Ta-n5550

[i_should_coco]

Good price, but shipping is a bit of a pain...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=261251617719

 

[AmDismal]

Although it looks 120V only - doesn't have the taps on the transformer that the 4650 has.

 

[It Cost How Much!?!]

Import taxes

 

[i_should_coco]

Yeah.

 

[rabski]

Import taxes and shipping all in, it shouldn't be more than around the £500 mark landed. TBH it's quite tempting.

 

[It Cost How Much!?!]

OK, OK, where in the ad does it say it works?

 

[It Cost How Much!?!]

Also postage is $123.45, somehow I doubt this, not sure quite why I am suspicious, but it seems flippant to me :cafe:

 

[pmac]

OK, OK, where in the ad does it say it works?

But neither does it say that it doesn't, which I would have thought to have been a prerequisite to avoid a claim from the buyer :dunno:

It does say "bench tested" although that doesn't specify whether it passed that test ;-)

 

[rabski]

eBay works out postage I believe.

I'm a cynic at heart, but to be fair this looks quite genuine to me.

I like US eBay sellers. There's a pile of tubes here from Mercans and all have been far better than expected, and a Fidelity Research arm just arrived today. Way better than described and good value.

I don't need it so I won't, but I still think it's very sensible money and I'd be very surprised if there was any issue.

 

[It Cost How Much!?!]

Oh and we are swimming in used minty VFET's :nup:

 

[rabski]

Pardon?

There don't seem to be many about and some of us know they are bloody good-sounding amps.

Sorry, don't get the issue Bob.

It looks like a good one and it's sensible money. What's the problem?

 

[June]

With a mid to late 70's unit, I'm guessing the issue for some people is that sourcing original components in the event of a replacement being needed (some of which haven't been made for decades) is going to be challenging at the very least and potentially expensive.

On a positive note though, there's only has 8 VFETs to worry about (the TA-8650 and TA-N7B both had 12 VFETs).

I've heard one of these - incredibly smooth for SS when played through speakers with an 8 ohm impedance load, but sounded a tad less lush when switched to the 6 ohm taps. A TAN-5650 with its beefier trannies should be a better option in such circumstances.

As a further endorsement, Nelson Pass revived the VFET technology via the SIT outputs used in his First Watt power amp.

2p.