Older Sony ES amplifiers, what do we think?

[admin_exported]

Hi!
Today, I was in a recording studio, the guy in the studio used a TA-F707ES, and had it paired with some PMC TB2+ speakers, the sound, both from the live recording, and cd was amazing. The live recording, well pretty obvious that it sounded good, but he played a cd simply from a basic looking cd player.

The sound it, was downright amazing. I do believe that this had alot to do with the PMC speakers, but the Sony amplifier had bags of power, and a huge reserve. It was able to drive the speakers to ear splitting levels in a fairly big sized room. The accoustics were very well, isolation was excellent and the room pretty much didn't have any square angles to reduce standing waves. This all probably contributed to the sound, but I'm still wondering how good the Sony amplifier actually is.

I spotted a FA-707ES and 770ES on a marketplace site, and the asking prices looked appealing. Would it be a step-up from my PM17, or would investing in better speakers be a better idea?

Thaiman and Andrew E. this is especially a shout-out to you, you undoubetedly have something to say. Any comments from other forummers also kindly appreciated ofcouse. Thanks in advance.

 

[Anonymous]

It looks like I'm not alone on liking old HI-FIs! Go for it!

 

[Anonymous]

I do like the look of the older Sony amps and there ES editions look especially nice. I had a TA-F400 for about a year and reallt enjoyed it - so much so that it replaced my Arcam Alpha 8! not bad considering i paid only 13GBP for it on ebay!

 

[Thaiman]

[quote user="Jan Hibma"]Would it be a step-up from my PM17, or would investing in better speakers be a better idea?[/quote]

The ES range sony are very nice indeed, the cdp are very highly regards and the amps are very under rated (proper japanese bomb proved build quality here Joel

)

Would it be an upgrade from the Marantz? I never hear them side by side but all in all some highend sony ES are better than the like of Krell for a lot less cash.

 

[Anonymous]

My god Thaiman, that first stack is pure sexyness. I always the look and build of my PM17, but that Sony amplifier is a whole different ball game. Thanks for your reply, I've googled around some and the both the 707ES and 770ES are very highly regarded across the net. I do feel that it should be a step-up from my Marantz, but this may just be the upgraditis talking. I could probably sell my current amplifier and buy back a 707 or 770 (preferably the first one since it's newever and is an upgraded version of the latter) and make a nice profit. The asking price of both is lower than the usual selling price of my amplifier.

Andrew, I'm hoping you can chime in a little also, as well as just about anyone else here. If you have anything to add, please do.

 

[Anonymous]

I run a pair of TA-N9000ES 5 channel power amplifiers. They are machines. Built like tanks (25kg each) and drive my Focal JM.Labs with ease.

One is in BTL 2 channel mode running my main fronts with a brand new Rega Saturn CD player, and the other in 3 channel mode running the center and rears for AV!