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Sony
TA-N80ES
(1990
- 1994)
Unlike the contemporary ES integrated amps from Sony
, the N80ES was "export" only and not released in Japan.
Also "only" a rebadged/modded TA-N77ES,
the N80ES was however released in 3 different versions, versions
which you can find all about at agoraquest.
I'll allow myself to chronologically name these versions
Mk1,
Mk2
and Mk3.
The Mk1
used the same power transformer and boards as the N77, the Mk2
an encapsulated PT and different boards' material and arrangement,
the Mk3
sported 2 encapsulated toroidal transformers with again different
boards' arrangements. US sold units were Mk1s,
multi-voltage/multi-market units were Mk2s
while European units only were Mk3s.
Mk2s and Mk3s
both had a half-sized protection board.
Anyway,
all three versions had more output than the original 1987 design
and two more big caps (4700µF/80V) on the main power board.
The sometimes problematic meters of the N77ES were banned and a
pair of true/false balanced inputs thrown in for good measure ;
the N80 (like the N77) however is a single-ended design. Unfortunately,
this addition was made using rather low-end componentry.
A smaller brother, the TA-N55ES,
was introduced slightly later ; it used the same toroidal trafo
as the TA-N80ES Mk3.
Like many Sony amps (yes, TA-NR1
and TA-NR10
included), the heatsink really doesn't have that much area to dissipate
heat. And the N80ES generates a LOT of it, this being the cause
of many an N80's problems and/or death: it needs much more
ventilation than its top cover allows - I for one partly remove
it while listening to music. Still, the 80ES will dynamically drive
any loudspeakers you may wish to torment it with. And just like
the 77 the 80 can be bridged in mono and thus put out more power
than loudspeakers would know what to do with... Owning "only"
one Mk3,
it is a mode I have not tried, but I wish I could!
Much
more often shown in its champagne guise, the N80 was almost always
sold in black ; the champagne version wasn't available in the US
and is pretty rare in Europe.
Along with the TA-E80ES
preamp, the TA-N80ES was junked at the ES turning point and replaced
by the TA-N90ES ; the heat problem was addressed and the latter
sported TWO heatsinks.
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