Show Us Your Sonys!!!

[Unda Maris]

The overall exterior styling of the ST-5000FW could be indeed better, but these "chocolate" knobs seem to be a design special of these early ES units and can be accepted as such. The V-FET amplifiers e.g. also feature these strange black plastic rocker switches. I think SONY wanted to introduce a kind of retro look on these units.

The best about my ST-5000FW is, that it isn't even refurbished, so I´m wondering, what a recapping and alignment could do to the sound of that "Baby-10B". :scratch2:

Btw: For those not aware of the physical size of the ST-5000(FW): It´s not standard 43cm (17") size, it´s a little bit smaller (about 40cm or 16"). The same size as the TA-2000(F) preamplifier.
Does anybody know other SONY units, which fit into this physical format ?

Stoffie:
Sorry for that, my ESPRIT bids were more than overdue ...

 

[quatsino]

730ES Cassette Deck

I scored a very nice Sony TCK-730 ES cassette deck. The tape door holdback piston o-ring was a bit dried out but easily fixed. Nice little amp section. Good looking unit as far as a tape deck goes.

I had two Sony 5-disc CD players but they both failed electronically - so no real fix. My one other Sony peice is a brilliant DSC-W50 Cybershot digital camera - very nice.

 

[billbillw]

Finally some pics of my E80ES

Ok,
Talked about them earlier but finally here are some pics of my TA-E80ES preamps. Exterior photos are of my "minty" unit, inside shots are of my mod mule, which is still in 7/10 condition.

Started out this weekend by replacing the coupling caps in the gains stage with a pair of Blackgate N series caps. Next I plan to replace and upsize (approx double the values) the filter caps in the phono section with Panasonic FM caps and replace the coupling caps with Blackgate NX. I also plan to install a DIP8 socket in the phono board and try out a few opamps to see which one I like the most.

I won't bother doing any mods to the cannon boards because I have no plans to use the balanced in or out.

Eventually, I will beef up the headphone circuit too with a newer opamp, better coupling caps (probably Sanyo OsCon) and bigger/better filter caps.

 

[Yamaha B-2]

Very nice!!

But, am quite surprised to read that the TA-E80ES has coupling-caps in it. I would have guessed that it as entirely direct coupled from input to output.

 

[billbillw]

Very nice!!

But, am quite surprised to read that the TA-E80ES has coupling-caps in it. I would have guessed that it as entirely direct coupled from input to output.

Unfortunately, Sony was not brave enough to do that. I guess they are too stuck on reliability and safety.

In the main gain section, they used a 47uf electrolytic bypassed with a .47uf poly cap. Since the electro cap was bypassed, going to a Blackgate won't be as noticeable, but there should be some improvement. I'm still in the burn-in process for the new cap, so I can't say for sure how much improvement is there.

 

[Yamaha B-2]

Well.....guess I'll go ahead and post a couple of pic's of my new Sony amp. Perhaps Sony was a little braver with it. Am looking forward to comparing the TA-N7B 100wpc VFET amp to the Yamaha B-2 100wpc VFET amp. The Yamaha is in a different weight class, being just over 10 pounds heavier. Will have to do the "Mirko Mods" first, though. Okay, baby, come out and take a bow.......front and rear.

 

[Stoffie]

Congrats once more on a Sony masterpiece ! :tresbon:

Weird, hadn't noticed that it has a fixed power cord. Mine has a socket for any type of powercable (3 pins).

 

[axel]

... seems this is Sony summer for many of us

What's the s/n of your N7B Glenn ?

 

[theophile]

Y B-2,
Congrats on your 7B. :thmbsp:
I for one will look forward to your evaluation of the unit.I will predict right now that you will love it,and that it will share the v-fet family sound by being extremely clean,clear and accurate.
The v-fet amps are probably the best vintage amps out there. :yes:
I'd love to get hold of a B-1. :drool:

 

[Yamaha B-2]

My TA-N7B thanks you. It is being shipped directly to EW for the mods. He tells me that I should see it by Xmas. Unfortunately, he didn't say which year. But, with this beautiful piece I think it best to trust his most capable hands. Has a few mars on the face, but I'll probably paint it Ferrari red to match my TA-E86B/N86B pair. Working with Kristof (who has been most helpful on this and pointed it out to me in the first place (thank you :thmbsp to chase down proper sized caps for the power supply. Hopefully, the 33,000uf/80V Nichicon NT (76x100) will fit.

Kristof - my guess is that yours has been modified with the installation of a IEC plug. The crappy brown AC line is standard Sony fare (at least in NA) for this era.

 

[theophile]

Glenn,
You couldn't have placed it in better hands than EW's.You had experience with his work long before I had,and have therefore no need for my endorsement of his talents,but I can only envy what you are going to hear when you are going to get the unit back from him.:thmbsp:
This "hobby"(passion?) becomes truly fulfilled when the gems,forgotten gems,find their way into our groping hands,and we finally have the opportunity to delight in the genius of talent of their creators.
Seek and ye shall find....

 

[Stoffie]

My TA-N7B thanks you. It is being shipped directly to EW for the mods. He tells me that I should see it by Xmas. Unfortunately, he didn't say which year. But, with this beautiful piece I think it best to trust his most capable hands. Has a few mars on the face, but I'll probably paint it Ferrari red to match my TA-E86B/N86B pair. Working with Kristof (who has been most helpful on this and pointed it out to me in the first place (thank you :thmbsp to chase down proper sized caps for the power supply. Hopefully, the 33,000uf/80V Nichicon NT (76x100) will fit.

Kristof - my guess is that yours has been modified with the installation of a IEC plug. The crappy brown AC line is standard Sony fare (at least in NA) for this era.

A pleasure, as always. N7 cravers have to help eachother :yes:

About the powerplug, it seems like Axel's unit also has the same IEC plug like mine, setup is the same, and it does not really look like aftermarket/custom job. Maybe there were different revisions, or are only the NA models fitted with a standard cord. Maybe Axel can shed some light on this ? :scratch2:

 

[SteveP]

My North American TA-N7B also has the fixed power cord (no IEC jack).

Steve.

ps. Congrats Y B-2!! I'm sure it will be hard to wait for this one! I was watching that auction, but then it was gone---must have made him a nice offer. Interestingly, I have only seen 2 TA-N7B's on ebay in the last year or so and both of the auctions were ended early.

 

[axel]

mmmm - only the USA saw the fixed cord (that I'm aware of) but I remember spotting a couple of 8xx xxx and 7xx xxx with the IEC plug...

 

[Unda Maris]

Congrats Glenn,

you found a very special amplifier with the TA-N7B. I´m pretty sure you will love it.

Btw.: The seller said, he used it with his Apogee ribbon speakers. As I remember, these are significantly below 4 Ohms, so it´s lot´s of luck, that the amplifier survived that torture. But it could be even worse if he used it with Quad ESLs (with the Zener diode like over voltage protecton).

The caps should be rather 50x80 or 50x100 than 76x100 in size. The latter will definitely not fit. Btw: I still own two of these nice TA-N7 kits ...

The IEC plug in my TA-N7B´s is mounted in a small steel sheet piece, which probably was intended as an adapter to alternatively mount an IEC plug or a fixed cable. I would expect, that the Japanese version also had that fixed cord. On the other hand side it´s quite puzzling why your N7B doesnt have that "adapter".

EDIT: OK the Japanese version is definitely fixed cable, but also comes without the capacitor housing. Take a look on the pic, it´s from a Japanese auction.

 

[Stoffie]

I'm still in the market for 4 big cans Mirko, still not sure whether mine are 100% since I pulled that stunt

I was thinking the same thing about those Apogee's. I guess they can take a beating if they really need to

Did you ever finish that TA-N7B with the VFET's from the N88's ?

 

[mesut BALCI]

Wow, what a summer,

-congr. Mirko, additional tae900 and sep900 and 8650 I am visiting you
-congr. Glenn, b-2 and ta-n7, argg and I am with you in the evening Glenn

I bet giving 600$ to a holliday village for a week is not better than visiting you. Will you arrange a historical trip of totaling 4 days to you for 500$ including breakfast, dinner and tickets, no bed I will not sleep.

Last week, I bought and listening to a sleeper super-tt too, 85dB S/N, killed my xa7 letting it distorsive and radiolike sounding, tt costed almost the same price as xa7 and needs even better cartridge. Better space, better smothness, more extended even on bass, even more controlled bass than cd, yet plays vinyl!

mesut

 

[Yamaha B-2]

Wow, what a summer,

-congr. Mirko, additional tae900 and sep900 and 8650 I am visiting you
-congr. Glenn, b-2 and ta-n7, argg and I am with you in the evening Glenn

I bet giving 600$ to a holliday village for a week is not better than visiting you. Will you arrange a historical trip of totaling 4 days to you for 500$ including breakfast, dinner and tickets, no bed I will not sleep.

Last week, I bought and listening to a sleeper super-tt too, 85dB S/N, killed my xa7 letting it distorsive and radiolike sounding, tt costed almost the same price as xa7 and needs even better cartridge. Better space, better smothness, more extended even on bass, even more controlled bass than cd, yet plays vinyl!

mesut

No problem. Just send me the $500 in cash and I'll send along the tickets. :thmbsp:

And, what is this "sleeper super-tt"? Even if it is not a Sony, you can tell us what you got. 85dB. That is as quiet as any TT I've heard of.

No......am not familiar with Kenwood TTs.

 

[mesut BALCI]

It is one lower but later model of this one.
http://www.niji.or.jp/home/k-nisi/kp-1100.htm

Called kd990 or kd7010, in fact there are many of them around. The same integrated base, the same arm, I think the same motor, specs tiny bit worse than upper model, comes without cartridge normally or cartridge on it is normally MM while selling. Constraction of buttons is crap, cheaper bad quality piano finish, some rust on some parts, and with wonderfull engineering inside gives the sound. Perfect example of late 80s.

Have you ever tried it?

 

[Yamaha B-2]

Never seen one. I'll have to stick with my Sony & Yamaha TTs. No time/$$ to branch out. Unless, of course, you send me that cash.