Small job on AU999, BIG job on AU-X1

Nice work man, thats a great bit of engineering. As it happens, I just took one out and took it apart, got it under the microscope to inspect the contacts, well, this amp must have low hours and been stored somewhere dry.
Looks brand new in there, contacts are pristine!!
The power-amp operation switch and function switches, well, thats another story, thats where all the issues were coming from, especially the power-amp operation switch, that was really bad....

So its all running, all inputs working, bias, DC offset and all reg voltages are good.

I just cranked it up through the JBL4412's I have in the Lab here, Holy Crap!! McIntosh what?? What an unbelievable sound out of this thing!!
Highly recommend hearing one if anyone hasn't......Simply stunning!! Its one of those "hearing things in the Music you've never heard before moments!! I wonder what the tuner sounds like??IMG_4707.JPG IMG_4709.JPG

Well, it looks like this at the moment, but I am putting the front on it now....
Have to completely dismantle those switches to clean them properly as we have seen time and time again....
 
Everything is holding well, stable, so I put the front on and the bottom on, I'll run it for a few days and then recheck everything.
Its on the test bench now running the turntable.....really nice clean and detailed sounding Phono pre, pity I don't have a MC cart to try out, but none the less, the VMS20 is great, we are getting a nice fat sound!!

I'm also waiting for the lamps to turn up, so this is as far as assembly goes right now, they should be here courtesy of Dave the resident lamp guy next week.

Really all in all, apart from a couple of "I know better than you" and "gottcha" moments and wild goose chases with a couple of rather odd issues, this amp has seen little work, I think its very low miles....
But I suspect there were a few issues that came up which had it destined for storage and then forgotten about....
I also think its a late model, lots of grounding amendments by the looks...

It is a JDM model so 100V, I will have to see what the owner wants to do, plenty of 2:1 transformers around that give us 115V down here in NZ, but really, that is too high, I'm running it through my Variac into a 115V step down, I have it set to 100V exactly.....nothing gets warm, even when I had it really cranking for about a half an hour...
Really impressive, but I would say it would be a different story running it all the time on 115V 15% overvoltage...

Few pics....
IMG_4710.JPG IMG_4711.JPG IMG_4712.JPG IMG_4713.JPG IMG_4714.JPG IMG_4715.JPG
 
Everything is holding well, stable, so I put the front on and the bottom on, I'll run it for a few days and then recheck everything.
Its on the test bench now running the turntable.....really nice clean and detailed sounding Phono pre, pity I don't have a MC cart to try out, but none the less, the VMS20 is great, we are getting a nice fat sound!!

I'm also waiting for the lamps to turn up, so this is as far as assembly goes right now, they should be here courtesy of Dave the resident lamp guy next week.

Really all in all, apart from a couple of "I know better than you" and "gottcha" moments and wild goose chases with a couple of rather odd issues, this amp has seen little work, I think its very low miles....
But I suspect there were a few issues that came up which had it destined for storage and then forgotten about....
I also think its a late model, lots of grounding amendments by the looks...

It is a JDM model so 100V, I will have to see what the owner wants to do, plenty of 2:1 transformers around that give us 115V down here in NZ, but really, that is too high, I'm running it through my Variac into a 115V step down, I have it set to 100V exactly.....nothing gets warm, even when I had it really cranking for about a half an hour...
Really impressive, but I would say it would be a different story running it all the time on 115V 15% overvoltage...

Few pics....
View attachment 962894 View attachment 962895 View attachment 962896 View attachment 962897 View attachment 962898 View attachment 962899
I actually own three of them now and ya they are pretty impressive. .
 
It appears that you do have a later model and I I have three early ones..here is a pic of the early mother board.20170707_054259.jpg
 
It appears that you do have a later model and I I have three early ones..here is a pic of the early mother board.View attachment 962920

Yes definitely later model here, it runs very stable, I should have maybe posted some pics of the stability testing....

I actually own three of them now and ya they are pretty impressive. .

Three you say!! Impressive......Once you've heard one, it could easily turn into an addiction....

One JDM and two exports how ever only two are operational the other is a parts unit..

Yes shame this one isn't an export model, I'll be keeping an eye out for a parts unit that is hopefully an export so I can change the transformers over into this one...
 
Very intriguing @kevzep !! Your thoughts on this amp mean a lot to me. Hrmmmmm... I might have to widen my search.

Well, to be honest Pete, I was expecting a similar kind of signature to the other DC coupled, current mirror type designs Sansui make, like the G series and AU series like the 717 etc.....
I was expecting the slightly edgy, bright, but incredibly detailed signature the G's have (G22K), and the light bass signature, you know, its there but slightly starved, could be more.....at least when you run them with the likes of JBL...

Well, was I completely wrong or what!!
I lit the fuse and cranked some my PA system tuning tracks and I was literally dribbling out of the corners of my mouth, the first thing I noticed is the transient response, its almost like the dynamic range is accentuated by the speed of the amp, and the bass, nice full solid punch, and the mid-range like for guitars and vocals, well, they virtually leap out of the speakers, its very unnerving, its almost like they are in the room with you, and then the mix image is more obvious, like when you hear something, you hear it, but you also hear the environment very very plainly, right in front of you....The top end, is laser accurate, and sounds more refined than other DC Sansui's, seems to be very revealing and yet pleasurable rather than fatiguing which I felt the G22K used to be at times...
And I am just playing tunes (.wav some 16/44.1 others 24/48 and 24/96) through J river 22 straight out of my MacBook on-board sound card, and using my dirty old JBL4412's (well they're actually in really good condition but you get the idea).
I would have to say without question, and again, just a dirty old Technics SL1900 with a Ortofon VMS20.....one of the best phono stages I have ever heard.....

Once I have it completely back together, and with the owners permission, hes a top bloke, I'm going to bring it home and hook it up to my JBL L7's......

It really does hold its own up against some of the McIntosh gear, maybe not quite as velvet as my C48 MC452 combo, but its pretty darn close.....

Looking forward to doing some more listening with it... but first, have to get those lamps installed when they turn up....
 
To my ears it is a very special amplifier that's for sure.

I have everything I need to finish mine off (to do:- change main PSU capacitors/restuff 2 x smaller dual can PSU electrolytics, and a few other tweaks) - however I need to find a nice chunk of time when I feel I won't be disturbed, and that is proving difficult. :)
 
To my ears it is a very special amplifier that's for sure.

I have everything I need to finish mine off (to do:- change main PSU capacitors/restuff 2 x smaller dual can PSU electrolytics, and a few other tweaks) - however I need to find a nice chunk of time when I feel I won't be disturbed, and that is proving difficult. :)

Oh, I think you'll want to find the time to get it going!! However I can't talk. this has been sitting in the waiting pile since last year......Now I wish I had found the time to sort it earlier, but all good things take time right??
 
Oh, mine is going and it sounds fantastic, but I am a perfectionist at heart so I want it to sound even better. ;)

Once I start something I get very focussed indeed, so before I start I like to know the 'coast is clear' (domestic-wise) otherwise I get a bit grumpy if I am stopped by something interjecting unexpectedly. :)
 
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Oh, mine is going and it sounds great, but I am a perfections at heart so I want it to sound even better. ;)

Once I start something I get very focussed indeed, so before I start I like to know the 'coast is clear' (domestic-wise) otherwise I get a bit grumpy if I am stopped by something interjecting unexpectedly. :)

Sounds like me, once I start something like that I am the same, don't like to be disturbed, forget to have dinner, next thing its 2am.......hard to stop.....:yikes:
 
Egads, I suspect a 40 hour rebuild (at least) produced a very happy tech. Next thing you know Kevzep will sell all his McIntosh iron and move back over to the Sansui forum again lol.
 
Egads, I suspect a 40 hour rebuild (at least) produced a very happy tech. Next thing you know Kevzep will sell all his McIntosh iron and move back over to the Sansui forum again lol.

Well hahaha yes indeed.......Much nicer folk here in the Sansui forum too, its a clicky world over there in the Mc forum.....

Yeah a nice AU-X1 and G22K or 33K, and another AU999 wouldn't be a bad thing in my life....

And as it happens, I sold a friend of mine a very nice clean G7700 about 6 years ago, and he has no used for it now, so that's coming home too....
 
Egads, I suspect a 40 hour rebuild (at least) produced a very happy tech. Next thing you know Kevzep will sell all his McIntosh iron and move back over to the Sansui forum again lol.
The rumor on the street is that he's ditching all the McIntosh gear for a plethora of Sansui and Pioneer.
Much nicer folk here in the Sansui forum too, its a clicky world over there in the Mc forum.....
At least, a Little bit more humor... heeeello...
:rflmao::rflmao:
 
The rumor on the street is that he's ditching all the McIntosh gear for a plethora of Sansui and Pioneer.

At least, a Little bit more humor... heeeello...
:rflmao::rflmao:

You know it!! Damn silver receivers and all them switches dials and meters........then theres the sleek black AU amps......I'm doomed!!
 
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