Friday, April 26, 2013

Amps

Sansui 4000 or 3000A
Sony 6021 or 6060F, SX 1500 or SX 1250


1967 Pioneer SX-700TF receiver, 25w [rare]
very early transistor amp but a sweet lively sound if only 25w see the SX-1500TF for the 45w version. This has to be the sweetest 25w amp you'll hear. Pioneer never made anything this sweet sounding after this 1967 all-transistor range. T= USA 110v version, TF = EU-World version
*1967 Pioneer SX-1500TF receiver, 45w [rare] (not SX-1500TD)
very clean & musical sounding amp we expected to be good as the SX-700TF, this even all-original is very sweet with such an open sound. recapped & low noise transistors it scores very high in musicality. not the prettiest amp though unless you get a later bigger case. for tuner users, this has a very natural sound balance & must be one of the best tuners too even with early ICs. there are 2 versions of Tone board, the one we rate is the earlier one, see our main Pioneer page.
*1967 Sansui Model 3000A receiver, 45w
a secret gem we've discovered & the best Sansui with a top phono stage, one of two 60s receivers good enough to compare well with the Sony STR-6120 in sound quality. this tricky amp can be tweaked into a really wonderful sound and with a effortless smooth bassy but detailed sound that compares very closely with the Trio valve receiver above. others are buying this amp now based on reading of it here & are pleased with how great it sounds.
*1968-70 Sony STR-6120 receiver, 50w [rare]
the best sounding Sony receiver & a long time favourite of ours. just so musical, precise & well balanced, it has put many to shame. recapped & tweaked it's only recently been beaten by others that sound sweeter where the Sony has a little hardness in the midrange which can be solved as we've found. the STR-6200 & STR-6200F are basically the same amp as this if with TA-1130 type heatsinks.
1969 Sansui Model 4000 receiver, 45w
another early Sansui gem, we hoped this would improve on the quirks of the wonderful 3000A & it does. one less transistor than before helps bring a cleaner & wider sound that is very similar to our much improved Sony STR-6120, but it's all original. these early Sansuis are remarkable amps, we need to try a 5000 again as the AU-999 amp was a less impressive bass-light sound
*1969 Trio-Kenwood KA-6000 amplifier, 45w [rare]
the pick of the Trio-Kenwoods, very advanced for it's age & way ahead of their receivers of the same years, very well built & very musical & open like the others in this table. for the fact ours is all original & can take on all the other *'d ones shows perhaps it is the best of all here to buy & just leave alone once serviced & ours will be kept original just to show how right they were in 1969.
*1971 Sony STR-6055 receiver, 40w
as these two are basically the receiver version of the TA-1130, they had to be good. a more friendly richer sound with the receivers than the amp. UK buyers didn't buy similarly as with the STR-6120. the 1130 is the improved version of the 1120A, the 6055 or 6065 are the improved versions of the 6120, not had a 6065 yet.
*1972 Sony TA-1130 amplifier, 65w [rare]
the best of the Sony pre 1972 range has the same qualities of the TA-1120A & STR-6120 but with deep clean accurate focus that is way ahead of anything we've heard post 1970 even the Teac & must be what the TA-2000F & TA-3200F offer. unusual FET pre-tone stage in this amp. High detail if a little cool on the bass needs tweaking still perhaps.