Hello all!
Firstly, I would like to apologize if this has been asked numerous times, or if I am in the wrong part of the forums. I am new to the sound world in general.
With that out the way, I would like to ask you guys, how do you know these transistors are genuine, and what are the repercussions of using them if they are not? They are not for me, they are for my grandfather (pics of transistors attached) he has an old TA series SONY amplifier, and his transistors went out many, many years ago. He had a very hard time finding new ones, used ones, or any kind. He does live in Russia, so that may be the case, I am all the way in NYC. None the less, I promised him I'd go on this quest to find what he needs. My travels recently took me to Japan, but walking around Japan's most famous used tech stores and audio stores, I had no luck. Many of the sellers didn't even know what I was talking about, even when I showed them photos. Many just straight up told me these have never entered their shops. I was pretty upset with this, and when I got back to the states, I tried looking online one more time. I found these on eBay. I am pretty sure they are straight from China, the seller reassured me many times that they are in fact genuine and have been tested in the amplifier AND that they can be returned with money back if things don't go as planned. Can any of the members here, who are WAY smarter than me point me into the right direction on how to find out if these will work? Or am I just screwed? either way, thank you for reading!
Firstly, I would like to apologize if this has been asked numerous times, or if I am in the wrong part of the forums. I am new to the sound world in general.
With that out the way, I would like to ask you guys, how do you know these transistors are genuine, and what are the repercussions of using them if they are not? They are not for me, they are for my grandfather (pics of transistors attached) he has an old TA series SONY amplifier, and his transistors went out many, many years ago. He had a very hard time finding new ones, used ones, or any kind. He does live in Russia, so that may be the case, I am all the way in NYC. None the less, I promised him I'd go on this quest to find what he needs. My travels recently took me to Japan, but walking around Japan's most famous used tech stores and audio stores, I had no luck. Many of the sellers didn't even know what I was talking about, even when I showed them photos. Many just straight up told me these have never entered their shops. I was pretty upset with this, and when I got back to the states, I tried looking online one more time. I found these on eBay. I am pretty sure they are straight from China, the seller reassured me many times that they are in fact genuine and have been tested in the amplifier AND that they can be returned with money back if things don't go as planned. Can any of the members here, who are WAY smarter than me point me into the right direction on how to find out if these will work? Or am I just screwed? either way, thank you for reading!
I don't know, but here's a previous discussion: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...-v-fet-replacement-or-reliable-source.294481/
These transistors ended production in 1986 after being moderately popular back in the mid 70s. I doubt there are any genuine transistors out there any more, that haven't been damaged by handling or time. If there are, they won't be in China as they were manufactured in Japan by Sony.
That is good news.
Depending on your level of electronics experience, curve tracing would be good test. For example, Michael Rothacher has a quick and easy curve tracing method which he used to check VFETs:
. This would allow you to match the transistors.
Depending on your level of electronics experience, curve tracing would be good test. For example, Michael Rothacher has a quick and easy curve tracing method which he used to check VFETs: