Sony TA-F80

A transitional unit, the TA-F80 boasted two of Sony's late 70s tricks :
the PLPS and the 'logical' signal path seen in the TA-E88B and TA-E86B 1977/78 high-end preamplifiers.

The Heat Pipe cooling system was a novelty, as used in the exactly contemporary Precise TA-P7F. New also were the bright red flashy bright red flashy LEDs !

An attempt to pack those innovations into a more conventional format than the pre-Esprit units, the TA-F80 and its stark design was, along its smaller siblings (TA-F70, TA-F60), fairly quickly withdrawn in favor of... even smaller boxes, like the Japan-only TA-F50 or the worldwide and later TA-F55 cutie.

Made to power sounds coming from the TC-K80, PS-B80 and... no, we're in Sony territory so there was no ST-J80 nor SS-G80 :)

Not being small, the TA-F80 has a magnificent "feel" of use - shafts, knobs, switches all feel like what they are : high-end quality.

At 150,000¥, the TA-F80 was no gadget and price-wise on par with a Marantz Pm-6 - and even a little pricier than a Luxman L-58A.

A japanese test I have at hand shows that, sound-wise, the TA-F80 was no cheap thingy with gimmicky modern looks. And no wonder : the TA-F80 mainly is a TA-E86B and updated TA-N86B in one box !
- according to Mirko Essling, it is even better.