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Volume Issue AU-D11

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Chip Nadeau

New Member
New guy here, first post. Just purchased Sansui AU-D11. I hooked up RCA to multiple sources (Phone, Amazon Dot, DVD etc. to tape and aux. Volume levels are poor and at 12:00 distortion becomes apparent. Currently own / comparing to G-7000, AU-317, AU-4900, 8900ZDB. Have not cleaned under the hood - no scratching or sticking apparent. What is the problem?
 
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Based solely on your description,
Really no way to say.
Does that have pre out
Amp in jacks?
At least you'd be able to determine if it's amp or preamp section.
Before you touch. These fetch real money. Seller bears responsibility until you go poking around. If it needs work, get a refund
 
Thank you for responding so quickly.
No pre-outs - I believe only on the AU-D11 mark ll
Volume okay at low volumes - just no depth when moving towards 12:00 and scratching starts to occur at that level ( not at lower levels)
 
Bought from the original owner who said it has never been looked at. Stored in a cabinet inside his office the last 13 years. I plan to open it up next week for good cleaning.
Had something happen yesterday that left me scratching my head. Had the D11 running some Dali, JM Lab, and Cantons and they all sounded terrible.
Then I paired the D11 with the Sansui SP-X7 that I purchased with the amp. The whole system came alive! The system seemed to just open up. The only issue I had was with the balance control scratching when rotating side to side.
Historically I have stayed clear of vintage speakers except for owning some Klipsch Hersey 2, older Monitor Audio and 30 year old Cantons. But these old boxy Sansui
SP-X7's ( can't figure out if they are beautiful or butt ugly) really provided the right match for the D11.
This discovery has been intriguing to say the least. Any thoughts / comments would be appreciated.
 
Chip Nadeau said:
But these old boxy Sansui
SP-X7's ( can't figure out if they are beautiful or butt ugly) really provided the right match for the D11.
This discovery has been intriguing to say the least. Any thoughts / comments would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

It's called "speaker efficiency".
 
Chip Nadeau said:
Bought from the original owner who said it has never been looked at. Stored in a cabinet inside his office the last 13 years.
Click to expand...

The explanation for your observations could be exactly that ^.
Electrolytic capacitors age, and loose their characteristics. Some even develop larger losses or larger equivalent series resistance. After some extended period of time, electrolytic capacitors suffer chemical changes on the oxide layers of their electrodes, which may reform during first hours after they are powered on again. For a unit made almost 40 years ago, it is a good idea to revise it carefully. Especially if it has spent its last 13 years without seeing any reforming of the capacitors.
Sansui amplifiers of this age also may have glue that causes corrosion on the leads of components, and even some polystyrene capacitors (AKA "black flags") that loose their capacitance and cause the unit to oscillate and damage drivers and output transistors. Search this forum about "Sansui glue", and "black flag" and you will findthe relevant threads.
Finally, do not forget that these units expected a 170mV input signal, so "surprisingly loud" output and distortion could occur at less than full volume with modern sources that deliver 1 or 2 V signals. Some use input attenuators to reduce the input levels and avoid running out of headroom.
 
Excellent information - thank you!

As silly as it sounds, I am using multiple Amazon dots ( as my output source and as a matter of convenience) between 5 different receivers and speakers. Spotify only allows out put from one dot at a time so I can swap devices from my sofa using a computer (which sees each dot individually). In other words my output signal is presumable poor quality and certainly does not compare to a quality CD player, Oppo etc.

I will add a quality CD player and also stream some hires from Apple Music through AppleTV and see how the sound reproduction shifts.
 
Said I would report back on results. Opened the Sansui D11 and it was truly the cleanest piece of vintage gear I have ever seen. Forgot to photo however. Used Deoxit on all needed sources with shocking results. Hard to imagine it could sound any better. Am currently testing against Sansui AU-317 (which I think is a great little integrated) and a Sansui 8900 ZDB which more than holds it's own.Also testing the Sansui G7000 which sounds muted by comparison. Hooked up a EQ Sound Shaper 30 to the G7 and really sounded much better. What up with that? Certainly all gear sounds different from each other.
 
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