I’ve always been keen on some of the classic vintage HiFi equipment i grew up with but sadly no longer have in my possession, many of these are just a distant memory, the Sony TA-N55ES is one of those amps I remember hearing when i was just 20 years old, to put things in perspective in 2023 that’s 27 years ago, today i was lucky enough to get my hands on one of these top of the line power amplifiers of it’s time.

The story starts 27 years ago when i was a young man dropping into a friends place in Bondi Beach who just purchased 2 of the Sony TA-N55ES power amplifiers, Vinko paired the Sony’s with a set of Jamo speakers, the amps where configured in bridged mode which creates a mono channel per amplifier and boosts the output, i’ll get into specifications a little later on.

Hearing this combo for the 1st time in my life i was captivated by the extreme clarity and definition at all listening volumes, of course at that time of my life the louder the better and the TA-N55ES’s where able to easily accommodate and fill the entire house with amazing sound.

Come back to reality it’s 2023 and I’ve restarted my audio journey that i had long forgotten about just due to life in general, we’ll touch on what reignited my passion for sound in another post, i was on the hunt! scouring eBay for a TA-N55ES I came across some for sale in Japan, of course Japan the country where they where built why didn’t i think of that sooner, there it was an Sony TA-N330ES well it looked just how i remembered it, shooting over the link to my old friend Vinko to confirm it’s the same amp as i remembered it he replied with a yes but to be cautious of the power rating as there are models with 110v that won’t be compatible with Australia 220v power.

I carefully looked over the eBay images and read the back of the amplifier label 240 sweet that checks that box, little did i know at the time i was in for a surprise, the transaction went smoothly, money paid, Fedex locked in tracking received, packaged and sent yippee i couldn’t wait, being a little OCD i took extra precautions and organised in advance a check over by an electrical specialist to make sure everything was in order before even thinking about plugging in the Sony.

I seriously couldn’t wait, but living in the country I’ve learned to be patient when it comes to deliveries, it’s a bit different out here compared to living in a capitol city where you can at times place an order online and it’s with you in days, out here those days can be weeks especially when it comes to coverage and delivery freight forwarding but that’s another story.

YaY the day finally arrived only taking a week which was pretty quick in the scheme of things considering our location and that it needed to clear customs, Fedex did a drop and run and i was at home at the ready with trusty blade in hand to get into the box and inspect my prise! Cutting away the tape and being super careful not to cut too deep and mark the amplifier, layer upon layer was slowly peeled away, cardboard, bubble wrap, more bubble wrap, more bubble wrap, this thing was packed well, Thank you Yorozu Musashi-ya Japan !!!

There it was in all it’s glory, BLACK, SLEEK, CLEAN just as i remembered it on the 1at day i had set my eyes and ears upon it 27 years ago, carefully inspecting the amp there where very few marks for an item that was built approx 30 years ago i can’t express my excitement enough to plug this glorious Sony in and connect some speakers, a streamer and have a listen, as i looked at the back of the amplifier i was able to clearly see the sticker that i had only viewed on eBay prior to purchasing and i found it odd that now clear as day it reads 240w not 240v – things to think about…

That’s right the sticker read 110v @240w that wasn’t super clear when I 1st saw it on eBay, onto the next phase of my little journey I booked Jack the electrician earlier in the week to get this beauty tested, at this time i was still unsure what i was reading was correct and held my breath ever hopeful i would get the news I wanted to hear. The big day arrived another week later it was a Friday and setting off on my journey to see Jack, finally arriving to Jacks place (that’s the electrician) located in Albury a mere 1 hour and 20 min from home, just around the corner when you’re in the country.

Only ever speaking to Jack on the phone and finally meeting in person he was a pretty cool character reminding me of Doc from Back To The Future mixed in with Angus Yound from AC/DC, walking into his lab i mean workplace there where electronics everywhere, oscilloscopes, multi meters, capacitors and loads of other spare parts, busted musics equipment under repair. Jack cleared some of the other items away with a brush of his hand and propped the Sony N330ES on the desk, we had a little yak about where the amp came from and what i was hoping for, i pointed Jack to the label on the back and he confirmed my fears it was a 110v power supply and we needed to look for a step down converter to get this baby humming.

Luckily Jack had one there for testing other equipment and was able to at the very least plug in the Sony N330ES for the standard rounds of testing, Jack was super impressed with the clarity of power output coming from the amp especially knowing that it was 30 years old, while Jack was performing the tests i decided to be productive and hunt around the internet for a step down converter to accommodate my new toy, after about 20 min searching there was nothing suitable that jumped out to us that could accommodate 240w output for a reasonable price, further more who wants another box that plugs into another box that plugs into the wall to get power from, Jacked offered up another option to try and source a 220v transformer that replaces the Original Sony toroidal transformer that came with the N330ES, so the new search was on.

I drove away from Jacks leaving the N330ES with him while i went to get some lunch and ponder his offer, i thought i would call around a little more just in case, on the phone with a few places who specialised in step down transformers just to tick that box so i was satisfied with the internal replacement Jack had offered up, eventually i called a Sony repair centre to see if they could supply the  220v toroidal transformer that originally shipped with the N55ES which is the European version of the amp which originally came with the 220v power supply, as the Sony engineer and i where having a little chat about spare parts i told Raul my little story about the amp, Raul calmly informed me that a number of years ago the Sony warehouse in Singapore had a major fire, it was this warehouse they stored many of the older spare parts that no no longer exist, so he wished me the best of luck with my journey and maybe i could find something on eBay like an old broken model or just the transformer that had been removed from a non working unit.

Feeling a little let down and overwhelmed with the situation i created was like being on a roller coaster, welcome to the up’s and downs of life – haha, i started making my way back to Jacks workshop and on the way i passed True HiFi in Albury and decided to drop in for shits and giggles, i wanted to have a chat with someone to make my self feel better and recalled they also do trade ins, secretly hoping they had a broken N55ES or other Sony i could butcher i mean purchase to fix my new toy.

Entering the shop i was greeted by boxes of old records, wall to wall speakers, amps and integrated components lots of fun and every audiophiles play land, making a beeline for the used components section Geff popped up and greeted me from behind the counter, i started blabbing my story to him eventually asking if he had any spare parts or if that’s the sort of thing that he comes across, of course Geoff replied i have one of those Sony’s sitting on the floor over there – Mind Blown!!!

I asked if we could plug it in and have a listen, Geoff was accommodating and we picked up the dusty N55ES and placed on top of some speakers while he reached around to find some speaker cables and speakers we could test with, after a little fumbling around due to the space we where working in the Sony was all setup and ready to rock and roll, Geoff plugged in an additional streamer into the RCA’s and we where ready to go.

Let me just say by this stage there was a lot of anticipation building up in the back of my mind, i was ready to be let down that the N55ES wasn’t operational, i was intentionally thinking this to keep my self from getting over excited and then being crushed again, well lets just say i could have parked that thought as the Sony powered up and came to life – WoW! lets just say WoW!!! as Geoff cranked the volume the Sony sang out in all its glory crystal clear as i remembered it 27 years ago, yes paired with different speakers but still all the same clarity i recalled and that is expected of a Sony ES product of this standard, considering that the ES series was the pinnacle of Sony’s product line, mostly over engineered and way above standards of that era the Sony ES was and is the best product line they ever produced to this day.

If you’re interested in knowing a little more about the ES series you can read more at the The Vintage Knob an excellent resource for all things vintage HiFi, the link supplied will take you to the ES overview page, from there you can use the MAP button to explore more of the site.

Links.

Sony TA-N55ES & TA-N330ES Manuals

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