70's amp or modern one?

First of all, excuse me for my bad English, I'm from Belgium..

I've had a Sansui 8080db (Wharfedale 9.5 speakers), didn't realise how good the sound was, i selled the amp..
Now i own a Marantz sr5300 and a sr7300. Man, awful stereo sound in comparison with my old Sansui! (what do other people think?)

Now I'm planning on buying a new amp (only for stereo music). So should i buy a modern one? Cause since my experience with the gorgeous sansui and the afwul sounding marantz, i would rather buy a sansui again?

If you already know you like Sansui that would be your best bet. There are some good modern amps but you'd have to go and listen to see if any please you as much as your Sansui. The Sansui depending on model could be cheaper too price for performance. I had an AU-9500 and it would hold it's own with some pretty expensive integrated amps of today.

Marantz has its own unique warm sound. Either you like it or you don't. Find another Sansui since you know you like the sound.

yeah thaii, stick to the old stuff. I own both Marantz and Sansui and they have amazing sound quality! The new stuff they make today is not that great!

I have the 9090DB and I can imagine when you replaced it with the Marantz SR series. If you want to have good Marantz receiver look for the 22XX series.

from where in belgium are you? nice to see a fellow country man here :)

the vintage scene in belgium is pretty limited, and what you can find is pretty expensive IMHO,

there is a nice vintage marantz set on kapaza though...
I can assure you, vintage marantz is entirely different from new marantz.
link tot marantz set

that's a fair price for it :)

Keep them spinning,
Bert.

Thanx for all your answers!

Jup, offer is limited here..

I was planning on buying a Sansui g9000 or g7000, is there much difference between them?
Or also an option is the pioneer sx850..

I didn't listen too many marantz's yet, so maybe some other brands may be a good alternative. I've read some good things bout the stereo amps of harman kardon?

Also nad 3020 is available..

@Bert: ja ik heb de marantz set ook al gezien maar er zijn geen reviews voor de marantz 3250 hier?

The different between G-9000 and G-7000 is the wattage.

G-9000 is 160W per channel

G-7000 is 85W per channel

The Pioneer SX-850 is 65W per channel but compared with the Sansui receivers you are looking at, it is nothing.
If you get the Sansui receivers you are looking at, you will be very happy and they have a lot of power. There is a G-9000DB. Those receivers cost a lot and they are hard to find!

I agree, Pioneer wouldn't even be a consideration to a vintage Sansui. Older HK receivers are very good. All discrete, high current output stages with ultra wide frequency response, their amps have very conservative power ratings so don't get hung up on that. I'm not sure about the Sansui receivers but my AU9500 would have beat up on most NAD I've heard.

The older HK twin designs are second to none for sound quality. I have both a 630 and 930 twin, fully restored and would never even consider getting rid of them. The 930 is super powerful with a warm quality.

This was Sansui's first solid state(1968),and I have it.. Does it compare with there later great models?

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Originally Posted by Bill K Davis

This was Sansui's first solid state(1968),and I have it.. Does it compare with there later great models?

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I know this amp but I can't tell you if it compares with the other amps and receivers

thanx for all the replies!

Think i'm gonna buy a vintage receiver, see a lot of positive reactions.
So dakatabg said that pioneer sx850 is nothing compared to the Sansui g7000? I think sansui was the top in the 70's or not? Are there better alternatives for the g7000? Can't find many marantz's so thats sad..

And what about the Kenwood kr9600? or 10 000 ll..?

What would be a good price for a sansui g7000db in very good condition? I can buy one for 290euro = 376$
Or a g9000db also in very good condition with professional modified speaker connections for 746$..

Or are there maybe better modern amplifiers second hand of this price range?

What would be my best bet?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thaii

@Bert: ja ik heb de marantz set ook al gezien maar er zijn geen reviews voor de marantz 3250 hier?

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geen idee, maar die serie was wel vrij degelijk toen bij marantz...

Ik heb zelf veel geluk gehad met een Luxman Receiver, een R-800, met een beetje geluk vindt je nog wel een R-1050, die (naar mijn mening), bij de beste receivers ooit gebouwd waren, in die tijd. wel minder vermogen dan de super-watt receivers, maar voor de meeste toepassingen is die zeker wel voldoende :)

Succes!

Keep them spinning,
Bert

The prices are ok, you can find a better deal for sure but you live in Europe so I don't know how there the electronics deals are. If you want just go and get the G-9000DB and I am sure that you will be very satisfied with it!

Let us know how it goes

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dakatabg

The prices are ok, you can find a better deal for sure but you live in Europe so I don't know how there the electronics deals are. If you want just go and get the G-9000DB and I am sure that you will be very satisfied with it!

Let us know how it goes

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that's a pretty reasonable price, here in europe (well, belgium, at least), prices for vintage are murdering... good vintage is scarce, and whenever they come one the net, they're being hunted after, which raises prices, of course...

Yeah there's not much choice sadly. It's actually a Sansui G-701db, it's the american version of the G-7000?

Maybe someone knows more? Google doesn't give me much information..

Depending on the prices of new gear in Europe for $746.00 I'd go new. Sounds like vintage is pricing themselves out of the market. It's only so good.

I'm not familiar with the 7077 but my guess seeing it was Sansui's first transistor amp it probably isn't so great. Not too many new technologies are up to par right out of the gate.

life expectancy of caps are somewhere around 30 years

Another question, can you connect an active subwoofer to a vintage amp on the pre out?

@basite: Ik kan een Luxman r-800 kopen voor 50euro, in superstaat, doen?

you can indeed connect a sub to the pre outs on an amp :)

about the Luxman; it just happens that I own a R-800 myself!
I got it for free though (had some luck at a container park...)

for 50 euro's I'd grab it!, they are nowhere near the power of the amps you've been looking at previously, but they are very well built, excellent tuner, excellent phono stage, symmetric output stages, pretty beefy transformer for a 40 watt/ch receiver..;

I like the sound it gives with my large advents, it didn't have any trouble neither driving stacked advents, pretty dynamic actually, especially considering the somewhat lower power output compared to the super receivers built several years later...

I've had no experience with the sansui you owned, but it was a more powerful and later unit than the R-800, which is from '74.

For €50, I'd say grab it. They sell for 150 - 200 on the second hand market if you're lucky, 50 is a more than reasonable price, so if you decide to flip it, it's a win win situation :)

I'm going to recap mine during the summer vacation, and entirely clean it out, veneer the wooden case again :), it's my daily listening radio system, and I never heard my advents sing like this with them :), of course, my main system is in a completely different league, but yeah, you could very much say that I like the luxman!

I see you added me on msn, btw :)

Keep them spinning,
Bert.

I would say stay with what you like. It seems like the opinion hear is that the vintage Sansui is some good stuff to own. If you can find another one I would go for it.

I own Marantz 2250B and 2230 and I have Sansui 9090DB. According to my ears both sound amazing however I feel that the Marantz has a little bit warmer sound.