I understand your feelings when you first heard your au-919. I cant describe it, it's like I've never heard the music before... Or that it could sound so good, so crisp, so detailed! I can hear every accord from guitars, separated from each other, every little detail in the music... And my au-919 hasnt perfect offset or anything, it was cracking sounds at first, I cleaned the aux input, everything works perfect! This one probably need a good clean.

It's unbelievable, I test it througt the computer now, and computer as source is not good. Anyway, it sounds better than anything I've heard before... And when you say that the B/C-2301 combo or au-x1111 mos vintage is superior, I really cant imagine what they sound like...

I love my sansui!

/Erik

Hi Erik,

I don't have the B/C-2301 combo, so I can't comment, but Beatlefred owns them, aswell as 2 AU-919's.

I compared the au-919 with au-x1111 at the seller's home in his system composing of Epos 30 speakers, wadia transport and external dac.

Before you read about my observations, please take into account these were made with amplifiers that were possibly not up-to-spec. Never let them revised by an expert, and I don't know any expert in my area.

I don't remember 100% so I won't go into details, as it's difficult to comment on sound difference based on long time memory, as to avoid 'rumours'.
An important difference is the au-x1111 sounds more 'real' (or natural), thanks to more 'openness' in the sound and 'dynamism'.
I found the au-919 to have more pronounced 'high-mids' frequencies. Does this make sense?

I'm curious to what your reference amp is, making the au-919 sound more detailed in comparison. (I'm not surprised though as this was exactly my experience)
Mine was the Sansui au-D9, and everything else I've had before.
Before I had the au-919 I'd confuse detail with pronounced treble, so I'd crank up the treble on my Arcam 7r's tone control.
I learned to listen and comprehend sound reproduction with the au-919.
I think that amp is a bargain at recent prices.
The au-d9 in turn compared favorably to the Arcam 7R which I once purchased new with the 7se cd-player.
But the difference between the au-919/au-d9 is more important then the difference between au-d9/Arcam 7r.

These observations were made with 'un-tuned' and possibly 'not up to spec' Sansui amplifiers. (the Arcam was new so I assume no problem there).
I once measured the au-x1111 for bias and it had like 30 or more mV on both channels. I have to get this corrected one day.

btw, I'm glad you like your Sansui!

If you read my previous messages you'd know the au-919 is my father's and I only borrowed it from him. I had to give it back as he gave it away to a guy he once sold his au-717 to, which somehow began to sound 'tired' after several months of use. I bet the guy is very happy with his purchase now, ....and my dad's generous idea of after-sale service. :)

edit: the guy got the choice to be fully refund too, but he chose for the au-919. wise man indeed

Well, my reference amp surely wasnt that good, a 6060, near entry level of that series, and that's also a reciever. And I have no idea about offset or bias for that one. Haven't really bothered yet. My parents also got a quite nice not TOTL though, technics system, sounds good, but not compared to this one. My speakers is a DIY kit :), don't know how "good" they are, but I think they sound good. Maybe I can get som pictures of them too.

It feels like the amp improves it's sound, now when it is warmed up. I'm very happy with it, nice to get from Germany. The seller was an honest one, I cleaned the input contacts a little, both channels works great!

/Erik

Well, my reference amp surely wasnt that good, a 6060, near entry level of that series, and that's also a reciever. And I have no idea about offset or bias for that one. Haven't really bothered yet. My parents also got a quite nice not TOTL though, technics system, sounds good, but not compared to this one. My speakers is a DIY kit :), don't know how "good" they are, but I think they sound good. Maybe I can get som pictures of them too.

It feels like the amp improves it's sound, now when it is warmed up. I'm very happy with it, nice to get from Germany. The seller was an honest one, I cleaned the input contacts a little, both channels works great!

/Erik

Be carefull, as the failing-channel problem on the au-919 took me by surprise.
I mean it worked perfect the days before.
*Let's pray :ntwrthy: :angel: *

Since the AU-D9 was brought up, I thought I'd mention this auction for the AU-D11 (from the s/n, its a late model, May '83, which mine is too).

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=67785&item=5725555355&rd=1

The AU-D11 vs D11 II is an interestring comparison, seems like the D11 doesnt have any issues with the flashing protector as the D11 II seems to.

B/F

I got some more impressions on the au-919, it has totally superior highs than anything else I've ever heard, mids very strong too, but the bass is a little thin, compared to my older 6060, that despite the moderate 45w rms had a very deep bass. The au-919 got a better punch and got a more separated bass though, but not the really deep bass I had before. Therefore some rock music can get a little fatigueing where the bass used to soften it up, maybe because the au-919 got a very strong mid. The jump switch is also a very subtle difference. I don't know what to say about it yet.

Recommended music to test the very nice mid and highs of the music are some U2 songs, beatiful day, still havent found what I'm looking for, bad, and where the streets has no names.

Great songs too I think :)

This is my very subjective description of the amp.

/Erik

Thanks for the recommendations. I'm not into U2 but might check it out.

What striked me the most with AU-919 is its extremely detailed luminous mids. Lows are normal. It's better then my Onkyo 'M' series power amp but not as good as on my AU-X1111. In the other hand I can't say the AU-X1111 has better mids then the AU-919, (see the contrast) just that the whole sound spectrum breathes a little more.

BUT BUT BUT like Beatlefred always does his best to remind us, let's not forget the au-919 is over 20 years old and doesn't sound like new au-919's!

As some may recall, I compared my au-919 to my au-9500 and au-717 some time ago and wrote a couple of fairly lengthy reviews here. I agree about the more detailed high-mids and overall improvement in clarity of the 919. It's my favorite amp right now as well. I thought that the bass, while not really that much louder (if at all), was much more focused and clear as well. If anything, the highs were a little de-emphasized compared to the other two (especially the 9500).

Having said that, I have to say that the au-717 was later tested and proved to be significantly out-of-spec; the dc offset is pretty high. I also have not cleaned it yet, though all the controls still seem pretty sharp -- it's probably been cleaned recently, but I wouldn't say for sure. The other two, however, have been serviced and are clean and relatively healthy. (A little excessive offset on the 919, but a fairly subtle problem at worst.)

My impression of the au-9500 pretty much matched my brother's impression of an 8080db he got to play with a little while ago -- nice sound, lots of "guts", but somewhat diffused, unfocused bass.

When I get done playing with my new HT gear, I'll have to tweek the offsets on the 919 and (especially) the 717 and see what difference it makes.

If you haven't gone there yet, check out the "DC Offset and You" sticky thread at the top of the Sansui forum. That will give you one more clue as to whether you're comparing something close to apples and apples.

Of course, as I'm sure Beatlefred would be quick to point out, still other factors can skew your comparison; such as leaky caps, old transistors, nearly cold solder joints, etc., etc., etc.