Classic Integrated Amplifiers!

[mhardy6647]

Yes, the AU-517 and AU-717 were the real deal.

 

[Iainohyeah]

I feel the same way about this otherwise nondescript HK. Looks better with the cover off.....

 

[ahofer]

Wow, how did you pick up that gem for $150? If you end up restoring it, would you be willing to sell? At older age, I'm besotted with nostalgia and would love to own the very amp that introduce me to stereophonic music (Bob Dylan, Clancy Bros., Herb Alpert, Roger Miller - my parents collection) and filled my soul with happiness.

I had that tuner.

I helped rebuild a deck to make the money. 1977, I think.

 

[Monotone]

Kyocera A-710

I'm the 2nd owner. All original, working perfectly still. It had an easy life.

 

[AdrianusG]

View attachment 447516

Kyocera A-710

I'm the 2nd owner. All original, working perfectly still. It had an easy life.

Looks pretty good too

 

[BeeKay]

View attachment 447516

Kyocera A-710

I'm the 2nd owner. All original, working perfectly still. It had an easy life.

Nice. The brand is a surprise as I only have known it for printers. Maybe a generic product with a Kyocera badge on it?

 

[dualazmak]

https://audio-heritage.jp/KYOCERA/amp/a-710.html

https://akdatabase.com/AKview/albums/userpics/10007/Kyocera A-710 Service Manual.pdf

https://otoasobi.hatenablog.com/entry/2022/11/19/235202

 

[AdrianusG]

https://audio-heritage.jp/KYOCERA/amp/a-710.html

https://akdatabase.com/AKview/albums/userpics/10007/Kyocera A-710 Service Manual.pdf

https://otoasobi.hatenablog.com/entry/2022/11/19/235202

Wow, inside looks even better

 

[dualazmak]

https://akdatabase.com/AKview/albums/userpics/10007/Kyocera A-710 Service Manual.pdf
Service Manual PDF (size reduced) attached!

 

[Old_School_Brad]

I have a real appreciation for the older Yamaha integrated amps, the AX-1090, for example.
They’re solidly built, pack a lot of power, and have a classic design that, in my opinion, still holds up well today.

Or the AX-930, the predecessor to the 1050/1070/1090

 

[HalSF]

My integrated is the circa-2001 UK-built Musical Fidelity A300, with the giant ostentatious but butter-smooth gold-plated volume dial. Still going strong.

 

[MAB]

Nice. The brand is a surprise as I only have known it for printers. Maybe a generic product with a Kyocera badge on it?

It's all proprietary Kyocera. It was part of an extensive line showcasing Kyocera's ceramic technologies, including a chassis made of ceramic compound. They have matching turntables, CD players, and additional amps and receivers, all with that nice champagne finish. Very nice equipment, perhaps not as easy to work on with the amount of proprietary parts, and the fact many of the circuits are encapsulated in ceramics.

 

[GroeneLeeuw]

My integrated is the circa-2001 UK-built Musical Fidelity A300, with the giant ostentatious but butter-smooth gold-plated volume dial. Still going strong.

View attachment 447648

Yes!
Had one of those as well. Very nice!! Tons of power, very clean and smooth sound.
And had the MF A3 (+ A3 CD-player) from the same series too. Actually I´ve upgraded from the A3 to the A300.

 

[Old_School_Brad]

What do you think about this one?

Sharp Optonica SM-4646 -all the knobs and switches are solid metal, three transformers.
It's tactile heaven!
Unfortunately, it uses Darlington ICs.
I’ve actually got one sitting on the shelf going into protect mode.

 

[raindance]

View attachment 313369NAD 3140. My first amp ever. Now have a spare, although never use them. They're like grown children-don't need them around but have sentimental value.

That was an absolute killer amp. I had one for years. Couldn't kill it. It was a party amp of note.

 

[rdenney]

What do you think about this one?

Sharp Optonica SM-4646 -all the knobs and switches are solid metal, three transformers.
It's tactile heaven!
Unfortunately, it uses Darlington ICs.
I’ve actually got one sitting on the shelf going into protect mode.

View attachment 447775
View attachment 447776
View attachment 447777

From back in the day when preamps and integrated amps were expected to have features. Two tape loops, two phono inputs including one with selectable input capacitance, a frequency control of the tone controls, a tone defeat, sub and supersonic filters...the only feature I don't see is an external processor loop. It even has the routing map on the top--something nobody needs to do any more because preamps have so few routing features. This looks like a decently featured preamp even if the speaker amp dies and you have to route from a preamp output to an external power amp.

The two big transformers are for the power amp channels, and the small one for the preamp and its controls, one presumes.

Rick "probably affordable too given Sharp's lack of audiophile street cred" Denney

 

[wadude]

From back in the day when preamps and integrated amps were expected to have features.

So many of those features were centered around turntables and everything required to bring out the best qualities from them. Even the tape facilities were largely about transferring music from vinyl to preserve the sound quality or other issues dealing with that medium. Now features have to do with the rooms we listen in. Audio has truly progressed into more subtle realms in areas outside the components themselves.

 

[mhardy6647]

I am wonderin' about the third transformer...

 

[Audionaut]

I am wonderin' about the third transformer...

1. central transformer: Supplies the preamplifier and driver stages, which operate in Class A mode.


2. left transformer: Only supplies the left output stage, which operates in Class B mode.


3. right-hand transformer: Supplies only the right-hand output stage, also in Class B mode.

 

[rdenney]

So many of those features were centered around turntables and everything required to bring out the best qualities from them. Even the tape facilities were largely about transferring music from vinyl to preserve the sound quality or other issues dealing with that medium. Now features have to do with the rooms we listen in. Audio has truly progressed into more subtle realms in areas outside the components themselves.

Sure. But some of us still have lots of archaic sources that we preserve for the fun of it. And I still live in the country and have lousy internet access. And I still want to own my library instead of (or at least in addition to) renting access to someone else's library for as long as they are in business. And I still see tone controls as serving a very different purpose than equalization (hence my remark about the one missing feature--an external processing loop).

And so I still want a preamp to provide loads of connectivity, even if most of what I want to do is transcribe my old vinyl and tape (some of which isn't available any other way) to a computer. My ADC/DAC loop is in a tape loop on my preamp. The other tape loop serves a dbx 400, which is a tape/processor-loop expander, and that gives me access to my Teac R2R deck and my Nakamichi cassette deck. The processor loop in my preamp serves my Yamaha commercial digital parametric equalizer. Then, there are two CD players, one of which uses a different DAC. And the Thorens turntable, because I still do have a vinyl library.

But I see lots of folks today much less experienced in this hobby who also have a turntable, and (emerging again) a CD player, (sure) a streamer, and for a few really sick individuals even a cassette deck. Are they nuts for experimenting with those obsolete technologies (and not merely preserving them as I'm doing)? Probably. But right now their choices are a whole row of little boxes to do this and that and try to bring it all together, in addition to the source devices. Those old full-featured preamps (that Kenwood correctly called "control amplifiers") might still be useful in the modern world.

Rick "who admittedly has a whole stack of big boxes" Denney