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Realistic SA-150

A

Ampire

Active Member
Does anyone know anything about this device? Its a stereo amplifier/preamplifier I think.

I bought it off of a guy awhile back to use as a line driver for my laptop to pro amp but it had some horrendous noise issues. (EDIT: in retrospect it looks like its not really line level at all)

On the back, there are rca inputs for PHONO L/R TAPE L/R TUNER L/R TAPE OUT L/R and SPEAKERS L/R.

I am not sure if the speakers are really low level inputs. I have a hunch that they are designed to drive a speaker instead of an amp. Any ideas? Tape out does not do anything as far as I can tell. You can unplug the sa-150 and the signal passes right through. It does not alter this signal at all.

I opened the box up. There appears to be some kind of chassis wimpy ground that leads to the "SPEAKER" plugs. Amusingly, the phono ground plug seems to be on the other side of the box or something.


edit: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=77020 I found this thread but I am hoping for a more technical idea.
Does anyone own one of these or can give me some input? Id like it to be the go between for my laptop to my behringer.
 
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Update: looks like Id need to use the headphone output on the front of the sa-150 with a stereo 1/4 and split that to rca and then plug that into my rca to xlr for the behringer.

Sounds dumb. Who the hell uses an rca as a highlevel anyway?

I feel kind of dumb now but to be fair the guy who sold it to me told me it was a preamp.

I hope that didnt damage my amp. It seems okay and I definitely didnt do anything besides plug it in for a second, hear noise,then give up.
 
the sa-150 is an integrated amp. it has a pre-amp and a power amp combined in one case. i don't know if it has pre-amp out jacks on the back or not, but i doubt that it does, meaning it will not drive your pro amp. it was designed to drive a pair of speakers for home stereo. if there is no output from the tape monitor, it is highly likely that the switches need to be cleaned with deoxit. the tape outputs are line level, the controls such as volume, bass, treble, etc. have no effect on the signal. the speaker outputs are somewhere on the order of 15-25 watts per channel, the best i recall.
 
lguise said:
the sa-150 is an integrated amp. it has a pre-amp and a power amp combined in one case. i don't know if it has pre-amp out jacks on the back or not, but i doubt that it does, meaning it will not drive your pro amp. it was designed to drive a pair of speakers for home stereo. if there is no output from the tape monitor, it is highly likely that the switches need to be cleaned with deoxit. the tape outputs are line level, the controls such as volume, bass, treble, etc. have no effect on the signal. the speaker outputs are somewhere on the order of 15-25 watts per channel, the best i recall.
Click to expand...

That was my suspicion after i opened it up. The tape output might be line level but the volume knob does not effect it at all and it just seems to pass the signal straight through. For example, if I unplug it, it plays just like if it was plugged in.

I don't seem to have damaged the proamp thank god.
 
Actually the SA-150 is a 2 watt per channel amp and for it;s size a very fine little one at that. I have a whole traveling system built around it with the matching TM-150 tuner, AN AWIA Portable CDP, and a tiny Sont PS-Q3 TT. And Minimus 7 speakers. Which travels with use when we go somewhere that involves a motel or bed and breakfast etc. ESPECIALLY is the trip might involve a garage sale a thrift shop or a Used record shop!
 
Sounds to me what you need (or want) is just a pre-amplifier with no output to speakers. All pre-amps (with no built in amplifier) are designed to run any power amplifier. Or in your case, your pro-amp. Maybe you should look into what programs are available for your laptop by means of sound programs. I have a program (with connector box) for my computer, that displays an onscreen equalizer with level controls so I can connect any home stereo or power amplifier right from my computer via RCA jacks.
 
Yep, it ain't no sophisticated piece of gear. It is what it is: a tiny. basic , low-powered integrated amp.

It's got two inputs from which ypou can select and a tape output, which is doing exactly what it should do: Pass the input, unmolested, to another device.
 
It's not rocket science to separate the pre-amp and power amp inside the SA-150. Depending on your time and budget constraint, you could pretty easily convert any unused set of jacks (like the speaker RCA's) into a line-level output with nothing more than an hour, a few bits of wire and a couple of drops of solder.
 
Interesting. I am okay with basic electronics but the extent of it is making wiring harnesses for my car or changing crossovers capacitors in my speakers.

I also have the tuner, TM-150 and it is a beauty for a little tuner. The line-output on it is near pro audio level amazingly.
 
I don't know the design of the amp, whether it's one of those "amp-on-a-chip" IC amps or if it's got discrete components. Either way you should have an output from the pre that goes somewhere. Find the input differential pair on the power amp board and work backwards. Pre-amps are wired in various ways, I have one that has the volume control first, another that has the volume control last, you never know.
 
What are you trying to accomplish?

FWIW, the guy who said it was a preamp either didn't know what he was talking about or simply said "yes" to some question you asked to unload it.

They do sell inexpensive phono preamps.
 
RCA inputs on speakers were not uncommon in the day (My Nova 6s had them). Many early SS amps had both RCA and terminal strip output connections as a result.

mike
 
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