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Tuner wobbles, rocks, uneven bottom. Deal killer?

joerand

joerand

New Member
I'm the buyer in a local sale of a Sansui TU-9900. I inspected it tonight and it seems good for the money functionally and cosmetically. The fly in the ointment is that the unit wobbles on the table. We tried it on several tables, rotated the direction it was sitting, took off the legs (clean underneath), stacked the legs next to each other to assure each was the same height, re-installed the legs in different positions. Still the wobble, I'd estimate about 1/8-inch (3-4-mm).

The unit looks fine - not dropped, no sign of overheating, all joints align. The legs looks period correct, paint all original. What they hey? Is the chassis warped? Should I walk away?

Obviously, a shim inserted under the short leg would solve problem (or a washer between the leg and tuner bottom). I'm just not sure if this points to an overall defect. Any thoughts?
 
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joerand said:
The unit looks fine - not dropped, no sign of overheating, all joints align. The legs looks period correct, paint all original. What they hey? Is the chassis warped? Should I walk away?
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Sounds like the chassis is warped, though it might have been that way from the factory.
 
Ever been to a restaurant with a matchbook under the table leg?

The chassis is tweaked, it likely doesn’t mean much, but it could be that it happened in shipping in the box.

I’ve seen this with units that the box looked like it was dropped down the stairs, but after unpacking, everything looked and performed fine... but wait, why don’t all four feet touch at the same time? :idea:
 
Sounds like it was dropped at one point. Not familiar with this unit, does it use PCB construction? If so there may be cracked boards hidden inside to come back and bite you.
Remember, in order to put a twist in a chassis, it had to be twisted far further, it than sprung back to it's current state.

BillWojo
 
BillWojo said:
Sounds like it was dropped at one point. Not familiar with this unit, does it use PCB construction? If so there may be cracked boards hidden inside to come back and bite you.
Remember, in order to put a twist in a chassis, it had to be twisted far further, it than sprung back to it's current state.

BillWojo
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SPL db said:
One option might be is to remove the cover and see if it sits properly without the cover.

Might be someone had the cover off and didn't align it properly when it was reinstalled thus lifting a leg at one corner.
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Gonna back these two up (not that they need it!).

If you're concerned, you need to get inside for a look.
 
The cabinet might be warped.

You can check it by measuring from one corner diagonally to the opposite corner and then to measure the other two corners diagonally.
 
I don't know if it's likely to be very easily to remove the board from the case, but if it isn't too much trouble to do so then once you have everything removed, you could try bending the case. I've had good bending sheet metal stuff like that. I had a floor vent for a heating system which was a full 1/2" or so crooked and not laying on the floor at all evenly... and I was, without the aid of any tools, able to bend the thing so that it's perfectly flat.
 
If it's not visible, nothing internal is damaged, and it works fine, I'd not be overly concerned about it. I've sanded down equipment feet so things would sit level / not rock. I've also used a washer under the foot (for feet with a center screw) to solve it.
 
Thanks for the input. Seems there are mixed levels of concern.

BillWojo said:
there may be cracked boards hidden inside to come back and bite you. BillWojo
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This is my biggest concern. Cracked or stressed circuit boards. I don't know these have fixed or floating mounts. Things could actually get worse if I have it serviced. Removing the cover seems a good idea. Problem is the tuner is not at the owner's house. It's at a friend of his brother because the owner lives a distance away and wanted it to be at a more accessible location. I doubt he wants me taking off the cover and poking around inside when he's not there. I'm still contemplating what to do.

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joerand said:
fixed or floating mounts
Click to expand...

If the image you included is of the tuner you're concerned about, to my eye there are three boards visible that are firmly fixed to the chassis with screws.

But as long as I'm adding to the concerns: I would sure want to know what's the story with the three boards I see that are non-original add-ons! They look decently constructed, but I couldn't hazard a guess as to what it is that they do.

Cheers,

chazix
 
Rather than putting a shim under the feet, a more permanent solution (aside from bending the chassis back to shape) would be to loosen the two "short" feet and insert a shim between the foot and the chassis - a permanent fix. If the wobble is 1/8", a 1/16" shim under each diagonal foot would fix the problem.
 
Turns out the wobble is under 1-mm, or the thickness of a credit card. Less than 1/32 of an inch. I know because I bought the tuner tonight (and I have a credit card).
I did a lot of due diligence before buying. Thanks to numerous vintage hifi shop techs willing to chat with me, I was assured there really isn't a chassis to be bent, rather just the removable bottom plate can get a little off kilter relative to the internal framework. Now that I own it, I've done some adjustment to the bottom plate positioning that mostly overcomes the wobble. I've got it down to a micro-wobble. I think some minor sanding of the high feet will do the rest.

The TU-9900 is impressive, but does take some time to warm up. Sounds shallow when cold, but as it warms the sound stage is growing 3D.
 
Nice! I have a receiver so no need for one of these things, but I know that if I went with an integrated, or separates amp setup, I'd have to get a tuner. I figured that tuners go for cheap as most of them I've seen for sale are and it makes sense since it seems that terrestrial radio has become less and less popular... though the radio is great where I live and I listen to it all the time! This unit though must be an exception because when I looked it up they go for big money... so it must be a good one! It certainly looks really sharp...
 
Thanks, I agree about the looks. I love the silver-faced gear from this era (still have my pretty little Philips 785 receiver from high school), but have to say Sansui really nailed a classic/timeless style on their black tuners with sea foam green lighting. I thought my TU-7900 was the best looking tuner I'd ever own, but the TU-9900 is another step ahead. Impressive size as well - I'm gong to have to add an extension to my rack to fit the 9900. I'm enjoying the blues tonight on KNKX (Seattle NPR) and the TU-9900 has good musicality. My toe is tapping.
 
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