Sansui TU-X1

This is one bad ass tuner, and rarely seen, if someone is in the market for one:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3050030010&category=22636

:MILD:

 

**** me!! Thats certainly not gonna be cheap!!!

 

Oh, I don't know, the rear view looks pretty much like that of any other bit of hi-fi gear I've seen.

 

Christ - for the money that's going for (£550 and reserve not met) I'd go for a Naim NAT01 or something like an older Marantz (10b?) or a Yamaha something1000 (the big 70s one) - or even 2 Leak Troughlines (for spare parts) and a full service by GT Audio...

I bet the Sansui sounds good though

 

For anyone who cares....

http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/

Full of stuff re vintage tuners.

 

:yikes:

If you are going for a Marantz, it would have to be the 2130 on ergonomics alone. :MILD: . The 10B i've never heard. The CT7000 i have, and it is arguably over rated. I have owned a lower spec model as well. Neither have i heard a Troughline. But the TU-X1 is a beast, and if second hand reports are anything to go off, one of the greatest ever tuners, which i would like to have the opportunity to testify to. And price wise - well the bland NAT01 doesn't come cheap; and compared to something like a modern Magnum Dynalab the price does not look that much after all. And compared to a comparable quality TT/cdp, it is pretty much peanuts. Don't be surprised if it drifts over £1000 though - i've never seen one on ebay.co.uk before. Depends how much loose change is knocking about.

Have you still got that TU-517 Jools?

 

The current bid is the opening price, so no bids for this tuner yet.

If you think the nat1 tuner is bland then I believe you havn't heard it and are just guessing. whatever you think of naim the nat tuners a world renowned. And with good reason.

 

Its got no controls on it Gary - in that respect it is bland, and fails partly to qualify as a tuner in my book. What it sounds like i have no idea.

 

Its got a tuning knob cookie, I don't understand what else you would want on a tuner???

It lights up green, there thats nice isn't it.

 

I have to admit - I wish the NAT01 had a mono/stereo override control on it, but since I'll never own one (I barely use the NAD 4225 (FM/MW)/Technics(DAB/FM/MW) ones I DO have - not 'cos they sound junk (the NAD's pretty good) but as I like being able to choose what I listen to).

Mind you, if I could remember when John Peel and the essential selection are on R1, that's 2 things I could listen to, and R4 has some OK documentaries - just don't go near Exeter's GeminiFM - cheesetastic - and with those AWFUL local adverts!!! They (Gemini) were cool until they ditched the 80s show that used to be on Sundays...

 

Its got no tuning meter (?), signal strength/mulitpath meters/readouts, wide/narrow band, mute facility, mono option, variable output etc.

Tuners are reliant to a large degree on external parameters, and as such must have the necessary controls for adjustment, calibration and decent selectivity. Its like having a tape deck, with just a start, rec and stop button. Insufficient, in less than optimum conditions, and also inflexible.

It may sound great, although as with anything, that is also highly disputed, but to me it is in the above sense incomplete, before its even switched on.

I feel MP may be along with a scythe:duck:

 

Cookie, tuning strengh is determined by the display. The better the reception the brighter it gets.

Dom, the nat01 is a fussy bitch, if it can't get stereo it reduces the bandwidth to get what it can, therefore the broadcast will vary between mono (and the display will not be bright) to full stereo (whereby the display gets nice and bright)

 

Oh right - so it has one of those "auto blend" functions instead of just mono/stereo selectivity - a bit like the NAD 4225 I have then? I quite like that feature - and you need it in Exeter as FM/TV reception is CRAP where I am - you can't get Ch5 or digital terrestrial either. Oh, and the carpark's not big enough for my combine harvester

At least I've found a regular psy-trance night not so far from me now... But I digress!

 

Dom, enjoy these days of yours, I have channel five, I have 6 take aways within walking distance,

plus I f**king hate Watford and would much rather Devon.

You'll understand when your older

 

On that fmtunerinfo page, the TU-X1 is rated above the NAT01 for sound quality, in fact its rated the second highest or something like that, behind the Kenwood LT-02 or something like that.

 

Despite its apparent high sound quality -

I'd not personally be willing to drop that much cash on something that looks like a 1970's boom-box...(IMHO)

Surely for the best part of a grand, you could get something like a nearly new dynalab?

It will be interesting to see how the bidding goes. Personally I think his starting bid was far too high to get things going properly.

Chris

 

A better pic:



No Marantz, but no boombox surely?! I prefer the looks of the TU9900 in preference, out of all the Sansui's.

Age is not a problem, if you're prepared to get the things serviced properly. These were built to last. It would flatten a TU260 if you placed it on top. Plenty of folk sing the praises of Troughlines, and go to the trouble of purchasing them, and they are much older.

Interestingly though, they were actually cheaper to buy new, 20yrs ago - so the price is inflated, rightly or wrongly, as a consequence of its 'classic' status, and attraction to collectors of this ilk of equipment, as well as its sonic attributes. The sad thing is, with the dawn of digital on the horizon, it could end up that these great pieces of kit could end up just as museum pieces, way before they are sonically superceded in this medium.

 

How anyone can say that that is not a superb looking tuner is beyond me, look at it man, just look at it.

It's the monkeys pyjamas.

 

Don't get me wrong - I'm back "home" where my heart's always been, and it's fresher's week this week Roll on Digital Blasphemy in Plymouth (my REAL old home - my folks left in 1999 - and it makes Watford look like the Carribean!) - time to have fun!

Takeaways - well, it's a 10 minute minimum walk for me, so good for the waistline (not that I need to worry - STILL losing weight no matter how much I eat!), and I could give a sod about CH5, but would like digi terrestrial for all the music stations... Oh well, ho hum.

Never been to Watford, but have an aversion due to Watford Electronics ripping me off on some extras on my first PC - yeah, so it was back in November 1992 but I have a long memory

BTW - Exeter's 2nd hand vinyl compared to Reading/London is shockingly bad - even Oxfam is expensive. And Martian have stopped doing vinyl

Back on track - I'm going to have to say that I dig the Sansui's looks - VU meters are always a hit with me - but it would be better in silver - kind of like that massive 8track stereo in Boogie Nights!!!!

 

Is that Sansui really that good, or is it more it's collectable value for the Sansui completists, rather than its sonic value compared to competing sets of the same price? I'd imagine with the box being that size (huge) that all components inside are surface mount, so probably very well suited to the tweaker who also happens to be a DX enthusiast.

If the Sansui is going for over 500 quid on Ebay, makes you wonder how much someone like Walrus might charge for the same unit, seeing as they charge between £400-£500 or more for a ReVox B series tuner (way too much IMO). I've got a B160 myself which I picked up for £260 second hand back in 1999, excellent value for money, if only the bridge rectifier hadn't blown up unexpectedly one day (due I suspect very highly to the local electricity company continually cutting the power every 5 minutes at my old house then causing massive surges when they powered back up again). Cost me £200 just to get it fixed (£70 just for the official ReVox spare part ), those robbing baskets at Thear Technology, certainly put the fear into me, but you live and you learn I guess. Second hand ReVox tuners aren't exactly easy to come by, especially cheap ones below £300.

For my money, I'd go for a Magnum Dynalab though, without a doubt if I had the dosh to splash out on another FM tuner. :MILD:

The selection of radio channels on the Telewest digital TV service is rather good, but my digi box is in a different room to the main hi-fi, and I'm loath to splash out on paying rental for a 2nd digi box just for radio. Digital radio (of any kind) is sufficiently quality for background music, but not a patch on decent FM.