A few months back on tapeheads I posted about a sansui amp I literally pulled out of the ground and got running. Someone mentioned it here so here's the lowdown on what happened. Now I've had some pretty sorry ass pieces of gear come across my bench but it's safe to say this is in the top 5 worst ones I've ever seen. Maybe even THE worst one..
so A few months back I was at a friend of mines place that has a yard filled with all kinds of junk. wile I was making my way out of his barn with a tube harmon kardon receiver in the dark a litrally tripped over a sansui AU-6500 Int.amp that was just sitting in the dirt outside and sinking into the ground. I enjoy getting really bad pieces and trying to revive them and it was a good candidate for a challenge piece. this one was BAD.
I mean it had it all.. smoke damage from being in a house fire, water and moisture damage from being left in the elements for so long, it was full of dirt and had roots growing threw it, bugs, dust, tons of dead leaves, rust, the list goes on and on.
so I get the thing home and put it on the bench. all the knobs were frozen and locked up, and the rust.. my god! this thing was so filthy I decided to take it outside and clean it there, I didn't even want it on my bench..so I took it out to the driveway and pulled the crud out of it.. I could have made a bon fire with all the leaves and sticks I pulled out of it
mother nature was litrally taking this one back. I posted a few pics of it on facebook and peeps were laughing at it and telling me it was probably too far gone. I figured I really had nothing to loose and that it probably really was too far gone to save so I ended up just hosing it off in my driveway and I let it dry overnight and into the afternoon the next day. after it was dry, I absolutely drenched it in de-oxit and electronic cleaner spray, I hit the frozen pots with marvel mystery oil, and let it sit for another hour. I got all the knobs to turn and all the switches to work, and most of the crud out of it.
then came the moment of truth.. plugging it into the variac and applying voltage to it to see what it would do. I prepaired for a major freak out followed by exploding caps and thick magic smoke and fire.
I slowly turned the voltage up to 110 somewhat cringing every ten volts..
well it made all kinds of terrible noises at first being woken up like that after such a long sleep in the dirt. I kind of felt like frankenstien re-animating a corpse. after a few minutes of intence popping, static, humming, speakers flexing in and out, it was quiet with only a very slight hiss. I was in shock that it didn't just blow up in my face at power up considering the nature of old sansui stuff and how its very easy to piss off even in good condition. so next I attached a pair of rca cables and a cd player.
damn thing passes signal like a cow passes gas. it works great! no distortion, no hum no buzz. nothing weird at all!
HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!?????!!
so I moved it to the other side of the garage, put it on a pair of paradigm speakers and rocked out with it the rest of the day and night. its been two days now and it still hasn't had any issues. I don't know how long its gunna last, and I wouldn't trust it further than I could throw it and wouldn't DARE leave it running unattended but hell, I have a working AU-6500. it sounds fantastic! great bass and crystal clear highs and gets very loud. funny thing is it dosent even have the old electronics smell when it heats up. it just smells like earth.
sadly it was in the dirt too long, cosmetically its absolutely trashed, it was in a house fore about 20 years ago so its smoke damaged that's permeated the faceplate and so has the rust, and the switches are melted slightly. I would go as far as to say this is one of the most absolutely hideous pieces ive ever brought back. it just goes to show how well engineered this stuff really was. this poor amp has seen a astronomical amount of abuse and is still working, its a true testimate to the over engineered gear of the 1970s. I doubt anything made in the 80s or 90s could go threw a house fire, sit in the dirt for 2 decades, and get sprayed out with water and still work.
so, was it worth it? would you have even bothered to try and bring it back?
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums...shit/C59BB2F9-EDE8-41AF-8E6E-45EF394A227E.jpg
so A few months back I was at a friend of mines place that has a yard filled with all kinds of junk. wile I was making my way out of his barn with a tube harmon kardon receiver in the dark a litrally tripped over a sansui AU-6500 Int.amp that was just sitting in the dirt outside and sinking into the ground. I enjoy getting really bad pieces and trying to revive them and it was a good candidate for a challenge piece. this one was BAD.
I mean it had it all.. smoke damage from being in a house fire, water and moisture damage from being left in the elements for so long, it was full of dirt and had roots growing threw it, bugs, dust, tons of dead leaves, rust, the list goes on and on.
so I get the thing home and put it on the bench. all the knobs were frozen and locked up, and the rust.. my god! this thing was so filthy I decided to take it outside and clean it there, I didn't even want it on my bench..so I took it out to the driveway and pulled the crud out of it.. I could have made a bon fire with all the leaves and sticks I pulled out of it
mother nature was litrally taking this one back. I posted a few pics of it on facebook and peeps were laughing at it and telling me it was probably too far gone. I figured I really had nothing to loose and that it probably really was too far gone to save so I ended up just hosing it off in my driveway and I let it dry overnight and into the afternoon the next day. after it was dry, I absolutely drenched it in de-oxit and electronic cleaner spray, I hit the frozen pots with marvel mystery oil, and let it sit for another hour. I got all the knobs to turn and all the switches to work, and most of the crud out of it.
then came the moment of truth.. plugging it into the variac and applying voltage to it to see what it would do. I prepaired for a major freak out followed by exploding caps and thick magic smoke and fire.
I slowly turned the voltage up to 110 somewhat cringing every ten volts..
well it made all kinds of terrible noises at first being woken up like that after such a long sleep in the dirt. I kind of felt like frankenstien re-animating a corpse. after a few minutes of intence popping, static, humming, speakers flexing in and out, it was quiet with only a very slight hiss. I was in shock that it didn't just blow up in my face at power up considering the nature of old sansui stuff and how its very easy to piss off even in good condition. so next I attached a pair of rca cables and a cd player.
damn thing passes signal like a cow passes gas. it works great! no distortion, no hum no buzz. nothing weird at all!
HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!?????!!
so I moved it to the other side of the garage, put it on a pair of paradigm speakers and rocked out with it the rest of the day and night. its been two days now and it still hasn't had any issues. I don't know how long its gunna last, and I wouldn't trust it further than I could throw it and wouldn't DARE leave it running unattended but hell, I have a working AU-6500. it sounds fantastic! great bass and crystal clear highs and gets very loud. funny thing is it dosent even have the old electronics smell when it heats up. it just smells like earth.
sadly it was in the dirt too long, cosmetically its absolutely trashed, it was in a house fore about 20 years ago so its smoke damaged that's permeated the faceplate and so has the rust, and the switches are melted slightly. I would go as far as to say this is one of the most absolutely hideous pieces ive ever brought back. it just goes to show how well engineered this stuff really was. this poor amp has seen a astronomical amount of abuse and is still working, its a true testimate to the over engineered gear of the 1970s. I doubt anything made in the 80s or 90s could go threw a house fire, sit in the dirt for 2 decades, and get sprayed out with water and still work.
so, was it worth it? would you have even bothered to try and bring it back?
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums...shit/C59BB2F9-EDE8-41AF-8E6E-45EF394A227E.jpg
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I merged you two threads and approved them. Your threads were in the spam filter since you post count was less then 25. with the merged accounts your post count is now at 64.
