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Favorite SS Reciever for 2 channel listening


rockhound

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All the old stuff needs to be completely rebuilt, then, I would confidently put it up against just about anything on the market today.

 

BTW, I have contact info for a good guy in AZ that rebuilds old Marantz gear if you are looking for someone, HMU. 

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7 hours ago, Srinath said:

I also liked the sx2500, sx1500 and a few others - sansui 3000b - common plot here - cap coupled.

The Sansui B3000 was / is a pos in most people's opinion :o

 

7 hours ago, Srinath said:

I'll put a Yamaha DSP3090, and an A1 against anything made in the 70's if you have speakers like a Klipsch heritage series.

 

Those are selling for ~ $50 on ebay so I'm not sure if they have the sound that's sought. B)

 

7 hours ago, Srinath said:

I'll put a Yamaha DSP3090, and an A1 against anything made in the 70's if you have speakers like a Klipsch heritage series.

I need to update my sig line :lol:

 

 

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I always get the sansui 3000 or 3000a and the 3000b (which doesn't exist) only that B3000 pos you pulled up does - sorry The amp is a sansui 3000 or sansui 3000a - Its silver face and cap coupled. The face is part gold and part black, had a wooden sleeve and otherwise its cover had a rust colored paint job. BTW a B3000 is a bad copy of a carver M1.0 high voltage section. The Kenwood KM series (looks very very similar to the B3000 too) is a better copy. IMHO.

 

DSP3090 for 50 - I'd have jumped on it inspite of having 2, if it didn't cost 50 to ship it - and its got 2 common issues. Display blanking out, partially blanking out etc, and the selector knob being floppy and wandering. I've had 5 of these, and I kept the 2 that had the best selector knob, the display can be fixed, the selector knob cant. I am sorry, we have all heard of the $10 SX1250 story, and if I told you my purchase price for my current Khorn or my Jamboree, you'd run right now and buy a dsp3090 @ that $50. Price is no indication of anything. My lowest DSP3090 was $75, the highest was $100. I still like it more than my nakamichi PA7 that cost me near 10x that 75. If I was to get a purchase price refund on all my amps, the dsp 3090 will be one of the last to leave my hands. In fact I'd keep that and my $20 EV's and the $20 Heil 3 pack.

 

I'll set up my HT room with Khorn and EV and Heil and call you over to listen, what else can I say, I'd put a DSP3090 against anything (but I also know some old cap coupled amps will trounce it just for musicality) But I wont say all vintage amps will beat it. SX1250 no comparison to the DSP3090, sx2500, oh yea kills a dsp3090.

 

Thanks.

Srinath.

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Also another item on these late 90's early 2000's amps from Yamaha - the whole world glazes over this.

The DSP2070 is 1/2 the amp the DSP3090 is. The 2070 was the base for the 3090 and is rated similar - but 3090 leaves it in the dust.

The A1 is slightly better than the 3090 on output. but processing power for HT its probably not. A1 doesn't have floppy selector knob issue but display issues are more prevalant on it. On paper A1 is 120 watts vs 80 for the 3090. 3090 is probably higher than the 80 its rated as.

The DSPAX1 - may be on paper superior to the A1 - but sonically it is not.

The RX-V1 - on paper is the AX1 with a tuner. Possibly so, my AX1 is a jap spec silver (100 V input) my RXV1 is regular US spec. It works fine, but its a bit dry sounding. I have had 2 of these, and still own 1.

The RX-Z1 - On paper its bigger and better than the RX-V1 - yes it is, but its dry and sharp as the dickens. I have only heard it for a few mins, don't own one of these.

The RX-Z9. I owned 2 of them, including 1 that I extensively repaired. Impressive amp, but sonically its between the A1 and the V1, not as dry as the V1 but not as musical as the A1. Its massive configurability has on more than one occasion has tripped up my "tune by ear" tendency as well as the need to swap stuff out @ random.

 

None of these have HDMI, I don't know what has the sonics of the A1 and HDMI - but if you guys know - let me know.

 

Cool.

Srinath.

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33 minutes ago, 2Bmusic said:

Srinath... simple question, have you listened to the BA-F1 CA-F1 playing into Horn Loaded speakers?

Sansui ??? No. Or Yamaha - heck, doesn't even matter, never seen A CA/BA set regardless of make.

 

However DSP3090 into EV SP12B fronts, ESS heil mid's in a room with 2 listening areas, 2 RCA linaeum rear's and the RCA linaeum fitted center made the crappie acoustics in my old living room, almost immaterial. It sounded better than anything else in that spot.

Of course that's not 2 channel per-se. However Into those same EV's run as simple stereo - still very very impressive. Not quite in the Marantz 2230 class, but very very impressive.

 

Thanks.

Srinath.

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 Srinath, Yes, Sansui, was half asleep when I typed that.  and yes I can here a difference between the Sansui BA-f1 / Ca-f1 vs yamaha or any others for that matter. As a musician, I can with out reservation, say with great confidence,  that Volti full k horn mods and the above sansui, have not been out done by any amps, speakers i have heard over the last 45 years. I am not saying that to justify my purchase. Money does not enter into the equation. Faithful ( as possible) sound reproduction does.  My quest has taken me to Audio stores over 15 states, hundreds of systems from 5k to 250k. Of worthy note, there was a system for around 5 k that did pretty good. Even the mighty Reference set up from Peter Snell and the best amps yamaha could make back in the 80's , do not come close to my volti/ sansui set up. I have attended live performance's and gone back home to listen to my beloved volti/k-horns,  and OMG they were so close !

FWIW....The sansui ba-fi and ca-f1 are completely gone thru, and spec out as new....and yes slew rates are super important! ( if you want all of the content to be played.... this is where tube sets lack. it a matter of physics  d=rt) ) 

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The BA-F1 and the CA-F1 are very special pieces, and the best solid state Sansui ever made IMO. Glad they found a good home with you 2Bmusic!! These pieces are the very definition of "wire with gain". Better source they get, the better they sound. If they don't sound right, get a better source. They will truly sound exactly like it does.

 

Note to potential buyers though;

These pieces are plagued with some dipped mica caps that drift in value and make the amp and phono preamp in the preamp unstable, and will cause oscillation, leading to self destruct if not taken care of. The real problem with this is taking out those ever so special high speed outputs that are no longer available, and contribute greatly to the sound of these pieces.

 

So most out there are either blown, or repaired and no longer have the original outputs. Don't worry too much though.... Mr Moons has a nice stash of them outputs for MY customers!!  :) So don't go messaging me for parts. These are for rebuilds only.

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As for yamaha products they are very Very good. My Aventage 1030 is about 80~ 90% as good sounding as those Mighty Sansui DC amplifiers.  And I would be willing to bet that the Yamaha S3000, would be even closer. In fact it might be hard to tell the difference 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-S3000-Natural-Integrated-Amplifier/dp/B00F0DI3PQ/ref=pd_lutyp_simh_1_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00F0DI3PQ&pd_rd_r=WB6YQ4MYG0WZQDE7CQ3A&pd_rd_w=gL4ml&pd_rd_wg=NDoLS&psc=1&refRID=WB6YQ4MYG0WZQDE7CQ3A

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It almost depends on the speakers its driving I'd say.

My carver silver 7 mono's fell apart driving B&W 802 matrixes, but on a Carver amazing and a Infinity kappa 9 set, they were stellar.

I don't know what is any logical conclusion anyone can come to from any of this.

Nak PA7 driving NS1000, stellar, driving a B&W801 - lacking bass.

Proceed amp 5, driving any thing else - ordinary, driving the carver amazings = awesome.

 

I dunno how to explain it, some things just work and are just easier and just fall into place better.

The reason I have a whole slew of crap, hoping something can make something else far far better. He he, that's my excuse.

 

Cool.

Srinath.

 

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20 hours ago, Srinath said:

It almost depends on the speakers its driving I'd say.

My carver silver 7 mono's fell apart driving B&W 802 matrixes, but on a Carver amazing and a Infinity kappa 9 set, they were stellar.

I don't know what is any logical conclusion anyone can come to from any of this.

Nak PA7 driving NS1000, stellar, driving a B&W801 - lacking bass.

Proceed amp 5, driving any thing else - ordinary, driving the carver amazings = awesome.

 

I dunno how to explain it, some things just work and are just easier and just fall into place better.

The reason I have a whole slew of crap, hoping something can make something else far far better. He he, that's my excuse.

 

Cool.

Srinath.

 

 

 

 

 

Srinath;

 

Right now I an using 7 out of 8 channels to drive my 7 Pro Klipschorns. Presently I am using 2 Nakamichi PA-7 amplifiers, and 2 Nakamichi PA-7II Amplifiers for my 7 channels of amplification. I do eventually want to tri-amp these speakers and retain the Naks for the Bass Bins   :)

 

Roger

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He he, I traded away a SX3900 with a weird tuner problem for a RX-V1 ~5 yrs ago, turned around and sold the RX-V1 for 375.

And I got another RX-V1 for 150 if I recall right on the heels of that which I still own. No, actually I flipped that one too, and got one ~3yrs ago on a WA DC area run.

 

Anyway, Nak PA 7 II is what I have if I recall, I didn't think a Khorn needed that.

 

BTW, the SX3900 is very similar to quite a few of the early digital era. I'd look into what else had the same power amp chips and that would widen your search area.

Realistic STA 2200/2300 perhaps ??? or something else. Pioneer = 3X the price easy. You may buy 2X the quality in a Toshiba which is a full on copy of the pioneer but no one cares for a toshiba.

 

Anyway, to someone's earlier point, I feel the earlier DSP A1 and the 3090 had better pre/processing section, the later V1, Z1 and Z9 had better power amp section IMHO.

I've been inside these, the Z9 power amps are more accurate but the DSP3090's sound better (sorta like tubes sound better)

 

DSP 3090 as a pre and Z9 or the adcom or eaw or whatever for the power amp could be something I might do some point in future.

 

Cool.

Srinath.

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Srinath;

 

I have 7 Klipsch TSCM speakers which are the Pro-Version of the Klipschorn.

 

While the Klipschorns of that area weighed in at 175 pounds each and were rated at 104 Db at 1 watt, at 1 meter, I have seen literature that the TSCM is both 108 Db and 106 Db efficient. I have been told that 106 Db efficiency is at 4 feet, but?? Anyhow, these have a Bass bin with the outside / back of the horn completed out flush with the face and are 57 inches wide. The top hat houses the K-400 horn and tweeter lens. The Top and bottom weigh in at 250 Pounds together for each unit vs: the 175 for K-Horn. The K-400 horn has a 2 inch throat instead of a 5/8 inch throat and a K-4 splitter manifold that holds 4 K-55 drivers instead of just 1 K-55, and the tweeter lens holds 2 K-77 drivers instead of just 1. Klipschorn tops out at 121 Db, and these top out at 128 Db per unit. These come painted splatter black on 3/4 inch void free plywood that I hope to get veneered someday. So my 7 speakers have a total of 28 K-55 drivers.  :)

 

By the way, TSCM stands for Theatre Stage Corner Monitor.  :)

 

Roger

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1 hour ago, Srinath said:

He he, I traded away a SX3900 with a weird tuner problem for a RX-V1 ~5 yrs ago, turned around and sold the RX-V1 for 375.

And I got another RX-V1 for 150 if I recall right on the heels of that which I still own. No, actually I flipped that one too, and got one ~3yrs ago on a WA DC area run.

 

Anyway, Nak PA 7 II is what I have if I recall, I didn't think a Khorn needed that.

 

BTW, the SX3900 is very similar to quite a few of the early digital era. I'd look into what else had the same power amp chips and that would widen your search area.

Realistic STA 2200/2300 perhaps ??? or something else. Pioneer = 3X the price easy. You may buy 2X the quality in a Toshiba which is a full on copy of the pioneer but no one cares for a toshiba.

 

Anyway, to someone's earlier point, I feel the earlier DSP A1 and the 3090 had better pre/processing section, the later V1, Z1 and Z9 had better power amp section IMHO.

I've been inside these, the Z9 power amps are more accurate but the DSP3090's sound better (sorta like tubes sound better)

 

DSP 3090 as a pre and Z9 or the adcom or eaw or whatever for the power amp could be something I might do some point in future.

 

Cool.

Srinath.

 

 

 

Also, Klipschorns are rated at 100 Watts RMS, and the TSCM is Rated at 250 Watts RMS.   :)

 

There were two separate woofers in these TSCMs, early versions had square magnet K-33E woofers just like regular Klipschorns and later TSCMs had a special round magnet K-44E that was made specifically for this application where as Pro La Scalas and MWM bins used a K-43E.

 

Roger

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20 hours ago, twistedcrankcammer said:

Really Loved my Pioneer SX-3900.

 

It was a large, heavy unit with `120 watts per channel with a big transformer and extremely low THD. you just don't get an amp built like that without separates anymore!

 

I want to eventually find one in great shape for my daughter  :)

 

Roger

The SX3900 uses output transistors MJL1302 and MJL3281. I suspect that is the same as what is used in carver's higher voltage section in an M1.0. Which means you're in a bit of luck, lots and lots and lots of BPC kenwood power amps - KM106, 107, 208, all sorts of these anything with a KM is likely to be the same. However the question is - does the kenwood have the voltage of the pioneer and the current in its power supply - to determine if it will deliver power, as well as what the pre-driver and driver transistors are - if it will deliver the sonics.

Now the corresponding KC kenwoods would have some control over the sonics too. So you're probably going to have to find that as well.

 

Cool.

Srinath.

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