opinions

Was the Sansui built by Luie Cifer...?!

Sansui-loud, hard, fatiguing. NAD-high volume, neutral, warm, non piercing.

Sorry Matt, not this series of Sansui, the later ones, yes. Some even describe this series as a "tube-like' sound. I have heard receivers from this era, and they do sound good. As far as choice, Sansui offers more features and more power (35w vs 20w). Both should good, but maybe a little different.

I'm just curious as to why the vintage gear? I've done some experimenting with vintage pieces myself, and the only type of components I thought worth buying were tube amps. Didn't care for anything solid state or even tube preamps. To be fair, I haven't heard the NAD in a very long time, and never heard the Sansui, but I don't see why they would very different than similar products I did listen to.

The Sansui AU series is highly regarded for its sonics and build quality. They are not completely neutral sounding, more pleasant sounding than explicit, but they do provide long-term musical satisfaction when matched with sympathetic loudspeakers. I use an AU-999 with EPI 202s and I suspect your ARs will be a good match. I've never used the phono input so I can't comment.