Thought I write couple of lines how these three compare to me. As it's what I have at home now and been working on these as a new hobby kind of.
Setup:
Source: MXN10 and RME Babyface Pro
Speakers: Beovox S45-2 (rebuilt filters, inside cabling and added SpeakOn connectors)
Room: fairly small so most of the time listening on lower volumes with the loudness on
Amplifiers: Sony TA-2650 (Sony), harman/kardon PM640 (HK), Beomaster 1900 and Beomaster 1900-2 (BM)
Build and Design
Sony
Well built, really easy to service without taking it fully apart accessing everything from top. Most switches and knobs work fine after a good clean up. Volume pot is worn and will be replaced at some point. Needs a little modification to fit the available aftermarket pot, nothing big though.
Classic design with aluminium front, high quality knobs and switches, except the spring clip speaker terminals. Switched terminal A to SpeakOn connectors. Puts smile on my face every time connecting the cables
It has some transistor hum but placing it on softer rubber feet cured most of it.
HK
Well built but not as easy to service as the Sony. Got to take it apart lot more than the Sony. Kind of a 'Lego' to piece it all back together - still easy enough. Everything feels a little more fiddly and plasticky compared to the Sony. HK looks more 80s and maybe not as appealing as the Sony, it's not so much about the design but the cheaper look of the front materials. Volume pot doesn't feel as solid as on Sony but after cleaning works just fine. Again, spring loaded speaker terminals, but there's enough room to accommodate SpeakOn terminals next to it. It has fair bit of transistor hum, would be better if the whole thing sits on suspension feet not transferring it to the sideboard it stands on. Some more damping between cover and chassis is needed too.
BM
So there's two BM 1900 and BM 1900-2. Very similar the two, except one has more precise volume control, and little different visuals on the front panel.
Working on these is kind of a patience test, did full recap on both. One had almost no sound before recap, just hum and distortion the other was better but far from good. Broken lamps are common too. It's super compact and compressed in there and somewhat 50+ components to change with the full recap. Pulling it fully apart is quite a job! It was the first recap I did in my life, so doing the Sony and HK after it was walk in the park.
It's main control is touch sensitive so no problem with crackling volume pot etc. There's slide pots for tone control and balance, these work just fine after cleaning. It has toroidal transformer sitting on rubber suspension, so nice and quiet.
Connecting input and speakers is very annoying being underneath the thing. Thicker cable is not playing well with the two pin din speaker connectors and no room to upgrade these. But considering it all, it looks something different and it's something I can appreciate. Not another rectangular slab but something different.
Sound
Interesting how different all 3 can be sound wise. They all keep the sound character after recap just with improved sound quality.
Sony
I'd say the Sony sounds most 'vintage' of three. Soft deep low end and clear enough highs. Sound stage is nothing to write home about but indeed it's very easy to listen to and has lot of this vintage appeal. It got a bit of a hiss going on, enough to hear it from 2m in a very quiet room. Something to do with the super sensitive inputs, preamp section? All in all very pleasant sounding amp.
HK
I'd say it sounds most modern of three. Very nice dynamics, not as warm in the low end as the Sony but deep and dynamic with more controlled bass. Sound stage is widest/deepest of the three. Really depends on the day which I prefer the Sony or the HK. Very nice and quiet in speakers but that transformer vibration needs to be dealt with. For the lack of better description, I'd say there's some darkness to the sound, not missing the brightness on the very top but maybe could have some extra right before it. Especially on very low volume. Turning on highs in sound control adds to the very top as well making high-hats go almost hissy. I prefer to keep the sound control off as it has a switch for it. Turning volume up a bit balances things out nicer.
BM
Bit of a mixed feelings about this one. It's low end is not as deep as the other two, well controlled though. Without loudness on there's almost no bass at all. Maybe it needs more sensitive speakers - not sure. Then again it's not like it's miles behind the other two just different, sits more in the middle, more collected and composed. It doesn't sound vintage and it doesn't sound modern either, hard to pin it down. It's quiet as well no hiss or noise in speakers. Anyhow it's super nice to use and still running it as main amp in my country place with another set of S45-2 speakers. Oh and this one has radio on it, FM sounds super good btw.
Anyway, these are the thoughts playing around with these things over last 6 month. Having one of the same amps, how does it work out for you?
Cheers!
Setup:
Source: MXN10 and RME Babyface Pro
Speakers: Beovox S45-2 (rebuilt filters, inside cabling and added SpeakOn connectors)
Room: fairly small so most of the time listening on lower volumes with the loudness on
Amplifiers: Sony TA-2650 (Sony), harman/kardon PM640 (HK), Beomaster 1900 and Beomaster 1900-2 (BM)
Build and Design
Sony
Well built, really easy to service without taking it fully apart accessing everything from top. Most switches and knobs work fine after a good clean up. Volume pot is worn and will be replaced at some point. Needs a little modification to fit the available aftermarket pot, nothing big though.
Classic design with aluminium front, high quality knobs and switches, except the spring clip speaker terminals. Switched terminal A to SpeakOn connectors. Puts smile on my face every time connecting the cables
It has some transistor hum but placing it on softer rubber feet cured most of it.HK
Well built but not as easy to service as the Sony. Got to take it apart lot more than the Sony. Kind of a 'Lego' to piece it all back together - still easy enough. Everything feels a little more fiddly and plasticky compared to the Sony. HK looks more 80s and maybe not as appealing as the Sony, it's not so much about the design but the cheaper look of the front materials. Volume pot doesn't feel as solid as on Sony but after cleaning works just fine. Again, spring loaded speaker terminals, but there's enough room to accommodate SpeakOn terminals next to it. It has fair bit of transistor hum, would be better if the whole thing sits on suspension feet not transferring it to the sideboard it stands on. Some more damping between cover and chassis is needed too.
BM
So there's two BM 1900 and BM 1900-2. Very similar the two, except one has more precise volume control, and little different visuals on the front panel.
Working on these is kind of a patience test, did full recap on both. One had almost no sound before recap, just hum and distortion the other was better but far from good. Broken lamps are common too. It's super compact and compressed in there and somewhat 50+ components to change with the full recap. Pulling it fully apart is quite a job! It was the first recap I did in my life, so doing the Sony and HK after it was walk in the park.
It's main control is touch sensitive so no problem with crackling volume pot etc. There's slide pots for tone control and balance, these work just fine after cleaning. It has toroidal transformer sitting on rubber suspension, so nice and quiet.
Connecting input and speakers is very annoying being underneath the thing. Thicker cable is not playing well with the two pin din speaker connectors and no room to upgrade these. But considering it all, it looks something different and it's something I can appreciate. Not another rectangular slab but something different.
Sound
Interesting how different all 3 can be sound wise. They all keep the sound character after recap just with improved sound quality.
Sony
I'd say the Sony sounds most 'vintage' of three. Soft deep low end and clear enough highs. Sound stage is nothing to write home about but indeed it's very easy to listen to and has lot of this vintage appeal. It got a bit of a hiss going on, enough to hear it from 2m in a very quiet room. Something to do with the super sensitive inputs, preamp section? All in all very pleasant sounding amp.
HK
I'd say it sounds most modern of three. Very nice dynamics, not as warm in the low end as the Sony but deep and dynamic with more controlled bass. Sound stage is widest/deepest of the three. Really depends on the day which I prefer the Sony or the HK. Very nice and quiet in speakers but that transformer vibration needs to be dealt with. For the lack of better description, I'd say there's some darkness to the sound, not missing the brightness on the very top but maybe could have some extra right before it. Especially on very low volume. Turning on highs in sound control adds to the very top as well making high-hats go almost hissy. I prefer to keep the sound control off as it has a switch for it. Turning volume up a bit balances things out nicer.
BM
Bit of a mixed feelings about this one. It's low end is not as deep as the other two, well controlled though. Without loudness on there's almost no bass at all. Maybe it needs more sensitive speakers - not sure. Then again it's not like it's miles behind the other two just different, sits more in the middle, more collected and composed. It doesn't sound vintage and it doesn't sound modern either, hard to pin it down. It's quiet as well no hiss or noise in speakers. Anyhow it's super nice to use and still running it as main amp in my country place with another set of S45-2 speakers. Oh and this one has radio on it, FM sounds super good btw.
Anyway, these are the thoughts playing around with these things over last 6 month. Having one of the same amps, how does it work out for you?
Cheers!
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