Sony TA-AX6

First component designed for Sony by Takashi Kanai and last sibling of a fairly rapidly vanishing mini-series, the TA-AX6 carried all the hopes one could have (then) for a decade that still was to happen : sobre and elegant but High-Tech.
As it happened in the end, we got the High-Tech part -in spades- but neither sobriety nor elegance.

Looking closer, one will find several similarities with the first TA-F555ES ES integrated : the controls under the flap and their order, the source/rec-out display scheme, ACT and even most of the internal structure...
Except the 1980s ES line was about tradition being renewed while this was all about novelty : it's the very early 80s, it's bolder.

However, the guts of the TA-AX6 (Pulse Power Supply, Heat-Pipe and Hi-Ft) were as old as 1977 for Sony.
And ACT didn't survive longer than the TA-F555ES and ST-S555ES - assumed modernism is a fleeting thought.


Heart of the TA-AX6 is... one, two, three, four things : 22Khz Pulse Power Supply, Heat-Pipe cooling system, Hi-fT transistors and Audio Current Transfer.

The first we all know but raised here from the 20Khz of the TA-N86B or TA-N9 to 22Khz - better but even hotter in the end.
The second we all know as well - very efficient, lightweight and reliable.
The third is what replaced V-Fets without going over to Mos-Fets, with 80MHz cutoff frequency.

The fourth is what Sony (and JVC) were about then : converting input voltage into current so that transitors would only do what they are supposed to : amplify current.
Voltage varies but current remains fixed, for a better hold of the speakers, whatever the load, the impedance or the mood.


The rest is generally ignored because the TA-AX6, TA-AX7 and TA-AX8 mainly look like looky-looky thingies.
But inside are metal-film resistors, polypropylene caps, OFC wiring and a linear gain control which doesn't suffer a rise in resistance over its min/max course.

Also in are a moving coil phono stage with 3 Ohm or 40 Ohm settings and gold-plated terminals, Legato Linear circuit to "eliminate" switching distortion, and overall DC design.
The first production run had "aux" labeled ; the later one (shorter, late '82) changed that to "aux/CD".

Like for the earlier TA-P7F or TA-F80, the result is a super amplifier which can be had for cheap today - because of its looks.