Sansui AU-517 and AU-719 restorations (lotsa pics!)

[Marco]

If you don't intend playing around with power leads, hard-wiring is always better, as IEC sockets are nasty things, sonically - even the 'fancy' ones!

Marco.

[pete_mac]

Even though it has been a while since I've posted on AOS, I've still been lurking in the background on a regular basis. I thought I'd post a little update re: my beloved AU-719 long-term project.

As mentioned earlier in the thread, this was a non-working unit which was brought back to life by Dad (skippy124 on various forums) after a lot of hard work and troubleshooting, including sourcing a NOS Sansui board from sansui-parts-shop.com. She has been fully recapped with Panasonic FCs, ECQVs and Elna Silmic IIs, and the power supply filter caps with Epcos screw terminal capactors. I have a few more potential tweaks here and there - possibly the installation of metal film or other fancy resistors in the preamp/signal path, and I also need to get around to fitting a pair of 22pf silver micas into the phono stage. The sound quality is very nice indeed.

Cosmetically (and I would argue functionally ) I fitted CMC solid copper binding posts and a heavy duty Belden 19364 power cable and silver-plated Martin Kaiser AUS power plug. A resprayed top cover addressed the issue of the worn scratched original cover.








Dad also managed to secure a NOS Sansui faceplate for the 719 (and also my 517) which means they both look as-new when viewed from the front. The current faceplates are quite clean, but there are a few minor nicks on the top and the sides. You just can't beat brand new - I reckon these would most likely be the last NOS 517 and 719 face plates in the world! I will fit the new face plate in future once I stop moving the amp around so much, as I'd hate to nick it.




The last piece of the puzzle is the base plate. The cheap non-painted silver base plate looks cheap and nasty. Dad drew up the original AU-717 base plate in a CAD program and organised for a few new base plates to be made up and had them powdercoated (or painted... I forget which) in black.

They look very nice indeed and very OEM apart from the lack of the warning sticker. Unfortunately there is a minor difference in a few screw holes vs the 717 base plate along the rear edge, but for the time being there are still six or seven screws holding the new base plate in position, so it is rock solid.

I might even look at cleaning-up the original 719 base plate some day (there is light corrosion and surface rust) and painting it black. If it turns out nicely, I will refit it (due to the extra mounting holes) and the current black base plate can be used on a future Sansui project instead.

Overall I'm ecstatic with the black base plate as it really completes the look and "de-cheapifies" the 719. The exterior of this amp is now closer to the better-built 517/717 in terms of its external appearance.

A big thanks to Dad for taking the initiative to draw up the base plate for one of his own projects, and his generosity in having a spare base plate made up for me at the same time :thmbsp:














The amp currently taking pride of place in my system is a restored Sansui AU-X701. Whilst the front panel is a departure from the earlier amps (this is a 1987 model) the X-balanced circuit design is a class above IMHO.

She's been fully recapped with Nichicons, Panasonics and Elna Silmic IIs thoughout, as well as eight new Bourns trimpots and a pair of nice DNM slit-foil power supply filter capacitors (designed and manufactured in the UK of course). A heavy duty Belden 19364 power cord has also been fitted in place of the oringal figure 8 power cable.

This amp sounds brilliant!

[MartinT]

Nice work, Pete. Those NOS front panels do look good.

[REXTON]

Brilliant stuff.

[istari_knight]

Nice work, they dont make 'em like that anymore! I used to have an AU-3900 which always sounded nice.

[pete_mac]

Thanks for the kind words all, and I promise that I will make the time to post here more regularly. As mentioned earlier, I regularly lurk in the background as I always find valuable information and opinions on AOS, so I really should participate more often.

[Ian Walker]

http://www.sansui.us/Amplifiers.htm

Here's some Sansui phoowee..

Ian.

[Seoolas]

Hey,
I happen to be an AU-719 owner as well and I would really like it if I could see the pictures of your restoration.

[snowman_al]

Hi Panos, and welcome.

If you use Chrome or Firefox browsers you can now add an extension to them that will show most old 'photobucket' pictures.
Google ''photobucket hot link fix'' or ''photobucket embedded image fix'' and use the one you like best.