advertisement


Japanese solid state amps

R

RobJ

pfm Member
I've been unexpectedly gifted a JVC JL-A20 deck and it's got me thinking about putting together a retro system.

Probably one system too many as the 401/a60/sl7s system is in the lounge, my girls have the teenager system td160/a60/ditton 15s in their bedroom so this one will probably be a bedroom or spare room system.

The question is, what is a nice solid state late 70s/80s Japanese amp that would go well and any advice on speakers? It will be in a small ish room so no need to drive anything too big.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Rob
 
I have been very surprised - and very pleased - with Mordaunt Short bookshelf speakers from the 70's. Pageant 2s or even Festival 2s could be just the ticket. Very even-handed sound with no particular feature forcing its way to the front, slightly warm, but nicely detailed - such a pleasure to listen to, plus distinctly "vintage" looks. And inexpensive!
ML
 
You could stick with JVC and look for an AX-4 amplifier. A friend had one and it was very good. Smelled nice, too...
 
I've got some Wharfedale Super Diamonds in my dining room system which I'm very happy with. £5 from a carboot sale!
 
Super Diamonds look great and might work well. . I don't think I'll get them for a fiver though! That was a steal!

Does anyone know how these speakers compare with others in the range? 9.0s 10.1s etc?
 
monstrous lie said:
I have been very surprised - and very pleased - with Mordaunt Short bookshelf speakers from the 70's. Pageant 2s or even Festival 2s could be just the ticket. Very even-handed sound with no particular feature forcing its way to the front, slightly warm, but nicely detailed - such a pleasure to listen to, plus distinctly "vintage" looks. And inexpensive!
ML
Click to expand...

I use Festival 2's in my workshop and they don't disappoint.
 
Second the Pageants - they're plentiful and cheap...a pair of Leak Sandwich (I think they were 600s) were tried a while ago on the end of nice gear - they are very capable speakers, better than the Pageants IMHO, a pair of which I also have.
Harder to find, but keeping the JVC vibe, would be any of the smaller speakers in their zero series, or, striking out in a new direction, JBL 4406s or 4408s - everyone wants the bigger JBLs, so cheapish, but these were conceived as serious studio monitoring speakers and would be in a different league. As an owner of two pairs of 4410s, I'll vouch for the excellent quality of this series.

Finally, if you really want the 70s vibe, some of those Kabuki speakers (Akai SW 155 and the like) have been undergoing reassessment when found that hanging them off the end of good gear they sound bl00dy fantastic.
 
Thanks all, there's loads to go on here and I do like the idea of the JBLs.

There seems.to be a fair few Japanese amps around still although it's a bit of a minefield.

Are there any staple go to 70s amps? Like the A&R A60 but shinier?
 
I have an A&E DCA100 which is a shoebox size power amp. Sounds great, it's not very powerful, maybe 30 wpc, but it gets lots right. It looks great too, imagine a CB Naim with a brushed ally front panel.
 
RobJ said:
Thanks all, there's loads to go on here and I do like the idea of the JBLs.

There seems.to be a fair few Japanese amps around still although it's a bit of a minefield.

Are there any staple go to 70s amps? Like the A&R A60 but shinier?
Click to expand...

Not really no as there was just so many of them. Try to avoid ones with a power amp module instead of separate discrete components as they can be impossible or very expensive to fix and don't always have the best sound quality. You would need to look inside to tell and I can't give any help as to which makes and models are effected as most of the Jap companies used them. Usually a black plastic module about the size of a pack of fags bolted to the heatsink and usually with a type number beginning "STK".
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
Arkless Electronics said:
Not really no as there was just so many of them. Try to avoid ones with a power amp module instead of separate discrete components as they can be impossible or very expensive to fix and don't always have the best sound quality. You would need to look inside to tell and I can't give any help as to which makes and models are effected as most of the Jap companies used them. Usually a black plastic module about the size of a pack of fags bolted to the heatsink and usually with a type number beginning "STK".
Click to expand...

Many thanks, that's good advice.
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
The JVC A-X4 mentioned is excellent as are the others in the range.
Some of the receivers work well too and share amplifer circuits with the X amplifier range - particularly the R-S33 & R-S77.
 
AX-4 purchased! I'll have to experiment and swap it out with the A60s to compare.

Now for speakers and to convince my other half that another vinyl system is essential in our lives.

Thanks again for all the advice, really appreciated.
 
df_genius said:
Technics seemed to regularly use the Sanyo STK integrated chips, and Hitachi too as well as others. In my experience they seem to fail for no apparent reason and troubleshooting is a pain. Here is a picture of an example:

http://www.hifi-pictures.net/amplifiers-home/Technics SU-5A/technics_platka.jpg
Click to expand...

All the Jap companies used them AFAIK but Technics are the worst as some of theirs are Technics specific ones they made themselves which incorporate their "ClassAA" and such like. About 25 years ago I was given a Technics amp for parts (it was a budget 25WPC jobby) and it was immediately obvious that this module was the problem so I rang their spares supplier (at that time there was a company they used as a UK agent for spares and no other source of Technics spares was available). I was quoted £85 for a new module! 25 years ago and for a budget amp which would have been about £90 new....
 
I always liked the Yamaha stuff. I recall a friend bought a CA800 (mid 70's) it was really good sounding, sadly he couldn't be bothered to wait for the Class A to kick in so never used this facility. I borrowed it for a while (he was working away) I was very impressed with it, especially in Class A (40min wait though). The build quality was very impressive too...strange how good things stick in the memory banks...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top