Very Old-School System - Sansui, Dual, Realistic

[caxton1476]

Friends! Here's my cobbled-together system.

Sansui AU-555a
Acquired free from local community college electronics program that was de-accessioning its dusty racks of donated units. A little DeOxit, and here we are.

Dual 1264
Given as a gift by my dad, who has loads of vintage equipment hanging around. Someday, one of his Elac Miracords might get some rotation here, but I really like this Dual. The tonearm motion is so smooth and gentle!

Realistic Nova 6
Got these for about 20 bucks via facebook marketplace? The cabinets look like crap, and I need to build some grilles, but they sound so relaxed and friendly.

The speaker stands are cut-down units that used to hold up a pair of Paradigm Titans. I gave those speakers to my teen son years ago, to my occasional regret.

The cd player is some anonymous Sony thing, ostensibly a DVD player, pressed into service and performing fine. Not sure if that's worth upgrading someday?

I have a bluetooth streaming device, about the size of a postage stamp, in use, as well. Not a lot of usage, but it's there and functioning fine. Again...do I put a Wiim into play here someday? Some other streaming device that seems cut from the right cloth? If you have recs...

First record played on this? So Much Guitar! by Les Montgomery. It sounded sweet, people.

In an earlier thread, I speculated about shifting to modern equipment. That might still happen, maybe in the minimalist upstairs room, where a combo like a Pro-Ject turntable and a pair of powered speakers would fit in just fine.

For now, though...the fam LOVES this setup, and we listen to music together here. Isn't that the point?

Cheers,
Caxton1476

 

[gizzyman47]

Enjoy!

 

[Trooper2]

Love that Dual turntable. Very nice.
I just purchased a PL-518 That had the veneer treatment as they are very ugly. Yours is perfect the way it is.

 

[montrecott]

I have the similar Sansui AU-505. One hears the term "tube like" applied to a lot of solid state amps, but only the Sansui cap-coupled SS amps qualify to me.

 

[caxton1476]

Thank you for your replies!

And as of today...the Sansui only plays through both channels when in mono mode. Switching to stereo leads to sound only through right channel. *Sigh*

So, looking forward to sussing out what's up there.

BTW if you want to go CRAZY go read through AK and Reddit and other channels' advice on using the Deoxit suite of product.

I have THREE units that might benefit from such intervention: a (charming little) Realistic STR-18, a (when working, amazing) Kenwood KR-6030, and the (aethetically perfect) AU-555a. I have a can of F5 sitting right here at arm's length, and the breadth and depth of disagreement over how and whether to use that product vs others in the line is truly bananas. Seriously: it makes a fella want to offload the whole stack of vintage stuff and just get a Fosi mini-amp and say, "good enough". I'm not there yet, but who knows.

Maybe I'll post this rant and suggest an ENTIRE FORUM devoted to one topic: How to Use Deoxit???. Or would that just lead to AK meltdown forever?

 

[howzat]

Thank you for your replies!

And as of today...the Sansui only plays through both channels when in mono mode. Switching to stereo leads to sound only through right channel. *Sigh*

So, looking forward to sussing out what's up there.

BTW if you want to go CRAZY go read through AK and Reddit and other channels' advice on using the Deoxit suite of product.

I have THREE units that might benefit from such intervention: a (charming little) Realistic STR-18, a (when working, amazing) Kenwood KR-6030, and the (aethetically perfect) AU-555a. I have a can of F5 sitting right here at arm's length, and the breadth and depth of disagreement over how and whether to use that product vs others in the line is truly bananas. Seriously: it makes a fella want to offload the whole stack of vintage stuff and just get a Fosi mini-amp and say, "good enough". I'm not there yet, but who knows.

Maybe I'll post this rant and suggest an ENTIRE FORUM devoted to one topic: How to Use Deoxit???. Or would that just lead to AK meltdown forever?

Nice system. Great bang for the buck pieces! I have a pair of those Nova 6's and love them. Wish I had a similar Sansui AU amp to see how they go together. I have an older Sansui receiver that I hope to revive and try in the meantime. Hope your deoxit adventures work out well.

 

[montrecott]

Thank you for your replies!

And as of today...the Sansui only plays through both channels when in mono mode. Switching to stereo leads to sound only through right channel. *Sigh*

So, looking forward to sussing out what's up there.

BTW if you want to go CRAZY go read through AK and Reddit and other channels' advice on using the Deoxit suite of product.

I have THREE units that might benefit from such intervention: a (charming little) Realistic STR-18, a (when working, amazing) Kenwood KR-6030, and the (aethetically perfect) AU-555a. I have a can of F5 sitting right here at arm's length, and the breadth and depth of disagreement over how and whether to use that product vs others in the line is truly bananas. Seriously: it makes a fella want to offload the whole stack of vintage stuff and just get a Fosi mini-amp and say, "good enough". I'm not there yet, but who knows.

Maybe I'll post this rant and suggest an ENTIRE FORUM devoted to one topic: How to Use Deoxit???. Or would that just lead to AK meltdown forever?

The Idiot's Guide to Using DeOxit (revisited)

Moderator’s note: we have an updated and condensed version of the following here: https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/tldr-deoxit-guide.850968/ I was asked to re-post this semi-ancient post that has been long buried in the archives and I was reluctant to re-post anything already in...

audiokarma.org

 

[Sliphorn]

View attachment 3332772

Friends! Here's my cobbled-together system.

Sansui AU-555a
Acquired free from local community college electronics program that was de-accessioning its dusty racks of donated units. A little DeOxit, and here we are.

Dual 1264
Given as a gift by my dad, who has loads of vintage equipment hanging around. Someday, one of his Elac Miracords might get some rotation here, but I really like this Dual. The tonearm motion is so smooth and gentle!

Realistic Nova 6
Got these for about 20 bucks via facebook marketplace? The cabinets look like crap, and I need to build some grilles, but they sound so relaxed and friendly.

The speaker stands are cut-down units that used to hold up a pair of Paradigm Titans. I gave those speakers to my teen son years ago, to my occasional regret.

The cd player is some anonymous Sony thing, ostensibly a DVD player, pressed into service and performing fine. Not sure if that's worth upgrading someday?

I have a bluetooth streaming device, about the size of a postage stamp, in use, as well. Not a lot of usage, but it's there and functioning fine. Again...do I put a Wiim into play here someday? Some other streaming device that seems cut from the right cloth? If you have recs...

First record played on this? So Much Guitar! by Les Montgomery. It sounded sweet, people.

In an earlier thread, I speculated about shifting to modern equipment. That might still happen, maybe in the minimalist upstairs room, where a combo like a Pro-Ject turntable and a pair of powered speakers would fit in just fine.

For now, though...the fam LOVES this setup, and we listen to music together here. Isn't that the point?View attachment 3332772

Cheers,
Caxton1476

.
Very nice. Wes not Les Montgomery, please.
.

 

[howzat]

Since reading the original post I have been wanting to try a Sansui with my Nova 6s as the Novas just sound so good. Finally I found a nice, inexpensive Sansui 331 and just connected them this afternoon. This combo is sounding great so farwith Jazz, Classical and Rock.