Is this a real TDA1541A?

[pee]

Hi!
I just bought this for ~ 5 USD.
Is it fake?

[poynton]

Probably real as the typeface looks OK


.

[pee]

There is an another 1541, for the same price. (right)

[poynton]

Fake




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[Amauta]

Originally Posted by pee

There is an another 1541, for the same price. (right)

Not FAKE because I have one myself that came from an original philips cd player.
see post:

Is this a real TDA1541A?

[paul_peraic]

Originally Posted by Overm

Well, if you want to bring fake 1541A on the market I think it is not very smart to put a production date on it that is immediately questioned. Isn't it?

This I agree with also as the photo I showed has a 06 manufacture date why go to the trouble and not even get the date right or the appearance for that matter .

Call me crazy but it seems they are still being manufactured the guy that was trying to sell me the TDA1514AS2 for $10 , it is not worth the sanding or reprinting effort if you ask me .

[kevinkr]

Originally Posted by paul_peraic

This I agree with also as the photo I showed has a 06 manufacture date why go to the trouble and not even get the date right or the appearance for that matter .

Call me crazy but it seems they are still being manufactured the guy that was trying to sell me the TDA1514AS2 for $10 , it is not worth the sanding or reprinting effort if you ask me .

I think 06 refers to the week, not year. So a date code as shown would signify the part shown was packaged during the sixth week of 1987.

Does not necessarily mean it is not a fake if the screen printing and other details don't match the known profiles at the time of manufacture.

It's a bit naive to assume that a $10 chip would not be faked, it could have cost the perpetrator a dollar or less each to make, providing a great profit on a relatively small quantity of parts. The average salaries in many parts of the world where these fake parts originate are <10% of pay in the West for comparable work.

[jean-paul]

Hi, the chips were again in production in 2004. I had one of those and doubted it was real because of the date code. I sold my last batch including the 2004 chip with that remark to a forum member who already bought chips from Marantz Spain with exactly the same batch/date code. Please note these were laser engraved like modern chips and not stamped. BTW I seriously doubt the story that they were hand stamped in the eighties. AFAIK only the crown symbols were hand stamped.

The beloved TDA1541A is being produced again it seems ... Too bad for Ebay speculants.

[paul_peraic]

Originally Posted by kevinkr

I think 06 refers to the week, not year. So a date code as shown would signify the part shown was packaged during the sixth week of 1987.

Does not necessarily mean it is not a fake if the screen printing and other details don't match the known profiles at the time of manufacture.

If that is so then the 98 N2 TDA1541A's Jean Paul sold me would be manufactured in 04
and would then be considered fake's going on your assumptions .

Originally Posted by kevinkr

It's a bit naive to assume that a $10 chip would not be faked, it could have cost the perpetrator a dollar or less each to make, providing a great profit on a relatively small quantity of parts. The average salaries in many parts of the world where these fake parts originate are <10% of pay in the West for comparable work.

Its a bit naive to assume that a $10 chip would be faked .

But I guess your living in China one would assume you would know of the average salaries there from your first hand experience .

[kevinkr]

Originally Posted by paul_peraic

If that is so then the 98 N2 TDA1541A's Jean Paul sold me would be manufactured in 04
and would then be considered fake's going on your assumptions .




Its a bit naive to assume that a $10 chip would be faked .

But I guess your living in China one would assume you would know of the average salaries there from your first hand experience .

Need to re-read what I said, if as Paul indicated the chips were back in production in 2004 you would only need to take a look at known genuine production from that time period to know to some degree whether or not a chip might be fake.

Note that I never mentioned China in my original post so you made an assumption which may or may not be valid. Actually as a former employee of two semi-conductor automated test equipment companies I have fairly direct if second hand knowledge from Chinese employees I knew whilst working for those companies. Average salaries in China for a somewhat skilled production worker are on the order of a couple of dollars an hour, good engineers make about 1/3 what they do here in the USA. The statistics on Chinese wages are widely available if you google for them.

I'm sorry if you took offense at my comment about the economics of counterfeit parts, but I have had just a little bit of experience in the matter as a design engineer and it is a big problem even with very inexpensive parts.

I can't speak to whether or not these parts are actually fake or not, not having seen or more importantly tested them.. (Which might include depackaging and comparing die between devices of known and unknown origin.)