Sansui AU-7700 Vintage Integrated Amplifier from 1974!

[@tspit74]

I’ve got a set of 7900’s in storage. Beautiful pieces

[@VINTAGEO]

Great Scott! Great vid! lol I sure do love me some Sansui gear! I have had and still have lots! That is a beautiful set!

[@TexTom1981]

I sold these units years back next to Pioneer, Technics and Kenwood. The Sansui gear had a little something that set it aside from the crowd. The higher end Pioneer and pretty much anything Sansui were our best sellers. Awesome vintage gear.

[@stereoniche]

Very cool!

[@MichaelYates]

Nice video Scott, always nice to see some Sansui. Even though all mine are on the very low wattage and budget side they all sound nice.

[@stereoniche]

Thanks, Michael. Is there such a thing as a bad Sansui? I think not! 😀

[@airgunnersc9335]

Those units looks great. I purchased the Sansui AU7900 in 1975 and it's been completely rebuilt and remains the heart of my main system. I chose a Pioneer TX8500 tuner and I can;t remember why. I still use it today, I sure enjoy your channel and lust after a lot of your gear.

[@stereoniche]

Thanks for watching. That Pio tuner probably just "felt" better in the store at the time, so you went for it. Had it been up against say the TU-719 (had it been available), you probably would have gone for it over the Pio. Or, who knows, maybe your buddy recommended it at the time! :-)

[@kirkbac]

Just picked up an AU7500 and TU7500 thanks again!

[@stereoniche]

Enjoy them! And, Congrats on the score!

[@JeffCorman]

Still have this set bought new at Tech Hi-Fi in 1974.

[@stereoniche]

They were certainly built to a much different standard back then, they just keep on ticking.

[@mikecampbell5856]

I would love to have some Sansui separates. The Sansui tuners with IF Wide/Narrow band settings are in great demand among FM DXers. People are modifying the narrow band filters with even more narrow filters and really reaching out and capturing stations. The Tuner Information Center has some great info on all makes of tuners. I would take that amp in a heartbeat.

[@stereoniche]

I guess the tuner folks are still quite active. I was just trying to listen to the radio the other day in my car as I had some service done and had to reset the stations. It reminded me how awful are the choices, FM is eaten up more and more by worthless "talk" shows spewing disinformation, no music. It was almost always that way for AM, but now FM too.

[@kartinosurodipo4520]

Sansui from 1974 actually we can mofify better with latest better transistor. But I tell you it is worth to keep its original with manufacturer standard parts to keep its original sound signature. Because keep vintage amplifier means keep its memory and taste to be original and forever. I have AU5500.

[@jeffcline7689]

Aw 1974. Remember the largest TV sets were 25 inch. Three main networks. Cable TV was just getting going. The year bar codes came out. There was Skylab. Ford came out with the moon roof on their massive long hood living room couch interior cars. You were doing well if you got one of those Tappan Radar Range microwave ovens. Pong was a video game you could attach to your TV. Leisure suits were in with stacked shoes. Well maybe not leisure suits. As if you smoked they would probably go up in a polyester fire. What a year.

[@stereoniche]

Around that time, my parents bought the biggest TV in the store. Problem was, it was encased in an ornate wood cabinet with a turntable on one end and AM/FM receiver in the other end. The thing weighed so much, it took 4 grown men to move the damn thing! After my parents divorced, I think my mother had a local TV repair shop come get it for free just to get it out of the house.

[@markanderson350]

Well we had cable tv in the early 60's In Canada, but it was really hard to pulk in those Americans signals. The cars sucked and the music was great

[@sidesup8286]

I don't think Bar Codes were 1974. Wasn't that 1983 or something? About a decade later? I rember The Price Is Right was a fairly new TV Game Show. Cher was having hit singles galore. Arnold Schwartzenegger was starting to become well known. The Steelers were becoming regular customers at The Super Bowl. Been a long long time now since they last made it there. The Ohm Walsh A (walsh driver) speaker was the best speaker on the planet along with maybe the KLH 9s. Moving coil cartridges were starting to become known, if not real popular yet. Dynavector, Fidelity Research and Satin were among the most popular early MC brands The Satin MC cartridges had a user replaceable stylus, which was very unusual. Audio Technica would later come out with a low output top of the line MC cartridge with a snap off user replaceable stylus, called the AT 35E. Reel to reel was still in it's prime, but not for too long after. There was still at least one tube integrated amplifier being made and in continuous production; The Heath SA-2. Audio Research got credit for bringing tubes back, before they were fully gone. Once the first tube amps came out ages ago, there has never been a year when tube amps were not still in production Good video, but the most important thing to many people I'm sure, is how do those units sound? What if anything, about their sound stands out? I used to have a Sansui G Series receiver, bought back in 1979. I liked it over the cheap Kenwood integrated I had, but it sure had plenty of treble, and it had sounds way up there that instruments don't really make in real life. It was pretty clean and clear and very powerful and good looking with its rosewood cabinet. If I ever find one really cheap, I'd buy it for nostalgia sake

[@jeffcline7689]

@@sidesup8286 6/26/1974 on a pack of Wrigley's chewing gum.

[@scottbennett3119]

Really nice job! Thanks

[@stereoniche]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@stpierreorama]

Maybe the best looking AU integrated. I like these and the AU 888 for looks but have never heard either. I would love to do an A/B comparison with a Sansui Eight Deluxe or a Pioneer SA9100

[@stereoniche]

I think it would sound quite similar to the Eight Deluxe.

[@George-k7p]

Same era with the 881 receiver , wonder how this 7700 and 881 compare soundwise?

[@stereoniche]

I did not compare them head to head, but I recall them sounding quite similar.

[@PhillipSpecht]

I have tryed to use 4 ohm speakers twice , once by accident, the other on purpose, neither went well at all. Otherwise a great sounding I/A.

[@4catsnow]

Where's the 9500??

[@stereoniche]

At your house maybe? Not sure as I do not own one. 🙂

[@georgeelder8415]

​@@stereonicheYes...

[@eighteenin78]

I love my AU-7900. Sometimes I wish I had the matching tuner, but they are hard to find. And to me radio is a waste of time these days. There is a matched pair for sale in Hamilton Ontario, but he won't sell them separately. I am not sure if I prefer the silver toggles on the 7700. But from a user's perspective they are virtually the same. The AU-7700/AU-7900 was one of Sansui's most versatile amps.

[@stereoniche]

Agree, tuners, sadly, are mostly no longer needed or of significant use. I only get them if they are already a matching set.

[@scottlowell493]

Is Sansui still in business? In 2001 the headquarters in Shi-Yokohama was closed. The Japanese website as HiFi-manufacturer was last updated January 2014; Sansui went out of business in 2014. Sansui's sales had shriveled to just 40.4 million yen by 2010. The 2003 founded Sansui Electric China Co Ltd stayed longer than 2014.

[@pervertedalchemist9944]

Not that I know of. Towards the end of their life, Sansui focused solely on making television sets.

[@stereoniche]

Long ago, Sansui became just a logo with some name recognition value, unfortunately.

[@scottlowell493]

@@pervertedalchemist9944 my post was self contained and spelled out what happened

[@scottlowell493]

The overseas military exchanges sold sansui through the 80's. The fans of the 70's gear was really offput by the cheapened down 80's gear. It was built about like a macintosh at one point with heavy duty high spec parts. 80's Sansui had bargain basement and fragile parts.

[@stereoniche]

Early 80's Sansui was still quite good, but, they had already started making lower end lines along with what we consider the Sansui build quality of the 70's. If you look at the Sansui ads from that timeframe, they were really hitting on all cylinders with great products, but by the end of the 80's, the market shift was too great and it was no longer able to support the price for the same build quality of the 70's.

[@scottlowell493]

@@stereoniche I think it was 86 or 87 when I started seeing the cost cutting products

[@bacarandii]

Personally, I wouldn't say the AU-XX00 (series) is more "dated" -- though the AU-X1X definitely looks more "modern" -- more like those ubiquitous matte black boxes of the 1990s that were so incredibly flat and dull-looking. (The Sansui models aren't quite that bad, but they don't have the "classic" look that I prefer.)