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Sony ST-A7B wakes after 25 years

Stoffie

Stoffie

Sony afficionado
Sony ST-A7B wakes up after 25 years

Found this tuner through a fellow Belgian (Bunny on AK), had been sitting idle for 25 years or so, on a shelf. It was filthy in and outside, so I took it apart all the way, cleaned everything, polished etc. Aside from some little scratches on top, it pretty much looks like new again.

According to the seller, it had a defect, so didn't have big expectation when first powering it up. It did find stations, but wasn't very solid. The digital readout did not work, but after a few minutes some of the filaments started to light up, and eventually all came to life. But they did not run with the analog scale.

So today I decided to just let it sit and warm up for an hour or so, and eventually the digital readout corrected it self, and now everything works great. Guess most of the electrolytics needed to charge after being idle for such a long time.

Only need a bulb for the level meter and the locked signal, but that seems to be it...

This tuner sounds awesome. My ST-J75 and ST-J88B are no slouches, but this is still better. There just seems to be more of everything. Fuller, better bass and midrange, even more pleasing to listen to than the other two.

Sitting here, 3am, listening to one of my favorite stations (one of the few that is not overly compressed), at very low volume, and it sounds amazing. It's all there :music:

I'm happy ! :banana:
 

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Very nice Kristof,
You are a Vintage Sony Magnet!
Ive always liked both digital & analog readouts
Glad it was willing to come out of Hibernation~
 
Thanks! I was lucky to find this marvel :) They are not exactly abundant!

Seen that I will have to adjust the analog scale, it is a bit off, but that's an easy fix.
 
Nice find and a fantastic clean up. Looks outstanding. It does not show any decline for it's years of sitting idle.

Good luck with it and oh yes, that analog isn't off by much!!!

bruhl
 
Great job! Love seeing nice stuff brought back from a long nap.I'd leave it on for a couple of days. Poor thing, sitting there all that time:tears: just waiting for someone to care. As we say over here, Good on Ya!

Craig
 
You bet Revox man! :D

Put in a new bulb for the level meter today. I think the Xtal circuit will need some work because it does not work every time.

Think I will have to take a trip to Germany... ;)
 
The XTAL lock circuit was also a little flaky on my first ST-A7.

So I thought no problem, just realign the XTAL lock section.
No way !!!

After following the procedure the tuner didn't lock at all anymore.
I needed a pretty long time for aligning it back to its original working state (against the procedure).
There must be a typo or some bug in the alignment procedure, so probably your tuner is a victim of this service manual bug ... or there is an aging effect of some passive part which makes alignment impossible.

To make it even worse, the counters of the display driver board are used as prescalers for the XTAL lock PLL. So a failure in these not only provokes a wrong display, it also can provoke a misbehaviour of the lock. A complicated beast !

If you send it to me I'll try my very best !
Would be nice to see/hear this rare bird sing again.
 
Ok thanks Mirko, that's way way way above my competence level on the matter ;)

Will gladly send it to you, tripleboxed or something :D
 
Yea, that's a keeper, I'd love to see what the other components for that system look like. I remember when having something with a digital display was very uncommon but highly sought after.
 
Are those Nixie tubes? Whatever they are, it looks very nice -- and what a bonus that it sounds good too!
 
Looks excellent! I was recently given a tuner with both a digital and analog readout which works excellently, although its not quite as presentable as yours! You have done a good job cleaning it.
 
thefragger said:
How was the face? My F6B has, what looks like, little spots of corrosion here and there, in clusters.
Click to expand...

The face was and is spotless and perfect, not a scratch. Only on top there are some scuffs and scars, but rather minor.

Can't wait until it's fixed :banana:
 
I found a Pioneer SX-3800 laying in the ditch, in the rain while walking my dog one nite. The amp doesn't work, but I love to use the pre! That flouroscan tuner and analog dial is a sweet combo. Anyone else love the sound of those tuners from Pioneer's flouroscan days?? Not to mention a Pioneer TX-6200 I heard last weekend!:tresbon:
 
I'm still waiting for my ST-A6b. I've been waiting a while, and may wait quite a bit longer. But I will conquer eventually. Lovely 7. Wonderful tunas.
 
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