Sometimes you come across a manufacturer and your eyes are opened. Most people in my age group (45) will probably have come across a Sansui of some sort at one point or another in the last 30 years or so. In my case, my first Sansui memory was the SR-222IV turntable, a highly regarded budget turntable of the early 80s. I don't recall too many other products, but their amps and tuners turned up in shops of the day (Laskys!) pretty regularly.
Moving on a decade or so into the 90s and Sansui were in decline in the UK and globally. They made a few decent amps, but broadly speaking the glory days were behind them. By 2000, they were a footnote in hifi history.
So move on to 2009 and there's me, sat at home listening to my stereo and wondering what's going on with the sound; too sharp, too bright, plenty of detail, but the Marantz amp and CD player weren't getting on well with the Mission 752s. Time for a new amp. Tried a few, none worked and then, browsing another forum (yes, heresy I know...) (actually, it was quite a few other forums), I came across the Sansui name all over again. Eh?
Suddenly one or two models started to appear, some of which were pretty high end, decidedly impressively specced, desirable and best of all, apparently excellent and very musical amps.
One range stood out, commencing manufacture in the mid to late 1970s, they were denoted by the "17" suffix to the model number. By now, I'd already picked up a tuner (the TU-317) and was on the case for one of their amps. The build was wonderful on the tuner; big, robust and wonderful olde worlde tuning flywheel that carried a satisfyingly solid weight when turned. These guys were good!
I picked up a Sansui AU-217 amp about three or four months back thanks to a forgotten bid that was good enough to win one week. £33 and a few days later, this little revelation turned up and, after some running in, turned in a performance that, for what it is, blew me away. Everything I'd heard about the range appeared to be coming true. The sound was underpinned by a sense of place in the musical picture, but not to the point of detail overkill - this just sounded like music you could listen to for hours. So I did.
Fast forward to last week and another auction - this time the higher end AU-717, one off the top of the 17 series range and the one for me. No, no, put it off, wait till another time. Mind you, as the saying goes up here in my part of the world (Scotland) "yer a lang time deid"! In went the bid! I stuck in a bid to register early on, as opposed to just watching and this meant I could do a quick bid on my phone at a later time if I had to. As it was, I was at home and slammed in a huge max bid at the end. Turned out, I paid less than £200 for it, delivery included, and all things considered, unfair comparison though it is, there isn't anything at the price going new that touches it. Or for a good few quid more I suspect!
The 717 is huge. 18 kgs, 40lbs or solid Japanese classic amp. Internal build shows a lot happening that is way over my head, but result in 85wpc to the 752s. The PCBs are mounted vertically, so any service engineer getting to these is going to be unloading a lot of hardware to change any of the components, doesn't look like a job for a beginner.
Lid back on, the front fascia displays a near bewildering arrange of filter switches, push buttons on the tone controls that display various settings and so on, selector knob and balance. Functionality heaven - can hardly believe I used to be a minimalist fan; now I find there is a certain "samey" look to a lot of kit these days.
I hesitate to use the word "bland" as there's undoubtedly a lot of impressive equipment out there that looks the part (Unison, NVA, Densen...) but at the same time, there's just as much that leaves me nonplussed at what is a bland homogeneity in the current marketplace. Much of a muchness to a certain extent, but, whether you have a power switch, selector and volume control or a plethora of switches and buttons, 'twas ever thus in the industry I suppose.
The 717 will take two sets of speakers for use independently or together, it'll also take a power amp (heh heh...!) but for me, this is going to be used for the CD player and on occasion, for the DVD player for the children's DVDs and the occasional film. Other than that, we're looking at an amp that just needs to handle one source. So, power switch, tone defeat and volume. Job done.
Once the protection circuitry has done its thing, the red power LED remains constant and you can start this thing doing the business. I left it to warm up for a while (an hour or so) and then sat down with a bunch of CDs. Julie Feeney's "Pages" album, Madness recent masterpiece "The Liberty of Norton Folgate", Joni Mitchell's "Night Ride Home", Genesis "A Trick of the Tail" and a bunch of others. All impress.
The first thing you notice is the house sound - elements of what I heard in the 217 that I ran for some months before were here. Not surprising perhaps, but it shows how good the 217 is. What the 717 adds on top however is akin to a weightlifter picking up a baby; an effortless ease, plenty of power on tap and readily available if needed, but capable and handling what it is offered with plenty to spare. Make no mistake, this thing will go loud.
There is a solidity and body to the music that wasn't there before. Music is presented with scale, dynamism, subtlety and a presentation you could sit with and enjoy for hours. It lets you forget about the equipment and concentrate on the disc you're playing, which is hi-fi's other main job. The soundstage is impressive too, though this is a talent with the Mission speakers, the Sansui just brings more of it out. That scale thing again.
Needless to say, I'm impressed, even at this early stage. If you ever get the opportunity to try one of these amps out and are prepared to buy secondhand gear, you really need to be shortlisting the 717.
Moving on a decade or so into the 90s and Sansui were in decline in the UK and globally. They made a few decent amps, but broadly speaking the glory days were behind them. By 2000, they were a footnote in hifi history.
So move on to 2009 and there's me, sat at home listening to my stereo and wondering what's going on with the sound; too sharp, too bright, plenty of detail, but the Marantz amp and CD player weren't getting on well with the Mission 752s. Time for a new amp. Tried a few, none worked and then, browsing another forum (yes, heresy I know...) (actually, it was quite a few other forums), I came across the Sansui name all over again. Eh?
Suddenly one or two models started to appear, some of which were pretty high end, decidedly impressively specced, desirable and best of all, apparently excellent and very musical amps.
One range stood out, commencing manufacture in the mid to late 1970s, they were denoted by the "17" suffix to the model number. By now, I'd already picked up a tuner (the TU-317) and was on the case for one of their amps. The build was wonderful on the tuner; big, robust and wonderful olde worlde tuning flywheel that carried a satisfyingly solid weight when turned. These guys were good!
I picked up a Sansui AU-217 amp about three or four months back thanks to a forgotten bid that was good enough to win one week. £33 and a few days later, this little revelation turned up and, after some running in, turned in a performance that, for what it is, blew me away. Everything I'd heard about the range appeared to be coming true. The sound was underpinned by a sense of place in the musical picture, but not to the point of detail overkill - this just sounded like music you could listen to for hours. So I did.
Fast forward to last week and another auction - this time the higher end AU-717, one off the top of the 17 series range and the one for me. No, no, put it off, wait till another time. Mind you, as the saying goes up here in my part of the world (Scotland) "yer a lang time deid"! In went the bid! I stuck in a bid to register early on, as opposed to just watching and this meant I could do a quick bid on my phone at a later time if I had to. As it was, I was at home and slammed in a huge max bid at the end. Turned out, I paid less than £200 for it, delivery included, and all things considered, unfair comparison though it is, there isn't anything at the price going new that touches it. Or for a good few quid more I suspect!
The 717 is huge. 18 kgs, 40lbs or solid Japanese classic amp. Internal build shows a lot happening that is way over my head, but result in 85wpc to the 752s. The PCBs are mounted vertically, so any service engineer getting to these is going to be unloading a lot of hardware to change any of the components, doesn't look like a job for a beginner.
Lid back on, the front fascia displays a near bewildering arrange of filter switches, push buttons on the tone controls that display various settings and so on, selector knob and balance. Functionality heaven - can hardly believe I used to be a minimalist fan; now I find there is a certain "samey" look to a lot of kit these days.
I hesitate to use the word "bland" as there's undoubtedly a lot of impressive equipment out there that looks the part (Unison, NVA, Densen...) but at the same time, there's just as much that leaves me nonplussed at what is a bland homogeneity in the current marketplace. Much of a muchness to a certain extent, but, whether you have a power switch, selector and volume control or a plethora of switches and buttons, 'twas ever thus in the industry I suppose.
The 717 will take two sets of speakers for use independently or together, it'll also take a power amp (heh heh...!) but for me, this is going to be used for the CD player and on occasion, for the DVD player for the children's DVDs and the occasional film. Other than that, we're looking at an amp that just needs to handle one source. So, power switch, tone defeat and volume. Job done.
Once the protection circuitry has done its thing, the red power LED remains constant and you can start this thing doing the business. I left it to warm up for a while (an hour or so) and then sat down with a bunch of CDs. Julie Feeney's "Pages" album, Madness recent masterpiece "The Liberty of Norton Folgate", Joni Mitchell's "Night Ride Home", Genesis "A Trick of the Tail" and a bunch of others. All impress.
The first thing you notice is the house sound - elements of what I heard in the 217 that I ran for some months before were here. Not surprising perhaps, but it shows how good the 217 is. What the 717 adds on top however is akin to a weightlifter picking up a baby; an effortless ease, plenty of power on tap and readily available if needed, but capable and handling what it is offered with plenty to spare. Make no mistake, this thing will go loud.
There is a solidity and body to the music that wasn't there before. Music is presented with scale, dynamism, subtlety and a presentation you could sit with and enjoy for hours. It lets you forget about the equipment and concentrate on the disc you're playing, which is hi-fi's other main job. The soundstage is impressive too, though this is a talent with the Mission speakers, the Sansui just brings more of it out. That scale thing again.
Needless to say, I'm impressed, even at this early stage. If you ever get the opportunity to try one of these amps out and are prepared to buy secondhand gear, you really need to be shortlisting the 717.
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