Best alternatives to a Sansui AU-919?

I want an integrated stereo amp with at least 100W per channel. I really like vintage Sansui's and I've heard that the 919/X1 are the best of the bunch. But it seems that prices are ridiculous in recent years. Once you pay for shipping and expert restoration I have to question if it's worth it at all.

I like the build quality of vintage units. But surely there are more modern amps that can attain a similar punch and clarity once we get to the $1000 price point?

 

Yamaha A-S801 Yamaha is back. The A-S line is built like the 70's stuff and sounds great. A strong 100 watts into 8 ohms and about 180 into 4 ohms. It will drive whatever you have.

 

Those Sansuis are incredible. Worth the money if you ask me. That said, audition the Yammie to see how much you like it. Bet the Sansui wipes the floor with it.

 

I owned a Sansui 717 in the seventies. I couldnt afford a Yamaha back then. I would take that bet.

 

So it's warmer than the the Sansui ? I take it you own the 801 ? I love the Sansui's clarity.

 

Yes, it is warmer. The Yamaha is more transparent at the same time. The AS series are nothing like the Yamaha AVR stuff.

 

I had a 717 too. It was clear and powerful, but not particularly inviting. I like vintage gear, but as a previous owner, don't see anything so special that I would rush out and buy one over a new modern amp or receiver.

This stuff is early 70's. It is old and overpriced. There are certainly better modern options.

 

Yea, as someone who lived through that era, I dont understand the fascination with that stuff. What I have now is on another planet. Kind of like old muscle cars. Yea they looked cool, but handled like crap, had scary bad brakes, got lousy gas mileage, and were worn out at 60k miles. Technology has moved on. A few classics are still good, but that list is a lot smaller than a lot of folks want to admit too.

 

Well if You like it You like it, nothing wrong with that. Having had many of these amps and receivers from the major brands, (Pioneer, Yamaha, Sansui, Marantz) I could never go back to those now, they are far from good enough to me.
Also these are old and need to be renovated for a lot of money to work as new. Sansui is particularly tricky to renovate due to the lacquer on the PCBs, and very thin PCB traces, which make soldering difficult.

 

The differences I've found with my '72 Sansui 2000A vs a Yamaha AV stereo model I have sitting in my closet in case the Sansui craters is the smoothness and broadness of the Sansui's Bass and Treble knob which I always have to adjust for every CD I play on it especially those with crispy highs and not such a full bass. The Yamaha B/T adjusts seem like it was made by Fischer Price with very little affect on balancing the high and low frequencies.

If I could find me a modern amp around $100 that has B/T adjusts like the Sansui with the same bottom end to the bass, I'ld buy it. I am looking for a dedicated stereo only model and not those AV types that require you to set speaker size which invokes some kind of low end bass cut when playing in two speaker stereo mode only.

 

Just turn off bass management.

 

1987 Sansui AU-X701 (100W) or AU-X901 (120W). Both sound exactly the same, just the X901 has more power. These 2 amps are considered the very first alpha amps of Sansui.

Really nice amps. The x701 model is easier to find than the x901. But both are hard to find.

 

Couldn't find that setting on the Yamaha and previously about ten years ago on a Kenwood AV amp I also bought at a thrift store.

But thanks for mentioning it. Now I can at least go looking for such a setting.

 

Different manufacturer's handle things different. For example, on my new Emotiva 4k processor, if you set your front speakers to large you can't use the bass management feature on them, because to them, "Large" means they have a frequency response down to 20-Hz. and therefore no bass management is necessary. To use bass management on my 99-lb. Polk LSiM707 towers, I must set my front speakers to "small".

If you don't have a sub, there is no reason to use bass management, which is an optional feature.

On a HT AV receiver, the .1 channel is the LFE channel, where all of the movie's low frequency effects are sent out the .1 channel, which goes to the sub.

What bass management is, and it serves two purposes, is to send deep bass information that might be going to a particular speaker to the sub instead.

So, maybe my front tower's play down to about 40-Hz. at their -3 dB point. I could then direct anything that is going to them that is less than 40-Hz. to go to the sub, which would play lower. Otherwise, the front tower's may not be able to effectively reproduce the lower bass and it will be lost or highly attenuated.

The other reason to use bass management is to remove some of the load off of the amplifier and to let the sub handle it.

If there is 30-Hz. information in the signal that is being sent to the front speaker's, that is power that the amplifier has to generate and even though that energy is being expended on the front speaker's, your not going to get much benefit from it.

It is a waste of the amplifier's power. And, remember it takes a great deal of power from an amplifier to reproduce bass and sub-bass information.

Even if some speaker's can operate at lower frequencies many elect to have there frequencies directed to the sub anyway to reduce the load on the amplifier.

I don't happen to agree with this reasoning. With regard to the font mains, which I do use both for HT and stereo. I direct the low frequency information down to 40-Hz. and direct anything 40-Hz. and below to the sub. The sub is a passive, commercial horn loaded cabinet that is driven by a 1,600-Watt Crown amplifier.

Bass management is set for each speaker. So you might set the center channel to send anything below 80-Hz. to the sub through the bass management feature. You might also do the same for smaller surrounds or rear speakers.

Obviously, If you are using your AV receiver for stereo, you might not have a reason to use it's bass management feature, if you have full range front speakers and no sub.

If you do have a sub, you might still elect to use bass management to send LF information below a certain frequency to the sub, as you normally would.

 

That's the exact situation I'm facing, using an amp electronically designed to power six speakers (with sub) but send the entire audio spectrum to two mains and no sub. My Norman Labs don't reproduce EDM bottom end maybe down to 40Hz but not as loud so there's some type of passive bass cut going on. I can't crank up my home system because I live in an apartment. I could crank it up but the Labs will not play low end bass louder.

However, on my Yamaha AV amp there's even more bass cut starting higher up but tapering more gradually starting around 60Hz and down playing the same EDM style music-(bass EQ knob doesn't help much). IOW I can't get the same low end bass umph I can get with the Sansui.

 

Most digital AV receivers have bass management. Most older analog units did not. But, most of them did not offer six discrete channels either.

I use a processor on my system, so that HT is an add on source. This way I can use what ever amps and speakers I want to use, I use with both my stereo and HT. The only difference is that I run a center channel with my HT (only).

As I also use the sub with stereo. I run a full range signal from the system preamp to an unused channel of the processor. This way, I can use the same bass management from the processor so that any low frequency information from 40-Hz. and below is also directed to the sub by the same .1 LFE channel of the processor. But this approach does not effect the front mains, as they continue to receive the same full range signal.

So, my system works exactly the same for stereo and HT.

With the stereo, which is on right now, you don't even notice that the sub is present until there is a need for it and then it seamlessly integrates with the mains.

 

Don't forget the sealed volume pot on models like the AU-717 which makes life difficult in restoring.

 

I have had and worked on an AU-X701. Not a model I would recommend to anyone.

 

Yes, my take is that if one cannot do all the restoring oneself, and have the time for it; these ancient amps will be very expensive. And even when the work is done, many, many new ones will still sound better.
But I guess if you like them, you like them, but I see it mostly as nostalgia.

 

I had a 717 about ten years ago. Great amp. Lasted a year, and four of those with a tech in Edinburgh. Nice nostalgia for a while, but too problematic to repair. It went in the skip in the end.

 

I owned the 717. It was my first step up from my Pioneer SA-500 integrated, which was rated at 13-WPC, but would distort under a load after 8-Watts.

So it was a much more powerful and detailed sounding amp. But, IMO, not a more pleasant sounding amp with my A7's. Not a good match.

With less efficient direct radiator speakers, I can see where it would work well.

I still don't see any thing that I would find of particularly fascinating about this power amp.

There are unlimited amount of new SS power amps that would be better either new or used.

 

Yamaha RX-570 or RX-595 receiver with 70 watts per channel from the 1993-1995 is a great sounding receiver/amp. New enough it does not need a rebuild. Way better than older Yamaha CA or CR series that many collect. 70 watts and 100 watts per channel is not a lot of difference. RX-595 is 80 watts per channel, but more rare. You can buy one for $50 and laugh all the way to the bank. These Yamaha are not known by audiophiles.

Also, Yamaha AX series are same era amps without the receiver. These are up to 110 watts per channel in the AX-870 series. An AX-592 is on ebay for $80. 110 watts per channel.

 

There are nothing but old receivers on eBay. Pick out a few @ $100 or less, that is clean and in working order, read the reviews, make a decision, buy.

You don't have to fall in love with it and restore it, it may work perfectly well "as described".

Down the road, if you become "attached" to it, you an always pay to have it restored.

If it is working properly now, it will likely continue to work for years to come.

Save up your money for your next receiver.

 

I love my AU-X901!

Really fine amp!