Whats the secret of the Sansui sound ?

Comments · 412

• LE

  @leonardpeters3266 · 8 days ago

  My wife and I got a bit of money when we got married. We went out on our honey moon and searched pawn shops for a stereo. We bought an AU-101 for the stereo. We really enjoyed it. I had bought an AU-217 when I was young. I sat and stared at it hooked up to my speakers. My dad took pity on me and bought me a Garrard Zero 100 out of the used section at the local hi-fi store. I could finally listen to it. I now have an AU-517 and an AU-717, I love them both. I also do repair on Sansui amps. My customers love them and will always keep them running.

  1

• CL

  @clear-vision · 6 months ago

  I've just stumbled across this podcast, great to see. I bought an AU217 ii in 1979 and have used it ever since, love it.

  6

• DE

  @DennosManCave · 7 months ago

  I had an au101 as a hand me down from my dad. The parents replaced their built stereo system (au101, powering some hand built speakers, a BSR turntable and a &quot;Realistic&quot; tuner. It was given to me around 1985 or 1986. When the hand build speakers &quot;gave up&quot;, I partnered the AU101 with a pair of (bright red) Wharfedale Diamond Mk1&apos;s. <br><br>Eventually it was partnered with a Pioneer twin tape deck and then my first CD player, which was from Sherwood (thats all the budget could run to at the time).<br><br>You are right, the sound from the Au101 was beautiful. There was a warmth to the base, and a good kick too. I recall the unit started to play up around 1990, and the switches and dials started to crackle. If I knew now what I knew then, I would have made sure I tried to get it fixed. TBH, the only thing it probably needed was some contact cleaner on the dials. <br><br>The problem is, with the wooden panel, it just looked &quot;old&quot; and I didnt have the brains back then to keep it. Sadly it was sent to the tip to become landfill. <br><br>Looking back at me doing that, it was an absolute act of stupidity and gross ignorance.

  3

• DA

  @dano5184 · 1 year ago

  I have a AU 555 I bought in January 1973 . Never missed a beat. Love it.

  27

• CI

  @CivilityMatters01 · 1 year ago

  Terrific video and I’m thrilled to find Sansui fans. I own a 9090 receiver (1976). Its bass is unlike anything I’ve heard, and it’s built like a vintage Mercedes.

  29

• MI

  @mildred1217 · 1 year ago (edited)

  Thank you. &nbsp;Au-999 and Au-9500 are the cream of the crop. &nbsp;Au-9500 along with 8500,7500 was mr.Kikuchi&apos;s last master piece before his retirement.:face-blue-smiling: I believe he retired in 1974. &nbsp;He was said to be the perfectionist who never hesitated to use the best materials available at that time.🙏🙏🙏

  33

• HO

  @HoosierRooster · 1 day ago (edited)

  I have a Sansui 2000a my uncle purchased &nbsp;in the Philippines while serving &nbsp;in the south &nbsp;pacific &nbsp;theater &nbsp;&amp; Vietnam in 1969.... it has the optional wooden cabinet the black-legged resistors have been replaced and it plays beautifully

• DO

  @donny303 · 1 year ago

  Sansui Serial Numbers have a production date coded into them. The third digit is the year and the 4th and 5th digits represent the month. To convert that into a calendar month and year is simple if you know the decade when the unit was made.

  12

• D.

  @d.beaumont9157 · 1 day ago

  Thanks for making the videos. They really cheer me up for some reason. I really do regret not holding on to some of my older Hi Fi amps, speakers ect. I foolishly gave my Castle Sterling speakers away. Ive never found a set of speaker that have that warm clear rich sound to match those speakers.

• MI

  @mike-PlatinumAudio · 8 months ago

  Greetings from a Sansui lover in Montreal, Canada. Happy listening :)

  4

• PE

  @peterlarkin762 · 1 year ago (edited)

  The AU101 has a few things that make it &apos;Tubey&apos;, mainly the output section is single-ended with capacitor output, quasi-complimentary, using a pair of NPN darlingtons (each essentially two transistors in one package) . Quasi complimentary amps usually have more 2nd order harmonics, as do single ended designs and darlington outputs. <br><br>Also, many early (70&apos;s) silicon transistors sound better than modern ones because production processes were optimised to use less resources and specs like current gain and bandwidth went up.<br><br>Also also, resistors and capacitors were physically larger for their rating, resistors were carbon, electrolytic caps had higher ESR, , and some early Japanese transistor amps used silver coated internal wiring - all these things add up to a certain sonic character.

  37

• RI

  @rick-fj5do · 1 year ago

  I never get tired of hearing the praises of early sansui amps <br>They deserve all the accolades <br>I actually use an au777 more often than my expensive mac gear as it has an addictive quality

  22