Is Sansui au777a worth servicing?

[Grom]

Greetings!

Just recently I posted a thread here on the forum asking about the issues I encountered with my KEF Q150 speakers not working when connected with Sansui 777au amplifier.

Sansui I got from a family member who took good care of it over the years, but the amplifier was last used 7 years ago, and it was just sitting on a shelf. The amplifier was never serviced in the past.

I have ordered the KEF Q150 on Amazon, the same as the Audio-Technica AT-LP60X turntable.

Once connected, the speakers failed to produce sound emitting from the turntable, so after a discussion with helpful members of the forum on my other thread, and my conclusion, we have determined that Sansui is broken.

Knowing this, I was disheartened because I'm familiar with how widely valued this amplifier is amongst audiophiles who respect vintage sound.

My question here is, is it worth servicing this amp and how much might it cost to restore it to its original glory?

Thank you all for your help!

BTW, I live in BC Canada.

 

[Timcognito]

Amazon.com

 

[Bruce Morgen]

Given the age of that Sansui and the fact that it provides only 30 WPC given those KEFs' 8 ohm nominal impedance, I don't think it's worth the three-figure cost in CDN it would take to properly service it -- in addition to troubleshooting and repairing the phono preamp circuit, an amp that old would need pretty much every electrolytic capacitor replaced in order to perform reliably, and that's very time consuming for the technician. Even a dirt-cheap Class D chip amp like the now-venerable Aiyima A07 can deliver more than double its rated power, making the only hitch in replacing it with modern gear finding a preamp with a phono input. On the other hand, if the other inputs work well, you could get a little external phono preamp and connect it to one of the line level (tuner or tape playback) inputs and continue using the Sansui until something else fails.

Fosi Audio BOX X1-MM Phono Preamp MM Turntable Preamplifier

Of course you could try following Tim's advice first, but IMO it would be fairly unlikely for a dirty switch to kill both channels of the phono input.

 

[Grom]

Thank you. I have ordered Toppings dx10s. This might help; we will see once it arrives. Also, somebody suggested Wiim Pro.

At the moment, I'm using a Sony strk870p receiver. Not the best audio choice but it works fine.

 

[Joe Smith]

There's a lot of love generally for old Sansui equipment, so you could always sell it for a decent sum on the Canada Audio Mart even if you don't want to pursue a repair...

I'm fortunate in having a local friend who does audio repairs, he can work on things at far less than "shop" prices...but I don't burden him a lot so I have to make choices. If you can find someone local like that, might make sense to pursue. But otherwise, there is great new equipment that won't cost a ton that will be a better match for the new KEFs.

It's sometimes hard to let the older things go - I just sold off two HK 330B's that needed love...but sold to a guy who wanted to restore them right and use, that helped me move on!

 

[roog]

I am always on the look out for equipment to repair, just for the fun of it, older Sansui equipment does seem to be sought after here in the UK, with some of the more powerful models seemingly* going for good money.

* never quite sure if they actually sell !

 

[Grom]

I am always on the look out for equipment to repair, just for the fun of it, older Sansui equipment does seem to be sought after here in the UK, with some of the more powerful models seemingly* going for good money.

* never quite sure if they actually sell !

From what I've seen, in Canada, they do.

 

[Wolf11Man]

In many cases stupids tried to connect a CD player to the phono input. Which may have blown the MM or, even worse, MC inputs and following cirquits. What was once common HIFI knowledge has been replaced with a large zero today.
At the time these amps where build, there was not anything protected from any stupid idea. A short at the speaker out would result in a repair for example. I know of old amps from the 60's that even blew when no speaker was connected and the volume raised to max.
Today anything is protected, so even the most unknowing and ignorant idiot can not break anything.
Cost of real restorations are just ridiculous time consuming and expensive on such amps, receiver even worse.

I love vintage stuff but must admitt that even once honored amps, today have a hard time to compete with a sub 100$ Class D, like the Ayima A07 that was mentioned. Today inputs needed are reduced to one, usually for some kind of streaming device.
Vintage audio, like cars, are for a minority. Best with deep pockets, I may add.

 

[Grom]

Make sense. Besides memorabilia and visual appeal for some, most of the old stuff can't compete with new technology. I might be wrong in some cases.

 

[roog]

Make sense. Besides memorabilia and visual appeal for some, most of the old stuff can't compete with new technology. I might be wrong in some cases.

I frequent a forum where vintage equipment is much vaunted, I understand the appreciation of the looks, but the praise of sound quality heaped on some of the old designs seems far fetched, certainly based on my experience.

I am old enough to remember when many of these designs hit the shelves the first time around and they weren't up to hype then.

I like the looks of the Sansui gear, if it was mine I would fix it, even if it was just for the good feeling of getting it working again!

 

[CJPopovich]

I like vintage gear, I really do. It can sound awesome, I like the old Infinity Kappas, but my experience is the cult following is mostly made up of nostalgia. Yeah, they had some decent stuff way back, but at least some of the allure is the memory of those times in our lives rather than outright fantastic measured performance. Personally, I'd fix it up and use it in a vintage system or flip it and pick up something newer. As much as I have enjoyed my multiple vintage systems, they really don't compare to my Revel & Hypex combos in any meaningful metric... except nostalgia.