SONY TA-FA3ES

Commentary

A pre-main amplifier developed with the technology of higher-end equipment.

A twin-monaural construction is adopted in which the power supply is placed in the center of the chassis and left and right power amplifiers are placed on both sides of it.
Good channel separation is achieved by separating the power amplifier, which tends to cause crosstalk between channels, like a monaural amplifier in which the heat sink is independent on the left and right.
In addition, in consideration of the influence of the high current power section and power supply section on the pre-section that handles small signals, we have adopted a 2 box separate structure that separates the inside of the chassis with a beam.

MOS FET is used for the drive stage and final stage of the amplifier circuit.
The high input impedance of the MOS FET allows the driver stage and output stage to be electrically separated to reduce interference with each other. As a result, high sound quality can be obtained with a relatively simple circuit structure, and odd-order distortion, which is easy to hear, can be suppressed.

To take advantage of the superior characteristics of MOS FET, the new ES amplifier uses MOS-exclusive design.
In this configuration, an optical bias circuit is adopted in which an optical element with the same temperature characteristics as the MOS FET is added to the bias circuit in order to suppress the change of idling current that occurs when the temperature characteristics of the bias circuit and the temperature characteristics of the MOS FET of the current amplification stage do not match. This keeps the idling current constant and ensures more stable amplification of the audio signal.
In addition, by increasing the capacity of the bypass capacitor of the bias circuit, the impedance is lowered and a richer low-frequency range is realized.

The power supply section is equipped with a newly developed torus toroidal transformer. This transformer improves the adhesion of the coil by making the core section oval, which was rectangular in the conventional toroidal transformer. This improves the efficiency, greatly reduces the generation of vibration, and reduces the influence on the audio signal. In addition, the total length of the coil is shortened, which reduces the impedance.

The Advanced S. T. D. (Spontaneous Twin Drive) power supply is used for the power supply circuit configuration.
In the conventional S. T. D. power supply, the voltage amplification stage (A class stage) and the power amplification stage (B class stage) are each provided with a dedicated rectifier circuit, and power is supplied separately and independently. This prevents changes in the power supply voltage of the power amplification stage at the time of large output from adversely affecting the power supply of the voltage amplification stage, thereby improving sound quality.
The Advanced S. T. D. power supply is a further development of this system. An induction coil is added to the voltage amplification stage to reduce voltage fluctuations during rectification. In addition, a large-capacity capacitor is installed to supply a large instantaneous current. As a result, sound quality in the middle and high frequency range, S / N ratio and dynamic range are improved.

Using a newly adopted pure input circuit, we have reduced the number of switches on the signal path from the input terminal through the input selector to the master volume to less than half of the conventional switches, thereby reducing signal degradation. For the same reason, we have adopted a muting circuit that does not have contacts on the signal path.
Furthermore, by adopting the Tape Monitor method, the purity of the source signal is kept high.

By adopting a large aluminum heat sink with independent left and right channels, the temperature inside the chassis is balanced between left and right and good separation characteristics are obtained.
In addition, the TA-FA3ES employs a radial heat sink in which fins are concentrated at the base of the transistor, so that mid-to-high-frequency resonance, which greatly affects sound quality, is prevented from being transmitted to the transistor.

FB chassis is used for the chassis structure.
The FB chassis is made of metal material with sufficient strength and thickness to make the entire chassis as a single box. Moreover, the frame surrounding the outer circumference and the beams to the front, back, left and right have different shapes and sizes and are combined by screws. This gives the frame and the beams different vibration modes and greatly reduces vibration inside and outside the chassis.
In addition, the power supply and heat sink are fixed to the central base beam to ensure good weight balance and strength.

An eccentric insulator is used for the insulator.
This insulator has a structure in which the screw hole is offset from the center, and the vibration transmitted to the chassis is mutually cancelled by changing the phase of the vibration transmitted to the screw from each direction on the circumference. The shape was a prototype, and as a result of examining the sound quality, the diameter was reduced to 50 mm, which is smaller than conventional ones.

The output stage employs a super-legato linear system that reduces switching and crossover distortion as well as reducing distortion even at the playback level in actual use.

Built-in phono equalizer amplifier.

Equipped with an ES filter that reduces noise contamination from the AC line.

Pre-output terminal is mounted.

There are 2 variations, gold and black.

Wireless remote control is included.

Model Rating

Type	Pre-main amplifier
Effective output (20 Hz to 20 kHz)	80W + 80W (4 Ω) 70W + 70W (6 Ω) 60W + 60W (8 Ω)
Input Sensitivity / Impedance	Phono MM : 2.5mV/50k Ω Phono MC : 170 μ V/100 Ω Line system : 150mV/20k Ω
Output Level / Impedance	Rec out : 150mV/1k Ω Headset : 10 mW (8 Ω)
Total harmonic distortion factor	0.008% (8 Ω at 10W output)
Intermodulation distortion factor (60 hz : 7 khz = 4 : 1)	0.008% (8 Ω at rated output)
Frequency characteristic	Phono MM : 20 Hz to 20 kHz ± 0.2 dB Line system : 5 Hz to 100 kHz + 0 -3dB
Signal-to-noise ratio	Phono MM:87dB Phono MC:68dB Line system : 105 dB
Tone control	Bass : ± 7 dB (100 Hz) Treble : ± 6 dB at 10 kHz
Accessory function	Source direct switch Tape Monitor 1/2 Remote Commander
Pwer	100 VAC, 50Hz/60Hz
Power consumption	170W
External dimensions	Width 430x Height 135x Depth 375 mm
Weight	Approximately 10 kg
Attachment	Wireless Remote Control RM-S702