Repairing the Sansui 221 Stereo Receiver: Easier Than I Expected!

I had to repair the wood grain on the shell of my Sansui 221 because the original material was flaking off and looked terrible.
This is a surprisingly capable amp for being an entry-level 8 watt vintage amp. Sansui did a nice job on this receiver/tuner from 1975.
AudioThrift is a channel dedicated to newbies, first-timers, and casual enthusiasts who want to familiarize themselves with vintage second hand hifi equipment without gatekeeping. This is a safe space to ask questions.
Oh man... It's 3:30 am and I am tired. :)
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[@petelite]

When I was a kid my dad would take me to the dump. They had a "Yard Sale" garden shed they'd put the good stuff in. I scored old Marantz and Pioneer receivers all the time - once even a Pioneer SX-1250. I could barely lift it! I hauled it over to the dump guy to ask how much - "free!" he said. I didn't know how good I had it! This started my life-long obsession with digging through the trash for ewaste.

[@AudioThrift]

That's rad! The transfer station near where I used to live had something similar but they never had anything good. It was always a bunch of dirty old tools.

[@jordanch68]

My first purchase was a Sansui 5050. The case was doing the same as yours so I went the walnut veneer route. If you shop around you can find some around $20-$40 USD or pick a more exotic veneer for a more interesting look.

[@jeffbranch8072]

Two units got me into hifi: 1) Growing up with my parent's 1962 Airline vacuum tube console from Montgomery-Ward that all the siblings listened to over the years, and which then came to me about 20 years ago. 2) The Pioneer SX-434 receiver, PL-10 turntable, and pair of Ohm Model E speakers my sister left with me in 1979 when she moved to New York. I was 14 and still have this stuff, just added to through the 80's with tape deck, CD changer, etc. I didn't really get into "vintage" audio, my stuff just kinda became "vintage", and here we are. LOL!

[@AudioThrift]

It's cool you still have all of it! :)

[@jeffbranch8072]

@@AudioThrift , I'm not a collector, I'm an accumulator. LOL!

[@AudioThrift]

I'm for it!

[@LouisGonzales-o2h]

Hello Audio Thrift. I've always loved audio stuff. I drive a school bus for Los Angeles Unified School District and one of my parents gave me a Pioneer SX 939, it powered up, but no sound. So I had Mr. Howard from The Audio Specialist here in Valley Village and it come back sounding incredible !! Since then I've been on the hunt for vintage audio. I'm going to bid on a Sansui 221 from Goodwill....hopefully I'll win it.

[@AudioThrift]

Good luck! It's a good little amp!

[@jbf2858]

That Loudness button is the bomb! Great channel and enjoy your reviews. Brings back a lot of memories. Try to get your hands on a Sansui 5000x receiver. You'll love it!

[@AudioThrift]

I will definitely keep an eye out! Thank you. :)

[@jamesnoud5588]

I bought this unit from a stereo shop on my postal route in 1975. The shop paired it with some Jensen speakers. I can’t remember when I got rid of it, but would love to have it again.

[@AudioElectronicsChicago]

Even at 8 watts per channel, it still rocks 👍🏻

[@AudioThrift]

Thanks. Yeah, I was pretty stoked!

[@williambuklad9622]

still have it, exceptional...1975, stretches the memory...quality 'must have' goods started to appear, like 10 spd bikes, (!), SLR 35 mm cameras...lots of social buzz as about their quality so you decided you had to have it, then satisfying to find out it was really quality stuff after all. Now so much junk to wade through, and we all have too much 'stuff', so much of ch!**s* stuff is cheap, you use it and throw away when it breaks, and hence these real items from that era are treasured.

[@pervertedalchemist9944]

I had this model for a brief period. It sounded great despite being on the low end. Unfortunately, much like another low-end receiver - the Pioneer SX-450 - it had risen to rather ridiculous high prices thanks to auction sites, SMH.

[@AudioThrift]

Yeah, it's kinda crazy how expensive this stuff is online.

[@roland-plus]

Walked into a stereo store called Sight-n-Sound and they had a set of massive Sanyo speakers that I had never seen before. I saved up money over the summer and finally was able to purchase them. Being a dumbass I blew that set of speakers playing RUN DMC way too loud. I ended up getting a job installing car stereos at that same store and the rest is history as they say .....

[@AudioThrift]

I mean, if you have to blow them on something, that's at least a good choice.

[@marcparsons1726]

Get a scratch brush pen set, Flitz polish and black, white and silver metalic markers and furniture scratch markers. The whole Sansui XX-1 line are great Receivers!

[@AudioThrift]

I haven’t tried Flitz polish. How is it with preserving the printing on the metal?

[@marcparsons1726]

Use caution. Trial and error. The brushes work on knob grooves etc. Nice channel man!

[@AudioThrift]

Thank you.

[@VinylsFinal]

Hi, i watched this video yesterday and liked it as well. I didnt have time to comment. I managed to get a serviced, recapped and rebulbed LED 221. It is on its way and will reach me in a few days. I also have Celestion Ditton 22 speakers which i hope will be a good match. Could you kindly explain, how did you get audio out of the tascam. Ive always wanted to make a video showing the effect of bass and treble like you showed. I can do it with my tascam DR-40X linear pcm recorder. I see headphone port from 221 is going into your tascam, hence tascam is picking up the audio as an input. Again, i am confused how to capture such clean audio in your video? Appreciate your help on this :) and thank you once again for your video. Please also have a look at a few of mine. No way as good as yours but i am too old to learn fast, yet willing to learn :)

[@AudioThrift]

Thank you! It was actually really easy to record the audio. The recorder is the Tascam HD-P2. Crucially, it has RCA inputs and outputs on the right side. Since the Sansui only applies the bass/treble/balance etc. to the speaker terminals and the headphone jack, I just ran a standard aux cord out from the Sansui headphone jack and into the Tascam’s RCA inputs. I had to adjust the volume of the iPad and the Sansui to a level where it didn’t produce distortion on the recording. The Tascam also allows the right and left input levels to be adjusted and has a headphone jack on the left that I used to be able to hear what I was doing as I did it. I did a couple practice runs before I hit record… obviously. So, headphone jack to RCA inputs. On this recorder, when you enable the RCA inputs, that disables the microphone XLR inputs and vice versa. It’s basically just a matter of keeping the volume on all the devices at a reasonable level so you don’t get any clipping or distortion or whatever. …then, of course, no copyrighted music either because KZbin will take it down.

[@VinylsFinal]

@AudioThrift Thank you for your great explanation. In my setup both preamp and power amp don't have headphones outputs, so I guess that's why I can't do this. Did you record video using mobile phone camera and mic? I need to figure out how to do this type of demonstration :) When I receive my 221, I'll try this for sure. Thanks once again.

[@AudioThrift]

I use a Panasonic Lumix S5ii camera. I sync the audio and video in Adobe Premiere.

[@VinylsFinal]

@AudioThrift Oh ok. I thought there was a way to do this without using a computer or software. As always, I am still not clear :) video made from your camera. Audio from iPad into 221. Headphone out of 221 into your tascam. Audio from your speakers connected to 221 (I guess). Now which device was recording audio before you combined that audio with video in software? Sorry for all my questions and thanks once again. I am guessing the tascam recorded the audio on sd card?

[@AudioThrift]

Essentially, yes. The Tascam is very old though so in my case it's a Compact Fash (CF) card. Newer ones would likely use an SD card.

[@frischma1]

Can you link which contact paper you got. I have the matching speakers to that series of receiver, and the old vinyl wrap is also peeling. I got them with a Sansui 661 from the same series. Thanks

[@AudioThrift]

Thanks. It’s not letting me give you a simple link but on Amazon, if you look up the brand Holomey, it’s the dark walnut color… but I have used another brand that I also liked called Arthome. That one has lasted pretty good too.

[@frischma1]

@@AudioThrift thanks! Yeah I have a pair of Sansui sp-2500x speakers, and pioneer hpm-40 that both need this restoration. This should keep me Busy.

[@AudioThrift]

Good luck! I'm sure they'll come out great.

[@jameslynch7826]

Why not just stain the ply or better still use some stumble and apply a grain.

[@AudioThrift]

That would probably look good but the original version was artificial so I wanted to try to keep it as original looking as possible. With a little more time/money, it would definitely be nice to use a real walnut veneer and stain it. That would be an interesting video for a later date.

[@robertdavis5714]

Still trying to figure out what Metal Music you were playing, double Bass drum. Could be Ozzy. Nice specimen you picked up. Music has been my addiction since about 5th grade, I'm the guy that walked around High school blasting Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin on a boom box. Financed my 1st stereo in 1979, $250 was a lot of money then. Now, that is all I buy, 1976-1979 what I dreamed about owning when was a teenager, have 6 systems set-up + 3 closets full. I went to a concert about once a month from 1978 - 1989 and some were incredibly LOUD, Megadeth, Scorpions, Black Sabbath, Van Halen but the loudest believe it or not Robert Plant. With that said my hearing is still 100% and enjoy Music to the fullest.

[@davidlong1786]

I'm pretty sure it's BabyMetal

[@AudioThrift]

Oh man... those shows sound so fun. I'm jealous. Even though I love a lot of modern metal, I still have a soft spot for the foundations. I'd LOVE to have seen Sabbath. :)

[@AudioThrift]

I mean... it's possible...