Worth fixing old Sansui?

[oznob]

A friend of mine just gave me a beast of a receiver. It is a Sansui 9090DB. He bought it new and said it has tons of power. He tells me there is no sound from the left channel but other than that it works fine. I did a quick check on he web and it appears to be pretty highly regarded. I am looking for something to run my garage speakers. Anyone have any experience with this receiver and/or know someone in NoCal that may be able to fix it? Really don't want to ship it as it weighs about 50 lbs.!

Thanks,
Mark

[SEAWOLF97]

A friend of mine just gave me a beast of a receiver. It is a Sansui 9090DB. Mark

I have an 8080db....after about 20 minutes, one channel goes weak, but those ARE a sweet 20 minutes....I would say its worth fixing as long as you dont get too deep..they are only worth about $200 if working perfectly.

Most Sansui receivers were CR*P, the 8080 and 9090 were the exceptions..IMHO

[oznob]

Thanks for the info Wolf, I appreciate it. One thing I found interesting was the Dolby switch that I assume was for Dolby cassettes? Hopefully I can get it working without too much trouble.

[mech986]

hi Oznob,

The 9090DB is a really nice receiver with some pretty smooth power. The most common problem with signal or channel loss IS the Dolby switch and then the selector switch and tape monitor switches. All of them are prone to corroding or getting dirty with intermittent to full loss of signal. A really thorough cleaning and maintenance with DeOxit will usually get them going again if the channels do work.

Surf over to audiokarma.org and check the Sansui forum or Vintage solid state where there are plenty of posts on the 8080DB/9090DB and how to troubleshoot them. I'm pretty confident you can get them going.

If you need someone to fix it, try The SoundWell in Berkeley. I had some contact with one of their techs last year and they seemed decent enough. they've been around for decades. Other NorCal LH's will probably chime in or do some searching here or on AK for a recommendation.

BTW, the Dolby was for FM Dolby broadcasts IIRC. I'm not sure you can switch it in for tape purposes. Best to check with the Sansui guys at AK for that.

Regards,

Bart

[oznob]

Thanks a bunch for the help Bart! A friend of mine does some "garage" repairs on tube stuff and has a bunch of Deoxit so he may have a project soon. Although, if I go to The Bay, I can check in on Zilchster and Johnaec. I need to do that just haven't had the time. I will also go to the pages you mentioned and inquire.


Thanks again and:cheers:

Mark

[toddrr]

I like the older Sansui's. I had a 7070Db which was high quality and had
a beautiful glow when turned on. The sound was decent, but I have
heard the extra watts really help the 9090. My current amp (reciever) is the Sansui G-901 a European version of the G-9000 series, and the sound
is amazing with my vintage Jubals.

I would fix this reciever, if nothing else you will get at least $300 or more
with a tuned 9090db on ebay!

Good luck

[oznob]

My friend opened it up and couldn't find anything obviously out of place like burnt caps, bad solder joints etc. It turned on fine, all the lights were lit, swithches and dials set correctly but, no sound?:hmm: I know a guy in Roseville, CA that repairs mostly old radios and tube amps. Oh, he's a big Quad fan but I don't hold that against him. He did fix my old Hafler PA amp so I may take it to him to fix, as long as it doesn't cost too much $$$. As my grandfather used to say, "I am just curious as a tree full of hoot owls" to hear how this receiver sounds! I will probably bite the bullet and get it fixed, eventually.

[bigstereo]

Yes they are worth fixing. Do it. The 9090db is considered by a lot of folks to be the best Sansui ever built. I just sank $$$ plus parts into mine for a restoration and there was'nt even anything wrong with it except the dial pointer lamp was out, the tuner string was almost melted in half by me with a soldering iron while trying to replace the pointer lamp:eek::banghead: , and it needed a cleaning.
Go over to AK and browse the Sansui forum-"Exclusively Sansui".*edit*- There are some very highly respected Sansui Techs over there who may be able to help you out.
-*edit*
I edited this post, pending. I may add the info back later.

Mark you have a pm. In case you are interested in having the unit worked on by The God of Sansui's.

Rj

[bigstereo]

Mark, although I've never tried it, as I do not own a tape deck it appears that recording and playback is incorporated into the dolby switch as seen in this photo of my 9090db
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w160/bigstereo/DSCN0702.jpg

[garyl]

I have to beg to differ on the statement that most Sansui receivers were Cr**p!

Any of the G series receivers are quite nice and the big ones are awesome receivers G-8000, 9000, 22000, 33000 are very hard to beat!

The DB models like 8080 & 9090 are also highly prized units and some of Sansuis best units.

We are all entitled to our own opinions but blanket statements like this simply don't have wings unless you add that it is your own opinion.

I have owned many receivers in my 40+ years of audio bliss and from many manufacturers, Pioneer, Sony, Marantz, to name a few. It will take a mighty fine receiver to knock my G 9000 off the top shelf here.

Get that one repaired and enjoy some very good quality sound. If it is in great condition otherwise, I would bet you will move it in to your home rather then to keep it in the garage!

Gary

[toddalin]

My brother had a 9090 and a set of Infinity 4-ways with the EMIT tweeters. His 9090 didn't much like these speakers that presented an unstable load and burned out both the speaker mids and and the power transistors on the amp.

[oznob]

My friend Gary, the original owner, said he "fried" his share of spekaers with this beast, most notably some old Infinity's and late 70's vintage Pioneers. He didn't remember the model numbers. Gary's an old Navy man and liked to throw parties back in the day. In fact he bought this in 1977 at a PX in The Phillipines along with the obligatory Akai Reel to Reel and those lattice grill Sansui speakers. He ended up giving away the speakers and Akai years ago.

I have a bunch of projects going on right now so the Sansui may be on the back burner for a few weeks.

[opimax]

I have a g7700 that seems fine except some dirty contacts and the little electronic tuning part just goes nuts but the unit does tune things in normally. It is my test to make sure all is normal w/other equipment/only analog (no electronic anything) amp/receiver. 115 or 130 a channel, seems that their watts are bigger than Sony's :)

any insight on that tuner/signal strength do-hicky? :)


Mark

[SEAWOLF97]

from my experience, if you get the Sansui working right, it will have been worth the effort :D

[JBL 4645]

I like the look of that and a built in Dolby noise reduction system. Can you get the Dolby system to patch in with one of the two front channels or other as some DVD titles do have a little hash or hiss on some films transferred to DVD!

[oznob]

I want to thank Rj for putting me in touch with Jim Masingill. For troubleshooting and basic repair it is going to cost about $150, $300 for a full blown re-build. That's not including the shipping cost to Orange County and back. Fixing it will have to wait for some other projects to be finished. I do intend to get it working sometime in the not too distant future.

Mark

[bigstereo]

No problem Mark. Glad to be of some help. Jim is supposed to be the best of the best.
I just drove down to Ohio yesterday and got my 9090db back from my east coast tech who gave it a thorough going over to include- new tuner string, replace all lamps, replace meter lamps with super brite LEDS, added a rectifier and a cap for the supply to the LEDS, cleaned all controls, burnished speaker relay contacts, modified the relay circuit so it does'nt short the speakers to ground when the relay is turned off, resoldered all the feedthrus on the dolby board, align the tuner, adjust the poweramp offset and idle current adjust the dolby gains adjust the meter calibration, bench tested 24 hrs.
Now I am going to reveneer the case and she'll be done. Yeah, I like this receiver. She's a keeper.

[SEAWOLF97]

Now I am going to reveneer the case and she'll be done. .

Got to admit, the original "veneer" was the cheesiest wood print plastic film veneer that I've ever seen on a great receiver.

The assembly folks were out of synch, I guess.....:banghead:

[garyl]

Got to admit, the original "veneer" was the cheesiest wood print plastic film veneer that I've ever seen on a great receiver.

The assembly folks were out of synch, I guess.....:banghead:

I'm thinking more along the lines they put the money inside which is why they are still worth repairing and keeping. It is some cheesy vinyl junk and I can't help but wonder just how much more it would have cost to do these cabinets in real wood veneer.

I have redone a few of my G 8000 and G 9000 units and they sure do look great with nice wood dresses but what caused me to even want to spend the time and effort was the great sound quality and the pretty face.

Gary

[bigstereo]

Got to admit, the original "veneer" was the cheesiest wood print plastic film veneer that I've ever seen on a great receiver.

The assembly folks were out of synch, I guess.....:banghead:

Actually Seawolf you are thinking of the Sansui G series receivers that have the vinyl. Other than the covering on the G series they are beautiful pieces. I'd love to add a pristine G9000 to my collection someday.
My 9090db and the rest of the XOXO series has real wood veneer, although it's not the greatest.

[SEAWOLF97]

Actually Seawolf you are thinking of the Sansui G series receivers that have the vinyl. Other than the covering on the G series they are beautiful pieces. I'd love to add a pristine G9000 to my collection someday.
My 9090db and the rest of the XOXO series has real wood veneer, although it's not the greatest.

I've never seen a "G" series, I do have an 8080db tho.

http://audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=12785

When I got it, the film ( not even printed vinyl) that is wood printed , that goes over a "kinda beige" substrate was peeling off. It was just a cheesy film, like Pioneer did in the 80's.

I peeled it all off, since it looked so bad, had planned to add real veneer over the substrate before the weak channel thing started.
Now I have so many other choices among my inventory that the Sansui project is just one of many in the que. :(

( I dont listen to FM anymore , just XM....so I wud be using the Sansui for switching and power,,,,,,but I got a great APT/Holman preamp last month and a huge BGW 750D amp that is providing 450wpc into my 4 ohm system - ONLY 375wpc into 8 ohm) so really the need for the restored Sansui is low....anybody in the market for 1 ?

[bigstereo]

One of the previous owners must have re-covered yours with that stuff at one point. AFAIK the XOXO's all had wood veneer over plywood.
The G series were the last of the monster receivers built by Sansui just prior to the end of the receiver wars of the late 70's that went on between Marantz, Pioneer, Sansui, and even Kenwood tried to throw their hat in the ring. The G series were the most powerful of all Sansui's.

[dllyons]

Yeah, from my own experience- fix it ! It's a nice receiver !

I now have 3 vintage era receivers, and all of them are 125wpc beasts.
I've got a Marantz 2325, a Sansui 9090DB, and a Kenwood KR-8010, and in my opinion, that's the order I'd rank them in quality and sound, with the Sansui only a half a notch lower than the Marantz. You can easily see the quality construction of the Kenwood is down from the other two.

[oznob]

I do plan on getting it fixed I just can't see putting it in my garage, that and I have other projects going. There may be a pair of 4412's in my future also?:hmm: I have a nice main system that I really do not want to replace, plus it has remote control. Not a big deal to some but I'm getting lazy as I get older. I guess it's only money!