Sansui 500

After the SM-32 * and SAX-200 models, the 500 was a new quality in Sansui design. Simple, raw faceplate with lots of knobs. This style also dominated the 1000 and 1000A models. Electronically, the 500 differed little from its predecessors. It also had two separate AM and FM tuners, a "magic eye" working as an indicator of their tuning. An interesting fact is that the section of this tube works depending on the selected range, i.e. the lower section on AM and the upper section on FM. During the simcast operation, both sections were lit simultaneously. The MPX decoder has been changed to a much better one and mounted on a printed circuit board. During production, its elements were changed. The differences were: knobs - the older version had full aluminum knobs, as in the 1000 and 1000A models, in the newer version they were made of aluminum with a rubber ring, external ferrite AM antenna - the older version had the antenna moved away from the housing and the ability to change the angle, the newer version had the antenna on a steel structure with the possibility of vertical deflection and horizontal movement, in the older model, the stereo indicator - the light bulb - was switched on by an electromagnetic relay controlled by the signal from the MPX decoder, in the newer version, instead of the bulb, a neon lamp controlled directly from the MPX decoder was used. In addition, the 500 model, like the SM-320M, had the ability to work in a stereo-multicast or MPX system, a 6GE12 double magic eye, a preamplifier based on an ECC85 tube, a correction preamplifier for amplifying signals from a magnetoelectric turntable and a microphone based on four 2SB51 germanium transistors and rare output to loudspeakers / columns with a resistance of 32 ohms. The power amplifier worked in a Push & Pull configuration using 6BM8 / ECL82 tubes, but in a configuration with adjustable BIAS. The use of such lamps was a budget solution, but with good transformers, these lamps are able to give a lot. And you can hear it in the 500 model. The manufacturer gave the maximum (musical) power of 2 x 16 W. And the most important. Looking at this big (and heavy) Sansui 500 it was hard to believe that the amplifier had 6BM8 / ECL82 tubes.

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