Sony TTS-8000 Turntable

[Mikeandvan]

What's the going price for one of these? TT and plinth.

[karma67]

id say £700+ probably more for a genuine uk model as there seems to be under 100 models only imported.

[alphaGT]

Hi all, Jamie in particular.

Glad to know you got the Sony home in one piece. Sincerest apologies about the indicator lamp, if I had been aware of it I would have brought it to your attention. Had a quick google for possible replacements

'grain of rice indicator bulbs 6V' and 'miniature indicator bulbs' as google searches produced some likely hits. Difficult to judge the scale in the pic. Some of the 6v bulbs may need a series resistor though. Maybe try running a 12v bulb undervoltage? Probably stating the 'very' obvious but just trying to make a positive suggestion.

For anyone who may be interested the Sony in question came from a long defunct(30+ years gone) hifi dealer in North Station Road in Colchester that traded as D. T. Wicks. They obviously had more than one in stock as I had to go back to swap the spirit level as the bubble was missing from the original.

Looking forward to knowing how it all turns out.

PS. sorry I spelt your name wrong in the header and it cleaned up alright, did it not?

I’m glad you’ve got your miniature lamp taken care of, but it’s not what they call a grain of wheat bulb. I’ve got a bundle of them stashed away here somewhere, I used to use for Model railroading, lighting up tiny street lamps and the like. A real Grain of Wheat bulb is only about 3mm in either direction, some can be even smaller. And grain of rice bulbs are longer, but probably 5mm by 2.5mm. The bulb you’ve got might be called a mini or just an indicator lamp. But it’s all just semantics, and the ‘table looks awesome! I’d say £700 would be a bargain! The oil filled mat is a new one on me, what if you took a rolling pin to it?

Russell

[karma67]

cheers russell,
my mat seems to be fine,in the end i sourced some bulbs from lee's electronics,they matched the original bulbs specs.when i put one in it was dimmer than the 45rm light so i swapped out the 35ma for a 40ma and it matched the original ones brightness. go figure??
the new bulb was smaller in diameter to the original so i made up the thickness with heat shrink.

[alphaGT]

cheers russell,
my mat seems to be fine,in the end i sourced some bulbs from lee's electronics,they matched the original bulbs specs.when i put one in it was dimmer than the 45rm light so i swapped out the 35ma for a 40ma and it matched the original ones brightness. go figure??
the new bulb was smaller in diameter to the original so i made up the thickness with heat shrink.

Good thinking, the heat shrink should work well, is there no end to it’s usefulness?

Russell

[karma67]

So yesterday i spent an enjoyable day at Angus's house,Oliver and i were there to hear the latest upgraded AT-1010 tonearm,the MK6.

Before hearing it we were shown the upgraded part,the bearing carrier has been remade using a high performance polymer,Angus has expertly machined this and it looked very impressive! we were also shown the original part and subsequent other ones,Angus explained the differences and how the MK6 carrier had evolved. Detail and finish on the MK6 also struck me as excellent.

Next came the listening tests,first we heard a MK5 tonearm,id never heard any version of Audio Technica's top arm so i was somewhat in the dark as to how they sound.
Very nice is the answer,id say in the same league as my recently sold Zeta and current arm,the PA-500 (also rebuilt by Angus). The tracks we listen to were tunnel of love by Dire straits and wish you were here by Pink Floyd.

The arms were swapped over and the same tracks were played again,the difference was not subtle,tunnel of love had more pace,more energy right from the off but the thing that i noticed the most was the acoustic guitar at the beginning of wish you were here,the decay after the note/chord struck was very evident,something both Oliver and myself agreed,there is an obvious step up in arm performance with this bearing carrier upgrade, a veil had been lifted.

I could go on about how good this arm is,if you have a mk5 then you already know the family sound,this latest version made such an impression i bought it,its now sitting very happily on my Sony which by the way is the best turntable ive owned to date,i heard it at Angus's for the first time yesterday,through my system its clearly a step up from my pioneer plc-590,it looses out a touch on looks but makes up for it when the needle goes down.

[paulf-2007]

It looks gorgeous with the Tenuto mat, so when you are listening to music it sounds gorgeous and when you're not it looks gorgeous, really, what more could you ask for.

[Ian7633]

I have to agree 100 percent with Paul. I decided you are not allowed here any more because my stuff will sound like some old Bush shite and look like a dog's dinner by comparison

[hermit]

Good looking arm. Suits the deck well. Glad your pleased with it

[Bigman80]

What a privilege it was to be in attendance yesterday!!

The morning started off with a really thorough explanation and demonstration of how each version of the PMAT-1010 had progressed through each advancement. It was great to get this from Angus. What is blatantly apparent is just how passionate he is about details. How thorough his approach has been and the level of financial input he has put into developing these improvements to the standard arm.

Firstly, we got our ears dialed into Angus's system. As usual, we have used the same few tracks to get a feel for the system. The mark V PMAT-1010 was in and sounded very impressive in Angus's ruthlessly revealing system.

The Mark VI was installed and the energy in the performance blew me away. There was more resolution too. The high hat being played was easily identified as being played with the foot pedal rather than striking it. Not always easy to distinguish but the MKVI made it clear and obvious. On we went to "wish you were here" Later in the song, there is an accidental strike of guitar string. This causes a harmonic effect which is in the wrong key. Again, not always clear but with the MKVI it was clear to hear. There were other differences too, attack and decay were improved. The track "Best days of our lives" was instant, the bass guitar and cymbal strike slammed then stopped instantaneously on the opening bars. No smudge or smear. Digital levels of speed. Impressive.

As we listened, i loved the MKVI more and more. It was excellent but as always, i need mine to arrive so i can dissect it here in my system. I'll update the Phonomac thread when i have done this.

Then we put the Bigbottle phonostage in. We did some listening and as usual, there were differences in the performance. From a personal perspective, The addition of the phonostage made the sound more appealing to my ears but Jamie felt there was a bit of loss in the resolution. I didn't agree but i wouldn't I felt the presentation was different. Everything was still available and audible but had a bit of a slower delivery. I also felt there was a bit more sounstage depth but Angus disagreed. Like i say, these things are largely subjective and regardless of evey ones personal opinion, i would rather have had the Bigbottle in, than out.

What it did highlight was how good the Sansui's built in phonostage and Angus's Ortofon SUT performance is. It really is very revealing but in my view, it doesn't sound as natural from a tone perspective. We did generally all agree on the tone being more natural on the Bigbottle which was pleasing. It also excites me greatly that there may be a future project with Angus to replicate the Sansui phonostage from the Sansui-X1 amplifier. This is a phonostage that has been highlighted as potentially an end game unit, so fingers crossed we can get the ball rolling soon!

Next up, the bit i was looking forward to the most......the Sony TTS-8000

Angus fitted Jamies new MKVI tonearm along with Angus's Ortofon Vienna.

Down went the needle and..................................HMMMM?!

I was a little bit surprised. The sound was a bit thick, muddy almost. Angus suggested we put the Tenuto Platter mat on and we tried again.

FAR FAR better. The Sony is absolutely beautiful to look at. Visually, it floats my boat and was my all time favourite turntable. I wanted one before i bought the SP10 MK2 and had i got one i would have been a happy bunny. So how did the Sony sound?

Best way to describe it was by talking about everything else. The system Angus has built is very revealing and carries no prisoners. The detail retrieval is such that its blatant and smacks you in the face for your attention. What happened for me when the Bigbottle went in was the addition of organism filled-real life sound. However, the Sansui was in and here's the odd part. The Sony added the same kind Organism filled, life like quality to the sound.

The Sony wasn't as immediate or incisive sounding as the SP10, instead it was fluidity and liquidity personified. The sound poured out of the speakers in a similar way it does when you have good valve amps in the signal path. For me, the Sony was a beautiful Turntable which made me really enjoy the sound. The Sony couldn't match the SP10's drive of metronome like rhythmic drive but i don't think its supposed to. It does something else entirely. I read that it combines the best of belt drive and DD turntables and i think i agree. Whether thats something you want, well, thats up to you.

For me, I'll happily keep the SP10 as i've built my sound around it but believe me, if a Sony TTS-8000 comes up, i will add it to the ranks. It captured my heart with it's looks AND its performance.

Thanks to Angus for his hospitality and all of his hard work in developing the Tonearm. It's time the PMAT-1010 goes up against the SME V. If anyone fancies a bakeoff, let me know. We can set up two SP10's and go toe to toe.

Thanks to Jamie for attending and bringing this wonderful TT with him. It was one on my 'to hear' list. I am well impressed with it.