NeverSatisfied is getting a fresh d500
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I have both the TU-919 and TU -9800. They are very close in sound and reception.
ALL THE DOPE ON THE TU 919
I am about to embark on some mods to even increase the sound stage including Bill Ammons upgrades I purchased a while back , see attached doc
01/22/22: Here's JohnC again with mods for the Sansui TU-919.
Power Supply:
Panasonic FM series unless noted:
C01 - 0.047 to polypropylene film
C02 - 220/6.3 to 470/10
C03 - 1000/16 to 2200/16
C04/05/06 - 0.01 polypropylene film
C09/10 - 470/35 to 1200/35
C11/12 - 220/35 to 560/35
C13 - 330/25 to 680/35
C14 - 220/25 to 470/25
C19/20 - 220/16 to 470/16
C21 - 100/10 to 220/10
D01/04 - Vishay Telefunken Fast Recovery Epitaxial Diodes (FREDs)
D03 - Assemble bridge using 11DQ10 Schottky diodes
R03/04 - 10 ohm 1W to 10 ohm 3W Vishay Sfernice Wirewound or 5W Mills
ZD01 - 6V 500mW 5% epitaxial diode (1N5233)
Audio Coupling:
C01/02 - 1 µF Mylar to 1 µF 200V Auricap polypropylene film
C31 - 10/10 non-polar to 22/16 non-polar Nichicon MUSE ES Series
C27/28 - .047 Mylar to .047/50 Panasonic polypropylene film ECQ-P
C23/25 - 10/16 to "ONE" 22/6.3 Black Gate NX non-polar
C24/26 - 10/16 to "ONE" 22/6.3 Black Gate NX non-polar
Use the "long lead" of the non-polar on the input of C23/24 (marked "negative" on the board) and the "short lead" on the output of C25/26 (marked "negative" on the board). This removes a cap from the audio path, always a plus.
R23/24 68K to .5W 68K PRP metal film, or your favorite
R25/26 470 to .5W 470 PRP metal film, or your favorite
R31/32 22K to .5W 22K PRP metal film, or your favorite
R33/34 10K to .5W 10K PRP metal film, or your favorite
Decoupling:
C15/16/21/22 - 100/16 to 220/25 Panasonic FM
Dolby Defeat
C29/30 - Remove. No replacement.
here is an opinion on it compared to one of the best out there
Shootout #38 (posted 05/30/03): Kenwood L-02T vs. Sansei TU-919
Winner: L-02T
Some tuners are so different from the L-02T, in a bad way, that the A/B review is easy. Other tuners have been so nice-sounding, in their own way, they've made me look at the L-02T's sound in a new light. Could there be more than one path to audio bliss from these tuners? Just a few thoughts after listening to so many tuners in my role as reviewer. The Sansui TU-919 sounds SO much like the L-02T that I found it quite disturbing. They had the same low, lush, powerful bass. The imaging was excellent on both, they were both very three-dimensional in their presentations, the highs were sweet and never fatiguing, and I could listen to either of them for hours. It took me a very long time to come up with any sonic differences. Female voice and highs were just a touch lighter with the TU-919, or should I say the L-02T was a touch darker-sounding? The differences were very, very slight. At times, while listening to female vocals, I imagined she stepped off the stage and sang to just me through the Kenwood but stepped back on the stage and sang to everyone at my "table" through the Sansui. Just an image of the slight differences. The technical side of me was disturbed that it was so hard to tell them apart. One tuner's audio stage uses discrete transistors and the other tuner uses op-amps in the audio section, but in a unique way. Why do they sound so similar? Just good designs? Luck? The planets were aligned just right? Whatever, the L-02T may have met its match. Read on.
When it came to the torture test at 88.7, the TU-919 was the first to shine. With both tuners in wide mode, the Sansui was more consistent in holding onto a quieter signal. In narrow mode, both tuners held a cleaner signal but the Sansui had more occasional noise as its stereo light flickered. The Kenwood's stereo light held steady but it was obvious that the signal wasn't much more than mono. Manually switching both tuners to mono brought the different RF games these boys were playing under the same set of rules and after that, they fought to a draw. Thanks to good tropospheric conditions, both tuners could pick up 88.7 KTPB from the east. The Kenwood held a better signal, while the Sansui wasn't as selective and occasionally let 88.5's foot in its door.
To sum up, the TU-919 is highly recommended. The winner? The L-02T by a song and a prayer. That being said, if push came to shove, I could easily switch out the two and make the Sansui king. [TU-919 Ricochets]
specs
Sansui TU-919 (1979, $585, front, closeup, back, inside, block diagram, brochure1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) search eBay
The TU-919 is widely recognized as a top tuner and a worthy rival of Sansui's classic TU-9900 (if perhaps a bit short of a TU-X1). The TU-919 has a 5-gang analog tuning capacitor with a digital LED readout like the TU-719 has. Our panelist Bob has details on the TU-919's 4 filters: "The filters are set up a little differently than, say, a KT-7500. The TU-919 uses three 280 kHz GDT flat group delay 3-pin filters for the wide IF bandwidth mode, and what appears to be one 150 kHz 3-pin filter for narrow mode - all Murata, and well-matched stock. In narrow it is using all 4 filters, and in wide just the three 280 GDT's. As a result, the wide mode is not super wide, and really almost makes the narrow extraneous, sort of like the Accuphase T-100 or Kenwood KT-8005 or 8007. The TU-919 would probably be great for DXing with a 110 kHz filter in narrow for getting adjacent channels." The TU-919 is more sensitive than the TU-717 and 719, and our audiophile reviewers agree that the TU-919 sounds great. AM radio listeners should note that the TU-919 has a wide-narrow filter for the AM band which can eliminate typical AM splatter noise, making it the best-sounding AM section Bob has ever heard. He adds, "Sensitivity is very good, and the TU-919 excels in having probably one of the best stock stereo blend noise filters. It really does a good job killing the noise, keeping the stereo image, without rolling off the highs. The ergonomics are good, but you are wishing you could turn the crystal lock off on occasion. It locks on and hangs on well past the indicated dial marking, then lets go and steps to the next frequency (in .1's). It's just odd because you are now well past where the dial says you should be. It does this in both directions, depending on which way you approach the station."
Our contributor Ed Hanlon did some work on a TU-919: "My favorite tuner of all time is a newly modified TU-919. First off, we defeated that silly quartz lock tuning (but kept the pretty green LED on all the time). Next, we rearranged the filter configuration so that instead of 3 filters functioning in wide mode, now just two do. The narrow band, which before only added a fourth filter to the 3 in wide, now has 2 filters. So instead of being a 3+1, this tuner is now a 2+2. Wide bandwidth has enhanced fidelity, and you can even notice a difference between the wide and narrow settings! And unlike our first go-round with defeating quartz lock tuning (in the TU-719, perhaps?), defeating the lock on the TU-919 works perfectly. Right now, I'm listening to WQXR-96.3, with no splash from my local station on 96.5, and it sounds wonderful. The one nit I can pick: even with the stereo threshold cranked all the way down, this tuner will pop in and out of stereo on very weak signals. By changing the pot that controls the stereo threshold, the user can decide how much noise is too much, and has the option of using the very fine FM Noise Filter this unit employs. It looks like the stereo threshold will affect the muting, meaning that if we change that pot, we may lose the muting function. I say, 'who cares?' I never use FM muting anyway."
Our panelist JohnC did a comparison: "I initially felt that my modded TU-919 was a better sounder than my TU-9900, until I got around to replacing the 9900's op-amps, direct coupling the output and bypassing the variable output control. Huge, huge improvement, made the 919 sound flat, and this after having felt that the 919 was my reference. Relooked at the 919 and replaced a couple of electrolytics with some film caps, and a couple of other things knowing now what could achieved, and it came in much closer than it had been." See how one TU-919 sounded compared to other top tuners on our Shootouts page, and read our panelist David "A"'s Ricochet. Our contributors Tim and Ann compare a TU-919 to a McIntosh MR 74 and a Modafferi-modded MR 78, Pioneer F-91 and Sony ST-730ES on our Shootouts 2.0 page.
The TU-919's normal sale price range on eBay is $500-700, but higher is possible for particularly nice ones. A TU-919 in good condition with rack handles can easily sell for $800 or more, and a "new in box" 919 fetched $820 in 7/07. And what about the truly abnormal sales? In late 2003, some crazed eBay newbies ran up the price of two ordinary TU-919s (no rack handles, no manuals or other extras) from $650 or so to $1,005 and $920, respectively, and another one with rack handles and manuals went for $1,125. Hey guys, even though Jim thought the TU-919 sounded great in his system, you got carried away
ALL THE DOPE ON THE TU 919
I am about to embark on some mods to even increase the sound stage including Bill Ammons upgrades I purchased a while back , see attached doc
01/22/22: Here's JohnC again with mods for the Sansui TU-919.
Power Supply:
Panasonic FM series unless noted:
C01 - 0.047 to polypropylene film
C02 - 220/6.3 to 470/10
C03 - 1000/16 to 2200/16
C04/05/06 - 0.01 polypropylene film
C09/10 - 470/35 to 1200/35
C11/12 - 220/35 to 560/35
C13 - 330/25 to 680/35
C14 - 220/25 to 470/25
C19/20 - 220/16 to 470/16
C21 - 100/10 to 220/10
D01/04 - Vishay Telefunken Fast Recovery Epitaxial Diodes (FREDs)
D03 - Assemble bridge using 11DQ10 Schottky diodes
R03/04 - 10 ohm 1W to 10 ohm 3W Vishay Sfernice Wirewound or 5W Mills
ZD01 - 6V 500mW 5% epitaxial diode (1N5233)
Audio Coupling:
C01/02 - 1 µF Mylar to 1 µF 200V Auricap polypropylene film
C31 - 10/10 non-polar to 22/16 non-polar Nichicon MUSE ES Series
C27/28 - .047 Mylar to .047/50 Panasonic polypropylene film ECQ-P
C23/25 - 10/16 to "ONE" 22/6.3 Black Gate NX non-polar
C24/26 - 10/16 to "ONE" 22/6.3 Black Gate NX non-polar
Use the "long lead" of the non-polar on the input of C23/24 (marked "negative" on the board) and the "short lead" on the output of C25/26 (marked "negative" on the board). This removes a cap from the audio path, always a plus.
R23/24 68K to .5W 68K PRP metal film, or your favorite
R25/26 470 to .5W 470 PRP metal film, or your favorite
R31/32 22K to .5W 22K PRP metal film, or your favorite
R33/34 10K to .5W 10K PRP metal film, or your favorite
Decoupling:
C15/16/21/22 - 100/16 to 220/25 Panasonic FM
Dolby Defeat
C29/30 - Remove. No replacement.
here is an opinion on it compared to one of the best out there
Shootout #38 (posted 05/30/03): Kenwood L-02T vs. Sansei TU-919
Winner: L-02T
Some tuners are so different from the L-02T, in a bad way, that the A/B review is easy. Other tuners have been so nice-sounding, in their own way, they've made me look at the L-02T's sound in a new light. Could there be more than one path to audio bliss from these tuners? Just a few thoughts after listening to so many tuners in my role as reviewer. The Sansui TU-919 sounds SO much like the L-02T that I found it quite disturbing. They had the same low, lush, powerful bass. The imaging was excellent on both, they were both very three-dimensional in their presentations, the highs were sweet and never fatiguing, and I could listen to either of them for hours. It took me a very long time to come up with any sonic differences. Female voice and highs were just a touch lighter with the TU-919, or should I say the L-02T was a touch darker-sounding? The differences were very, very slight. At times, while listening to female vocals, I imagined she stepped off the stage and sang to just me through the Kenwood but stepped back on the stage and sang to everyone at my "table" through the Sansui. Just an image of the slight differences. The technical side of me was disturbed that it was so hard to tell them apart. One tuner's audio stage uses discrete transistors and the other tuner uses op-amps in the audio section, but in a unique way. Why do they sound so similar? Just good designs? Luck? The planets were aligned just right? Whatever, the L-02T may have met its match. Read on.
When it came to the torture test at 88.7, the TU-919 was the first to shine. With both tuners in wide mode, the Sansui was more consistent in holding onto a quieter signal. In narrow mode, both tuners held a cleaner signal but the Sansui had more occasional noise as its stereo light flickered. The Kenwood's stereo light held steady but it was obvious that the signal wasn't much more than mono. Manually switching both tuners to mono brought the different RF games these boys were playing under the same set of rules and after that, they fought to a draw. Thanks to good tropospheric conditions, both tuners could pick up 88.7 KTPB from the east. The Kenwood held a better signal, while the Sansui wasn't as selective and occasionally let 88.5's foot in its door.
To sum up, the TU-919 is highly recommended. The winner? The L-02T by a song and a prayer. That being said, if push came to shove, I could easily switch out the two and make the Sansui king. [TU-919 Ricochets]
specs
Sansui TU-919 (1979, $585, front, closeup, back, inside, block diagram, brochure1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) search eBay
The TU-919 is widely recognized as a top tuner and a worthy rival of Sansui's classic TU-9900 (if perhaps a bit short of a TU-X1). The TU-919 has a 5-gang analog tuning capacitor with a digital LED readout like the TU-719 has. Our panelist Bob has details on the TU-919's 4 filters: "The filters are set up a little differently than, say, a KT-7500. The TU-919 uses three 280 kHz GDT flat group delay 3-pin filters for the wide IF bandwidth mode, and what appears to be one 150 kHz 3-pin filter for narrow mode - all Murata, and well-matched stock. In narrow it is using all 4 filters, and in wide just the three 280 GDT's. As a result, the wide mode is not super wide, and really almost makes the narrow extraneous, sort of like the Accuphase T-100 or Kenwood KT-8005 or 8007. The TU-919 would probably be great for DXing with a 110 kHz filter in narrow for getting adjacent channels." The TU-919 is more sensitive than the TU-717 and 719, and our audiophile reviewers agree that the TU-919 sounds great. AM radio listeners should note that the TU-919 has a wide-narrow filter for the AM band which can eliminate typical AM splatter noise, making it the best-sounding AM section Bob has ever heard. He adds, "Sensitivity is very good, and the TU-919 excels in having probably one of the best stock stereo blend noise filters. It really does a good job killing the noise, keeping the stereo image, without rolling off the highs. The ergonomics are good, but you are wishing you could turn the crystal lock off on occasion. It locks on and hangs on well past the indicated dial marking, then lets go and steps to the next frequency (in .1's). It's just odd because you are now well past where the dial says you should be. It does this in both directions, depending on which way you approach the station."
Our contributor Ed Hanlon did some work on a TU-919: "My favorite tuner of all time is a newly modified TU-919. First off, we defeated that silly quartz lock tuning (but kept the pretty green LED on all the time). Next, we rearranged the filter configuration so that instead of 3 filters functioning in wide mode, now just two do. The narrow band, which before only added a fourth filter to the 3 in wide, now has 2 filters. So instead of being a 3+1, this tuner is now a 2+2. Wide bandwidth has enhanced fidelity, and you can even notice a difference between the wide and narrow settings! And unlike our first go-round with defeating quartz lock tuning (in the TU-719, perhaps?), defeating the lock on the TU-919 works perfectly. Right now, I'm listening to WQXR-96.3, with no splash from my local station on 96.5, and it sounds wonderful. The one nit I can pick: even with the stereo threshold cranked all the way down, this tuner will pop in and out of stereo on very weak signals. By changing the pot that controls the stereo threshold, the user can decide how much noise is too much, and has the option of using the very fine FM Noise Filter this unit employs. It looks like the stereo threshold will affect the muting, meaning that if we change that pot, we may lose the muting function. I say, 'who cares?' I never use FM muting anyway."
Our panelist JohnC did a comparison: "I initially felt that my modded TU-919 was a better sounder than my TU-9900, until I got around to replacing the 9900's op-amps, direct coupling the output and bypassing the variable output control. Huge, huge improvement, made the 919 sound flat, and this after having felt that the 919 was my reference. Relooked at the 919 and replaced a couple of electrolytics with some film caps, and a couple of other things knowing now what could achieved, and it came in much closer than it had been." See how one TU-919 sounded compared to other top tuners on our Shootouts page, and read our panelist David "A"'s Ricochet. Our contributors Tim and Ann compare a TU-919 to a McIntosh MR 74 and a Modafferi-modded MR 78, Pioneer F-91 and Sony ST-730ES on our Shootouts 2.0 page.
The TU-919's normal sale price range on eBay is $500-700, but higher is possible for particularly nice ones. A TU-919 in good condition with rack handles can easily sell for $800 or more, and a "new in box" 919 fetched $820 in 7/07. And what about the truly abnormal sales? In late 2003, some crazed eBay newbies ran up the price of two ordinary TU-919s (no rack handles, no manuals or other extras) from $650 or so to $1,005 and $920, respectively, and another one with rack handles and manuals went for $1,125. Hey guys, even though Jim thought the TU-919 sounded great in his system, you got carried away
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- May 1, 2013
- Messages
- 7,360
- Location
- Australia
- Tagline
- Those who enter the man cave will get WOPLed
Here's part of the circuit if you want to build your own. *Forgot to add, the L10 is the non remote unit version* From what I've read, the circuits are the same other than the remote add-on. You may find the L10 at a cheaper price.
Very interesting circuit, eh? No opamps. Intriguing. May try this on a PL2000 sized board with Jim's idea of daughter boards for the pots. Much more research needed first.
Very interesting circuit, eh? No opamps. Intriguing. May try this on a PL2000 sized board with Jim's idea of daughter boards for the pots. Much more research needed first.
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Don't know about the 3600 but Joe (and possibly Lee) have had the Acurus put through the wringer and the Acurus can't be beat. You know it too when you insert the RL-11 into your system. The Carver/PL phono sections are very excellent designs (through the years have not changed by Bob), so finding a suitable quiet/sensitive phono amp was a requirement. There is some junk out there and the route I chose was tested thoroughly after the changes to the original. There are a few upgrades for the RL-11 but mine is so nice that I haven't given any of the upgrades a second thought. Ask Joe and Lee, they'll tell you about the Acurus.
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The kit has the capability of remote volume and remote power on/off but I don't hook up the on/off portion since it could be catastrophic if you hit the power off accidently while jamming and then panic makes it possible to power it back on and if the AMP is rocking, and you cycle preamp power you may suddenly find the legendary KABOOM we see sometimes.