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Vintage Sony receivers: your thoughts, please

E

eschatzker

New Member
Over the past few months I've acquired two vintage Sony receivers, a STR-6800 SD (1976-78) and a STR-V5 (1978-81). My plan was to keep one and send the other to my brother.
The 6800 arrived in excellent shape. I plugged in my speakers (MartinLogan Montage), connected my turntable (Audio-Technica LP-1240) and was instantly delighted by the vast improvement in sound. My previous receiver was a Cambridge Audio Azur 540r v2 (mid-200s) and the turntable ran through a NAD PP2e external phono preamp. The Cambridge was fine in the highs and mids but produced lows so muddy I had to add a subwoofer. The 6800 was warmer and richer overall, and brought out the bass and lower mids so much better than the Cambridge. Total success.
The V5 needed work, so I brought it to Analogique here in New York City. They performed an extensive servicing, which included replacing a number of capacitors. The unit came back to me looking much better and I plugged in it optimistically. Right away, it sounded very different from the 6800, not nearly as warm and with a surprisingly dominant lower end. The bass was crazy tight and overwhelmed the mids and highs. Interesting but ultimately disappointing.
Since then, I've been running a few experiments to see if anything changes. Wondering if the capacitors needed some "burn-in," I played music through the unit for a couple of days continuously. That seems to have helped improved the warmth, though it's still not at all comparable to the 6800. I also plugged the turntable into the NAD preamp and ran that through one of the V5 tape inputs and, sure enough, the music recovered some of its brightness, though the sound wasn't quite as full. So the phone stage may have an issue.
Needless to say, I'm taking the beast back to Analogique to see what they can figure out. But before I do, I wanted to see if anyone here has any thoughts on what might be going on.
I realize the 6800 and V5 are different animals. For example, one (the V5) has a toroidal transformer and the other doesn't. But they're similar enough and so, I assume, should have a similar sound. But they don't. Not at all.
Thoughts welcome. Thanks.
 
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I'm running a STR-7055s driving Pinnacle PN8+ speakers as we speak. I've owned the 7055s for about 3 years and used it off and on. It wasn't till I found the right speakers for the receiver that it began to really sing. For what it's worth, I've never had to do a thing to it other than replace a light bulb.

I believe the 7055s has the same blood lines as your 6800. (I have no idea why a 1976 product would have a lower model number than a 1973 product, however. Maybe I need another Margarita.) Your description of the 6800's characteristics are spot on with my experiences with the 7055s. It also sounds like you've not done a recap of your 6800.

One of the things I love about my 7055a is the tuner section. It sounds so warm compared to my other tuners and the reception is, frankly, amazing. I use the cheapest black-plastic antenna imaginable to tune in any station from 60 miles away. I have several other 4-gang tuners, and none touches the 7055a.

Your STR V5 is, as you note, a completely different beast. First off, it hales from the early 1980s. Sony made it as an export-only unit. Neither necessarily means the V55 is bad, but, just as an example, the V55 weighs less than half your 6800. That probably means a whole bunch of things, but, in general, it probably means the V55 is made more cheaply than your 6800. No matter what you do to it, it will probably never have the good audio characteristics your 6800 has. You can ask Analogique to do just about anything to it, and it will always come up short.

I have no experience with the early '80s Sony receivers. I'm just basing my opinions on generalities. That qualifier said, I'd hold on to that 6800 and not sink any more resources into the V55.
 
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Didn't Sony use FET devices in those "V" series receivers? Maybe FET's looked better on paper to engineers/designers but lack sonic character.
 
^ That's what I thought too but it was the TA series actually.

And they sound very special indeed.
 
If your 5v sounds warm then there's something wrong with the 5v, I would not describe the sound of Sony gear after 1974 as warm (pre 1974 maybe, a little). Sony didn't strive for "warmth" but were part of the true to sound gang, their high end was ahead of it's time. 6800 was second to top of the line (although the 7800 was very rare in the US) and the v5 was third from the bottom. Given that their generation was 2 years apart and all things being equal they should pretty similar with a slight hedge for the 5V being true to sound. Both the 6800 and the 5v should sound clear with very little noise and true to the source.
 
Well, paint me the idiot! Sorry about the essay on the wrong receiver.

The V5 is a big 'un, isn't it. Gobs of power it looks like, and classic Sony styling - clearly Sony's entrant into the monster receiver wars of the late'70s. I've always wondered what difference there is between 45 watts in 1973 and 90 watts in 1978 and 120 watts in 2001. It would be interesting to line them all up and take a listen.

Fernarias, I can't seem to figure out what is meant by "warm." My STR-7055a has crisp highs with a slightly forward lower mid range, at least to my ears. It sounds"warm" to me. My Denon PMA 2000 is pure all the way across. I have never put the 7055a at the head of the system currently being pulled by the Denon. The Denon has more watts than the rest of the system needs. I plan to swap the 7055a and PMA later this summer just to see what arises.
 
62vauxhall said:
Didn't Sony use FET devices in those "V" series receivers? Maybe FET's looked better on paper to engineers/designers but lack sonic character.
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Sony only made a few VFET products, and all are very well respected. The limiting factor for these, same for the Yamaha VFETS, is the availability of VFETs.

The other series were the 60xx, the 70xx, the Vx, and the x800 with a few like the 6060, the 6120, the 6200 as transitional pieces. The models in each series were related more closely to each other than to the other series.
 
The Sony 6800 is one of the best values in vintage audio. Fantastic sound and lots of power and features for a great price.
 
I recently purchased a Sony 6060f (late 60's, early 70's) and am blown away by the sound. Using Dynaco A-25's but it also opened up my Polkaudio RT-35's and made them sound great.
Lovin mine.
 
cscottrun4it said:
Fernarias, I can't seem to figure out what is meant by "warm." My STR-7055a has crisp highs with a slightly forward lower mid range, at least to my ears. It sounds"warm" to me. My Denon PMA 2000 is pure all the way across. I have never put the 7055a at the head of the system currently being pulled by the Denon. The Denon has more watts than the rest of the system needs. I plan to swap the 7055a and PMA later this summer just to see what arises.
Click to expand...
Warm sounding describes amps with noticeable harmonic distortion but with that harmonic distortion distributed mostly in nth order harmonics (quite remarkable achievement by early tube engineers as some amps just sound like crap with high distortion) and can still be considered very good sounding(like a hh scott 299c on Klipschorns, excellent on a cold night), especially with high efficiency speakers (the norm in the 1950s and 1960s). Sony and others (early on Kenwood, Yamaha for example) worked to eliminate harmonic distortion and signal to noise and that's why they are the true to sound (the source determines the sound not the preamp/amp which all makes tried to do after 1976). The V5, made in 1978 with .07 total harmonic distortion and 100db signal to noise (ready for CD sn levels) is very true to sound (beats many of the 2018 gear sold on the market today and at 80db phono kills most phono amps made today which are mostly crappy, exclusive, expensive gear that allows you to virtue signal at how much you paid).
I have a Sony STR 7055 that I have refurbished (10 dollars for the receiver and 70 dollars in parts) and I would describe the sound as true to sound and very close to the CR1000 that is also refurbished (I use fortes and chorus II as my speakers). The 7800SD sound much better and the V7 is better still(to me, anyways). The Denon (heard one, almost bought it but not being able to fix it) definitely should sound better than the 7055a, being a new design and having more watts per channel. What you describe with the 7055a has more to do with it's low 35 watts since it has a hard time producing bass on speakers with large woofers (woofers need power) so you would hear the mids and highs more (see if you can hear a difference with high quality headphones since either won't have any problem driving them).
 
Small quibble, but IDK about bright. They just don't have the low-mid mud that a lot of vintage gear has. My unrestored STR-6060STR sounds rather heavenly in the highs.
 
mid70s said:
Early Sony’s are a little bright. However, love my STR-7055. Lots of cools features to tweak.
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It doesn't have the power to drive some woofers which is why you're not hearing it. It is fine on my Heresys and even better on my Quartets and Sony NS-200m. As a desktop receiver, it sound really nice on small bookshelf speakers with woofers 5in or less, like Kg .5.
I used it as a preamp with SAE 2500 and it kick the shine out of my Chorus IIs and my late Cornwall IIs. Again very true to sound.
 
I have a nice 7065 that pushed almost all my 70s receivers out but to be honest it is sidelined because I prefer my newer Yamahas.Just not room for all.But I will keep it for that vintage itch that comes up every now and then.
 
A shame then Sony's HiFi dealer network was so small. Sony should have let SuperScope handle that line with the tape recorders, and then Sony's best would have been marketed better in the USA, and more would have been sold here. Sony was very late to the game marketing and dealer network wise.
 
My 50 watt 6065 from 1971 presents little personality. I resembles my 60 watt Sherwood S8900A.
My 30 watt 6050 from 1969 was very different. It got heavy in the bottom quick with a load.
 
absolon said:
Sony only made a few VFET products, and all are very well respected. The limiting factor for these, same for the Yamaha VFETS, is the availability of VFETs.

The other series were the 60xx, the 70xx, the Vx, and the x800 with a few like the 6060, the 6120, the 6200 as transitional pieces. The models in each series were related more closely to each other than to the other series.
Click to expand...
Just so I am clear in your statement about VFETs...

Does the STR-x800 line use VFETs? I have a STR -7800SD that I recently found and I didn’t know if it had VFETs or not.

Do VFETs looks differently than plain old TO-220 output transistors? I am mainly a Pioneer guy and I know they had a series of amplifiers that uses a STK packaged transistor that is now unobtanium which sounds awfully similar to unobtanium Sony VFETs.
Thanks
 
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