Vintage Sansui and modern speakers

[DEAFASABAT]

I have a 3300 receiver and had an AU-7700 Integrated (which sadly succumbed to flood damage).
The AU-7700, powering my JBL 4410 and 4412 monitors turned out to be one of the two best (out of many) top rated amps I've had.
While the JBLs are of late 1980's vintage I would consider them to still be "modern".
In this case the Sansuis really delivered the goods. And continue to do so.
I still use the 3300 pre out to feed a PS Audio Elite Integrated's power stage in my main system. Even
as it approaches 50 years of age, It is the preferred preamplifier for my system. No bad, do you think?

 

[rickb119]

My Sansui AU-919 drives a pair of Ascend Acoustic Sierra 2's in a near field setting. (At least it will again when I get it back from the shop this week.) Truly makes those ribbon tweeters sing.

 

[Vintagear]

My AU-X1 patiently waited for ~35 years to pair up with these to show what it is truly capable of.


Bowers & Wilkins 805D2 & REL S/2 Sub

 

[sansui au719]

To the OP - modern speakers absolutely work well with any Sansui.

I've used all manner of modern speakers with my Sansuis - Focal JM Labs, Dynaudio, PMC, ProAc, Usher, Orpheus, JPW, and currently a set of Elite Aesthets. They all bring something different to the table re: sound quality.

I love the match of LS50s and an AU-719. Plenty of power to drive these inefficient speakers which the 719 can deliver extremely quickly. The end result is a brilliant clarity of reproduction and thanks to the UniQ drivers an very descriptive soundstage. Listening to a live recording of Getz & Gilberto at Carnegie Hall I can almost pick what people in the audience are wearing, and when Asturd Gilberto starts singing it's almost embarrasingly intimate. Female voices can sound so beautiful but the down side is it shines a bright light in the face of any recording. Any blemishes are brutally exposed. If it's a poor performance or mediocre recording this combination hides absolutely nothing. This was before the 719 went to Hyperion's bench for his magic sauce.....

Can the combination rock ? Sure, the LS50s go lower than might be expected for their size but they're still limited in size and voume. I added a pair of small Rel subs to extend the lower frequences.

As PF stated above, I am continually impressed by the exceptional sound reproduction capabilities of my G-7700 (lucky to have a couple).
This is no understatement as the 18 year old in me also loves the power of the G9700's stacked and easily accessible mere inches away (in the same rack).

My biggest problem (since June of 1980) has been bouncing voice coils off the back of magnets until they arced/burnt and or until the glue of the voice coils melted and allowed the wire to get funky inside its cage. It's hard to fathom how many drivers I have destroyed as back in the early 80's I would smoke a (spare) woofer or two (with accompanying light show) just to show my buddies (with the Kenwoods and the orange foam Celestions) what Sansui's could do.

Not on quite the same scale but I keep a damaged driver from one of my LS50s next to my AU-719, just to remind me to watch the power. The LS50s are only rated to 100W.

 

[Hyperion]

Listening to a live recording of Getz & Gilberto at Carnegie Hall I can almost pick what people in the audience are wearing,

Superb

This was before the 719 went to Hyperion's bench for his magic sauce.....

I've tried to improve it so you also know what they had for breakfast.

 

[Multimode]

Not on quite the same scale but I keep a damaged driver from one of my LS50s next to my AU-719, just to remind me to watch the power. The LS50s are only rated to 100W.

My first true hi-fi outfit, bought in 1974, included a Leak Stereo 70 amplifier and Celestion Ditton 66 loudspeakers. They were a good match regarding power delivery/handling, which was useful as I sometimes had the volume as high as my ears could stand.

In 1980 I bought a pair of Spendor BC1 loudspeakers (rated 55 W) and my present Sansui AU-919 (rated 100W). I was very cautious at first with the volume control, but it wasn't long before I would forget the power mismatch and play it (very) loud. All was well until I connected the BC1s to a friend's equally high-end circa-100W amplifier. Distortion became evident as he turned the volume up high, and a speaker blew before he managed to turn it down again (I was left to pick up the bill ).

Yet the loudness it had been taken to was less than that to which I often extended my AU-919. So what had happened? I concluded that power matching is less important than an amplifier's ability to control the speaker at high output. With a new speaker unit fitted to my BC1, I ran the pair with the AU-919 for 35+ years without further incident.

I replaced the BC1s with a pair of Spendor SP1/2R2 a couple of years ago. Different sound, better in several respects but not quite so sweet in the midrange. The SP1/2R2 has a much higher power rating (150W) but for me this takes second place to the ability of the AU-919 to 'push it out' without distortion.

I have another pair of very little used BC1s (in my wardrobe!), bought from my son who, as a teenager, bought them for his bedroom from his savings in the mid-1980s. I have no plans at present to use them but can't bear to part with them. Perhaps it's time to connect them to see how I now feel about the differences from the SP1/2R2. I may decide to swap to them... irrespective of power mismatch!

 

[sansui au719]

Superb


I've tried to improve it so you also know what they had for breakfast.

That's just not good enough. I need to hear if they had smooth or crunchy peanut butter on their toast.
Start again

 

[sansui au719]

.......All was well until I connected the BC1s to a friend's equally high-end circa-100W amplifier. Distortion became evident as he turned the volume up high, and a speaker blew before he managed to turn it down again (I was left to pick up the bill ).

Yet the loudness it had been taken to was less than that to which I often extended my AU-919. So what had happened? I concluded that power matching is less important than an amplifier's ability to control the speaker at high output. With a new speaker unit fitted to my BC1, I ran the pair with the AU-919 for 35+ years without further incident.

I replaced the BC1s with a pair of Spendor SP1/2R2 a couple of years ago......

Great story. Did you replace that friend too ?

 

[Tromatic]

Magnepan LRS's are as modern as they come, no problem at all.

 

[Multimode]

Great story. Did you replace that friend too ?

That same friend had earlier persuaded a Sansui retailer located 50 miles away to loan me the AU-919 for evaluation, even though he (the dealer) had never met me. I wouldn't otherwise have tried it, and wouldn't have enjoyed it for 40 years, so "no" I didn't replace the friend!

As you may have picked up from his and my posts, John (Hyperion) reconditioned my AU-919 four years ago to truly better than new. I remember that with great pleasure almost every time I switch it on, and I'm sure you'll be equally pleased with your 'new-build' AU-719.

 

[1963Christop]

Hello just wondering if anyone runs their vintage Sansui with post 1995 modern speakers. I have run my G4500 and newer to me G8000 with Monitor audio BX1s and M & K S100bs. Just wondering if anyone is doing the same type of combos.
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Fully restored QRX-3500 powering a pair of Monitor Audio Bronze 6s and Bronze 2s. Just glorious.