Sony HA-50

Just as rare as the contemporary ESPRIT look-a-like HA-T1, the HA-50 MC cartridge head amp is obviously a simplified HA-55.

The price was a smallish 25,000¥ and basic specifications found in a 1980 japanese Sony turntable catalog say this :

noise floor : 152dB
dimensions : 12 x 8 x 28cm
weight : 1,8kg.

I believe the single MC position to correspond to a 100 Ohm loading - perfect for the contemporary XL-44L.


Thanks to Leon Schreurs, we now know that the HA-50 was distributed outside Japan ! With a serial number of #300 071, this export attempt therefore was destined to Australia.

The JP models bore the same s/n system as for the (JP) HA-55 : the second and third digits denote year of manufacture, ie. "079530" : 1979, 530th made.