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Show Me Your Sansui!

Plimpington2 said:
I have a line on one of those turntables, but the I have held back because I want to make sure the outer wall of that platter will polish up. Yours looks pretty good (though it is spinning - so may be an illusion). did you do anything to it? On the one I am looking at, the black gloss looks really good. The platter is a 7 though.
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My 838 came to me in pretty nice cosmetic condition. Certainly, if you look closely, there are flaws here and there. Overall it has to be an 8.5-9/10. As to the platter specifically, mine is indeed very clean. I've done nothing to it other than wipe fingerprints and smudges away with a microfiber cloth - it's mint. The brightwork is very clean all around. I would say cosmetically that the platter is a key feature of the total aesthetic package. It's a large piece of shiny brightwork that contrasts with the piano black plinth finish. A scuffed, scratched or oxidized platter would detract from the overall presentation. Whether the one you're considering would polish up nicely with something like that Mother's polishing product is hard to say (I've never used it myself) so I'm not much help there. Aside from cosmetics, I'd also recommend inquiring about its speed stability. The 838s have some known speed issues and there are several threads here on AK about them. Mine was quite the lemon in that regard due to particularly shoddy soldering work by the previous owner which has now been finally sorted. Thus, the proud picture from my bench celebrating that it's finally stable, fully adjusted, and spinning correctly for the first time in the eight months I've owned it. It's now back on the console in the main lineup paired with the AU-11000/BA-2000 combo which is a near perfect Sansui black and silver design/cosmetic match.

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petesui said:
My 838 came to me in pretty nice cosmetic condition. Certainly, if you look closely, there are flaws here and there. Overall it has to be an 8.5-9/10. As to the platter specifically, mine is indeed very clean. I've done nothing to it other than wipe fingerprints and smudges away with a microfiber cloth - it's mint. The brightwork is very clean all around. I would say cosmetically that the platter is a key feature of the total aesthetic package. It's a large piece of shiny brightwork that contrasts with the piano black plinth finish. A scuffed, scratched or oxidized platter would detract from the overall presentation. Whether the one you're considering would polish up nicely with something like that Mother's polishing product is hard to say (I've never used it myself) so I'm not much help there. Aside from cosmetics, I'd also recommend inquiring about its speed stability. The 838s have some known speed issues and there are several threads here on AK about them. Mine was quite the lemon in that regard due to particularly shoddy soldering work by the previous owner which has now been finally sorted. Thus, the proud picture from my bench celebrating that it's finally stable, fully adjusted, and spinning correctly for the first time in the eight months I've owned it. It's now back on the console in the main lineup paired with the AU-11000/BA-2000 combo which is a near perfect Sansui black and silver design/cosmetic match.

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Thank you so much for this. I will see what is what. I wrench all my own stuff, so I don't worry too much about the speed issue. But I do have to think on the platter.
 
petesui said:
Tough to say @Plimpington2. I like them both and wouldn't choose one over the other at this time. I've listened to both most extensively sourced from the WiiM Ultra streaming Spotify (lossless for the last week or so on the D907X). Perhaps the X701 is a bit brighter, cleaner, and more detailed sounding? Honestly, I don't consider myself to have special ears and I'm very much a newbie when it comes to all this vintage Sansui I've acquired in short order. I think they all sound fantastic! That said, there is clearly a difference in sound signature between the toney older AUs and silver face receivers vs. the ever crisper and brighter D9/D907X/X701 group. As you know, so much of the sound is dependent on the quality of the source (especially the quality of the pressing/recording when it comes to vinyl) and the speakers. My go to speakers and the best that I own are my "Forte-esque" 4-way Klipsch horn and Eminence driver loaded DP-105s and my original unmodified Klipsch KG4.2s. I don't believe I've had a turntable on the X701 yet so I can't comment on the phono stage, but I suspect it's excellent. I'll get to that eventually. I have listened to the CD-2700 on the X701 and it sounds excellent - CDs being incredibly bright, loud, and forward to my ears. I don't listen to CDs much although I'm starting to pick them up here and there for fun. As I've said above somewhere, the phono stage and settings on the D907X are excellent. My XP-99 with an original spec NOS AT3100S MC cartridge sounds really really good - certainly better than it does on any of my older 70s-era Sansuis (where I tended to run it through a Schiit Mani2 phono stage). I need to switch the XP-PP over to the X701 and give it a listen. Aesthetically, I'll give the nod to the more traditional looking D907X and its beautiful wood cheeks, but the sleek modern look and design of the X701 has certainly grown on me and I enjoy interacting with it. I try to rotate amps to the WiiM Ultra every week or so which is easy with dedicated tuner/aux RCA cables connected to each amp which can be easily and quickly swapped into the WiiM Ultra. Swapping turntables in and out, obviously, is a little more cumbersome. Lastly, both my D907X and X701 are original and unmolested to my knowledge, but they've been well-maintained and appear to be in excellent condition.
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Thank you for the thorough response. I am building my own Sansui collection, and have found myself gravitating towards the quads mostly from an aesthetic standpoint (though damnit it they don’t sound just fantastic as well). I’m a “completist” (for better or worse - surely for worse) and the quads are a natural selection because Sansui (and everybody else) only made them for a discrete period of time, and so there is a beginning and an end without me having to select arbitrary bookends. In theory I have a CHANCE to acquire all of them - an exquisite apotheosis should it come to pass.

To that end I avoid the perils of bankruptcy by buying only malfunctioning (or better yet, downright dumpster fire) units and rehabbing them myself. I’m so behind on my current backlog tho.
 
Bit of a full circle moment for me here. My first Sansui was a very rough AU-8500 I bought last February. It was a mess, I didn't know what I was doing, and I paid way too much for it. I returned it and got my money back. I know now that I probably could've had it sounding alright with a good clean. At the time, however, I was green as they come and the frozen bass pot, channel dropouts, snaps, crackles, and big speaker pops scared the crap out of me. I've assembled a pretty good fleet of Sansui amps and receivers since, but I've always kept my eye on the 9500s and 8500s. To me, they're the coolest looking ones of all. Talk about a battleship with unmatched build quality and a beautiful accessible layout inside. This one-owner unmolested near-mint beauty appeared a week or so ago and at less than half of what I paid for the first one, it was a no-brainer. Spent the weekend cleaning, servicing, testing, and inspecting. 51 years old and the output voltage and bias current settings were within a couple of mVs of spec. The sound is big and full.

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Sansui AU-8500 Taj Mahal
Sansui AU-8500 BHT on the bench
 
Wow, some amazing looking stuff here! I had a 330 way back in the day and always wanted a 9090. However, this S-X1200 was a gift from original owner (family), they actually gave it to me to recycle last e-waste collection day here (!!). I was told it had a channel out but I fired it up yesterday and it seems to be working. Super dirty internals, looking for some advice there or if there a sticky on how to approach cleaning these. I understand you want to be careful with the glue and joints but have never even opened one of these up before. TIA!

Update: Found the info on cleaning! https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/tldr-deoxit-guide.850968/


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petesui said:
Bit of a full circle moment for me here. My first Sansui was a very rough AU-8500 I bought last February. It was a mess, I didn't know what I was doing, and I paid way too much for it. I returned it and got my money back. I know now that I probably could've had it sounding alright with a good clean. At the time, however, I was green as they come and the frozen bass pot, channel dropouts, snaps, crackles, and big speaker pops scared the crap out of me. I've assembled a pretty good fleet of Sansui amps and receivers since, but I've always kept my eye on the 9500s and 8500s. To me, they're the coolest looking ones of all. Talk about a battleship with unmatched build quality and a beautiful accessible layout inside. This one-owner unmolested near-mint beauty appeared a week or so ago and at less than half of what I paid for the first one, it was a no-brainer. Spent the weekend cleaning, servicing, testing, and inspecting. 51 years old and the output voltage and bias current settings were within a couple of mVs of spec. The sound is big and full.

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Sansui AU-8500 Taj Mahal
Sansui AU-8500 BHT on the bench
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Congrats! Talk about an icon! And MINT. The hottest!

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Getting acquainted with this new to me regal control amp: the 46 pound X-Balanced C-2301. My God. Royal Fidelity. Exquisite detail and musicality. And it’s not even paired up with it’s B class power amp mate yet. Spinning an early Christmas gift from a friend - Yes, Fragile - what a genius composition and production. So far so great! Long Live Sansui!

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Edit: And now that it’s after hours the illuminated volume scale is impossible to ignore. And the Sansui Green, Sansui badge too. Very cool!

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New Sansui CD player for the main rack!

I was looking for an esthetic match with the C-2301. I found a "restored" CD-a717D LTD (1000 unit run) with new belts and tactile switches. Based on the CD-a717D Extra but with a premium capacitor kit, third generation MASH DAC and maybe some other perks. Unfortunately this one showed up with the laser rack broken free from the tray rack. It is suspended from two pivot brackets that are adhered to the bottom of the tray rack. Repeated jarring across the Pacific broke both brackets free and it showed up non-op. Through some miracle I was able to glue the brackets back on the tray rack and get it back up and running. Almost. Then the tray was having trouble opening. It was sticking. Would only open with some persuasion. Closed just fine. I pulled the tray off the rack and discovered dry grease. The restorer overlooked one of the basics! Cleaned it up and applied liberal amounts of lithium grease and it's running smoooth now! Very happy. And really happy to have a Sansui CD player back in the rack. I have been running a Sony XA777ES which is a fine player, but it's not a Sansui. The CD-a717D LTD also has balanced outputs so I can run a balanced signal from CD-a717D LTD to CA-2301 to B-2301L - X-Balanced from the source to the speakers. Going to run it with the RCA's for a while then swap in the XLR cables to observe the differences. The rack is back in Sansui balance now! (The McIntosh in there is an MI3 scope for turntable setup). I love this stuff!

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JimEGR said:
New Sansui CD player for the main rack!

I was looking for an esthetic match with the C-2301. I found a "restored" CD-a717D LTD (1000 unit run) with new belts and tactile switches. Based on the CD-a717D Extra but with a premium capacitor kit and maybe some other perks. Unfortunately this one showed up with the laser rack broken free from the tray rack. It is suspended from two pivot brackets that are adhered to the bottom of the tray rack. Repeated jarring across the Pacific broke both brackets free and it showed up non-op. Through some miracle I was able to glue the brackets back on the tray rack and get it back up and running. Almost. Then the tray was having trouble opening. It was sticking. Would only open with some persuasion. Closed just fine. I pulled the tray off the rack and discovered dry grease. The restorer overlooked one of the basics! Cleaned it up and applied liberal amounts of lithium grease and it's running smoooth now! Very happy. And really happy to have a Sansui CD player back in the rack. I have been running a Sony XA777ES which is a fine player, but it's not a Sansui. The CD-a717D LTD also has balanced outputs so I can run a balanced signal from CD-a717D LTD to CA-2301 to B-2301L - X-Balanced from the source to the speakers. Going to run it with the RCA's for a while then swap in the XLR cables to observe the differences. The rack is back in Sansui balance now! (The McIntosh in there is is an MI3 scope I'll use for turntable setup). I love this stuff!

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That's a fine looking rack across the board my friend! Every time I tell myself I'm done, I see more intriguing and irresistible Sansui beauty. Well done!
 
Sansuiman said:
Even after so many years of owning and enjoying this gear (among other lines Sansui made) I am still struck by how damn good the stuff looks. Industrial design of this type really does seem to be a largely lost art, unless one gets into blisteringly expensive new gear. BPC (or silver plastic crap) is still the order of the day for average consumer grade new gear. The 1970's were just a magical time for the way HiFi gear looked, which is funny when one considers how gaudy and tacky so many other things were back then (clothes, home decor, certain cars, etc.)

That the same decade which brought us bell bottoms, leisure suits, platform shoes, shag carpeting, orange/avocado green/harvest gold as the prevalent colors in kitchens, bathrooms and wallpaper, macrame plant hangers, plus outrageous pimp-mobiles on the road, got us audio gear that looked like the photo above is quite the dichotomy. Even the flashier gear like most receivers was still tastefully and well executed, even if it had more visual pizazz. I believe that right there is a large part of the vintage appeal now.
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Agree on all of that, but no problem whatsoever with orange, avocado green, and harvest gold. I'll take any of those colors over off-white or beige any day.

No problem with macrame plant hangers, either!
 
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