Sansui AU-D33 Integrated Amplifier Lab Report

Lab Report

While Sansui was not making any particular assertions about the

AU-D33's speaker-driving ability, its 'Super Feedforward' topology did make a claim for very low distortion. The latter was realised in practice with a midband THD of 0.0005-0.001% over the full 50W range specified for this integrated amplifier. There is some suggestion of crossover distortion at very low power – the minimum THD being achieved at ~10W/8ohm – but even at high frequencies the AU-D33 holds true to just ~0.004%/20kHz [see Graph 2, below]. CCIR intermodulation distortion is also a very low 0.0002% although stereo separation begins to 'close up' to around 40dB at 20kHz, possibly through capacitive coupling between tracks/wiring on the PCB. Overall gain is a sensibly modest +39.8dB – lower than the excessive 45dB+ of many integrateds from this era – requiring 205mV to raise the rated 50W/8ohm from the output. The A-wtd S/N ratio is bang-on 100.0dB at this output (and 83.0dB re. 0dBW).

The frequency response is very extended, so while the –0.25dB bass shelf (2Hz-200Hz) was unexpected, the treble rolls away to an imperceptible –0.2dB/20kHz and then to –4.7dB/100kHz. The moderate 0.15-0.20ohm output impedance will give rise to further shifts in balance when paired with low/variable-impedance loudspeakers – the latter are not especially recommended if only because the AU-D33 is current-limited to just 4.5A, achieving an underwhelming 32W/2ohm and 18W/1ohm. Into 'easier' loudspeaker loads the AU-D33 fares well enough, besting its rated 50W with 2x70W/8ohm and 2x55W/4ohm, and with sufficient headroom into these higher impedances to support 103W/8ohm [see Graph 1, below]. PM

722vint.lab1

Dynamic power output vs. distortion up to 1% THD into 8ohm (black trace), 4ohm (red), 2ohm (cyan) and 1ohm (green) speaker loads. Max current is 4.5A

722vint.lab2

Distortion vs. extended frequency from 5Hz-40kHz at 1W/8ohm (black) and 10W/8ohm (red)

Power output (<1% THD, 8/4ohm) 70W / 55W
Dynamic power (<1% THD, 8/4/2/1ohm) 103W / 57W / 32W / 18W
Output imp. (20Hz–20kHz/100kHz) 0.149–0.20ohm / 0.60ohm
Freq. resp. (20Hz–20kHz/100kHz, 0dBW) –0.26dB to –0.20dB/–4.7dB
Input sensitivity (for 0dBW/50W) 30mV / 210mV
A-wtd S/N ratio (re. 0dBW/50W) 83.0dB / 100.0dB
Distortion (20Hz-20kHz, 10W/8ohm) 0.0005–0.004%
Power consumption (Idle/rated output) 28W / 229W
Dimensions (WHD) / Weight 430x112x334mm / 7.3kg
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