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Show Us Your Sonys!!!

Hopefully, my TAN-8550 is not in similar shape to your B-1. :tears: Will be a fun comparison between it and the Yamaha B-2, as they both make 100 wpc in stock form. EW has the TAN-8550 and matching TAE-8450, but think he also has a boat-load of other work at this time, as well. Wonder how the power meters will match up on the Sonys, as both units have them.
 
Mirko,

I'd love to hear about any modifications you have done to your TA-N7B. I hope to have time over this winter to do a restoration on mine. It's working fine as is, but on one channel I'm unable to increase the bias to more than ~25 mV. It's time to get in there and do some refurbishing and preventative maintenance. I have to say that it is the best sounding amp that I have owned.

best,
Steve.
 
reggaenaut said:
I have a 6060f and noticed the styling was similar to the 1120. In addition they are both 65 watts output.
Click to expand...

Service manual says 6060F is rated at 110w dynamic power, both channels driven into 8 ohms. "Rated Output" is 45w per channel into 8 ohms.
 
Isn't it the STR-6120 that is rated at 65wpc? The STR-6200F is unusual in that the SM lists the output as 90wpc @ 4ohms and 70wpc @ 8ohms and then 60wpc @ 8ohms when input is 20-20kHz. Do they do the same with the 6060F?
 
str6800SD - how to use the external adapter jacks?

And now i have two of them!! life is strange. sure would like a copy of the manual.
I bought one new way back and now it's hooked up to the computer & a pair of ported 9"airbornes with excellent phillips tweeters for blasting or :D soft top quality sound. the other STR was just given to me by the guy who sold me the first!!

I cannot remember my phone number, let alone the reasoning and use of the external adapter. :cool: :rolleyes: anybody? a manual?
 
Hello all! :wave:
This is my first post on Audiokarma having stumbled across this site via vinylengine (my favorite vinyl site), with a link to Vintageknob where I found a good description of one of my pre-amps, a TA-E88 pre-amp.

Although I have always been impressed by its build quality and had been my test/reference for messing around with different cartidges and impedance settings, I never realised this pre-amp is so well thought of.
Its been stored away in France for the last 6 years! :rolleyes:
 
Like to get rid of it ? :D I'll gladly sell an arm or a leg for one of those!

I wonder if anyone here has ever heard a Sony Esprit TA-E900 + 2x TA-N900 combo ? Maybe coupled with some APM8/6/4's ? (slim chance I realise). Saw such a combo (only preamp and poweramps) go on Ebay a couple of weeks ago for over $3000 !!!
 
Hi chipman, welcome to AK !

Sonys TOTL units never had the name, which they should have.

Stoffie:

I´m not really qualified about that, because I never heard such a setup, but since I personally own a TA-N901 amplifier and I know, that the TA-E900 is essentially a TA-E88 with exotic MC impedances, I have the feeling, that the TA-N900 amps are the limiting factor in this setup.

The TA-N900, like it´s two Esprit successors was developed for low TIM distortions, which was "en vogue" in these days, but as a result of the missing overall feedback, they didn´t manage to push the normal harmonic distortions low enough to be inaudible. For me, my fully refurbished and museum grade TA-N901 doesn´t sound very well against the TA-N7B, even if I know, that the TA-N901 was and is still sold for more than twice the price. :D I´m sure, the TA-N900 doesn´t perform really much better than the TA-N901, even with it´s 100% class A operation.

Another interesting information is, that the basic TA-N901 circuit was reused in the TA-N902 and also in the TA-NR1 as well (which is essentially a TA-N902 running in bridge mode and deep class A), which means, that probably no SONY amplifier (except perhaps the TA-NR10 or the TA-N9, which are probably a little bit different) should surpass the TA-N7 regarding sound quality on normal impedances.

So I would alter your question to the following: Had anybody ever heard a TA-E900 together with two TA-N9´s and APM´s ? I guess I know the answer: :no:

In order not to be too much off topic, here a nudie of one of my Wega Lab Zero pres, which is (can´t repeat it enough) my favourite of the three brothers (TA-E88, Lab Zero and TA-E900), because it is almost as well built like the TA-E900, but also has non SONY proprietary MC phono inputs.

SteveP:

I´ll give you and stoffie some description on the TA-N7B mods as soon as possible.
 

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Dude, you should write a Sony bible or something :-) Always refreshing to read inside views like yours ! I guess I should look no further now!

Do you think anyone on this planet actually heard an N9 combo, let alone own one ? Seems indeed, like Axel says on his website, a very elusive unit...
 
Yamaha B-2 said:
Isn't it the STR-6120 that is rated at 65wpc? The STR-6200F is unusual in that the SM lists the output as 90wpc @ 4ohms and 70wpc @ 8ohms and then 60wpc @ 8ohms when input is 20-20kHz. Do they do the same with the 6060F?
Click to expand...


No, they provide just the two ratings I listed.

For interest, I checked the SM for the TA3200F amp and it sort of follows the example of the 6200 in listing 130/4 ohms, 110/8 ohms and 100/8 ohms, 20-20kHz as well as specs of 200/4 ohms and 140/8 ohms, both at 1kHz. Distortion specs are better on the 3200F; at rated output they are <0.1%THD and <0.1%IMD while they are double that for the 6200F. At 1 watt output they are equal. 6060F distortion specs match the 6200F.
 
Hi Stoffie,
Knew my TA-E88 was something special the moment I bought it 2nd hand over 15 years ago and had been used mainly as my preferred phono pre-amp. Its now part of my unused collection in storage since going integrated for wife's "interior decor" requirements!
You'll be the first to know if I decide to part with it!

Hi Unda Maris,
Thanks for the welcome and your insights into the Sony exotica!
I actually spent a couple of years in Tokyo and its incredible the range of extremely HI-End toys that never get exported outside of Japan.

Here is a link translated (not perfect!)with the beta google language tool
to a site for Vintage Japanese goodies including the TA-N7 and N9 mentioned above from Sony, and plenty of stuff from Accuphase, JVC, Yamaha, Pioneer, etc. http://translate.google.com/transla...knisi/ta-e88.htm&langpair=ja|en&hl=en&ie=UTF8

For those of you who read fluent Japanese:
http://www.niji.or.jp/home/k-nisi/index.html
 
Cool chipman ! Might source another TA-E88B soon, as I have dibs on one on sale in the Netherlands. We'll see how that turns out. When I get one, the TA-E86B has to go (just started collecting Sony vintage and it's already starting to be an expensive hobby).

Thanks for the link but I've been reading on k-nisi's website for the past couple of months. It's kind of hard to plough through the translations, but the ones I found really interesting I had translated by a friend that studied Japanese, resulting in a much clearer picture. :music:
 
True, but the complement of the two is ofcourse paramount for those who want to know the last bit of info ;)
 
According to some sources, the TA-N9 was a dog which had the bad habit to blow speakers due to ultra-ultra-high bandwidth (both sides of the scale). Maybe the reason why it sold very poorly and/or wasn't kept available for very long... I have the japanese lit' for it but haven't scanned it yet.

The NR10 is a somewhat bigger and all MOS-FET NR1.
(I have the japanese lit' for it but etc...)

The N902 should be the one ESPRIT amplifier to get - at least it is the one they spent the longer time developing.

According to owners, the N900 was a really good beast which sounded very differently and much better than the N901.
(Wish I could own all of them and make a nice listening session swapping Esprits but that is quite unlikely to ever happen.)

As far as I'm concerned, the TA-N7 is one of the best amplifiers ever and (at its current 2nd hand value) will beat anything else, bar Yamaha's B-1 and B-2 (never seen or heard the B-3). All three are making music, not sound, the B-1/2 being tighter and more muscular, the N7 being somewhat softer and more relaxed.


Watch tomorow's TVK updates and you Sony heads will be able to read new info related to the Esprit and R1 series. Elcaset, too, but that is another story.
 
If anybody writes a Sony bible some day, it will be Axel ! :yes:

... Ok and myself writing the new testament of the V-Fet bible ... :D

I can´t await the updates, Axel !

From my side comes perhaps an interesting thing at the end of the year, the first 100% V-Fet replacement. It will be named 2SK77EX and will allow 350W power dissipation. It will be the second time I try that.
The last time I failed after half a year, but the side effect was a circuit to eliminate crossover distortions in class AB amps, which is not so bad ...
So you should not be surprised, if a new microwave oven magnetron comes out instead of a V-Fet, hihi :D
 
Can't wait for the updates neither !

Are you saying that you are in the process of designing a FET yourself Mirko ?
 
Stoffie said:
Can't wait for the updates neither !

Are you saying that you are in the process of designing a FET yourself Mirko ?
Click to expand...

Yes and no,

it will actually be a hybrid circuit inside of a big transistor housing (compatible to the 2SK77), emulating the behaviour of a 2SK77.

I´m sure, that there are perhaps a thousand other B-1 amps out there needing at least two spare Fets, so it also could be a good business ...
 
Here's hoping you can vary the size of the silicon real estate (die) and thus provide replacements for the larger VFETs used in the B-2 and also the different and smaller ones in Sony amps. Sounds like a great project!! :thmbsp: Here is wishing you the best of luck. Or, perhaps you have an inside line with Yamaha and they will sell/give you the process/masks for their VFETs. Yamaha has gone so far as to tell me that they not only own the VFET technology they used, but made their own devices in-house. But, when I ask if I could purchase the info they told me no and to ask no more. :nono: Even if they don't use it, apparently they don't want anyone else to do so. Too bad.

If your project doesn't work out, I'll take one of those microwaves. :D
 
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