Sansui AU-999

Beautiful black discretion hiding Sansui's big change from vacuum tubes to solid-state transistors and the beginning of Sansui's best and most successful period : the 1970s.

If Sony was powering its original ES Series with transistors since 1965, Sansui took its time, just like Matsushita or Kenwood and waited 1968 to take the A train.
In came the AU-777, a host of others, and the AU-999. As Sansui didn't make its own transistors (unlike Sony), the two pairs used in the AU-999 came from Hitachi.

Sporting all the functions of a 'modern' amplifier, the AU-999 also called attention to circuit details that would become somewhat common only much later elsewhere : PNP transistorized preamplifier, DC power amp section, Mylar capacitors and fixed-resistance tone controls.
The build quality is like anything high-end having its roots in the 1960s : unbelievably clean with thick & chromed chassis separations and front (preamp) / back (inputs) covers - like a Sony TA-2000.

Functions are numerous : triple tone controls (with intelligently placed turnover frequencies, for once), two-way dubbing & monitoring, level trim pots for the two phono MM and the auxiliary inputs, three pairs of loudspeaker terminals and even a "balance check" button that nulls signal if the two channels are properly balanced.

DIN tape connection is here as well, just as MIC input, stereo / reverse / mono-L / mono-R / L+R selector and even a -20dB muting switch to avoid using the volume which, then, still wasn't bigger than any other :)
Tone control is done in 2dB steps for bass and treble but in 1dB steps for the midrange - again a very useful attention.


The AU-999 is beautiful, reliable, magnificently built and sounds warmly inviting.
I can only think of the next AU-9500 to top this classic Sansui era.