picked up a Sansui tuner

[concealer404]

Managed to get my hands on a Sansui TU-5500 tuner.

From what i understand, was made 1977-1979, originally retailed for $280.00.

Looks pretty at least, haven't run it on anything yet. All lights work, is missing one of the lever cover thingys.

Anyone have any experience with these? Should i bother keeping it or just move it along? I doubt it'll be much improvement over the built in Adcom tuner on my 2-channel, but if it's not worth anything, i'll just throw it on the garage setup, since i don't have the remote for my old Pioneer Elite receiver, and don't feel like paying out the butt for a new remote.

These things go for anything on Flea-bay? Is it good enough that i should hang onto it? Would anyone here be wanting it?

Just looking for opinions. Only found one thread on these forums pertaining to this tuner, and didn't really have any info on it.

And yes, mine is a black face. :D

[George Grand]

You are really looking for someone to tell you what to do with that thing. I think it's interesting.

[concealer404]

You are really looking for someone to tell you what to do with that thing. I think it's interesting.

I don't really know much about it, other than that Sansui tuners from this vintage seem to be well regarded.

So i guess personal experiences with them would be cool too?

If someone can tell me that it's a better tuner than what's build into my Adcom pre, then hell yes it goes into the 2-channel setup. I'll try it out tonite either way. I guess i'll report back then.

[danger boy]

hook that sucker up.. take her for a spin. then report back... if you like the way it sounds. keep it.. if you don't.. set her free. ;)

seriously, what do you want to know about it? why so concerned about finding info on it?

go check out www.fmtunerinfo.com and read as much as you like about analog tuners. great site for tuners.

[curved]

I have a Sansui AU-5500. It's sitting up north in our cabin and I'm going to be making some custom speakers for it (partsexpress). The amp is rated at 32 watts per channel rms, but I can tell you that it was more powerful than my Yamaha that was rated at 70x2.

[concealer404]

hook that sucker up.. take her for a spin. then report back... if you like the way it sounds. keep it.. if you don't.. set her free. ;)

seriously, what do you want to know about it? why so concerned about finding info on it?

go check out www.fmtunerinfo.com and read as much as you like about analog tuners. great site for tuners.

Updating:

Sounds AMAZING, and looks great, if a little weird with the rest of my rig, but oh well.

Way warmer and more full than the built in Adcom tuner, seems to pick up stations stronger, too. There is a little more hiss on certain stations, but doesn't sound near as tinny, so i'll live.

Now, the issue:

The station frequency bar seems to be off/inaccurate. For instance, to tune into 103.3, the dial is at about 98.5. I see that it's controlled by a string that the dial wraps/unwraps around a spool.

Anyone have any easy guides as to how to fix this?

[danger boy]

Updating:

Sounds AMAZING, and looks great, if a little weird with the rest of my rig, but oh well.

Way warmer and more full than the built in Adcom tuner, seems to pick up stations stronger, too. There is a little more hiss on certain stations, but doesn't sound near as tinny, so i'll live.

Now, the issue:

The station frequency bar seems to be off/inaccurate. For instance, to tune into 103.3, the dial is at about 98.5. I see that it's controlled by a string that the dial wraps/unwraps around a spool.

Anyone have any easy guides as to how to fix this?

Atta boy.. there you go.. much better.. analog tuners are the best way to go if you enjoy listening to FM like I do.

The tuner being off is common on older tuners. It would need to be adjusted of course as you already suspect. Sorry but I don't know who to do that. Some tuners adjustments are very complex.. and I would feel better leaving it to a pro who knew what they were doing.

Does your tuner have a muting on it? if so.. turn that on.. and maybe it will get rid of some of the hiss or static.

[lakesailor]

I am not the least bit surprised to hear that it blows away your Adcom. Adcom made some nice amps (the one’s designed by Nelson Pass) but the tuners were ordinary at best. Some of the vintage tuner’s from the late 70’s/early 80’s like your Sansui were very impressive creatures by comparison.

Those old tuners often had a 4 gang front end (or more) and a pretty impressive freq. response range as well; especially for a tuner. It was not uncommon for a quality vintage tuner to have a freq. response as low as 20hz up to 15Khz. Many modern tuners these days are 35hz-15khz.

As for the tuning being off; that is likely an indication that your tuner needs to be re-aligned. This should only be done by an expert or a serious DIY’er. The upside is that you can often get even better sound quality.

Enjoy your Sansui.

[concealer404]

Atta boy.. there you go.. much better.. analog tuners are the best way to go if you enjoy listening to FM like I do.

The tuner being off is common on older tuners. It would need to be adjusted of course as you already suspect. Sorry but I don't know who to do that. Some tuners adjustments are very complex.. and I would feel better leaving it to a pro who knew what they were doing.

Does your tuner have a muting on it? if so.. turn that on.. and maybe it will get rid of some of the hiss or static.

Yeah, it's got muting, i've got it on. The hiss is really only noticable in moments of silence on the broadcast, i suspect it to be more from the actual transmission rather than the tuner itself. :)

Those old tuners often had a 4 gang front end (or more) and a pretty impressive freq. response range as well; especially for a tuner. It was not uncommon for a quality vintage tuner to have a freq. response as low as 20hz up to 15Khz. Many modern tuners these days are 35hz-15khz.

I've noticed this as well.... I have the filter set on my sub pretty low, at 40hz actually, and with the Adcom, it rarely did anything. Now, it's actually getting a workout. Sounds great, i won't go back.

Now i just have to figure out how to adjust the dial. It's driven by a string, so i'm almost thinking if i take it off and rewind it from the correct point if it wouldn't be better.

I'll try it and see what happens. :)

[danger boy]

Now i just have to figure out how to adjust the dial. It's driven by a string, so i'm almost thinking if i take it off and rewind it from the correct point if it wouldn't be better.

I'll try it and see what happens. :)

I would proceed very carefully when messing with the tuner dial and the string that's wound on the pulleys. If I were you, i'd do some research before removing anything... i'd hate for you to really eff it up.

I know when I'm trying to tune in a weak station I will get hiss... sometimes this happens if you don't have a strong enough antenna... what type of antenna are you using with your Sansui?

[concealer404]

I would proceed very carefully when messing with the tuner dial and the string that's wound on the pulleys. If I were you, i'd do some research before removing anything... i'd hate for you to really eff it up.

I know when I'm trying to tune in a weak station I will get hiss... sometimes this happens if you don't have a strong enough antenna... what type of antenna are you using with your Sansui?

:o
I'm just using some speaker wire connected to one of the FM terminals. I'll get the exact label on it tonite.

[HB27]

If you want to run it down to Southport I should be able to fix you up with a new lever cover and align it for you. I'm stuck at home waiting for UPS. I bought a new tube preamp and it's due today.
I'll send you a PM with contact info.

[concealer404]

If you want to run it down to Southport I should be able to fix you up with a new lever cover and align it for you. I'm stuck at home waiting for UPS. I bought a new tube preamp and it's due today.
I'll send you a PM with contact info.

Thanks man! I sent you a PM, i actually live in Greenwood, so that's convienent. :)

[HB27]

Replied to the PM.
Harry

[concealer404]

Update:

HB27 cleaned it for me, and hooked me up with the correct antenna. :) Cool dude with TONS of awesome gear.

Sounds amazing! We weren't able to get the dial/string adjusted correctly, but i can still get all the stations that i actually listen to. It sounded good when i was only pulling a "1" on the strength dial. Now that i'm pulling 4s and 5s, it's a world of difference. No more hiss, warm and smooth, and much improved low end.

Looks like i need to get another set of interconnects, i won't be using the built in Adcom tuner anymore. :)

[danger boy]

Good job HB27 and cool concealer404... sounds like your Sansui tuner is back and sounding better than ever. It's where it's at... analog tuners bring out the best in FM listening.

So what all did HB27 do besides cleaning and adjusting it? Was the hiss due to low signal strength from the low numbers on the strength dial?

[bikezappa]

Try a set of simple rabbit ears, $10, from Radio shack for an antenna.

That way you can rotate and move the RE for each FM station to get max signal strengh.

[concealer404]

Good job HB27 and cool concealer404... sounds like your Sansui tuner is back and sounding better than ever. It's where it's at... analog tuners bring out the best in FM listening.

So what all did HB27 do besides cleaning and adjusting it? Was the hiss due to low signal strength from the low numbers on the strength dial?

Yeah, he just cleaned it out, and he tried to just adjust the string, but it really just needs re-wound, and i'm not sure it's even worth it on this tuner.

The hiss must have been coming from the signal strength, and i'm sure that was partially caused by my less than ideal antenna at the time. He gave me a T-antenna that works great, i don't think i need to do an upgrade at this time. All of the stations i listen to get between 4 and 5 on the strength dial and are enough to use the FM muting function to repress adjacent stations, and still keep my stations in strong enough to actually make that nifty "stereo" red light, light up.

<EDIT>
I'll have to get a pic up of it.... it's pretty funny looking paired with the rest of my gear.

[bikezappa]

T-antennas work fine but are difficult to point in the best direction for max signal strength for many FM stations. That's what good about the RE. They can move/point easy.

If the background hiss is due to low signal strength just go to mono, if the hiss goes away you need a better antenna or pointed better. I listen to some of my favorite stations in mono becasue the hiss is gone. This hiss is distracting to me when listening to load music with a large dynamic range. If you are listening to rock on FM there is very little dynamc range and you will hear no hiss.

[concealer404]

T-antennas work fine but are difficult to point in the best direction for max signal strength for many FM stations. That's what good about the RE. They can move/point easy.

If the background hiss is due to low signal strength just go to mono, if the hiss goes away you need a better antenna or pointed better. I listen to some of my favorite stations in mono becasue the hiss is gone. This hiss is distracting to me when listening to load music with a large dynamic range. If you are listening to rock on FM there is very little dynamc range and you will hear no hiss.

I don't have any his right now in the periods of silence i run across. If i move it to another room, though, i'll definitely try the RE. Right now the T-antenna is more than getting the job done. :)

[George Grand]

BIC made a product called the Beam Box. A passive device that kind of looked like a component but didn't weigh much so you could lay it on top of something. It was basically a dipole that you could move the position on inside the box. A well received product that comes up for sale every once in awhile. I've had a couple and they can do wonders, but I don't listen to the radio anymore so I sold them.

[danger boy]

I use a T antenna too.. works fine... I think I would have to install an outdoor antenna to pull in those really distant stations.. which there is only one that I like.. about 60 miles away.

[HB27]

I was going to align the tuner but when I put the meters to it, part of the tuner was "dead" and there was visible resistor burn out on one of the filters. One of the varaible resistors was down on reading but a bit of spray and a "jiggle" and it came back up. That's what brought the signal strength back up. The string is most likely not out of alingment since part of the tuner is down. The cleaning was needed to reduce the oxidation on the tuner plates and all the switches were dirty and just needed a good shot to make them work properly also. Just normal maintenance for the most part. It's a very nice vintage tuner and probably worth restoring but his preferences in stations dictate he's happy with it the way it is.
Harry

[concealer404]

I was going to align the tuner but when I put the meters to it, part of the tuner was "dead" and there was visible resistor burn out on one of the filters. One of the varaible resistors was down on reading but a bit of spray and a "jiggle" and it came back up. That's what brought the signal strength back up. The string is most likely not out of alingment since part of the tuner is down. The cleaning was needed to reduce the oxidation on the tuner plates and all the switches were dirty and just needed a good shot to make them work properly also. Just normal maintenance for the most part. It's a very nice vintage tuner and probably worth restoring but his preferences in stations dictate he's happy with it the way it is.
Harry

Ahhh crap dude, i forgot to call you on Monday. I'll give you a call this evening when i get off of work. Did you grab that amp for me yet? :D

And i promise you guys i'll get pics up of it soon. It's in surprisingly good condition, and i can't argue with the price, which i'll finally let spill as $15. :)

[HB27]

No problem on the call. Yes, he brought the amp over for you and said if you don't like it for any reason he'll buy it back. It's in nice shape also.
Harry

[mhardy6647]

FWIW, here's a completely gratuitous and almost completely pointless post. George can probably guess where this one came from...