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ST-5000FW Help

Those little transformers/inductors sure seem to be a weak point in the early Sony tuner/receivers. I've tried to get some help from the vendors with little result.

One should be able to reverse engineer these parts since they are tuned LRC networks and we know what frequencies they are supposed to be tuned to (10.7 MHz in the IF and 19 kHz for the MPX).

I've got a new guy I can ask help from. I've got the STR-6060FW schematic and maybe the ST-5000FW as well. Having the STR-6120/6200F would complete it unless someone else has a candidate. I think the designs are similar if not identical. A hi-res scan of the schematic would be of help.
 
Here's a few pics of B-2's... Hard to take pictures with all the shiney metal.

The filters are really weak. They soldered the coil wires to the leads that solder into the board. Any type of stress to the coil will break the wire. Took some micro surgery to get the two that broke on me working. Service manual says to use Radio solvent to loosen the glue on the caps. Most of the caps came right off two were a pain and thats when the leads broke. Not designed for friendly service.

Coil freqs are pretty standard. 19Khz, 38Khz, 67Khz and not so common 71Khz.

X
 

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Guess what showed up on my doorstep this noon-hour. A nicely packed box full of foam, bubblewrap, a bit of newspaper to fill the odd space and an immaculate ST-5000FW. To say I am happy to see it is an understatement. :banana:

Stopped mid-bowl of chili and opened it up and unpacked. Set it out to warm-up to room temp while I nuc'd the chili and added a bit more Tabasco to help with the warming up (me and the chili). Finished off the chow and took a couple of pic's. Then hooked into my main rig (CX-1/B-2/few CDPs & tuners).

First impression is just how much more sensitive the unit is compared to the stock Yamaha CT-1010 and Sony ST-J75. Pegs the meter where the others are at about 75%. Could be difference in meters, but I am guessing it is real.

Other first impressions are: Better stereo separation. More extended at both highs and lows. And detail. Probably the most noticeable difference is the detail. Can hear the folks running around the stage with no effort listening to the live broadcast of Giuseppe Verdi's "Luisa Miller" from the Metropolitan Opera. And clear. Essentially zero background noise.

More later once the new caps have settled in and everything has run for a month or two. Very impressive.

I didn't even open it up to look at all the pretty, shinyness. Settled for looking through the vents in the metal case for now. Didn't even bother to pull out my wood TAC-1 case and put it on. I'll pull it back out in a month or two when I reconfigure my listening room and do all that.

Thanks, Mike. :thmbsp: A first-rate job. :yes:
 

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I'm likewise listening to Live at the Met (through the CBC) and comparing my MR77 and Philips 6731 tuners through the Philips 5721 preamp, 5781 amp and Bozak Symphony speakers. The 6731 is digging down into the low level detail such as the swishing of dresses as they move across the stage while the presentation from the MR77 is closer to row H through M that I usually try to sit in when I attend concerts/opereas, etc. Saturday Live at the Met is the presentation weekly I shut myself in for some serious listening.

The Sony should outdo the tuner section of the 6060 (at least hopefully) and the 6060 tuner is wonderful. Happy you finally got it and now have a chance to break it in. Been awhile to get it all going and to you. Now you'll need to find the preamp and amp to round out the set and then onto a TTS3000 table.
 
Yea real nice B2. It's going to take me forever to round out a Sony seperate system. No free room, too cheap to fight with all the bidders out there. But I am lovin and using my $5 Sony 2000F preamp, wow what a effort Sony put into the design and construction details of these early seperate componets. They are built more like hi end industrial test equipment.

Lefty
 
Yamaha B-2 said:
Lefty - You are halfway there. Get the TA-3200F to match and you're home. But, for a class look, get the TA-N77ES. Check out its look here: http://www.thevintageknob.org/SONY/sonyes/TAN77ES/TAN77ES.html For looks, alone, it is my favorite amp. And it sounds very nice, as well.
Click to expand...

Yea I am pretty much on go for getting the 3200F, it's just that the last few listed weren't in that great of shape or the sellers sounded like jerks when I asked simple questions of them. Funny that ST-5130 tuners keep popping up frequently like 5 to 1 over the 3200F and while I really don't want or need another tuner it's like somone is screwing with me while I'm patiently waiting for the 3200F to show up :D

TA-N77ES, no thanks, it's black (you think I'm a Sanui type?) and doesn't have the cool fluted knobs as the 3200F does. Nice meters though...

Lefty
 
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Yamaha B-2 said:
Other first impressions are: Better stereo separation. More extended at both highs and lows. And detail. Probably the most noticeable difference is the detail. Can hear the folks running around the stage with no effort listening to the live broadcast of Giuseppe Verdi's "Luisa Miller" from the Metropolitan Opera. And clear. Essentially zero background noise.

More later once the new caps have settled in and everything has run for a month or two. Very impressive.

I didn't even open it up to look at all the pretty, shinyness. Settled for looking through the vents in the metal case for now. Didn't even bother to pull out my wood TAC-1 case and put it on. I'll pull it back out in a month or two when I reconfigure my listening room and do all that.

Thanks, Mike. :thmbsp: A first-rate job. :yes:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the praise Glenn. Think I got about 60 hours on it after the rebuild. The bass should develop more as the blackgate burn in. If it were in my system I think I'd leave the covers off the thing. One of the best looking tuners on the inside.

X
 
btw, I recently discovered that the ST-5000 was the last ES unit unveiled, in 1967, to round up the first ES series (TA-1120, TA-3120, TTS-3000 etc) which was launched as such in 1965 with the original TA-1120.

ES stands for Extremely High Standard - in the case of this here first ES series, it seems it was true :)
 
Nope - it is "Extremely High Standard".

... but Sony being Sony, "Elevated Standard" was used here and there (mostly in the US from what I have gathered so far) at the same time as "Extremely High Standard" in other heres and theres :D
 
So the 5000 used the three multi-filter filters while the 5130 used 8 single filters?

Also, the 5000 and the STC-7000 used the same basic design while the 5130 and the STR-6120/6200F shared a tuner design?
 
Yamaha B-2,
Thanks for the report. I have a keen interest. Did you listen to the tuner much before sending it to Radio-X? I am wondering about the improvement with Blackgates and service.
 
Phil - never even saw the thing. I've wanted an ST-5000FW as a 'keeper' tuner (along with a CT-7000 and T-2) so I decided to do everyhing that I felt was needed to make it so. Perhaps I should have listened first, but I'm nothing if not impetuous. :D
 
Yamaha B-2 said:
Phil - never even saw the thing. I've wanted an ST-5000FW as a 'keeper' tuner (along with a CT-7000 and T-2) so I decided to do everyhing that I felt was needed to make it so. Perhaps I should have listened first, but I'm nothing if not impetuous. :D
Click to expand...
The Sony ST-5000FW was designed for ultimate performance with the parts and materials available at the time: It was not built to meet a specific price point like most products are.

IMHO, Sony's "target" for this tuner was the McIntosh MR77 and I personally think this particular Sony is every bit as good, both sound wise and construction quality wise as the MR77. YMMV, of course.

I also believe the ST-5000FW to be a better-sounding tuner than either of the two Yamaha's mentioned above, but again, YMMV. :cool:
 
St-5000fw

OK, that's it. I just sent a message to Mike so I can get in line to have mine done too.

As for before / after auditions, in my case the “before” it isn’t very impressive at all. I’ll have to say that if I didn’t know about its potential, I would think it was a just some beautifully overbuilt relic.

I’ll be looking forward to working with Mike and hearing the transformation.
 
Very, very nice there B-2! I can see that I'm going to have to recover that venerable Sony receiver that my parents bought back in 1967 or 8. It looks very similar to that tuner of yours! Transfer of wealth for transfer of power (or signal!). Excellent!

Hmm...guess I shan't limit myself to Yamaha!

Re: Sony in the 1960s...my parents also had this great portable AM/FM/WB radio for years that was basically built like a tank and waterproof! Also, our first portable TV was a teeny little B&W Sony that was vintage 1967 or 8...again, built like a tank and very cute it was.
 
The receiver in the background is an STR-7055A. '73-75. Replacing the dial bulbs, which I've had a difficult time finding. With everyone's help, I now know what I'm doing (at least on this).
 
Anyone out got the capacity to scan into .pdf format? Would like to have the service manual scanned. Thanks.
 
Glenn,

I've got a full engineering office at my disposal. I can scan to at least 11x17 into pdf or tiff and maybe more if I sweet talk some clerks. I can also whip out E-size plots off of the scans.

Of course, you can drop it off at your local Kinko's and they will probably do it for less than round trip postage.
 
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