Eight Deluxe and others I mention a tough time to compare.

Good source components and speakers of course go a long way to squeezing the best sound from these units.

No, they weren't perfect, they were what they were, a product of the 70's Receiver Invasion, I was there.
I was there when these were sitting on the shelves with 25 other brands at all the big audio stores in Chicago like MusiCraft, Pacific Stereo, etc etc etc.

There were lots of places back then. And we were usually on a first name basis with the shop owners-salsemen-managers-techs, etc. I won't go through all the brands, just too much space.

But, like magnets, we were usually all over the Sansui Gear like fireflys to a light.

And sure, there were some really dandy looking units, some vastly surpassed the look, cosmetics and build of the Single Digit Sansui's, but what drew us and trumped other qualities was the sound! We trusted our ears foremost.

I recall such with crystal clear memory, that we usually chose the Sansui and crowned it king of the bunch.

My biggest personal dislike with the Single Digit Sansui's and the 7000, (and I've owed 4 total, a 7000, two Sevens, and the Eight Deluxe), was the Dial Lights extinguishing when switching to Phono, or Aux.

They can be modded to stay lit. With the LEDs today, that would also be another worthy mod, at least the Dial Face Lamps.

 

[markd51]

My old saying of "whaddya want, good grammar or good taste" usually crawls out of my ass from time to time.

But I won't try blowing smoke up anyone's anal passages either trying to say you're going to get world class reference sonics either.

Comes down to the weakest links if going down the path to better sonics.

Sure there's better, and there's the prices to be paid too, sky's the limit. But no matter cost, the vintage Sansui will always be cool in my book, I will surely never be the one to dishonor you for your choices!

 

[markd51]

There's a good deal of threads written here on the various Single Digit Sansui Receivers, and a simple search would likely bring you back many days of reading and absorbing. Tech info-repair, etc.

I would suspect many in the "Sansui Know" here, I mean folks that make me look like a Boy Scout when it comes to Sansui, they'll likely say that yes, the Sansui Separates like the 5XX or 7XX alone would equal or likely better the sonics than from an all in one Receiver such as what we are speaking about.

Today, everyone's going GaGa over the 9090 and 9090DB. Sure, cool, just don't ask how much, and yeah, have fun working on one of those. I'll pass, unless I nabbed one for peanuts.

My cousin is running small JBL S-38 Speakers and a old crap carosel marantz CD player with his Eight Deluxe. Surely not optimal unless a bedroom system and you got the Black lights on and hitting up some Moonrocks in the Bong. LOL

Simple quotient for how much sound you want to hear, bigger room, bigger speakers! How about a mint pair of JBL L-200 Studio Masters, or L-300 Summit? LOL

My buddy's Sansui Seven, hitting those Cornwall II's puts out plenty of sound! He might have an EQ hooked in there somewhere, he's a whackadoo, DJ (Caddilac Jimmy in Sarasota).

 

[stratus]

In the realm of things, and due to lack of personal experiences, I'd be inclined to say that there were probably a good number of Sansui Separates, and as well Marantz and others which were very fine performers. And that yes, some will surely give the Eight Deluxe and others I mention a tough time to compare.

Good source components and speakers of course go a long way to squeezing the best sound from these units.

No, they weren't perfect, they were what they were, a product of the 70's Receiver Invasion, I was there.
I was there when these were sitting on the shelves with 25 other brands at all the big audio stores in Chicago like MusiCraft, Pacific Stereo, etc etc etc.

There were lots of places back then. And we were usually on a first name basis with the shop owners-salsemen-managers-techs, etc. I won't go through all the brands, just too much space.

But, like magnets, we were usually all over the Sansui Gear like fireflys to a light.

And sure, there were some really dandy looking units, some vastly surpassed the look, cosmetics and build of the Single Digit Sansui's, but what drew us and trumped other qualities was the sound! We trusted our ears foremost.

I recall such with crystal clear memory, that we usually chose the Sansui and crowned it king of the bunch.

My biggest personal dislike with the Single Digit Sansui's and the 7000, (and I've owed 4 total, a 7000, two Sevens, and the Eight Deluxe), was the Dial Lights extinguishing when switching to Phono, or Aux.

They can be modded to stay lit. With the LEDs today, that would also be another worthy mod, at least the Dial Face Lamps.

Your story is interesting, even in my part of the world (in Italy) more or less the same things happened: how many wishes and dreams were shattered in front of the windows of hi-fi shops! Now I can afford some of the dreams I had then, I must say that apart from some secondary equipment, the bulk of my system is made up of vintage equipment... they have a charm that I can't find in modern ones.
I agree with you about the Sansui limitation of the lights being turned off when the radio doesn't work, but I don't find it so terrible, after all it has its own reason for being and I don't think I'll modify my device to have perpetual lighting, even if I'm very tempted, including having the original bulbs replaced with an LED system... I don't know.
As for my 8D, I'm about to take it in for service, I think it needs to descale the potentiometers, change some (if not all) of the capacitors (the high frequencies seem a little blurred to me, as if there were a thick veil in front), change the power cord.
The aesthetic conditions are fantastic: I found it in a second-hand shop, apart from a good cleaning and polishing of the wood, it didn't need anything else and it seemed to come directly from one of those shop windows that I looked at with so much desire as a boy.
So, I would like to know to which Sansui amplifier the amp section of it can be compared or even "superimposed" to better understand and know this fantastic device.

In the meantime, thank you for your notes, I really appreciated them

 

[Monicker1]

In terms of both power and chronology, the AU-8500 would have been the closest integrated Sansui amp to the Eight Deluxe when they were new in 1973-'74. They have similar specs. Whether they sounded alike or similar I can't say. Nor can I guess that the two had the same architecture in their pre-amp/power amp stages. You might think, but if different design teams are working on different projects they can vary some. Someone with a good understanding and study of the schematics of the two units would be able to tell. A phono test comparison might show the AU-8500 had exaggerated bass response as the RIAA curves on the AUx500 models may have been boosted a little. A TU 7500 or 9500 would be needed for FM performance, unless you patched the output of your Eight D into the 8500 amp for direct comparison.

 

[markd51]

I never owned any G Sansui's. Although I wish I had. They sure made some big ones.

But........ It's not too late!

 

[stratus]

OT
i'm a DEVOtee too...

 

[stratus]

In terms of both power and chronology, the AU-8500 would have been the closest integrated Sansui amp to the Eight Deluxe when they were new in 1973-'74. They have similar specs. Whether they sounded alike or similar I can't say. Nor can I guess that the two had the same architecture in their pre-amp/power amp stages. You might think, but if different design teams are working on different projects they can vary some. Someone with a good understanding and study of the schematics of the two units would be able to tell. A phono test comparison might show the AU-8500 had exaggerated bass response as the RIAA curves on the AUx500 models may have been boosted a little. A TU 7500 or 9500 would be needed for FM performance, unless you patched the output of your Eight D into the 8500 amp for direct comparison.

I think you're right: the 8500 seems to me to fully match the characteristics of the 8D in terms of its technical data and top performance... in fact, it's a very nice music machine.
Thank you, I think your opinion is decisive

 

[stratus]

Simple quotient for how much sound you want to hear, bigger room, bigger speakers! How about a mint pair of JBL L-200 Studio Masters, or L-300 Summit? LOL

I have a room that's not very big, but I still love big speakers and I own a pair of fantastic Kef 105.2s: my 8D governs them with authority and it's not possible to go beyond 10 o'clock without getting a wall of sound that would probably make my neighbor come to knock on my door (I live in an apartment building). I also have a wonderful pair of pedestal Aliante One Zeros on "speaker B" and the result is the same... basically, I think that the declared 60w/8ohm is quite conservative and that the power output is much greater.
the large Jbl or Klipsch would be an equally good and interesting choice, but here in Italy since the two importers doubled the price lists of new ones (it happened about 2 years ago), even used ones have reached straitjacket prices and I I'm not yet mentally disturbed enough to spend the amounts that are asked for.

 

[KingBubba]

Back on the track, I bought a deluxe and sent it to AK member CDFixer, before he died. He did a full rehab on it. It is now my daily user and the sound quality is wonderful.

 

[mg184]

I had an Eight and still have my Six and Eight Deluxe. I think I may prefer the Six. The Six is rated at 34 watts but man it seems more powerful. It drives my ADS L810's with ease.

 

[KeithD]

Back on the track, I bought a deluxe and sent it to AK member CDFixer, before he died. He did a full rehab on it. It is now my daily user and the sound quality is wonderful.

Interesting that the 8D is your daily driver given the other high end receivers in your signature. How would you say it compares to your SX-1250 and/or SX-1280?

 

[KingBubba]

I use the 8D to drive the TimeFrames in the bedroom. They are on top of a pair JBL L36s, which are being driven by my Big Onk. The 1250 drives the TimeFrame 600s and the 1280 drives the Klipsch Quartets on the bottom. These are my living room system.

 

[KentTeffeteller]

Hello everybody
I am the owner of a Sansui eight Deluxe receiver, I would like to ask the more experts how good its amplification section is and if and to which Sansui amplifier of its time it can be compared... I know that the value is very good, but I would like to understand how much, certainly, the radio receiving section is of excellent quality.
Thanks in advance to anyone who wants to respond.

Good enough to be in my living room, and near my Sansui 4000. Simply put due to how it makes music. I can't give you a higher recommendation.

 

[stereofun]

The Eight D is a great receiver. Next gen amp section over the Eight and 2 gen's up from the 7000.

I've had all the dingle digits in my rig. The Six, Seven and Eight D sounds very similar. With the Six really impressive for what it can project.

The Eight sounds slightly different - more like the 999, but with better punch and bass....unless we are talking an AK modded 999.

I've had a 7500 on my bench - that I didn't like too much, and it were no match for the Eight D's silky treble, but sounded to coarse/"enhanced" imo. ....... but as always it's near impossible to make proper comparisons on 50 year old gear and varying states of decline, absent a full resto.

Here is mine awaiting a proper driver board upgrade.

It's a hell of a beast. That whole single digit line is a statement of greatness.

 

[markd51]

The Eight D is a great receiver. Next gen amp section over the Eight and 2 gen's up from the 7000.

I've had all the dingle digits in my rig. The Six, Seven and Eight D sounds very similar. With the Six really impressive for what it can project.

The Eight sounds slightly different - more like the 999, but with better punch and bass....unless we are talking an AK modded 999.

I've had a 7500 on my bench - that I didn't like too much, and it were no match for the Eight D's silky treble, but sounded to coarse/"enhanced" imo. ....... but as always it's near impossible to make proper comparisons on 50 year old gear and varying states of decline, absent a full resto.

Here is mine awaiting a proper driver board upgrade.

It's a hell of a beast. That whole single digit line is a statement of greatness.



View attachment 3149704

LOL

 

[stratus]

since we are on the topic of 8D, I take this opportunity to ask you for some advice: I want to take mine for a general overhaul, it is now 50 years old (turned last February 22nd if I remember correctly) and I was thinking of buying a kit of capacitors for a recap general, the kit is this: what do you thimk about?

Sansui Eight Deluxe Upgrade Kit Audio Capacitors

Buy ReCap Renew Capacitors Kit Sansui Eight Deluxe Upgrade Kit Audio Capacitors rebuild restoration fix repair capacitors

www.audio-high-store.com

1) besides the capacitors, are there any other components that you recommend changing?
2) the power cable is damaged: which cable to replace?
currently the 8D works perfectly, nothing is broken, but the mid-highs sound a little dark, without shining.

 

[Go Giants]

I have an Eight Deluxe. It's one of my favorite pieces...I have a fair amount of gear. I use it in a spare bedroom and swap it in and out with a Mcintosh 4100 receiver.

Yes - the Sansui can hang with the 4100. Sansui had a leg up on the competition as they used the vaunted Hashimoto transformers. Their amp sections were always killer!

I had an Eight 'The Engineer's Receiver' I loved it, but the Eight Deluxe sounds better. They are pretty rare...I got lucky to find mine in a consignment shop in my town.