Show Us Your Sonys!!!

I acquired this the other day. A Sony TC-230 with the speakers.

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I've had a GX90es for about 5 years now. Lots of other gear has come and gone but it remains. What would you like to know about it?
 
I've had a GX90es for about 5 years now. Lots of other gear has come and gone but it remains. What would you like to know about it?

Just general impressions vs other Sony receivers of that general era. The slightly older GX10ES seems to be the high water mark model. The fact that you've held on to your GX90ES suggests that you like it!
 
I really like it. Even if I don't quite have a use for it at the moment. It's funny you bring up the gx10es. I have heard one and my gx90 in the same setup. They sound rather different to me. The 10 being tighter and a bit more clinical sounding, similar to my adcom setup. The 90 is sweeter and a bit more relaxed. On the setup that day I prefered my 90. A result I did not at all expect.
 
I picked up this STR-V25 at a tag sale the other day. I've never heard any vintage Sony gear, so it intrigued me. It has some guts for a low wattage unit at ~30 wpc. It has the dynamic, clean sound of a Yamaha I have without the harshness in the highs. If it's sound is indicative of the brand then I'll be looking for more.
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I am back again. Finally got the Pre-Esprit full stack completed. Bottom to top:

  • 2x ta-n86 power amps (performing as monoblocks)
  • ta-d88 active crossover (not using now, see below)
  • ta-e88 preamp
  • tc-k88 cassette deck
  • st-j88 fm tuner

Speakers are SS-G7a in top condition. Next steps to complete this year.

1. to add ta-n88 as third line amp soon, so to run the speakers without internal filters, using ta-d88 active crossover network and tri-amping configuration.
2. to get another tan86 just for an enclosure and fit some tube dac pcb inside there, jus to get some digital source optionality... this will require some CNC drilling machine to work on the faceplate.

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Terrific system. My favorite Sony amp & preamp. As an aside, I found the ST-J75 (after a recap & alignment by a 'known-good' tuner tech) superior to the ST-J88 (with a similar treatment) to my ears (obviously, YMMV). Wish I could find a TA-N88B amp. Have a full set of NOS V-FETs for one.
 
Thank you. Ta-n86 goes easily in par with later ta-n902 (I have it also), however to get most of its sound I did few improvements like power emitter resistors, power rails rewiring, recapping for sure, some other minor fixes. Ta-n88 sounds really strange to me - nothing bad or to complain, but the sound is quite unusual, at least to my ears - however its only in the mid and highs. Bass is just terrific, so I decided to use it just to drive the woofers.
 
Yep........ the TA-N86 definitely needs a recap with 100C caps in the PWMPS. Runs hotter than a firecracker, even in Class A/B, to say nothing about Class A operation. The original Motorola output devices were quite special and rated to 400KHz. Don't find many similar replacement parts these days. A truly unique piece with excellent sound.
 
Well, to be honest, if I would push tan86 to the limits, I'd also replace output devices to more powerful (something like sanken 2sc2493/2sa1068) and fix idling current for pure class A (300mV with original 0.33 ohm emitter resistors), pulling up rails voltage to +/-40V with custom wound toroidal power transformer, which has to fit original smps diecast aluminium enclosure. This will bring it up to pure class A power of 35W per channel running pretty safe (heatsinks should be sufficient with good ceramic insulators) also as Class A monobloc (not possible in stock configuration). For stereo mode use, I would also separate power rails for each channel and got separate winding from trafo.
 
I'm good with a recap & only replace outputs if old ones are blown. To my ears, Sony got it right from the start (other than the heat in the PWMPS module). Modern caps are simply a big improvement over what was available when the TA-N86 was made.
 
Also wanted to share here - in earlier this year (in May) I have completed full restoration of my friend's TA-N9 pair. They were totally devastated with blown PSU and output devices, which are quite unique and totally obsolete. So, it was a challenging but interesting experience which last almost 6 months. Restored amps sounds just amazing with my APM 6 Monitors. Really looking to get another pair just for collection.

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