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Sansui FR-D25 vs FR-D35

RCA Plugger

RCA Plugger

Active Member
What would be the better choice? The specs say the D35. 65 vs 72Db Dynamic range and 0.03% vs 0.025% WRMS/Wow and Flutter. The D25 is belt drive the D35 is direct drive. Audiophiles say belt drive is better because it decouples the motor from the disc, but the specs seem to disagree. Both look kind of cheap eighties and most often the silver layer is wearing of the plastic buttons, which probably makes them cheap. But sound wise they should be ok. Would I be hearing a difference?
 
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I use to have a 35. and honestly is was noisy compared to the 838 I replaced it with. night and day comparison.
 
RCA Plugger said:
..The D25 is belt drive the D35 is direct drive. Audiophiles say belt drive is better because it decouples the motor from the disc, but the specs seem to disagree. Both look kind of cheap eighties and most often the silver layer is wearing of the plastic buttons, which probably makes them cheap. But sound wise they should be ok. Would I be hearing a difference?
Click to expand...

I think you already have the right mindset: With these relatively BOTL TT there probably is not much difference soundwise. But given a choice, I would go for the DD D35 as specs are a bit better, Sansui DD's are quite reliable and Sansui probably put more effort in the DD version as back then DD was a big step up from BD. FYI: I had a FR-D35 once but trashed it as I am not into "plastic" TT's, but to be honest it sounded fine and build quality was not so bad for a "plastic" TT. And I found the earlier Sansui SR-232 and P-50 BOTL "plastic" belt drive TT's not good at all. Reading back these lines, I would definitely not go for a FR-D25 BD.

Any opinions "Audiophiles" have about BD and DD will certainly not have been based on such BOTL TT's as these FR-D's.

As an alternative solution (if available in your country), the belt drive BOTL SR-222 from the mid 70-ies comes in mind. This is a reliable and nice Sansui BOTL TT. The SR-222 MkII version is even nicer (and a bit "quiter"). These TT's perform much above their ranking and are often available for friendly prices.

Have fun
-John-
 
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jd-audio said:
I think you already have the right mindset: With these relatively BOTL TT there probably is not much difference soundwise. But given a choice, I would go for the DD D35 as specs are a bit better, Sansui DD's are quite reliable and Sansui probably put more effort in the DD version as back then DD was a big step up from BD. FYI: I had a FR-D35 once but trashed it as I am not into "plastic" TT's, but to be honest it sounded fine and build quality was not so bad for a "plastic" TT. And I found the earlier Sansui SR-232 and P-50 BOTL "plastic" belt drive TT's not good at all. Reading back these lines, I would definitely not go for a FR-D25 BD.

Any opinions "Audiophiles" have about BD and DD will certainly not have been based on such BOTL TT's as these FR-D's.

As an alternative solution (if available in your country), the belt drive BOTL SR-222 from the mid 70-ies comes in mind. This is a reliable and nice Sansui BOTL TT. The SR-222 MkII version is even nicer (and a bit "quiter"). These TT's perform much above their ranking and are often available for friendly prices.

Have fun
-John-
Click to expand...
Thank you for your informative answer. This was indeed what I was looking for. I will take the sr-222 into consideration as well. It is probably better matched to my AU-317 anyway, at least optically.
 
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