For an active speaker set-up I need some power amps. These tend to be more expensive than integrated amps. So I am considering to split an integrated amp into a pre- and power amp. Some amps come with pre-out and power-in but (as my Sony TA-5650) but this is not common.
Since I am a Sony-man, I have looked for a decent integrated Sony to split into a pre- and power section. I will need two of them and I will be only using the power section. The Sony TA-F530/550 series should fit the bill.
The place where to split the amp is easily found, the remaining task is how to terminate the pre-out and main-in for decoupling and impedance matching. In order not to reinvent the wheel completely, I have looked at the schematics of a separate Sony pre-amp (TA-E80ES) and a Sony power amp (TA-N55ES). The latter has basically the same power section as the TA-F530/550. Based on the pre-out of the TA-E80ES and the power-in of the TA-N55ES I have deduced the modifications required on the TA-F530 to create a pre-out and power-in at the back of the amp.
To be safe I have assumed a capacitor in both the pre-out as the power-in, but depending on the config of the active crossover I may decide to shorten the input capacitor on the power-in. I have a Yamaha M4 that has a switch at the rear to shorten the input capacitors in such situations.
In the schematics attached it is shown which sections I have copied from the separates to be inserted in the integrated amp. I am assuming that the in- and output impedances of the split amp will match the separates: pre-out 700 Ohms, power-in 20k Ohms.
Whilst studying the schematics I noticed that the pre-amp section of the integrated TA-F530ES is hardly a pre-amp at all, its more an input selector and tone control than anything else. This is different from the dedicated pre-amp TA-E80ES, which does have an actual pre-amp section downstream of the tone control and attenuator.
So why is this? They are both feeding similar power amps as the power section of the TA-F530ES is almost identical to the TA-N55ES. The TA-E80ES has an (unbalanced) output voltage of 1.5V, I do not know what the pre-out voltage of the integrated TA-F350ES is. Edit: or actually I do, without amplification it would be equal to the output of the source feeding it (tuner, CD, tape deck etc.) which I think is typically a lot less than 1.5V.
So any comments on this approach? Is this going to work, or have I missed someting?
Note the "WG" options refer to the West-Germany model. Apparently some changes in the sound have been made. I haven't researched this but I understand this was to cater to the taste of German testers?
Since I am a Sony-man, I have looked for a decent integrated Sony to split into a pre- and power section. I will need two of them and I will be only using the power section. The Sony TA-F530/550 series should fit the bill.
The place where to split the amp is easily found, the remaining task is how to terminate the pre-out and main-in for decoupling and impedance matching. In order not to reinvent the wheel completely, I have looked at the schematics of a separate Sony pre-amp (TA-E80ES) and a Sony power amp (TA-N55ES). The latter has basically the same power section as the TA-F530/550. Based on the pre-out of the TA-E80ES and the power-in of the TA-N55ES I have deduced the modifications required on the TA-F530 to create a pre-out and power-in at the back of the amp.
To be safe I have assumed a capacitor in both the pre-out as the power-in, but depending on the config of the active crossover I may decide to shorten the input capacitor on the power-in. I have a Yamaha M4 that has a switch at the rear to shorten the input capacitors in such situations.
In the schematics attached it is shown which sections I have copied from the separates to be inserted in the integrated amp. I am assuming that the in- and output impedances of the split amp will match the separates: pre-out 700 Ohms, power-in 20k Ohms.
Whilst studying the schematics I noticed that the pre-amp section of the integrated TA-F530ES is hardly a pre-amp at all, its more an input selector and tone control than anything else. This is different from the dedicated pre-amp TA-E80ES, which does have an actual pre-amp section downstream of the tone control and attenuator.
So why is this? They are both feeding similar power amps as the power section of the TA-F530ES is almost identical to the TA-N55ES. The TA-E80ES has an (unbalanced) output voltage of 1.5V, I do not know what the pre-out voltage of the integrated TA-F350ES is. Edit: or actually I do, without amplification it would be equal to the output of the source feeding it (tuner, CD, tape deck etc.) which I think is typically a lot less than 1.5V.
So any comments on this approach? Is this going to work, or have I missed someting?
Note the "WG" options refer to the West-Germany model. Apparently some changes in the sound have been made. I haven't researched this but I understand this was to cater to the taste of German testers?
The E80 is capable driving any load and has a dedicated output amplifier (gain=100x !) for this. Many Sony pre-amp models have this specifiaction. I have a TA-E86 which does the same 1.5V, with a headroom of up to 20Vmax (+/-30V supply). My volume dial is never above 9 o'clock.
The F530 has a tune control in front of the main amp, but the driving amp for this TC is not shown. Is there another 'tone-amp' in front of it?
The block diagrams of the involved amps can clearify things maybe.
Hi, there is no amp upstream of the tone control in in the 530ES (except for the phono section), see schematic attached. So the max voltage of the input to the power section is determined by the output voltage of the source.
So I guess the TA-E80ES and other dedicated pre-amps are more versatile because of their given 1.5V output independent of the input voltage given by the source.
So I guess the TA-E80ES and other dedicated pre-amps are more versatile because of their given 1.5V output independent of the input voltage given by the source.
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