Sansui XR-Q9 Turntable from hell

This is one of those nightmare turntables from the 80s that should never have been made. So many faults, and only one guarantee, that something else will break soon.

[@calypso22]

What a nightmare! When you opened it up, I couldn't believe the complexity. I have a Hitachi HT-20S (belt), A Technics SL-D2 and an SL-D3 (both direct drive). Very clean and simple designs. Working on these was a joy and the are now working perfectly.

[@lstein3372]

Thanks for straightening the cartridge. That angle was beginning to trigger my OCD.

[@berniestep]

"....10lb sledgehammer" LMFAO .........you have the patience of a saint sir!

[@thegreenbomb]

I bought one, brand new, (wonderful sound!) at the beginning of the 80s, when they first came out, and used it for about 15 years. And it still sounded great. I wish I could get another one. But that is another life ago. Beautiful, pretty, sleek. Coulda, shoulda, woulda says if those clutches were that bad, and needed replacing as often as you say, getting a small stock pile of said clutches would have been a great idea. Oh well, can't predict the future can we. Wonderful video. You shouldn't get so frustrated with a machine, it's just a machine. Old machines are going to have problems, how many problems is for you to figure out, that's why you're so good. Just take your time and eventually you'll get finished, and be proud that you did it. I am amazed at how you did fix this turntable. Such complexity and you knew what everything was and what it does, and you were able to put all the pieces back in place. Did you have any spare parts at the end?

[@johnhpalmer6098]

Yep, this was a time when Sansui was cutting corners to try and overcome the labor issues due to the fall of the yen as their economy was in freefall or something like that. I had a rack system from Sansui for my first "true" stereo, it had the cheap direct drive semi auto, the PD-10 turntable, the motor was the cheap circuit board version of this motor and the flat round magnet was not level, so if the spindle was not set right, and it would often drift out, the magnet would drag on one spot of the circuit board the stators were printed on and it'd cause a major wow, once a revolution. At times it was pretty obvious. I had a bit better, but still budget belt drive Kenwood table from the same era roughly and it was also semi auto, got it from my parents in 1999 after my father passed on and my mother no longer wanted the big rig so the table came home with me and it did yeoman's duty for 21 years and with a good external phono stage and a Grado prestige green 1 cart, properly setup, it sounded and performed great for what it was. I've replaced it with a Rega P6, brand new in April and it's a MUCH better table than the Kenwood ever was. Anyway, will resume watching you try to get this old thing going again!

[@alexispieltin9379]

Wow, I'm impressed you had the patience to repair one of these "low flying" turntables from hell. Really impressive job!!! I've also done some of these turntables. And when it says full auto quartz direct drive, I know it can soon end in a monstrous time consuming job, and this one looks particularly a pain in the .... As for the parts mostly unavailable now, many of these decks simply ends now in the recycle circuit. Some also easily sell them to fools on the internet. Sansui wanted something of their own with a minimal budget, they produced a pale copy of Sony, whose mechanism are also particularly tricky (and prone to fail). Sansui is one representative of these Japanese brands once famous for quality, loosing a technical and commercial battle. Entering CD, turntables were also abruptly considered as "dead species", like reel to reels decks in the mid 70's! Most Japanese companies ended producing low quality electronics, survivors later moving their production to China in the early 1990'. The recorded track on the platter with magnetic heads are also classic on a Sony, but arms mechanism and limit switches are different, as the eventual optical auto detection (holes in the platter) of disk size. Sony also used some home brewed ICs and a thinner motor... Turntables are one of the most demanding audio stuff, as any mechanical problem has a direct incidence on the audio result, when it simply works! If you add electronics and sophisticated gears, this will necessarily implies complicated stuff, limited space, short wirings, tons of things to unmount to access essential parts, special lubricants and greases... and lots and lots of hours. Of course, if the result is perfect, you can expect to get some valuable item, as these mid 1980's turntables were supposed built with the ultimate technologies developed for vinyle audio. But these Sansuis are certainly some of the poorest manufactured I've seen, and somehow the worst choice available for the price and reputation. Of course, you can always find some workig poorer and sounding poorer than that, particularly in the most recent production! In the 1980's production, there are also numerous "last models", fairly good Denon, Technics, Sony and Pioneer with full auto features and "classic" arm, S or straight shaped! Some top end also included tangential arms systems, or some servo controlled antiskate arm, but you cannot get some real good audio and working system there without the proper budget. As the vinyle technology continued in Japan, beware of strange high end 100V only models! My advice as technician is to avoid full auto features if you can't afford 500 bucks minimum for a mint vintage working model, or stay on something more simple, a semi auto or full manual will give you something way more reliable and easier to manage. As for the audiophile aspect, most of the high end audio turntables are or look simple: you can always get something relatively simple and reliable, and spend much on the cartridge and the sound quality.

[@johnb5519]

You never cease to amaze with your knowledge of how these systems work. If our brains were measured in computer terms, yours would definitely be in the terra bytes. My uncle had one of those Sansui turntables that played the bottom and top of the record, I wonder how bad they would have been to work on.

[@hugobloemers4425]

That's why I like Automatic turntables from the 60's and 70's Long live the Dual 1019

[@ilovemysmartmeter]

Right mechanical units.

[@teacfan1080]

Love my Magnavox micro-matic changer. I can track at 2 grams on that thing, gentle on records.

[@rogerchurch3804]

if it is from hell just throw it back there oh man i laughed when i saw that description somtimes they try too hard too much junk 80s computer wizardry lol equals real headache lol! still nice video !

[@TheStuffMade]

Now I love my manual turntable even more. Ok I admit I did have to add an aftermarket auto lifter to lift the tonearm when the record is finished, but still, it's a manual turntable.

[@AndyP126]

I don't think the issue is the automatic. It's HOW the automatic was done. All of my TTS are automatic, and none of them are this complicated.

[@bugdrvr]

Makes me appreciate my Technics 1800Mk2. A bit of circuitry for the motor but built well enough to be bullet proof. Speaking of 80's Sansui, I have a really nice AU-919 that's awaiting restoration when I get to it. NLA high speed outputs, corrosive glue and shorted caps don't go well together so I haven't even powered it up aside from a function check on a current limiter when I got it.

[@docfoot316]

A record alright ,you need a trophy for fixing this crap ,I do admire your patients you have i think the sledge hammer would have come out if it was me .Well done and you certainly have a great knowledge.

[@Thanson199415]

I have a rare Scott PS-76 turntable from 1978 made in japan, it was my 2nd but first REAL turntable. My first was the Audio Technica PL-50 which is just like the common LP-60 but with a different body style. I loved my first, it did me well. But when I came across that Scott for $50 although it need a complete cartridge swap. Best manual record player I had yet. It's 1978 with direct drive. And I have 3 cartridges for it. The common AT-3600, the AT95e and my beloved AT-100e. It came with a discontinued Denon DL-160 and unfortunately the cantilever was broken right off. This turntable is still working flawlessly... to this day!! I luv it because it's my first with and actual counter weight, antiskate, direct drive and/or locked speed or variable speed... freakin luv this turntable. ok I'm done hahaha

[@ilovemysmartmeter]

I have 2 great turntables. A technics sl-m1 manual direct drive and a thorens td165.

[@chrisschanneloftechnology4743]

Too complicated for my liking. A poor design for sure. All of this extra stuff is not necessary for a record player to function. I don't know what they were going for.

[@12voltvids]

A real turn table has a power switch and a tone arm. Perhaps a speed selector.

[@BoB4jjjjs]

Going to the tip I reckon!

[@Thanson199415]

You make quality videos, luv them!

[@arthurdanielles4784]

Totally absorbed watching you with this invention from hell 👀 well a devil of a job to fix. It's a perfect example of why the manufacturers only ever gave 1 or 2 years guarantee. What is worse of course for those such as yourself decades later, is how customers complain re the cost for repairs et usually after getting the said item for pence from ie thrift or charity et What most don't appreciate your obvious experience and expertise that you can not put a price on. Gotta hit that subscribe button. 👍😊

[@Mikexception]

. Automatic operation is extremely useful and saves both needle and LPs but I agree it is pain to repair. I use since 2015 automatic Bang Olusen which is done much more reasonably and driven all by main motor and even I have little problems with troubleshooting I pray that it works forever. Because it has obvious advantage of little mass of arm and pickup.

[@12voltvids]

Saves needie and record. Ya right, a good dampener on a manual turntable doesn't damage record. I don't know about you but I made mix tapes and many times the track I want to listen to is not the first track. Only good if you want to listen to entire album and so many records had 1 good track and the rest garbage.

[@Mikexception]

@@12voltvids I agree. Also I do the same - record to tape tracks from LP and mix in my personal order with other LPs . Then I have 4 hours tapes to play my top list which now is already about 30 Hours. Also from CDs. I skip some tracks Just for not searching all time in boxes of shelves and not dance with shells. But after time I see that I need to turn back to them also. So I need plate too. Also if I just want to listen to something coming to my mind it takes time to wind reels and find. Picking chosen LP and putting is quick. . My taste is defined, may be not so popular and on my records I do not find true garbage - I gave up buying new production at all. . . I was lucky few months ago to get LP preamp (first which at last matches my system) and In fact it is again new experience,. What I like in my turntable is that if only I place LP i press the button and can turn back and sit. I am less tense than with with my CD player which is also from B&O and remote controlled but must wait for opening doors, opening CD before placing, place and eventually close CD, door will close itself and start and happens not to start sometime. For LPs some distortions are enough compensated (for me) by it's original mastering which I consider more valid than 90dB noiseless. .

[@GeorgeGeorge-xj2bc]

The typical design in audio equipment was that the technician had to desolder many cables from the board and then start working to repair the issue.Was common to cassette players and decks if had to replace even a belt,amplifiers that had no access from the external cover need wire desoldering,walkman tapes and miniature sized.That was the reason that the majority of the repair technicians hated to repair audio and prefered to work on televisions and vcr's.Shorter repair times and a lot more money.

[@markanderson350]

I never was a big Sansui fan, some great receivers though. This one looks a giant experiment on being radically different for no special reason.

[@ilovemysmartmeter]

More things to break.

[@markanderson350]

@@ilovemysmartmeter So we take an operation like moving an arm to the record and dropping it, we could use a cam wheel and linkage's for and replace it with motors, optos, logic boards, belts and regulators just to break down more and drive the tech crazy?

[@sergeaudenaert]

What a patience!! Great job

[@mrjsv4935]

Is this really 40 years old, from 1980? Somehow to me it looks pretty modern for it's age. Black plastic case, electronics and digital LED display gives me an impression from later 80's :) Then again, I don't know much about these so most likely I'm wrong :P Only turn table I've ever used, was in my parents JVC stereo system, which we bought in the late 80's. I think the model number was JVC AL-E31BK and the stereosystem JVC DR-E31BK or DR-E31LBK. The system had CD player too, JVC XL-E31BK. Have you ever stumbled upon this kind of JVC system? Are these any good? The system was sold in 2018 because my parents moved to smaller place and there was no space for it anymore. Never needed any repairs so at least our unit worked reliably all this time, about 30 years.

[@間周山火弟生]

昭和54→1979

[@twiff3rino28]

Right. I was going to say 1984-86.

[@photopuppet]

Putting an oxide layer inside of the platter lip and then using the heads to read a tone that determines the speed seems like a massively over engineered idea when just a photodiode/LED or hall effect sensor in the motor would be more reliable and cheaper? Crazy stuff...

[@nickfrench7372]

I like the 10 pound hammer saying in the recording,,,I wouldn't blame you if it was your turntable.

[@rarbiart]

suggestion: Restring the CD doors of a Bang&Olufsen Beosystem. back in the days there was only one guy in the shop who did master that without getting mad. When he was on vacation we let customers with a Beosystem2500 wait for his return ;-)

[@teacfan1080]

if it was a headache back in the day, it's a full migraine now!

[@tidalserge4849]

i have one and im going to bypass all the auto fluff and it will be a manual now.. did it to a Sony table and works great as a manual table

[@davecooke914]

Love watching your videos hammer wud fix it what nitemere 👍

[@chillidogkev]

What an absolute piece of crap turntable...but what an absolutely great video to watch Dave. Very entertaining and informative and from a viewer perspective that's where its at. 12voltvids 1 / Sansui turntable 0. Excellent!

[@MrRadioGypsy]

The TOUGH fixes are BEST when you are victorious, because it will either be junk - or something cool.

[@stephenrobinson788]

hi.. love your vids... how do you rate sansui gear ..

[@12voltvids]

They had great stuff in the 60s and 70s even into the 80s and then like everyone else tumbled off the deep end.

[@stephenrobinson788]

@@12voltvids Yes I agree... got my sansui amp and cassette deck in 1975..loved them.... got quite a lot of sansui stuff now..... fantastic....

[@runepedersenDK]

It's blasphemy to use a wonderful prog-rock album like this for testing, even if it's worn out! 😉 I remember Sansui as a very good brand, great amps, tuners and receivers.

[@AlbertAGhazaleh]

What were Sansui thinkers thinking when they made this turntable.... lets make a turntable from hell

[@Mikexception]

That is fate of best producers who were in race in realization of great improvements. I only wonder what at time could be the price of this.

[@burgard2010]

Great vid. Like how you explain as you go. I like my Sony turn table PX LS510. No issues yet. I'm gona buy up all the sansewers and give them to you for Christmas to fix. Bahahaha.

[@wrappeda]

It only has to spin a disc & put a rock on it. Talk about re-invent the wheel & then invent a square one!! And tape technology for speed control? Um. Glad that was your job & not mine Well done you.

[@geirendre]

At 35:45 that cartridge is really out of alignment. It's supposed to be 90' to the grooves in the record, but this is way of. Time to bring out the protractor and fix Fault no. 6 or was it 7 or 8 ... No, wait, at 44:00 it looks fine. What??? BTW, there's one of these for sale on ebay now. USD 749 for a "Don't spin" unit.

[@martinda7446]

I would be tempted just to remove that whole lot and tell them its upgraded to fully manual. Amazing patience. Now I have to admit I have 'straightened' many a cantilever..Obviously it can't be done if it has been really bent - a 90 degree-er. Except that one was fubared - I just looked at the image, it had already been bent and repositioned and had crushed the tube at the bend point. They are still pretty cheap though.

[@ssks1979]

In my 80's circle of friends Sansui was San-Sewage!

[@12voltvids]

San-sewage was one my coworkers used too, and sanshity, shitsui, sansuzi ect. Since we sold sony and technics they were motivated to put down other brands. I would hear those names told to customers trying to sway them away from repairing their old unit.

[@dejanpislar2301]

During the 70s, Sansui was the most powerful Japanese HI-FI company. We all remember their legendary AU and TU series of amplifiers and tuners from 1978-1981….. Until today they are working very well. In the 80s Sansui engineers were ordered to save money in their design and the result was the bad Hi-FI. Today we have the same situation. Very well advertised and nice looking garbage is selling for lot of money... Remember where Nakamichi, Kenwood, Pioneer were in 70s and 80s and where are they today...

[@zx8401ztv]

What a bucket of crap!!, i have never been offered one and i'm very happy about that. Dave, Never ever accept another dog shit like that, bloody stressfull! :-( :-( I'm not receiving video updates from youtube for some reason, youtube is at it again!!.

[@KHzSineWave]

Nice detective work. Cool turntable but way too many gizmos to go wrong... Give me a Dual with the grease turned glue and the stupidpimpels any day!

[@12voltvids]

The one that it going up next was a real hand full and talk about detective work, it was a defect from the factory over 40 years ago that I found literally by fluke. After spending an entire day pulling my hair out because I couldn't find any defective parts that was causing the strange problem. Its a reel to reel so it is going to cost the guy a few bucks for this one.

[@KHzSineWave]

@@12voltvids Sounds interesting, can't wait to see it. I always learn something new about troubleshooting when I watch your videos. Reel to reels are so cool, I gave up once my tapes started shedding their oxide and sold my machine. I bet it will, R2R machines can be absolute time vampires.

[@dowelljeffries6981]

I'm so glad I have a Beogram

[@JasonTHutchinson]

E6000 cement would probably work to glue that clutch back together. That stuff will pretty much stick to everything.

[@Watcher3223]

What's your opinion of Sony Biotracer turntables? I imagine there are some models that were quite good and some that were disappointing.

[@Watcher3223]

@Kent Teffeteller Haven't had any problems with my PS-X600, or at least not yet. But, I've heard earlier Biotracer units were particularly saddled with problems.

[@HuntersMoon78]

When you give that back to the customer I bet you'll tell them not to bring it back.

[@ilovemysmartmeter]

I'm sure it will be up on ebay soon. I service for a few people that buy and then sell to the highest bidder.

[@coolelectronics1759]

hey man would you mind making a video on how to work with those little tortion springs without getting stabbed with them and them flying out and almost blinding me? I am working on this walkman and I am super frustrated getting one back in. It will undo itself and prick my finger and go flying across the room. Do they make a tool for these?

[@inamurato]

Too much circuitry for a turntable whose job is basically to rotate a record with proper speed, and drop and lift the tonearm. A clear example of how over-engineering can make things harder.

[@pafoofnic]

"It's a Sony!"

[@daniellcruikshank7922]

what a over engineered turntable that is

[@Thanson199415]

Just replace every single electronic component in that turntable, good to go... I'm kidding hahahahah

[@command8783]

Avoid 80's Sansui turntables! I bought a Sansui fr-d30. The Sansui was direct-drive but that arm mechanism was an overengineered mess, the arm and bearings were the cheapest I had ever seen (looks similar to a pioneer pl-12). Only thing I kept was the induced Magnet sc-50 cartridge that was allegedly made by Nagaoka. I sold the sansui, bougth a technics sl-b2. It was way cheaper in price then the sansui, it still works, it's easy to maintain, and the arm bearings aren't that bad

[@boinkmiguel]

i have a simiral problem with mine too a different model but with that same mechanical to move the tone arm. i just disabled mine took it off and use the turntable manually no automatic as long as the table is turning, thanks

[@draloha296]

I have one still working.

[@mauanderuk]

Good god the price of these things on the bay even non working!

[@12voltvids]

Fools and their money are soon separated.

[@JasonHalversonjaydog]

is all sansui equipment bad? only one i've owned was a dual tape deck back in the mid 90's. back then somebody recommended that brand to me, they said it was good. I liked mine anyway, never had a problem with it that required fixing in the 10-12 years i owned it

[@12voltvids]

No most was great. Especially the receivers in the 70s

[@12voltvids]

@Kent Teffeteller I have a 9900dB and it is a brute with gobs of power.

[@12voltvids]

@Kent Teffeteller None sound as my technics suv9. Now that amp sounds absolutely amazing. The 9090 has tons of power and distortion, lots of caps in it. My technics on the other hand direct coupled. Very low distortion. Musically my yaquin all tube amp sounds the smoothest.

[@michaelturner4457]

Should see Techmoan's review of a 1985 Sansui both side play record deck. The thing is horrid. And that one does have string driving the tone arm.

[@michaelturner4457]

1980s Sansui, I was rather expecting to see a load of string and plastic pulleys driving the tone arm.

[@jazbell7]

Wow that is complicated. I have a Gerrard automatic turntable which I think is purely mechanical.

[@38911bytefree]

All the automatic Sansui I knew I heard of had this automatic logic controll DISABLED. .... wondering why.

[@12voltvids]

Ah let me guess. Because it doesn't work! It's like the cone of silence in "get smart"

[@almonsnider6250]

I have an old Sony AM/FM radio turntable that I would like you to look at. How do I get a hold of you to talk about this? Thanks.

[@ilovemysmartmeter]

I would say you could email me but a troll is blowing his load signing my email up to every magazine news letter, religious web sites, fox news ect to I abandoned that email, so no way to contact me.

[@gaelfrenchy]

nice turntable i gonna try to find one ...aparently 12 volt can fix it

[@savvassidiropoulos5952]

35:50 - to me it looks like the angle of the cartridge is totally wrong, angled towards the inside of the record. Perhaps it's the angle of view. The turntable looks like a bad version of the Technics SL-1600MkII.

[@12voltvids]

It probably is in wrong. The stylus is all bent out of shape so that won't matter at this time.

[@theannoyedmrfloyd3998]

I would have used pieces of wire to affix those plastic pieces together.

[@12voltvids]

No room. It moves about .5 mm

[@BoB4jjjjs]

I used to deliver Sansui gear, most of it came back faulty, you would know if you delivered to an address one week the chances are you would be back next week to pick it up. Shame, some of looked nice enough, but it was just rubbish!

[@12voltvids]

Well we had nick names for it. Sansewage, sanshitty, sansuzi, sananyo.

[@BoB4jjjjs]

@@12voltvids We called them Shitsui lol.

[@ilovemysmartmeter]

@@BoB4jjjjs that too, forgot about that one.

[@bones007able]

Recording tape glued to the platter?.... geez... how easy is it to accidentally erase it or mess it up... it is lousy a design... that cartridge sure looked like it was way out of alignment to the record

[@12voltvids]

It's not tape, it is an oxide coating applied to the inside of the platter.

[@tomekkruger]

Sansui FR 55 have similar mechanism to move arm. Horrible design. This microswitches (black in 9:08) to detect up and down position of lift have poor contacts and this very quick corrosed. I have repaired two such turntables and I don't want more. Adjusting detection system of spaces between songs is the highest level of absurdity.

[@WackyT08]

Sansui audio products during this time period were totally crap.

[@12voltvids]

They're always total crap

[@rogerwilco5187]

I had one of these from new and the tone arm never moved reliably.

[@12voltvids]

They were junk from day 1. I hated them then and I haven't warmed up. O only did this because it was a challenge. I am dealing with a reel to reel that is turning into a fun one now.

[@Sergio_wolfgang88]

@@12voltvids can't wait to see that one.

[@12voltvids]

Have to try to get a part. Weird one motor speed takes off under no load, play a tape and it slows down to correct speed. Servo board is working and providing a correction voltage but under no load it just winds up. Provide a little load to the capstan and it locks in at right speed. Very strange problem.

[@rogerchurch3804]

jezz ive never seen a turntable with so many circut boards fuses how many motors are in there talk about over design well we know that one wont be a treasured classic lol!

[@12voltvids]

There are only 2

[@AndyP126]

Next time try plastic model cement. It will melt the plastic and fuse it together.

[@AndyP126]

@ That sucks. This is why I like old turntables. All the same features as a modern turntable "computer controlled" turntable from the 80s. Better numbers on paper, and far less crap inside to break.

[@nickfrench7372]

I rather stick to the mechanical type,,auto return turntable I have,,,that is 40 years old,,,and still works as it should. You would b having nightmares about the number of faults u had to fix on that turntable,,,especially the clutch mechanism! Sound like it was built by monkeys rather than technicians!!

[@radeon76]

if it was me I tell the customer invest in a better turntable but thats just me.

[@12voltvids]

It belongs to an ebay seller so someone will pay too much for this one.

[@duncan-rmi]

as neil young would say, "it's a piece of crap". I have a revox linear job & there's less nonsense inside that than there is in this sansui. & that magnetic stripe round the inside of the platter? insane. what was wrong with just machining some notches or doing it optically? crazy over-engineering. I think if I'd been presented with that thing, I'd've converted it to manual-everything. start-stop the motor, everything else you do by hand.

[@valentinnaumov8117]

There are 960 pulses in that magnetic strip for better aquraccy.

[@ElectoneGuy]

Way to complicated for its own good.

[@teacfan1080]

Sansui went kablooie! Jeez, way too over engineered for just a turntable. If they're going to over computerize this thing, funny it doesn't have the technology to detect the record size. But hey, you succeeded and hopefully never see another one again!

[@soothsayer2406]

I have a Sansui XR-Q7 that works flawlessly...Does it have the same problems as this Q9?.. Maybe the Unit was abused...

[@jasejj]

Short version -- 40 year old turntable has a common fault, an LED has blown and the device suffers from evident lack of care. If this had been made in the USA it would have been excellent of course.

[@HuntersMoon78]

HA! NO!

[@weh000000000000001]

Would you like some cheese with that whine?

[@12voltvids]

Scotch! Real men drink scotch. Wine is for women.

[@Sergio_wolfgang88]

@@12voltvidshahaha that's a good one.

[@The31262]

every thing made by Sansewage was garbage! Hated to see any of their products come into the shop! I used ti sic the newbe techs on them so I could take the good stuff! Pioneer, Tecnics, Sony, Nacamichi, Akia

[@12voltvids]

We called them shitsui and unfortunately i had to fix them because i was the only licensed tech in the shop. The other Jr techs would walk away from the tough stuff because they could which meant it landed on my bench. I hated them, and Yamaha.

[@The31262]

@@12voltvids Since I was service manager for audio dept., I would stick the Jr. techs with the garbage units. It was fun watching them rip their hair out!

[@12voltvids]

@@The31262 I didn't have that luxury, besides, anything they fucked up i would have to fix.