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Sansui Tuner TU-5900


USNRET

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I was cruising local CL last night and picked up a TU-5900 tuner and AU-5900 integrated amp for my little one as she has been complaining that her brother has tunes and she doesn't.


The amp works fine; I've been listening tonight with it as an integrated and with my Peach driving the amp (another story, that post will be next) but the tuner started having an issue after a few minutes. When listening to FM the 'tuning centered' does not match the best sound or the strongest signal. IOW, best sound or strongest signal will have the center tuning indicator offset to the right. At first the stereo indicator lit up and was operating properly but now it rarely indicates stereo at all even with a signal strength that should afford one.


Now for the two questions and I'll duck after the first one:

1) Is there a pot that I might SLIGHTLY adjust that may be dirty that would cause this (the stereo indicator)?

2) Any idea what it would cost to fix / align / adjust? The black pair looks cool and I might spend a couple of bucks but since they are not the high end, not too much.

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You might want to blow any dirt from the tuner fin plates and then use a non-residue cleaner on them. Wash thoroughly running the tuner from one side to the other while washing them down. Make sure you let it dry completely before powering back up. It shouldn't take long to dry as most of the non-residue cleaners are Isopryl alcohol anyway.

The reception will improve also. It works.

I just did it to my 717 and 719 Sansui tuners. The 719 was way off before cleaning.

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Not high end? Please consider that Sansui made some of the best integrated amps in the world at that time. Their tuners were very highly regarded and still prized today.

The tuner probably needs a service procedure called an "alignment", which is fairly complicated and requires some test and signal equipment. The amp is old enough to consider replacing some of the electrolytic capacitors and general service. You could check and adjust the DC offset and output transistor bias yourself with a multimeter.

Both of those pieces are very well designed, well built. The same level of quality new today would be found after exceeding at least $1000 - this is equipment worth spending a little to have checked and brought up to original specifications.

Look around the Exclusively Sansui forum section of Audiokarma.org and discover just how nice your stuff really is, and how to take care of it or contact someone who knows how to do the service.

I have an AU-6500 that is just amazing. The site mentioned above has a library of service manuals, instructional threads, and many step by step examples of bringing these great pieces back to full performance. It would also be the perfect place to pose your questions or problems as the forum there is full of friendly experts (like the Klipsch forum).

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Pauln, I like Sansui as well; just meant this one was not up in the holy grail of Sansui.


The two pieces are actually really clean, there is not a scratch on them that I can find. I took the lid of the tuner and blew out what little dust there is and then gently ran a alcohol prepped eye glass cleaner paper thru the tuner blades. I didn't see any thing come off but it does lock stereo now. I just live in a no cell phone, no radio area and it looks to take about a good 3.5 or 4 on the signal scale to lock stereo. The best signal is still slightly right of center.


Since I remain ampless awaiting my VRDs, I have been listening to the AU-5900 both as a stand alone and using my Peach as pre. I have not tried the phono stage yet I have been using my Tercel as it needs to stretch its legs from rest. Found a bad Mullard V1 in the Peach last night., bummed me out.

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