Sony TA-F700ES Integrated Stereo Amplifier?

Can anyone tell me how good this unit is - or is not?
Have access to a 1 owner...near mint (box, manuals, etc)

Some info on the unit -

The 700 ES (1987) is a Sony statement piece featuring Spontaneous Twin Drive and the Gibraltar carbon composite chassis, great GOLD PLUGS Phono and CD section with variable cartridge loading, source direct and stepped tone controls with adjustable turn over. Extruded aluminum faceplate with diecast aluminum control knobs held on with set screws. Quality piece designed by Sony's ES series.

Power : 2x 125W (8 Ohm, 1Khz, DIN)

Thanks for any and all input!!! ....and any idea of fair market value?

Actual pic of unit -

 

Appears to be a quality piece: http://www.thevintageknob.org/sony-TA-F700ES.html

Came across a 2014 US audiomart listing asking $450 for one in lesser cosmetic condition. Any chance you can audition before the purchase?

jeff

 

Yes I can audition it!

 

Have not heard one, but most Sony ES stuff was really well built that I saw back in the day.

 

Just buy it. I had the 630ESD which was very fine.

 

I had a Sony Mobile ES cassette deck years ago, no amp, it needed power amps, all copper chassis, Dolby C, amazing sound for an in car cassette deck.

 

I am not familiar with this particular amp but it appears to be a solid over-built tank. I have a Sony ES CD player which was a statement product about 18 years ago-very well built musical product. Listen to it and if you like it grab it! You will pay high$ for similar quality in today's offerings and some would argue that you can not get the same quality today from the big names. I have Sansui, Yamaha and Marantz from 70s to early80s. Great stuff with excellent sound and versatile features and include very good phono stages.

 

Most of the Sony ES gear was very good. I'll bet it sounds great.

 

I owned the TA-F707ES which was probably the successor to the 700 quite a few years ago. High quality build, big and very heavy, ran very hot as it was heavily class A biased. As far as my sonic memory, the 707 was super quiet and rendered excellent detail. It wasn't an amp I liked keeping on all the time because of the heat.

 

...and fair market value?
...outside of the one mentioned above
...the research I have been able to do shows prices all over....from $220 to $500.
...he is asking $485 by the way

 

I had a TA-F808ES for a short while many years back while I was in between other gear. It was well built, but I didn't care for the sound. YMMV

 

What did you hear?
Detailed is fine (which I see repeatedly said about this amp) but I like my detail on the warmer side.

Thanks

 

Well as an owner I am biased but I think it's great - effortless power, battleship build, great phono stage. Pretty neutrally voiced to my ears. I paid the equivalent of $450 for a re-capped model in M- cosmetic condition.

 

Neutral is an excellent descriptor for the 707es I owned. It was one of those amps that played whatever it was fed and added nothing. Also the case no matter the volume I used. Volume went up or down smoothly with no change in the sonic character.
Oh yeah, the 707 and 808 had remote control.

 

Thanks!

- I'm repeating myself....I love the neutral quality.....but would you say the amp offers a warmer character verses a
brighter one?

 

Warmth is not an adjective I'd chose for the 707. The Sony is solid state of course so you shouldn't expect any tube-like warmth from it. Mine played perfect, clean, tight with plenty of bass slam when needed.

Certain products come across as totally neutral to me. Sennheiser HD650 headphones come to mind as perfectly neutral. I love the way they add nothing to the character of whatever I'm listening to. Hoping you've heard the HD650s.

I checked your profile. If you planned on using it with the Dynaudios, I'll bet it would sound great.

 

I heard what is to me the Sony house sound. Very clean, sterile if you will. As timind stated, "Warmth is not an adjective I'd chose...."

 

Lets put it this way - I would prefer any Sony ES amp I have heard over Naim or Rega etc. Would agree not for lovers of the warm and cuddly sounding version of tubes.

 

Honest, yes, nice clean sound. Worked a treat with several sources when I had mine.

 

I owned the very similar TA-F333ESXII for many years. I thoroughly enjoyed the amp. It is a well made piece that sounds very neutral to my ears.

 

Bought one yesterday. A Sony TA-F700ES that is..... Haven't even had time to put it into the rig yet. Anyway I listened to the amp at the seller and it sounded very good. I am very excited to hear the stuff at home. Especially with vinyl.

 

Congrats. Let us know how you like it.

 

Agreed - tell us your impressions when you have had a chance to listen to it for a bit.
Congrats!

I ended not buying this after all.

 

Just bought one of these for £250 and stripped cleaned then rebuilt and recapped it with all elna silmic II caps apart from the nichicon main smoothers which stayed as nichicon gold tune but upped to 22000uf . its an awesome amp and completely slaughters my existing 2 year old cambridge audio 851A. It is immensely powerful with a wide and very detailed soundstage that has a very velvety texture to it. this is the best I've heard in my 35 years of being into electronics and hifi and I've listened to a fair bit of kit in my time.

A total bargain for the price (did spend another £120 on parts). snap em up while u can but don't judge the sound until its been restored. on initial listen it was just average (and it was riddled with dry joints) ;-)

 

the sony ta 700 are excellent but I think use bjt input. heres an excerpt from when I talked to thorsten Loesch about best SS amps, I hope he wont mind:


''An example of a really great Amp is Sony's TA-F707/808ES and relatives (Sony reprised the key parts of this design as late the mid oughties in the TA-F-777ES are pure-bred high-end machines. In "Source Direct" Mode you have just the Volume control and the actual Amp. In the 707/808 you get J-Fet input, Mosfet Voltage Amp and Mosfet Output stages, kind of like the very latest amplifiers Nelson Pass peddles on Diyaudio and not miles off how I would do it, if I did this kind of gear. Except Sony did it in '87...

By the '90's the japanese majors abandoned the serious HiFi market and focused on other fields, the golden decade is about 1979 to 1989, when they poured huge amounts of money into audio R&D. The Speakers and Amplifiers from this era, if high enough in the model range were uniformly excellent and remain often undervalued.
''

So anyways, as I need more power with the ATC I just bought, I bought a Sony ta 707es! Will likely need a full recap job though. Caps degrade and those are 20 years old unit.

any opinion from users that have heard them after a recap job??

pretty stocked!