Sony TA-E77ESD

Not counting the big league ESPRIT preamplifiers, the TA-E77ESD was Sony's first preamp since the late 1970s' TA-E7B or TA-E88B. And there never was an ES preamplifier/amplifier combo in Japan, before the 77 combo... or after. The E77ESD is the companion to the TA-N77ES pôwerhouse. Feeding everybody is a large toroidal transformer plus a small transformer for the logic circuits. The toroidal however is a little lie : it really a regular EI potted into a round enclosure ! Nevertheless, multiple windings feed separately the digital and analog sections, all separated by copper bus bars and a very clean main board. Naturally, the E77ESD rests on a G-base. Other parts are typical Sony (Nichicon Muse and Elna Duorex etc) and the two main caps are 4,700uF Elna Great Supply. Output impedance is a low 45 Ohm. The E77ESD was Sony's equivalent of Denon's DAP-5500 - better looking, though. Made to accept the sources which, then, were starting to offer digital outputs : CD, DAT, ED Beta and Laserdisc. But that wasn't much to justify a dedicated preamp, considering that DAT never made it and Sony's politics toward Laserdisc were -even then- rather discrete. Mostly, the evolution of digital chips was then still raging and that made for the included d/a converters quick "obsolescence". However, unlike Denon's units, the TA-E77ESD sold extremely well worldwide !

Type : Low noise FET high gain NFB type equalizer amplifier passive type direct tone controls Dual d/a converters with 4fs digital filter Digital inputs : 3x digital coaxial Analogue inputs : 2x Tape 1x CD 1x Tuner 1x Aux 1x Phono + Adaptor IN Digital output : 1x digital coaxial Analogue outputs : 2x tape 1x DAT (analog) Audio/Video IN : 1x Adaptor OUT Audio/Video OUT : 2x Pre-OUT 3x A+V (composite) 2x S-Video 2x A+V (composite) 2x S-Video Digital frequency response : 5Hz...20Khz (+/-0,5dB at 44.1Khz) Digital THD : < 0,004%@1Khz (44.1Khz) Analogue frequency response : 3Hz...300Khz (lines) 3Hz...300Khz (-3dB, adaptor In) RIAA +/-0,2dB (MM) Inputs sensitivity : 150mV / 50kOhm (lines) 0,17mV / 1kOhm (MC 40 Ohm) 2,5mV / 50kOhm (MM) Maximum input : 9mV (MC) 150mV (MM) S/N ratio : 105dB (lines) 83db (MC, 0,5mV input) 95dB (MM, 5mV input) Residual noise : < 10mV (IHF-A) Outputs : 150mV / 1kOhm (Rec/Video/DAT/Adaptor OUT) 0,45mV (headphones) 1,5V / 45 Ohm nominal (pre OUTs) Bass control : +3,5 / -4dB @200Hz, +7 / -6dB @400Hz Treble control : +7 / -7,5dB @3Khz, +3,5 / -3,5dB @5Khz Subsonic filter : 6dB/octave below 15Hz PC : 30W Dimensions : 47 x 13 x 37cm Weight : 13kg.