[Monsterzero]

For whatever reason I havent shared this video I did recently here...better late than never.

 

[richard51]

Vintage is victory!

 

[UntilThen]

Welcome to the brotherhood UntilThen - the brotherhood of the lucky few to know what we have in the vintage realm.

Thank You !

Now to share pictures of my Sansui AU-505 driving my floorstanders Axis LS88 to astonishing levels. How powerful is this amp? It sounds absolutely beautiful and loud at only 10 o'clock.

The speakers


The amp in the bottom of the rack. The Redgum Rgi120ENR amp has to make way for it for now.

 

[richard51]

Perhaps this article would be of interest to all but especially here in this thread...

https://www.cnet.com/news/this-1970...istening-to-today/#ftag=rss.audiophiliac.ftag

 

[UntilThen]

Perhaps this article would be of interest to all but especially here in this thread...

https://www.cnet.com/news/this-1970...istening-to-today/#ftag=rss.audiophiliac.ftag

Good article and going with what I hear from the Sansui vintage amp, I agree with the warmth and analogue sound description. There's still superb clarity, 3D image. I'm hooked on the Sansui sound so much so I bought another Sansui amp AU7700 the next day, vintage 1975 with more power at 54w per channel and as typical of that era gear, lots of controls, inputs, 2 phono inputs !!!

Here's a picture - will be getting the amp in a week's time. I'm going to use the Sansui AU-505 for headphones, which sounds superb and I'll use the AU7700 to drive my speakers.

The important thing with vintage gear is to have a good technician to recap and restored the gear and I've met someone here who's been servicing Sansui gear for years.

 

[UntilThen]

Ha @richard51 , right after I made the above post, I saw in your signature that you have a Sansui AU-7700.

Please share your experience with this amp.

 

[UntilThen]

This is fast becoming of of my favorite threads on head-fi

It is fast becoming my favourite thread too.

 

[UntilThen]

Another shot of the Sansui AU-505. It's making my HD800 sound ridiculously good. I may not need the DNA Stratus now.

 

[richard51]

Ha @richard51 , right after I made the above post, I saw in your signature that you have a Sansui AU-7700.

Please share your experience with this amp.

My experience is the same experience I share with people here who owns vintage gear : No going back...If I had money I would buy 5 thousand dollars amplifier, I know which; but I would never sell my Sansuis, I own 2...The AU-7700 and the mighty Sansui AU-X701 Au-Alpha 607i... The 2 are marvellous, the X-701 more refined, the AU 7700 more organic and warm,but for the moment it is more useful to me to use the 7700 and with my speakers it is love at first sight between them...

In the year to come I will use the 7700 and the X701 for speakers and headphone specialisation... It is IMPOSSIBLE to beat them on all count,even if you pay a fortune... No modern amplifier can make with flexibility all the jobs that these 2 survivors of the war between companies in the interval 1975 and past 80 are able to achieve with a supreme sound quality of their own ... The sound with a good source is natural,holographic, without apparent defect on any count...Nothing is perfect except my dogs,my wife and some Sansui in this world

I cannot explain all the qualities of this Sansui, top of the line Sansui in 1975, better than this guy that wrote the article that push me toward this model:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/review-sansui-au-7700-amplifier

I came to this thread here because of Oregonian, that push me toward vintage, the rest is history...It is the most appealing thread of head-fi for sure for me, people here sound like family when they speaks...

 

[Monsterzero]

Nothing is perfect except my dogs,my wife and some Sansui in this world

+1

 

[SpeakerBox]

It is fast becoming my favorite thread too.

I would say this is pretty much my favorite thread anywhere.

 

[UntilThen]

My experience is the same experience I share with people here who owns vintage gear : No going back...If I had money I would buy 5 thousand dollars amplifier, I know which; but I would never sell my Sansuis, I own 2...The AU-7700 and the mighty Sansui AU-X701 Au-Alpha 607i... The 2 are marvellous, the X-701 more refined, the AU 7700 more organic and warm,but for the moment it is more useful to me to use the 7700 and with my speakers it is love at first sight between them...

Thanks for the feedback. I shall look forward to getting the AU 7700.

When I went to pick up the AU 505, the owner has in his music room like 6 or 7 Sansui amps, including the alpha series. Wish I had stayed to listen to some of them.

 

[richard51]

With one good Sansui you need another amplifier like a dog need 2 heads...
I owns 2 Sansui, then 2 version of the same head...

 

[UntilThen]

He loves his Sansui(s) amp and is no doubt a collector. Besides he's a specialist technician in restoring Sansui amps. I am glad to have met him for future restorations.

This article gives me an idea of the Sansui model range. I know why the AU-505 appeal so much to me now. The article has this to say about the AU 222. 333. 555. 666. 777, 888 and 999. 'The sound from this series is very close to that of tube amps'. AU-505 is very similar to the AU 555.
http://www.sansui.us/Amplifiers.htm

 

[richard51]

He loves his Sansui(s) amp and is no doubt a collector. Besides he's a specialist technician in restoring Sansui amps. I am glad to have met him for future restorations.

This article gives me an idea of the Sansui model range. I know why the AU-505 appeal so much to me now. The article has this to say about the AU 222. 333. 555. 666. 777, 888 and 999. 'The sound from this series is very close to that of tube amps'. AU-505 is very similar to the AU 555.
http://www.sansui.us/Amplifiers.htm

I dont know first hand because I had not listen to this 3 digits series nor to the Au-505... But the x series is less tubelike and seems more refine than organic, and my Au 7700 compared to the x series is more tubelike and organic sounding,then I deduce that my Au 7700 is less tubelike than the Au-505 or AU-555, probably at mid-road between the 3 digits series and the alpha series...This is the reason why the AU-7700 is so good between the 2 series and why I love him so much, the best of 2 worlds of sound, not the perfection at all, only the living presence of the music in his own translation of the sound...There is 9 reviews with raving praise in Hifiengine,mine included, this is the reason...