Sansui G-9000 Receivers
Sansui G-9000 Receivers
[Jul 27, 2003]
Tom
Audio Enthusiast
I have some work to do on my G-9000 before I'm in a position to write a review. The unit powers up, but with no sound. I've been told by an electronics repairman that it needs to have a transistor replaced in the amplifier circuit. He quoted me $200 to replace just this one this part! If anyone knows of a good place to find parts for these great old receivers, please fill me in. MrGlock2@satx.rr.com Thanks, Tom |
[Jul 15, 2003]
Ray Kastner
AudioPhile
Strength:
Not yet tested
Weakness:
Not yet tested After purchasing the G-9000, I noticed that one of the channels did not function properly and I had it repaired (left pre-amp relais) and cleaned for further 120 €. The finish of the case was changed to a x-rare Thuja - Rootwood - veneer, which makes the unit a real eyecatcher. The front face has been restored (brushed,polished and scratches have been partially covered with a special foil).Now it looks not only better than new, it plays like new again. I´m really proud to have this rare piece of receiver. It once belonged to a US-Army - Officer, who lived in the Rhein-Area. These Sansui were mainly sold to US-Soldiers in Germany. They have not been officially imported to Germany by Sansui. Therefore it´s mega-rare. Similar Products Used: 2 Marantz 2285B (US and European version)and a 2265B. Restored and in perfect shape. |
[Dec 30, 2002]
Zepppfan
AudioPhile
Strength:
Several inputs for all electronic needs. Extremely sensitive tuner, I've personally listened to stations 500 miles away on a good day. More power than most people will use.
Weakness:
The weight, 60 pounds really puts a stress on an entertainment center. It also blows internal explosion proof fuses if you push it too hard. It will blow out speakers if you're not careful. When I saw the ad for this receiver in the paper, I immediately called the guy. He said it was an $1,100 receiver when he bought it in 1979. I bought the receiver and took it home. I hooked it up to all of my stereo equipment up and turned it on. I was impressed right away. The tuner was extremely sensitive, I could pull in stations 125 miles away. The power output is unreal, I've had people tell me they've heard it 1 1/2 miles away. I have a surround system hooked up through the 4 ch/nr adapter for a complete surround sound system, I have a Dual turntable, Sansui CD player, and Pioneer tape deck, along with my video equipment all running through the receiver. This is the best receiver I've ever owned. If you ever get a chance to purchase one, by all means do so, you'll be in for a surprise. Similar Products Used: Sansui 707A. |
[Nov 23, 2002]
jefftnix
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Bone-smashing power to drive the most power-hungry speakers to their limit. An absolutely gorgeous unit that is extremely rare.
Weakness:
I don't think there's an entertainment center made that'll cover its demensions. You'll have to go custom, or whatever. Also, combined, the units weigh around 120 pounds. THE SANSUI G33000!!!! I know this review site is for the G9000, but they don't have a G33000 area for review, so this'll have to do. I just got this Sansui G33000 on E-Bay. I had been in the market for a G33000 for quite some time, but the price was always out of reach for me on the few times I had the opportunity to score one. They are, and always have been, quite rare and highly sought after. So I bid to the max, and wound up having to cough up 2 Grand, plus shipping. I had my serious doubts about going for this unit...that is, until it arrived!The one I got is about as pristine as one could find, and works beautifully, albeit it needed its switches and pots spray deoxed to take care of some scratchiness in the volume knob and selector switch especially. That did the trick.That, plus a thorough cleaning and polishing is all it required! This is, for those of you who don't know, the strongest, best built, most powerful and beautiful receiver Sansui ever made. It puts out 330 Watts per channel continuous RMS; it'll peak at much higher than that, far more power than most sane people could ever find any use for. But that holds a coolness factor and "braggin rights" that can't be found in any other unit of this type. It is truly a unique classic that will only increase in value as time goes by. It comes in two pieces: The receiver/preamp module, and the power amp section. The power amp section weighs 70 pounds, and the preamp/tuner/receiver module weighs 50 pounds. Each unit is 25 inches wide, 3 inches wider than a G9000!It took 3 of my friends and a keg of Heineken to get this thing set up! I'm going to have to get some larger speakers for this animal to reach its full potential (it is currently driving 4 Sansui SP 3500's, and it does so effortlessly, with the volume knob only slightly turned up to reach adequate loudness...gotta be careful...it'll blow the 3500's to smithereens if I'm not careful!) The sound quality is rich and full and far beyond my expectations. It is a rare and true find, and I will NEVER part with it! Simply put, if you want the biggest and baddest receiver ever made by Sansui ( or anybody else, to my knowledge) and have the bucks to shell out, I just can't EVER recommend this unit(s) enough. And thats the absolute bottom-line truth, my friend. Similar Products Used: Sansui's 4000, 5000X, 7070, 9090DB, 990DB,G9000, G9000DB, G901DB, and now the last word:The G33000!!! |
[Nov 19, 2002]
mark2112
AudioPhile
Strength:
Power, Power and more Power. Plenty of inputs and outputs. Best sound ever reproduced electronically. Good looking appearance.
Weakness:
Controls need to be cleaned frequently (about every 5 years.) I am the original owner of my G-9000. In my opinion, there is not another receiver ever made that comes close to this unit. The specifications of this unit are awe inspiring and accurate. For example, the frequency response is rated from 0hz-200,000hz. Several years ago I hooked up my dad's audio generator to the auxiliary inputs. Although the speakers I was using at the time stopped responding below 25hz, the power indicators continued to respond down to 10hz (the limit of the audio generator.) This indicated that sound was being produced from the G-9000 but the speakers were incapable of reproducing it. On the high end, the unit responded all the way up to 200,000hz, (I didn' hear it but our poodle was sick for a couple of days.) Since the advent of the CD it has been my goal in life to accurately reproduce Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overature on my sound system. Now that I have 2 G-9000's driving four Cerwin Vega LS-15's I have come pretty close. I have yet to reach the limit of these receivers. The system is rated at 160 wpc. However, when the cannons go off, the power meters peg at over 300 wpc without distortion. Also, when the unit peaked the lights in my living room dimmed. The panel lights of the unit stayed steady. WOW! The G-9000 is also very pleasing to the eye. The controls are very user friendly and the side inputs are convenient. There are adequate inputs for just about anything you'll ever want to plug into it. As a matter of fact, I have used this unit for a keyboard, PA and electronic drums. It does it all! Similar Products Used: Nothing ever came close. |
[Sep 18, 2002]
Peter
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
more power than you'll ever need, reliable, looks gorgeous, pre/power amp can be separated. Best bang for your buck when looking for a serious, well-sounding amplifier on a budget.
Weakness:
selector switch needs cleaning after all these years A remote would be nice - but who cares when the sound is right? I was looking for an affordable high power amplifier to drive my Magnepan 3.5Rs (another ebay find). Once I saw the G9000s and learned more about them, I bought two of them on ebay. I planned on bi-amplifying my speakers with one G9000 acting as the pre-amp, and each G9000s power amp to be placed after the Magnepan crossover to drive the spakers. However, afterfter 30 minutes of quick and dirty testing, I had blown the fuse in one of my speakers tweeters, and that at 40% volume setting... This receiver delviers RAW POWER, effortlessly driving my speakers to distortion (and these ain't no small bookshelf units but 74" tall planar speakers that generally are considered power-hungy). As for the sound - if you feed it the right source material it will make the speakers sing. If it's a crappy DVD player analog out, it will expose that, too. Heavy unit - I had to buy a serious equipment shelf rated for 350lbs per shelf, and it still seems to bend that shelf! Input and speaker hookups on the sides of the unit comes in handy if you have a lot of sources to swap - it does have ample inputs for any regular user, though. I'd like some better speaker connectors than the old clip deals, but that can be manually upgraded if desired. Not a reason to dismiss this receiver for a serious setup. Both of my G9000's (DB units I guess, since they have this FM dolby thing), have occasionally slight problems with the source selector switch - it is improving with use, but a good cleaning may be in order. It's 25 years old for cying out loud, and that's the only thing I noticed that wasn't perfect on eihter unit (bought from totally different sources, but their condition was identical, showing how well-built these receivers really are). Similar Products Used: Onkyo 504/304 power/pre amp, Onkyo SV70 AV receiver, Rotel power amp/ pre amp. |
[May 26, 2002]
JOE ROSS
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
LOOKS, POWER, BEAUTY, SOUND QUALITY, RELIABILITY......
Weakness:
NONE. IT WEIGHS A LOT, SO YOU BETTER HAVE A STRONG BACK OR HAVE SOME HELP!! I own the Sansui G-901DB model, which is very similiar to the G-9000. All I can say about this receiver is that IT IS THE ABSOLUTE BEST LOOKING, BEST SOUNDING, ALL-IN-ONE receiver I have EVER listened to. The sound quality with music is absolutely superior to just about anything made today. A REAL MUSIC ORIENTED piece of audio equipment. A+++. Similar Products Used: TECHNICS SA-1000, PIONEER SX-1250, SANSUI 9090 and 9090DB, KENWOOD KR-8050 and 9050. |
[Feb 08, 2002]
Sansuiman
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Massive output power, with plenty in reserve Reliable as ever after 20 years, though this should come as no surprise to Sansui ethusiasts. Looks great in a dark room, a light room, or hell - just about any room.
Weakness:
Protect circuit relay prone to stickiness with age, WILL need replacement if it hasn''t been already. Cheapo plastic switch levers (what happened to the machined aluminum lever caps on the 9090DB?) though the aluminum knobs on the other controls are great. Vinyl veneer on cabinet, and cabinet is made of 1/8" plywood, a bit flimsy for a receiver of this calibre. The G9000, yet another world-class Sansui receiver. I really like this unit both for it''s sound and it''s looks, though it does just a hair in the build quality department versus earlier offerings from Sansui (9090DB, QRX-9001, etc) as more plastic was used in the controls, and the cabinet was finished in cheap vinyl woodgrain, instead of real walnut as was used on the high-end units up to the 9090DB. Looks wise, it is a beauty with it''s gold dial scale inset and side lit dial scal legend (ala McIntosh) such that the numbers just appear to "float" there. The oversized volume and tuning knobs are a really nice touch as well. The meter layout is nice too, and the use of red and green clear lens LEDS for souce and speaker indication gives them a kind of jeweled look that contrasts nicely with the gold dial face. As far as power, look no further. This is more juice than you will ever need at 160WPC rated (but conspiculously conservative) of pure DC power. Some will say that the G22000 and 33000 (at 220WPC and 300WPC respectively) are better BUT bear in mind that with the latter two units, there are no less than 8 output transistors per channel. If you blow the outputs on one of these beasts, you''ll curse the price of repair (likely over $500 per channel). The G9000 while a bit less egotistical at 160 WPC does all you''ll need and only uses 4 transistors per channel, making it a much more reasonable unit to repair. Not to mention the fact that it would seem the 33000 in particular was prone to self-destruction with difficult speaker loads. To the quality of sound: simply outstanding. Admittedly, I still prefer my trusty 9090DB (which I will be buried with when I die) because it has a different tonal quality that just appeals more to my taste, but I recognize true quality when I hear it, and the G9000 is true quality defined. It is unfortunate that a quad version of the G9000 was not made, much as the QRX-9001 was the 4 channel "mate" to the 9090DB, as such a receiver would have been worthy of starting wars over, but even at two channels it is amongst the all time best offerings of any Japanese maker. I will also take this opportunity to settle a misconception about the G9000 vs. G901. Yes, the G9000 was an american market version, and the G901 was made for the european market. The only differences were cosmetic (woodgrain pattern on th Similar Products Used: Sansui G901 Sansui G9000DB Sansui 9090DB Sansui 9090 Sansui QRX-9001 Sansui 9900Z |
[Nov 09, 2000]
Todd Krieger
Audiophile
Strength:
Reliable. Very clean. G-901DB version has better bass control & less solid-state sound.
Weakness:
G-9000DB version- wooly bass, solid-state character. G-901 version- not readily available on used market. The Sansui G-9000DB and G-901DB are supposedly the same receiver- The G-9000 was targeted for the American market, the G-901 was supposedly targeted for the European market. The G-901 has a darker woodgrain case than the G-9000 and the G-901 has *white* lettering on the front panel. (Both have the peculiar connections on each side of the unit.) I did not open either unit to inspect the inside, but I suspect the power supply might be different, and possibly subtle differences in circuitry which the Japanese manufacturer deemed as to satisfy the "more demanding" European market. But in playing both receivers (the G-9000 in excellent condition, the G-901 in very good condition), I realized there was a *definite* sonic difference between the two models. Similar Products Used: Onkyo TX-8500 receiver |
[Jan 17, 2001]
Steve Thompson
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
G-8000/Very Well Made. Full Sound and features.
Weakness:
A little noisy when pushing higher wattages I am using a G-8000, and am currently restoring a G-9000. All in all, this receiver is fantastic. It is coupled to a Sansui motorized equalizer, and feeds into a Sansui 800 Series Quad Decoder and Rear Channel Amp. The front Speakers are Sansui SPZ-77's and rears are SP 5000 Series. Both Sets of Speakers have adjustable crossovers and very large woofers. You could bring the house down with this if you wanted to, but I think one of the best features of this receiver is how well it sounds at approx 1 watt of output. I have always felt that the 1st watt of output on any reciever or amp is the most important, and the 8000 does alot with 1 watt. Equalizing this receiver does make it sound even better, and as long as you do not run the enormous volume knob much over 5 or 6, noise is kept to a minimum. The seperate bass,mid,and treble controls are great, as well as the tuner section for clarity. You just dont have to run this unit very hard to get decent performance. If you run into one of these, pick it up and hang onto it. It appears to be far better built than anything on the market today. Other than a few additional controls on the 9000, the receivers seem to be identical except the 8000 is 120wpc, and the 9000 is 160wpc. The service manual actually covers both. If you like the hard driving sound of the 70's, and lots of brushed aluminum, then this ones for you! Similar Products Used: Large Technics/Pioneer/Marantz |