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Old 10-03-2014, 12:45 PM   #1
carmine7075
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New integrated amp arrived today

Well new to me anyway.

Its a Sansui AU-101 from the early seventies. I have heard great things about these old Sansui amps, and I looking forward to hooking up tonight to see how it sounds with my old bookshelf speakers.

With any luck, it will make a nice garage system.
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Old 10-03-2014, 04:26 PM   #2
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Took it out of the box, plugged it in and hooked it up to my book shelfs and a crappy late 90's sony turntable without even cleaning it up first.

It powered on, both channels played, just a little static when the pots are turned.

The 1969 Joe Cocker album I put on sounded pretty great through the phono section on that old Sansui, even through my cheap TT. Not a bad system for $15 and stuff I had laying around!
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Old 10-03-2014, 04:33 PM   #3
mike s
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Never even heard of that amp before this post. What I fnd cool is that these are still around and obviously sought after by those in the know! Cool story man. What's your listening room system if this is in the garage?
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Old 10-03-2014, 05:27 PM   #4
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Nothing too special.

Technics SL 1600 MK2 Turntable w. sure m97xe, 1980's Kenwood C2 preamp (which makes all the difference for listening to cds and iphone and has a really great phono section), Onkyo power amp, Polk Audio Speakers

This combination sounds awesome to my ear, and even though I know there is better and far more expensive gear, I am not sure how much better it could sound vs the amount of dollars I could invest in those components.

I am planning to do a clean up on the Sansui, tonight and see how it sounds in the morning.
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Old 10-04-2014, 03:46 AM   #5
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I'm still working on mine. I haven't isolated the problem as coming from the amp. pre-amp. pop, cilck and hiss machine, or what. Just haven't had the time to play with it lately. Really looking forward to listening to the results.

Been fooling around with my video box lately, can record PPV, recorded stuff off the DVR or old VideoDiscs. Audio from LPs too. I guess being able to hear my LPs on the computer has sapped my energies away from being able to listen to them off-line, even though my off-line content on tape vastly exceeds my available online content.
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Old 10-04-2014, 06:55 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by carmine7075 View Post
Its a Sansui AU-101 from the early seventies.
I started out with, if I remember correctly, a Sansui AU-505 back in the early 1970s. And I'm still running an AU-9500 to this day (just about 40 years, now). These amps were well built, and made to last. The 'noise' that occurs when you operate some of the pots and toggle switches can easily be mitigated by routinely rotating or flicking those controls. Using a switch lubricant is more problematic... This approach may remove the 'noise' for a while. But it can also 'gum up' the controls over time.
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Old 10-05-2014, 05:02 AM   #7
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Thanks for the advice. After to listening to this amp from a better source, I decided to take your advice. I didn't use the cleaner because, quite frankly the thing is so clear and detailed, I don't think it needs it.

Based on this amp, I bet yours sound incredible. This one seems to be nearly perfect for my bookshelf speakers. The soundstage seems huge. The sound warm and almost tubey. The highs crisp, the bass tight and mids and vocals sound amazing. Instrumentals seem to jump out and sound natural. Mark knopflers guitar, Louis armstrongs trumpet, count basies horns and woodwinds, Richard wrights keyboards . . . All sound phenomenal. Also for 20 watts per channel this thing is loud and has no problem driving the speakers. In fact, plAying it at 2 is as loud as my normal listening space can handle.

I know I got a steal on this as they usually sell for about $100, but I have to admit that it almost ticks me off. Why? This amp sounds at least as good, but honestly better than my expensive digital gear which, without the old preamp in the mix, sounds small and flat and lifeless.
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Old 10-05-2014, 12:22 PM   #8
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The sound warm and almost tubey.
These amplifiers were known for delivering that kind of relatively un-transistor-like sound. I wouldn't part with mine. It's built like a tank, and weighs in like one too (50 odd pounds).
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Old 10-05-2014, 02:17 PM   #9
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I was also surprised at how heavy it was. Says something about the quality. 44 years old and just shipped haphazardly across the country. Plug it in, flip a switch and it still works flawlessly.

My living room set up Yamaha natural sound sounds better without a pre than my onkyo. Even so, I have a Chinese tube preamp on the way to play around with and I am going to add it to it.

Like that warm sound tube sound.
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Old 11-11-2014, 08:56 AM   #10
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One thing to keep in mind, old electronics need maintenance whether they're solid state or tube. Capacitors dry out, resistors go out of spec and pots wear out. Typical electronic cleaners don't work well long term, I use De-OxIt and so does almost every other amp repairman I know. It's available at RadioShack or a real electronics store if you have one around.

Caps have a working life-span of 10-20 years depending on use so anything that's older than 20 is almost guaranteed to benefit from an update. Just something to think about.

I'm fixing an old Pioneer SM-83 right now for a client and after replacing the power filter capacitors it fired up nicely. Then about five minutes after shutting it down the "death cap" that goes across the 120v power switch blew apart. It's getting replaced with a 3-wire power cord and eliminating that cap that is useless with today's grounded circuits.
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