ITALIAN HI FI RIVIERA PART TWO: Matching Pathos Frontiers Prime with the Sansui AU-X711 Integrated Amplifier

The SANSUI AU-X 711 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER vintage 1989 – Reproducing the Magic of Vinyl from CD, Or the Deeper Appreciation of Ronnie Aldrich, Rosemary Squires, Matt Monro and Reader’s Digest Music

Seen from the photograph, this is a ‘behemoth’ of an integrated amplifier that sits awkwardly alongside the stylishly themed disc players on the table. Focus your attention on the orange backlighting of the function buttons, it evokes the neon-drenched pop music of the 1980s accentuated by orange hues in hairdos and punk elements. Back in the 1980s, ‘boomboxes’ sporting CD compartments were part of the street scene, the mall scene and at parties of all ages…But my review is about showcasing how this SANSUI AU-X 711 hides a classic sound behind that snazzy façade that upon first glance may not appeal to everyone. First up here are the statistics of the SANSUI AU-X711:

Power Output
100W into 8Ω (stereo)

Input Sensitivity
2.5mV (mm), 0.3mV (mc), 150mV (line)

Speaker Impedance
4 to 16Ω

Dimensions
430 x 163 x 450 mm

Frequency Response
20Hz to 20kHz

Signal to Noise Ratio
88dB (mm), 70dB (mc), 110dB (line)

Weight
17.2 kg

This is my first taste of a Hi Fi product from this Japanese manufacturer, barring the brief period when I was 10-12 years old when my parents first owned a set up comprising SANSUI 2500 five driver speakers, a turntable – presumably also from SANSUI – and I think matched to the AU101 or AU555. The sound was ‘big’, room filling and lent clarity to Ray Conniff and his singers. I particularly recall their rendition of ‘Music to Watch Girls By’ remain etched in my sonic memory as exceptionally warm and could fill one’s head with a pleasantly repeating melody for more than a whole day.

The SANSUI amplifier – every model ever built – would frequently surface at my regular second hand store, GM Sound, at Singapore’s famous Sim Lim Square electronics shopping centre. The store owner would always beckon me to try out the category of SANSUI or LUXMAN. I had resisted until now. Many newer amplifiers had apparently failed, with the exception of the earlier reviewed PATHOS Classic One MkIII, to match the expectations of my earful of vinyl memories from the late 1970s. I can only tell you how GREAT the AU-X711 sounds by revisiting some particular favourites in my CD library featuring vinyl remasters.

First up – the piano artistry of Mr Ronnie Aldrich on DECCA and ECLIPSE records. Occasionally, the Dutton-vocalion remaster would turn me off as an under quality production: the TOGETHERNESS double LP from 1970 reissued on CD in 2005 and THIS WAY IN from 1968 reissued on CD in 2004. Being a regularly concert goer, my ears always hanker for a sound that is as natural as possible. Aldrich’s piano could sound really deadbeat and draggy on many systems prompting one to either blame the remastering, shun the artiste, or wish the LP could be listened too again. The AU-X711 worked the Aldrich recordings like a marriage made in heaven with the PATHOS Digit player, the Bel Canto CD2, the Gato Audio CDD1, and even the JUNGSON Moon Harbour CD2S – all linked by Crystal Cable Standard Diamond Power Cords and interconnects, matched to the PATHOS Frontiers Prime speakers. What was this magic? Like a supreme wizard, the AU-X711 uncorked all the resonances, natural sonic decays and other incidental studio reflections from the original vinyl. Aldrich’s every note hung in the air space between the speakers and the listener as if he were playing just for you – in your living room. I was astounded by how Aldrich and the London Festival Orchestra ‘rocked’ the stage on Paul Simon’s composition ‘Cecilia’ and another pop hit ‘My Baby Loves Lovin’ on their 1970 TOGETHERNESS album. On the 1968 LP THIS WAY IN, ‘Mrs Robinson’ and ‘Mas Que Nada’ had the same thrill – lively and groovy, and tempting to get oneself up onto the dancefloor. Maybe it was the characteristic ‘holographic’ reproductive feature on the PATHOS Frontiers that added to the overwhelming sense of excitement – an ambience that everybody emotionally involved with the music were having a fantastic time – a time of their lives? On slower numbers, ballads like ‘By the Time I Get to Phoenix’, ‘This Guy’s in Love with You’ and ‘The Long and Winding Road’ reveal Aldrich’s pianistic touch as becoming a resemblance of a Tchaikovsky or a Rachmaninov piano concerto: every note of his piano COMMANDS your attention as if these were physical drops of sonic pearls. Like the ultimate wizard, the SANSUI makes music a life changing experience – everyday.

Not unlike the much touted vanishing cream promised by some cosmetics manufacturers, the SANSUI takes years off every vocal performance, and takes you time travelling to smoky jazz clubs in New York, Jazz at the Radio City Music Hall, or trendy dinner venues with dance floors in Sixties swinging London. Rosemary Squires, a chanteuse frequently found on rare Reader’s Digest compilations, has now gained a fan in me – thanks to the SANSUI! For a solid state amplifier to evoke the precision of emotion from four decades past is quite a remarkable feat. Two of my all-time favourites by Rosemary are her renditions of ‘People’ and ‘I’ve Got You Under my Skin’. The SANSUI conveys all the pathos of the torch singer, the girl pining for an estranged boy, and the purity of indulgence in sheer sentimentality. I can bet you that Ella Fitzgerald and Carmen McCrae would also find a new plane of glory through the SANSUI. If you want to experience this level of sonic indulgence, get a copy of Reader’s Digest SENTIMENTAL SONGS THAT WILL LIVE FOREVER on RD USA, produced in 1996, catalogue numbers 067B and O67C, while they are still available on CD box sets. Other Reader’s Digest box sets feature another favourite of mine: Matt Monro, supposedly Britain’s ‘answer’ to Sinatra. That characteristically nasally voice assumes a new plane of suave subtlety via the SANSUI. Listen to his mesmerizing interpretations of ‘Autumn Leaves’ and the Beatles’ ‘Yesterday’ and ‘All my Loving’ and you’ll be amazed how good vinyl remasters sound on CD! One last note: try also Barry Manilow’s 2010 recording of GREATEST LOVE SONGS OF ALL on BMG-ARISTA through the AU-X711 and you realize how this recording is technically brilliant and Manilow’s voice is rendered ‘ageless’ through this evergreen solid state amplifier. Be warned that this SANSUI amplifier offers a totally addictive sound. If you ask me to compare it with the Pathos Classic One amplifier, they are almost on par. The Classic One draws level on 99% of all the Ronnie Aldrich and DECCA instrumental recordings, but it is just that 1% where the SANSUI establishes its superiority as the premier interpreter of vinyl quality from digital formats. As for vocals recorded in the all digital DDD format, the Classic One lets your Carreras, Domingo, Katherine Jenkins, Filippa Giordano and Streisand breathe much more ambiently and with more precision. But if you still need the 1950s-1970s to sound like you have never left them, grab the vintage SANSUI off any good second hand seller. For fans of Paul Mauriat and other French orchestras, their music sounds equally good on both amplifiers.

Just a small listening tip for the Sansui: avoid turning on the loudness button since it will overdose on the bass; listen at somewhere just before the 9 o’clock volume position; keep the ‘subsonic’ and ‘tone’ buttons depressed – part of the Sansui magic; and set the Treble at the position of ‘+ 1’; or as I have demonstrated in the picture above, set the SOURCE to direct and bypass all of the treble and bass controls, and you’ll be able to hear how great the original vinyl sounded, in spite of the remastering on CD.

For your information, inclusive of the modifications I requested of the speaker terminals (to accommodate spade or shotgun style terminated Nordost Blue Heaven speaker cables), and a three pin power cable socket, this amplifier set me back by approximately US$900.00. Modifications were contracted to NORMAN Audio Pte Ltd of Adelphi shopping centre, Singapore, the local retailer and consultant on high end audio. Well worth it for an amplifier to be kept for life!

Alan

[You are welcome to correspond with me on Hi Fi at orchestraljoy@yahoo.com.sg]