Beautiful Sony TA-5650 VFET Amplifier Fault Finding, Repair and Reliability Enhancement

Hi everyone, this time I resurrect a dead and drop-dead gorgeous Sony TA-5650 VFET integrated amplifier.
These VFET amplifiers are loved for many reasons: excellent build, phenomenal sound quality and classic Sony aesthetics. They are not loved for their reliability though and there are issues with all of the amps in this series.
This repair involved fixing a broken circuit board, sorting some bad switches and controls, a relay and other reliability enhancements.
As always, please excuse the minimal editing etc, it's the only way I can get videos out these days due to my workload!
Liquid Audio is a specialist hi-fi equipment repairer based in Perth, Western Australia. To book your hi-fi equipment in for some TLC, or check out all the latest hi-fi servicing, repairs and restorations, visit:
► Website: liquidaudio.com.au
Visit our contact page for service, repair and restoration enquiries:
► Contact us: liquidaudio.com.au/contact

[@VintageLuxmanStereoCollector]

Thank goodness the owner wanted to have it restored and through word of mouth found your service. Nice looking integrated! Looking forward to you next vid👍👍 Happy New Year Mike

[@tee-jaythestereo-bargainph2120]

Thank you for the videos ! I am addicted to the Artwork/craftmanship of the 'engeeners' in times past , and knowing they had a budget to work with ! The Vfets put-out Sweet-Heat very good Sony with actual good tonality

[@waynepatrick1646]

Awesome job, mate

[@craigm.9070]

Thank you for posting this! You sure don't see many of these in the wild anymore; this one just needed some love to work again, I haven't heard one of these play since high school. It's nice the owner will be returning later for restoration, these are a very underappreciated integrated amplifier. Looking forward to its restoration at a later date!

[@LiquidAudio]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@richardbrobeck2384]

I have had that exact amp since the 1980s it is a great Amp !

[@thomasandersen6014]

Really nice job!!!

[@roerdomp16e]

Thanks for this video. I do a lot of Sony v-fet restaurations, and the relay is one of the standard replacements. At least 1 in 2 have this cracked plastic holder. And in one 4650 the fingers had actually touched, touching eachother....with a burned down board as the result.

[@LiquidAudio]

No problem Leo, we work on a lot of VFET models too, but I've not seen it that often and it therefore wouldn't be an automatic replacement for me. Definitely one to keep an eye out for though!

[@robertdavis5714]

Fantastic solder work. Unfortunately Sony scares the hell out of me when it comes to reliability as a result of poor choice in components.

[@LiquidAudio]

Thank you! Ironically, some of the older Sony gear is superbly made, up there with the very best and incredibly reliable. VFET amps can be fragile for various reasons though.

[@whatcouldgowrong7914]

Glad the amp had just minor bias issues, those diodes are not negotiable to replace and must go... those VFETs are too valuable and rare to risk any sort of failure...

[@richardbrobeck2384]

Yes I have the factory service manual since I sold and did factory Sony warranty ! mine has never and a issue !

[@lawchoongseng789]

👍 As always Enjoy your video.

[@jakemurphy9536]

A beautiful amp kept alive by a highly skilled craftsman who cares. Very much enjoyed this video. Excellent, but there are audio dropouts.

[@LiquidAudio]

Many thanks!

[@peterlarkin762]

A fellow vfetishist. Well met friend. Cool channel.

[@verdict1163]

I have had a lot of vintage gear over the years and I have found the Sonys to be a cut above the usual Japanese integrated amps and receivers...

[@rondegroot1508]

The 5650 is the best of the V-Fet series.

[@farokhbulsara4890]

Hey mate first time watching your video, really enjoyed it, i can tell you are a true technician who cares, what is your opinion on old amps and new ones, as far as quality and whats inside the guts of these things, thanks for uploading this video, and hello from sydney, cheers

[@LiquidAudio]

Hi Farokh, thanks for that. My whole business is based around repairing and rejuvenating older equipment like this so that should tell you something! Like for like, older gear is better made and lasts longer. I've written extensively about this over on my website and discussed it in videos, so have a look over there: liquidaudio.com.au

[@stevesmith3033]

You guys and Japan got the best vintage Japanese audio gear that we didn't get in North America. So jealous. Wish the A/C voltages were the same...

[@verdict1163]

We got the TA-5650 VFET I believe... I picked one up at an estate sale a few years back but unfortunately it had some fried transistors. Supposedly a very sweet sound when working properly.

[@LiquidAudio]

This one is multivoltage...!

[@atelier_HiFi]

Nice video and good save of an awesome amp. Note that the top signal input connector to the amp board should be either replaced or serviced...not a total urban legend. That connector is unreliable and if you lose ground connection to the input section of the amp, the amp and its owner would not be happy. Congrats on the save!

[@LiquidAudio]

Thank you, I have to disagree regarding replacing the connector, but servicing these and others is always a good idea. Lovely amps indeed and keep up your great work too!

[@atelier_HiFi]

@@LiquidAudio the only reason I mentioned the connector is that from personal experience, I found them to be problematic, but I respect your choice. 🍻

[@LiquidAudio]

@@atelier_HiFi Understood and no problem, I've worked on quite a few of this model and many others from this series too and not found that, but all good. I will say that all connectors are potentially problematic though, so always good to thoroughly check them🍺🍺

[@MandungTea]

Punya saya tidak keluar suara .caranya gimana ya

[@geirendre]

Great job on that really nice Sony amplifier. But when repairing broken PCB's like that you should also add something to reinforce the PCB. Just the components on one side and the solder on the other might not be enough to hold it together for long. It would definitive not have been concidered ok at the PCB repair class I took way back when.😋

[@LiquidAudio]

Thank you! This is one of those cases where it helps to have worked on the piece to have a better feel for it though. Every board and repair is different and seeing them remotely never gives the full picture. This one was very solid after rework, braced by switches and other components running across it and by metal supports. There is no room for further bracing on the bottom and I wouldn't want to add any to the top. Thankfully it doesn't need it, moving very little even before repair. We see a ton of weird stuff like this. It's always a compromise between future serviceability, repair time/cost and so on.

[@geirendre]

@@LiquidAudio Ok, yes from the pictures that's hard to see. Just makes you wonder what happened to the board in the first place. It takes some force to break a board like that...

[@LiquidAudio]

Absolutely agreed!

[@sambailey8048]

Hello! I inherited a working 5650 from my grandfather. Do you have any recommendations on how to clean the front and any preventative maintenance?

[@LiquidAudio]

Hi Sam, well done! My best advice with anything like this is always the same: get it to someone who really knows what they are doing and can do that maintenance for you. These VFET amps are a little fragile in some ways and need careful attention at this age. There is nothing the average owner can do inside, but outside, I suggest using a microfibre cloth, wrung dry after soaking in a mild detergent solution, this works well to remove common dirt.

[@sambailey8048]

@@LiquidAudio Thank you! I do some minor electronics repair, but I am not ready to dive into this one. I'll try to find a professional.

[@LiquidAudio]

@@sambailey8048 No worries Sam and it should be someone with a proven track record working on these Sony VFET amps, access to all the Sony service bulletins etc. If in doubt, just ask them a couple of questions about the VFETs and what makes these amps fail. Get back to me if unsure!

[@sambailey8048]

@@LiquidAudio I just checked out your website. Very impressive. Do you know anybody in the US that performs these kinds of repairs?

[@LiquidAudio]

@@sambailey8048 Thanks Sam, I don't, but have a search around the better hi-fi forums, there's sure to be someone people recommend in your area.

[@websitesthatneedanem]

I wonder if mine still works ..... it's been wrapped up in the shed for 39 years ...... 😐

[@LiquidAudio]

Whatever you do, make sure that you take some precautions before turning it on! I'd suggest current limiting at a minimum, but really, maintenance is needed before doing much else, including addressing some of the factory service bulletin stuff.

[@scripturenest]

"I'm loving this new phone it takes great video" , which phone is it?

[@LiquidAudio]

Thanks Tim, it's either an iPhone 11 or 13 pro max, depending on when I made this video. I suspect this was made on an 11 though. Good lighting really helps.

[@robertpincus6528]

After owning a number of solid state amps, I learned that FET vs bipolar is complete BS. I get it, if you measure more than listen, then you may have a reason to be impressed, but if you listen, which I have been doing for decades, you quickly learn that the type of solid state output device wont tell you anything about an amplifier's sound. in other words, you can't apply tube-type thanking to transistors.

[@LiquidAudio]

We will have to agree to disagree. Note that there are many folks with even more experience who agree that FETs and bipolar devices definitely do sound different. This is certainly my experience, as a specialist working on this equipment and having listened to thousands of amplifiers over several decades.