On 20/05/2017 7:19 PM, Phil Allison wrote:
Trevor Wilson wrote:
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** Luxman were always a prestige brand that did not make low end
models.
**I can assure you that they most certainly did. Perhaps not quite
as low end as those Sansui atrocities, but models that were
significantly less costly to make than their good models. As an
authorised service agent for the importer, since 1980, I've seen
them all, though Interdyn no longer import Luxman.
Simple models like the SQ606 from the late 60s ( single supply,
cap coupled) still had Baxandall feedback tone controls.
**Here's one of their budget models that employed tone controls as
part of the power amp stage feedback line:
https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_li...an/l-205.shtml
Cheap. Lots of failures with this model and others in the same
range. Usually simple stuff, like failed zeners. Using 0.5 Watt
zeners at their limits is asking for trouble. The engineer should
have been sacked.
** I've seen an L-205 on my bench, a couple of years back.
Not a bad little amp, I felt.
The oddball tone control thing is not important, specially if you set
them flat .
Of course, not as bad as this rubbish:
https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_li...sui/a-40.shtml
Check out the output stage. You'll note two things:
* No current limiters * Mild steel plates that hold the output
devices onto the heat sink (badly).
** Seen one of them too, a budget model for sure.
Still, used with ordinary care they work fine long enough to outlast
the sort of peripherals generally found.
**Back when I had my retail store, I sold Sansui, NAD, Marantz and a few
other brands. NAD walked out the door, being the flavour of the month.
Whilst a decent performer, particularly with difficult speakers, I felt
the mid range Sansui was a superior product. Better built, using better
quality components (the trimmer pots didn't fall apart and the knobs
didn't fly off the switches with the Sansui), the Sansui sounded better
with most speakers. The rep asked if I wanted to sell their cheaper
stuff (similar to the A-40). I asked for a sample for a week. I stripped
it down and checked out carefully. There were a number of potentially
problematical areas and I declined the offer to sell the range.
Sometime later, an acquaintance popped in to buy a stereo. I
demonstrated several system, including the Sansui (not the cheap stuff)
and he went away to think on it. I met up with him a few months later
and asked how his search was going. He ended up buying the cheap Sansui
from DME. I told him that there were no hard feelings and wished him
well. Another year passed and I ran across him again. I expressed my
condolences on the loss of his house. I asked him if they fire
authorities had tracked down the source of the fire that burned his
house down. "Yep." He said. "It was that bloody Sansui stereo. It caught
fire."
See, one of the issues that I identified with the Sansui, is that there
are combustible materials on each end (plastic end pieces) and a pressed
fibre board base-plate. That, combined with a power transformer, where
the thermal fuse connections are easily accessible from the outside of
the transformer, means that lazy techs simply short the thermal fuse
when it fails (which it did in 90% of that range of Sansui amps). I
suspect my old friend had picked up a repacked amp, that had failed. You
can work out the rest. Horrible quality products.
--
Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au