Even less remembered than the Precise P7 system, the Falcon made somewhat swift appearances in the catalogs here and there, only to vanish just as rapidly.

Fairly traditional by their width and technologies, the Falcons were well planned with a lineup complete enough to satisfy every possible customer.
Each component was available either in silver (F) or bronze (FB, xxx-rare), both complete systems set to go active amping with the TAE-20F preamp feeding directly the SA-20 or SA-10 (signal + AC power) through dedicated cables.

Said SA-20F were quite hi-tech with their Heat-Pipe cooling system using the bass-reflex port to further enhance the cooling and ribbon tweeter. Also present was a VC-20 MC cartridge with user-replaceable stylus and a separate TAN-15F power amplifier.

Owning many of these components (multiple samples of each), I can safely say the TAN-15F amplifier was the star of the show : near full Class A, quite dynamic and very very good sounding. The ST-10 tuner is near low-fi (ok nevertheless), TAE-20 looms around there as well (completely muted sound - strange) but the TC-10/20F cassette recorders are quite good. I also have a PS-10F, a pair of SA-10F and SA-20F and the x-rare SU-10F rack cutie. I unfortunately haven't found an ST-20FB or PS-20FB.

The common key word is "metal" : they are all built quite well and heavy with a 2mm single aluminium plate making the top and front plus thick steel frames completing the picture. The SA speakers' have diecast drivers frames and weigh a ton ; the rack also stands on a diecast aluminium frame with a glass shelf.
In typical Sony fashion, alas, as usual, the excellent TAN-15F was only available in Europe...

Rather strangely, the Falcon systems were dubbed as "Avatar" in the US or "Avatar GG" in Canada. GG is the original japanese name, Falcon being the original japanese nickname - probably made to celebrate Sony's (short) adventure into the leasing of Falcon jet planes for executives in a hurry...

Japan saw even more versions of the above (with different names) plus a different preamp and well-designed racks which weren't exported. The Falcon amp and preamp are also the last Sony components to be named with the old system : TAE & TAN instead of TA-E & TA-N.

If I judge by the japanese list prices (up to 250,000¥ for a GG-20FB + rack), I understand why these are so rare... A bit stupid from Sony as "compact" never did rhyme well with high prices but understandable given the overall build-quality.

Anyway - if the Falcon didn't sell well, just like the Precise P7, it showed what hi-fi would be for most very quickly and taught Sony how to properly make the ultimate (and worldwide bestseller) compact system: the FH-7 in 1982, aka Heli in Japan.

The images for this post were sourced from several canadian, american and japanese catalogs, all printed between 1978 (JP) and 1980 (CA). I will post the specs for all at a later date.

Since posting this page, I have received a lot (if not all) of japanese catalogs related to the Falcon systems and components - for the TVK v2 !