SOUNDBOXES XI: WANT TO KNOW WHAT TRUE AUDIO LOVE IS? THE SANSUI AU-111 – THE VALVE INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER OF SUPERLATIVES

SOUNDBOXES XI: WANT TO KNOW WHAT TRUE AUDIO LOVE IS? THE SANSUI AU-111 – THE VALVE INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER OF SUPERLATIVES

Where do I begin? To tell the story of how great a vintage tube amplifier can be in your listening life…Everyone who’s into vintage gear has heard some gossip and rumour about the AU-111. This amateurish review will confirm everything good about this amplifier. To me, there is an X-FACTOR in this configuration of matching valves and transformers that is as mysterious as Love itself. I ought to have posted this review a year ago when it first arrived in my home, with a US$4,650.00 hole in my budget for that year (!), but it took a while for me to find that ideal ‘heavenly combination’ of cables, power cords and matching speakers to bring out the absolute best in the AU-111.

Before I begin, this particular sample of a 1965 model of the AU-111 was fully restored, with speaker terminal modifications made to order, by the famous Mr Sam Kim of Sam’s Audio Labs of Canada. A quick introduction to Sam Kim’s highly acclaimed restoration work is available on this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbfRNl56kL8. His work has been favourably mentioned by Peter Breuninger of STEREOPHILE magazine and the accolades go on, as they are tracked on his website: http://www.samsaudiolabs.com. This is also his shopfront which is managed by his business partner Steve. A number of amplifiers can be seen to be on sale, restored and ready for shipping upon payment, and then there are others awaiting orders for restoration. Mine was one of the latter – a somewhat dilapidated looking piece of kit until Sam transformed it. The only things he couldn’t do were the reprinting of the completely faded function labels on the fascia of the amplifier. Hence if you look closely below, a number of labels had to be printed and pasted on using permanent office-quality laserjet sticker sheets. A few by him, and the rest by me. These are negligible imperfections considering the infinite emotional highs you derive from listening to music on this amplifier!

And here’s a picture of Sam in his home laboratory turned workspace proudly tuning my Sansui AU-111, and note the Reader’s Digest LP collection titled ‘STARDUST – 108 All-Time Favourites’ brandished in the lower left and a Barbra Streisand CD within close proximity:

Listen to the video clip mentioned earlier, and you will notice that he says that tuning his modifications and restoration work by ear is his most important principle, even if he has the assistance of a battery of measuring instruments!

And here are the Sansui’s specifications:

Power output: 40 watts per channel into 8Ω (stereo)

Frequency response: 20Hz to 50kHz

Total harmonic distortion: 0.8%

Damping factor: 15

Input sensitivity: 220mV (line)

Signal to noise ratio: 70dB (MM), 80dB (line)

Channel separation: 45dB (MM), 50dB (line)

Output: 2.1V (Pre out)

Speaker load impedance: 8Ω to 16Ω

Dimensions: 460 x 170 x 345mm

Weight: 24.5kg

Year: 1965

Description of Features

This amplifier is extremely heavy! An inspection of the interior reveals three C-core type 1960s transformers of three different sizes, as far as I can discern. One of the three dwarfing the other two. This alone accounts for the fact that this is a monster of a sound machine, notwithstanding it’s bland exterior façade. I have seen such a big transformer – the size of a boxer’s ungloved fist – only in the highest end of the Sansui solid state models like the AU919, AU819 and the 881 tuner amplifier. Then the four majestic 12BH7 tubes which I guess are Toshiba originals, which I am told, should not be replaced (or rolled) since they are currently at 80% of their lifespan. Then as you can see, there are nine other smaller tubes arrayed all around the interstices between the transformers. Below, in the hidden lower deck would be the usual 1960s-era spaghetti bowl formation of wires connecting all the circuit boards. That layer is best left untouched unless one were a qualified electrical engineer, which I am not. Finally, I draw your attention to the controls for bass and treble. Not only can you adjust them for left and right channels, you can align the bass for 250 c/s, 500 c/s and ‘defeat’; for the treble, it can be arranged for 5,000 c/s, 10,000 c/s and ‘defeat’. These sound measures refer to the emphasis on various frequencies in the usual 20-20,000 Hz (Hertz) sound spectrum audible to the human ear. Going further into these explanations may require a whole field of expertise that I do not currently possess. But what matters is that the AU-111 allows you to fine tune the bass to a very sensitive degree. And the treble too. It matters in the era when only Vinyl and Tape ruled music reproduction but my listening experience below suggests that digital music sources also stand to be improved considerably when you tweak the sound by ear!

As with all Class A and Class B Tube amplifiers – this one is a Class AB according to what I have read – the AU-111 produces a lot of heat so it was recommended by Sam to take the lid off while listening. I did not want to mar the aesthetics of my listening area, hence I have compensated by turning on a powerful but quiet DYSON fan nearby, angled to blow the heat safely away during and immediately after operation of the amplifier. Moreover, I can always get the airconditioner running on an extremely hot day.

Cables and Speakers

My speakers are of course a matter of taste and legacy. I have invested in Emmespeakers for a reason: they are art objects that are also first class speakers. The Da Vinci Emmespeakers have proven after several tests with other amplifiers in my two listening rooms to be the ultimate Heaven-made match. Not only is the reproduction flawless in every twist of the bass and treble, it reveals that the AU-111 possesses an SACD quality way before the technology was invented. I did not bother trying to recreate a three channel set-up with woofer – even though the AU-111 provided for it – because the three dimensionality of the soundstage was immaculate. Plus the trademark warmth associated with vintage Sansui gear. Plus the engaging mid-range. One could listen for hours despite the heat generated by the 13 valves in the amplifier.

Better still, the Da Vincis ensured that the semblance of that three dimensional sound travelled all over the apartment as long as one’s room doors were not closed. In this way, one might say that the AU-111 is powerful beyond its stated 40 Watts per channel. In my particular listening space, I found myself needing to permanently turn the bass down to a few notches in the negative zone to avoid ‘rocking’ the neighbours.

Next, having invested in a handy set of Crystal Cable, SILTECH Classic Anniversary and assorted Straightwire and Totem interconnects and power cords, I tried them all out. At one stage, due to a speaker mismatch, I even had to resort to manufacturer supplied US$3.00 standard power cord to tone down the unbearable harsh upper frequencies. A few audio specialists advised me that perhaps ‘less is more’ for vintage gear. This was a hint I should have matched anything SANSUI to JBL and Tannoy speakers and stuck to plain-Jane copper wires. Well, no one was completely wrong. Now what I can say, is that the perfect combination for me lies in attaching the SILTECH Classic Anniversary 770i power cord between the wall mains and power block, then the Crystal Cable Micro (Diamond or non-Diamond) Power cord between the power socket of the AU-111 to the power block. I am using a ‘garden variety’ Chinese made HART power block. As for the speaker cables between the speakers and the amplifier, and cabling for the CD sources and others, one could use virtually anything according to one’s good sense and experience. In this review, I am using Crystal Cable Reference cables to link the Da Vincis to the AU-111, just like in my previous review for the Sansui AU-555A a few years earlier.

What you get after all these tweaks is a near perfect holographic vintage sound from the AU-111, almost magically like a warm analogue sound with a wide transparent soundstage, and very airy voices! If I can vouch for something like SACD quality sound from a vintage amplifier, it is the AU-111 – fully restored!

Wrapped Emotionally in a Wall of Strings

Play Percy Faith, Manuel and the Music of the Mountains, Ronnie Aldrich, Peter Nero, Henry Mancini, Mantovani and Frank Chacksfield, and you’ll realize that you are not simply listening to another reproduction in your living room. The AU-111 gets the speakers to mimic the actual recording venue and the positioning of each of the players.  In this regard, there is no loss of fidelity even though sources originally recorded in analogue stereo were remastered onto Compact Discs, and theoretically for MP3, WAV and MP4 files too. I seldom play my sources in the latter format but have streamed Internet radio from my mobile phone into a Bluetooth receiver hooked up to the AU-111. The results are equally amazing but my ears tell me that CD still has an edge in quality sound storage. One ‘fail proof’ test is to play Los Indios Tabajaras or Manuel through the AU-111 and you’ll hear why their guitars were deliberately tuned to produce that quintessential 1960s Latin-Continental lilt that makes the Latin instrumentals of that era so special. It goes without saying that strings, pianos and other keys sounded crisply natural, as the recording engineers intended.

Stirring the Soul and Classics in Meditation Mode

To put the AU-111 through the paces with the rest of my musical tastes, I played next the British radio station JAZZFM’s compilation titled ‘BREEZIN’. The first track ‘Daydream’ by Soul-jazz artiste Mark Johnson blew me away instantly. Every run around the vocal notes, ad-libbing, and hyped pronunciation was projected as if I was at Johnson’s concert (or studio recording for that matter). The music oozed realism in every decibel, every second, it was almost a sensation of having heard soul music for the very first time. I ran through the next 12 tracks as follows and I could not believe what the AU-111 was capable of:

1.1 Marc Johnson - Daydream4:49

1.2 Richard Elliot - Who?4:20

1.3 Tower of Power - Keep Comin' Back3:49

1.4 Wayman Tisdale - Brazilia4:00

1.5 Colour Club - Save a Little Love4:38

1.6 Chris Camozzi - Curves4:01

1.7 Luther Vandross - Goin' Out of My Head5:18

1.8 Kim Waters - A Love Like This4:38

1.9 Pauline Wilson - Deeper & Deeper4:03

1.10 Jaared - Love's Taken Over6:51

1.11 Steve Winwood feat. Des'ree - Plenty Lovin'5:59

1.12 The Roberts Bros - Sooner or Later4:43

1.13 Jimmy Sommers feat. Coolio – Lowdow

All instrumentals shimmered with a lively edge to them, the horns becoming particularly ‘alive’ in every note. If you wish to acquire this disc to test, listen out for the almost religious experience of hearing Luther Vandross’ vocals caressing the feeling of ‘Goin’ Out of My Head’. Truly, he was one of the greatest soul singers of the 80s and 90s! Finally, that Steve Winwood and Desiree smooth jazz duet smacks of fire and chemistry between the two of them. Not a note out of place, and never any hint of harshness. I kept the bass and treble positions at the middle, i.e. 250 c/s for bass, and 5000 c/s for treble, and decided no more adjustments were needed.

What about the classics? Classical music is almost always recorded in a concert hall, chamber venue, and occasionally in a studio. Almost every recording has a concert like vibe to it. The AU-111 performed every aria, concerto and minuet effortlessly. If you listen occasionally to sung opera of the likes of Renee Fleming, Katherine Jenkins, or Sumi-Jo, this is the only amplifier you’ll ever need. I was almost reaching for the handkerchief when listening to Katherine Jenkins rendering ‘I’ve Dream of You’ and ‘Pie Jesu’…if music was meant to move the soul first rather than just the ears, the Sansui engineers – and Mr Sam Kim – got it right with no degrees for error!

To end this review, I want to add that the day before posting this, I listened to another easy listening great Andy Williams, and his under-appreciated 1974 LP THE WAY WE WERE remastered for CD by BGO records in the UK in 2017. This was not an album to test for dynamics, speed and upper registers in the AU-111.

But it brought out the harmony and layering invested by Williams’ musical arrangers for every song on that album. Although it was a collection of mostly covers of songs popularized by Streisand, Ross, Carpenters, Roberta Flack, John Denver and Gladys Night, this was Andy Williams singing as if he were the original performer, soaking every note in sincerity and heartbreak where needed. The AU-111 lifted the rich orchestration off the background and placed it right there alongside Williams’ holographic presence. Truly, an unforgettable way to remember and cherish an exceptional artiste.  The Sansui AU-111 – made for musical preservation forever – and without peer for holographic realism!

ALAN

September 2019

[By the way, if anyone has experience listening to the limited run 1999 edition of the SANSUI AU-111G, please share your stories in a comment to my blog post.]