Sansui 9090DB Receiver - Fully Restored With New Walnut Veneer

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Here we have a beautiful and fully restored example of the classic Sansui 9090DB Stereo Receiver. Produced during the Sansui golden era and only for three years, beginning in 1976.

The 9090DB is considered one of the "best of the best" receivers from the 1970's, and certainly a must-have for serious Sansui collectors.

This example underwent an extensive cosmetic and electronic restoration by our good friends over at Novalux Stereophonic. It now features a brand new walnut veneer carefully finished in Danish Oil, a complete electrolytic cap replacement, LED's, AM/FM Alignment, and so much more

Full details follow below, plus check out this most thorough video:

Cosmetic Notes: This piece has minor cosmetic blemishes consistent with age. These include light scratches on some of the knobs, some minor wear on the faceplate and dial plastic, some dark marks on the metal bezel around the dial, light wear on the top cover metal grill, slight imperfections in the veneer, and some damage to the AM loop stick ball joint.

Restoration Outline:
• Faceplate and knobs cleaned and polished.
• Damaged wood veneer replaced and finished in Dark Walnut Danish Oil.
• All controls cleaned and lubricated with professional CAIG branded products.   
• Complete Electrolytic recap (including main filter capacitors and tuner assembly). • Every electrolytic cap in this piece has been replaced.
• Full rebuild of the driver card including all fusible resistors and silicon parts, and bourns trimmers with precision 10 turn controls for DC offset adjustment.
• All output transistors are the original Toshiba devices.
• DC Offset and Bias set to official service manual spec.
• Output power tested into an 8 ohm load yielded 150WPC before clipping at less than 1% THD.
• Known noisy transistors in the tone circuit were replaced with modern equivalents.
• Dolby board fully removed, recapped, repinned, and calibrated to service manual spec.
• AM and FM tuner aligned (via modern and professional Sencore SG80).
• All lamps replaced with LED, compensating resistor added to dial pointer (See Video).
• Full function test and burn in completed. All inputs, outputs, and controls working as intended, with the exception of the calibration oscillator for Dolby NR. A (Y) cable will be included for Dolby tape calibration using the Tape 1 right record Jack (See Video).

Please see the linked PDF's below for full specifications and technical details:

Sansui 9090DB Stereo AM/FM Receiver - Original Sales Brochure

Sansui 9090DB Stereo AM/FM Receiver - Manual

The SkyFi Testing Process for Receivers:

We start with a visual inspection of all internal components to make sure there are no signs of stress or aging. Capacitors are checked for telltale sings of bulging or leaking, resistors are checked for signs of overheating or cracking, and transistors are checked for signs of stress or damage.

We then power up the unit carefully and run a simple 1k sine wave while monitoring the output on an oscilloscope for signs of distortion or noise. Finally, we run the receiver to its full rated power into the appropriate resistive load provided by our Sencore amplifier tester. If there is an issue, it will usually be noticeable at this point. If everything reads clean, we will often test for THD (Total Harmonic Distortion) measured by our Keithley distortion meter, and compare it against the original manufacturers specifications. The receiver then remains powered on to "burn in" on our test bench for a few hours to make sure there are no heat related issues. If there are balanced inputs available they will be also be tested.

Then the tuner is thoroughly tested in our lab utilizing our professional Sencore SG80 FM Generator, which allows us to generate a reference FM signal of any frequency and amplitude, and then measure the resulting tuner output on our Sencore PR81 or oscilloscope. 

Final testing involves pushing actual music thorough the receiver. We've learned over time that some issues are only noticeable to a trained ear while listening to familiar source material. Our test bench has reference vintage KEF speakers that we're very familiar with which quickly reveal any discrepancies. Some receivers will then move into our listening room where they are tested with our in-house reference speakers of choice.

Please click here for detailed specifics regarding our specialized packing process that separates us from the rest.