Sansui turntable specs, the deck or the cartridge?

[Sci525]

Hi All,

Are the reported SNR specs of 70s Sansui TTs driven by the cartridges or the decks? Would a modern(ish) cartridge help, or was the motor tech and understanding of damping of the day the limiting factor?

I've always wanted a Sansui TT to pair with my Sansui amps and receivers. I'm happy with my current tables though so it's casual shopping. I've only ever come across two Sansui TTs in the wild, both belt drives. When I looked up the specs, the SNR was 45-50bd (?!), no reported rumble. The one I came across this morning was an Sr-313. I'm more used to seeing a TT SNR of 60-70db.

And yes, I'd love to just buy it and see how it sounds, but these things aren't $50 bucks anymore, not to mention the space issue.

Thanks!
Joe

 

[GrisPato]

Look for a Sansui SR-525, most common model with good specs and good sound.

 

[CrSens]

SNR specs are pretty much meaningless in real life, most vinyl releases have higher noise floor than the turntable itself. Sr-313 is an old school model with very high build quality and very good tonearm (probably simplified Acos tonearm).

 

[Sci525]

most vinyl releases have higher noise floor than the turntable itself

Interesting, I have been listening to and recording some of my records to test this. On a few records I clearly hit the noise floor of the record before the floor of my turntable/phono stage. More often it's hard to tell. I can't really separate the TT and vinyl noise, but on many records I recorded the same minimum noise/volume. That might suggest it's the system noise rather than the vinyl. Of course to even do these tests at a reasonable volume in my noisy house I have to put the mic way closer to the speaker than I would ever sit.

Point taken.

 

[Sci525]

I went back to haggle for the Sr-313 and couldn't get her below $300, so I did the only reasonable thing. I went home and spent twice as much for the XR-Q7 online. If it comes as described I'll be happy enough with my impulse buy. Heading over to the turntable forums to see if I can find out anything about this tonearm.

 

[CrSens]

Just hope that tonearm is operating properly....not the Sansui's brightest moment.

 

[bluesky]

Hi All, Are the reported SNR specs of 70s Sansui TTs driven by the cartridges or the decks? Would a modern(ish) cartridge help, or was the motor tech and understanding of damping of the day the limiting factor?

Modernish cart?? To me, that's a misunderstanding of carts.

I'm running a 1980 NOS Ortofon M20FL 'Super' MM and it sounds simply delicious!! So... at least Ortofon made WONDERFUL CARTS back then. Shure and Pickering made wonderful carts in 1970. I'm sure others did too. A GREAT Cart is a Great Cart!!

To me, modern means nothing. It's what they sound like.

 

[Sci525]

Modernish cart?? To me, that's a misunderstanding of carts.

Maybe, but maybe a misunderstanding of my question. I'm not currently asking how "they sound like", I'm asking about signal to noise ratio. I'm currently running a Shure M95ED and a Pickering XV-15. I need no convincing that they sound good, but they do produce greater than 1% THD, which is higher than AT540ML for example. My question is when Sansui said that turntable X had a SNR of 45, was that the SNR of table + the cart it was supplied with, such that a different cart would change the SNR? Or was the SNR advertised a Rumble measure, which would exclude the cart (as I understand it)?

But yes, I should have written "better" or "different" cart as opposed to "modern" since that wasn't relevant to my question.

 

[bluesky]

 

[ignoramustot]

Interesting question. Might also be worth raising this over in the Turntables forum? (I'd have expected Sansui followed whatever was industry practice?)