Sansui Eight Bass

[SSTPIERRE]

I recently acquired an excellent condition Sansui Eight and was very excited to fire it up once I finally found a power cord after hearing all the rave about how great this receiver is. To my disappointment I was shocked when I fired it up and it simply paled in comparison to my Sansui 2000x and Pioneer SX-828 sonically. The bass sounds too boomy and lacks detail. It sounds rather cheap and not at all high fidelity.

My question is: If I restore this receiver and replace the components will it improve the sound or is this just how the Sansui Eight sounds?

 

[sheiku]

Hi.
I strongly recommend to recap. I had huge surprises after recapping
Sansui au 9900
Sansui au x701
Sansui au d101
So one..
And few receivers not quite so old.
And some old speakers

From thin sound and almost no bass at all or booomie bass and nothing else..to a different sound after recapping.
So.. Go with trust, complete recapping
În the case of 9900 I had to change also some diodes and transistors. Because of some pops and noises. That was the only work made by an specialist.
The other recaps was made by me with an gordak station and some minimal previous experience.

For recapping you can buy capacitors kits for that receiver model or you can choose piece by piece but this is a hard way

 

[KingBubba]

My Eight has never sounded as you describe. It is still all original.

 

[sheiku]

Recapp it. If I remember by architecture, 8 must be with more details from the x000 series. I also have 1000x. 8 is Newer generation. Never I was wrong of I decided to recap or restore an amp. Sound was clearly improved. Bass details, space...

 

[Nico34]

Hello Sstpierre,

The sansui Eight is a great receiver, it should be repaired.
Sound is warm and Bass is impressive.

as others said, You may first check all the capacitors on the power stage, and the big ones ( the 2 CANs you see in the Unit )

I repaired a Sansui A60, cheap unit with cheap assembly and body, but nice amp design...the sound was poor, as you describe it .
the power supply caps were almost dead, only 1/3rd of the initial value, changing them and adjusting Bias made him great again ( for the price)


My Eight was in good shape when I bought it, just some offset voltage issue on the left speaker ( 0.5 v) that has been solved by changing the differential transistor stage on the driver board. quite tricky to adjust but it works fine now. I have now perfect measurements.

Anyway, the sound has always been great since the beginning.

Absolutely no heating of radiators.
.very nice FM reception with only a T antenna on the floor

The big capacitors are still great after 53 years, Absolutely no loss of capacity, ( I had 7850 uf instead of 8000 uf on both of them.)
I suggest you check the caps but also the measurements ( Bias, offset, etc..) you just need voltmeters for that.
If you make the right ajustments, it will sound great.

As many on AK have already said, and even if I also have quite nice amps at Home, this one is quite special for Sansui lovers and technicians, it is going to last and will probably stay forever , the build quality is incredible, ad everything in it can be repaired/adjusted, and the sound is great.

An Eight deserves it, but it is not an easy task if you never did this before, buy and old amp and get some training on it may help you.

Regards

Nicolas

 

[59volvo]

let it run for a while - the caps may need to reform.report back what you hear after 10-20 hours

 

[sheiku]

let it run for a while - the caps may need to reform.report back what you hear after 10-20 hours

after reform i had improvements only in the bass department. not details not mid not overall sound. . if capacitors are poor ,poor remain the sound.