Topic: SAKURA AV-200T Tube Amp

[docrob]

Very common yan switch na yan sir, dami ko din dito niyan dati... 

common pala locally, atleast me mapagkukunan

salamat sir Jojo

[allanxtreme]

Good Day Sir Tony, Umiilaw naman mga tubes lahat. yong swith okay din, selector okay din. lahat Sir okay. Problem ko lang yong garalgal na tunog. mahina pa sa umpisa, pag uminit na, eh lalakas na din, pero garalgal ang tunog. Thanks po ulit.

[JojoD818]

cold solder

[docrob]

update:

good news: i shorted the switch to check if there's power and it has.  the tubes also glowed so i immediately hooked it up to a generic dvd player and old Pioneer 3-way component speakers and boy it sounded good  in my ears.  sobra ngiti ko dahil gumagana at maganda tunog for me   

bad news:  hindi balanced ang music na lumalabas sa 2 speakers, malakas at buo sa right speaker while sobrang hina at hindi buo sa left.  tried swapping the tubes but still the same result   

pareho kami ni sir allanxtreme ng problema   

but that didn't stop me from enjoying the amp,  ole blue eyes Frank Sinatra was singing in front of me and he sounded good and real to me

i know with the masters here in PDVD, particularly sirs Tony and Jojo who are always in this thread, the problems of this amp will be resolved and i can't  wait to have i up and running in tip-top condition

sir Tony, anyday next week i'll visit you and have you look at my amp para maayus na sya.  i'll notify you in advance.  thanks sir

[raider125jeigh]

papa tony worth it ba sakura?
how much naman ung mga tube kung need ireplace?

[docrob]

ok. we'll see, pwede ako mga bangdang friday next week....

salamat sir Tony, see you next week (friday)

sir raider, meron benta sa selling ng modded sakura 3k lang

[raider125jeigh]

salamat sir Tony, see you next week (friday)

sir raider, meron benta sa selling ng modded sakura 3k lang

naka next in line ako hehehe

gusto ko lang maexperience ung tube amp

is this better with the old amp available sa pier?
anu magandang speaker ang babagay dito?

[docrob]

sir,  advice lang better read the whole thread becauseit's very informative   

[docrob]

update

i was able to source the 2pin push button switch at raon, kailangan lang sabihin na pang TV P45 at Deeco

bought also an electra contact cleaner baka kasi ung left channel ng volume potentiometer eh madumi lang kaya mahina at pangit pero no luck ganun pa rin.   ung right channel konting pihit lang ang lakas agad at buo
 
time to bring it to sir Tony for check-up tomorrow afternoon
 

[9ume6]

this sakura amp that dacrob brought me is an entirely different sakura altogether.....

1. input selector is digital type...
2. the 2 x 5Z4, big tubes do not serve any purpose...
3. the 2 small tubes, both sections are now connected.....
4. i counted 14 ecaps in the preamp board, another 2 in the input, and 2 in the power amp boards..

the good news is that rails are now higher at about 32volts so that about 45watts per channel is possible, compared to the other's 25watts of power.....

it looks like those amps brought in by chino would be a better buy.....

sir TonyT,  Is this the AV400 or AV200?

[9ume6]

i saw an AV400 marking on one of the boards...

tnx sir!

[docrob]

thanks for the update sir Tony,

eksayted na ako, yahoo!

[docrob]

finally, my amp was repaired by sir Tony and  he also did some mods i requested

spent the whole day listening to it play beautiful music (to my ears), parang nasa harap ko sina jacintha, jheena, susan, sitti, frank etc naiyak ako....................................................................sa tuwa at mangha

as was mentioned by sir Tony, the AV-400 has a different design than the Sakura AV-200T though they share the same casing.  also, the AV-400 uses 6N1P tubes compared to the 6H2 in the Sakura


Sakura AV-200T


AV-400



14-pin IC in AV-400 found in multiplexers instead of 8-pin IC 4558

before pics (stock)



with 4558 ICs

after mods:






with 5532 ICs and socket








i believe sir Tony would explain his mods

maraming salamat sir 

[docrob]

thanks sir Tony, for an amp that cost P3000 including the repair and "preventive" mods you made i'm a happy bunny  (my ears agree)
 
no problem leaving the two 5Z4 rectifiers in there even if for show only, maganda sya tingnan pag dim lights haha very soothing "eye candy"

very satisfied indeed with this bang for the buck amp

[roygee]

mga sirs,

when i saw the sakura av-200t sa showroom ng sakura/crown.. natuwa ako. for its price, looks, and sound (the sales lady paired it with crown speakers)... binabalak sanang bumuo ng simpleng 2.1 para sa masters bedroom ko. what "budget" speakers can you reco na babagay dito.. wharfdales, polk tsi?

i tried reading the whole thread but mostly about modifications siya. i have no plans of modifying it. any reco's would greatly be appreciated. salamat!

[docrob]

agree with sir Tony

i'm using an old car speaker which i mounted in a bookshelf, it's an a/d/s 300i plate speaker 5-100watts 90dB sensitivity and boy does it sing

i also tried my vintage Akai SW-35 fullrange TL speaker iba ang labas ng vocals pero i'm reserving this for my vintage tube amp match kasi due to it's high sensitivity

[Amielc]

Sirs any idea where I can purchase this amp aside from raon? Where is the Sakura showroom? Appreciate any info, thanks

[joko11]

its a 27 pages thread.sarap basahin....
wala bang shortcut?
gusto ko bumili pero takot ako sa raon.basta malayo sa edsa i rather die
il read the whole thread maybe sa di-uf ko na lang
sir tony,expect for me this month or the next

[docrob]

if you are interested in one please choose the AV400 over the Sakura AV-200T, it has higher power around 45watts compared to the 20watts of the AV200 due to higher voltage in the rails

i had sir Tony do preventive mods as well as light upgrades to mine as you can see in the pics in the last pages and i enjoy using it on a daily basis

[joko11]

if you are interested in one please choose the AV400 over the Sakura AV-200T, it has higher power around 45watts compared to the 20watts of the AV200 due to higher voltage in the rails

i had sir Tony do preventive mods as well as light upgrades to mine as you can see in the pics in the last pages and i enjoy using it on a daily basis

thanks.il keep that in mind.no time for backreading as of now.just asking how will i know i get the av400 series and not the 200?

[robot.sonic]

gusto ko bumili pero takot ako sa raon.basta malayo sa edsa i rather die

bakit naman takot ka sa raon bro? madalas ako dyan.

[docrob]

same ang exterior design ng Sakura AV200T at AV400, difference is ung color dark ang sakura at light naman sa AV400

of course ung malalaman mo rin sa markings on both front and back





Sakura AV200



AV400

iba rin ung sub out nila if you will look closely

puro Sakura ang tinda sa Raon (Jems, Deeco, etc)

not sure kung meron pa si paul aka tein of Sound and Vision sa banawe ng AV400 ask nyo na lang sya

[joko11]

same ang exterior design ng Sakura AV200T at AV400, difference is ung color dark ang sakura at light naman sa AV400

iba rin ung sub out nila if you will look closely

puro Sakura ang tinda sa Raon (Jems, Deeco, etc)

not sure kung meron pa si paul aka tein of Sound and Vision sa banawe ng AV400 ask nyo na lang sya

big thanks! il pm tein later.

[joko11]

bakit naman takot ka sa raon bro? madalas ako dyan.

basta malayo sa edsa naliligaw ako

[George SJ]

dito ako sang-ayon kay sir tony. sa warranty at iba. eto lang po ang masasabi ko. in my honest opinion, hindi naman po ginawa ang isang amplifier kung hindi pinag aralan ng mabuti... May ibang company na gumawa ng amp para mag-isip ang buyer na mag-upgrade. capacitors and etc... Ayaw ko po mag-sabi ng brand pero in the first place, bakit sila nagbebenta ng pang up-grade? Better if each and every one of us will start asking those persons who are in authority if the amp or the set-up that we are building is appropriate to our taste. Mag sama tayo ng ibang tao, outside of our audiophile world, if they will appreciate it. Malimit ang sasabihin nilang ok lang!... Di ba parang kulang ang assessment nila?. Kasi iba ang way kung paano tayo makinig. Kung feeling nyo parang audiophile sya mag-assess, may alam yon di ba?! Kaya nasa, owner ang assessment kung  ok na ang set-up para sa taste nya...

[George SJ]

plain and simple about sakura av200t... Napundi ang small tube ko sa harap... Ano ginawa ni si tony?

palit ng tube. 2 sa harap. konti lang ang gastos ko at narinig ko ang pagkakaiba sa tunog ng stock...

well, its just me. and even sir tony can attest to that. na-satisfy ako ng pinalitan ng tubes...

[docrob]

i believe it was sir Anthony who does modifications for clients of the Sakura amp but not any more since that was a long long time ago.  if you backread you can see how he does the modifications (change all ecaps to audiophile grade etc) and clients would buy brand new ones and have him mod it immediately then claiming "night and day" difference from the stock

it was sir Tony and sir Jojo who dissected the Sakura amp thoroughly which led to it's true identity and unveiling of it's weaknesses and shortcomings which the chinese cleverly hid from the public.  sir Tony even gave pointers and tips on how to make it better and simpler and last longer

it just so happened that i got a NOS unit with a defective left channel which i posted here in the hope of someone helping me and fortunately that person was sir Tony. after waiting for his schedule to clear he was kind enough to take a look at my amp and did some preventive work to make it last longer.  if you will read the post of sir Tony in this page when he worked on my amp he refrained from doing "modifications" to retain the character of the amp

soon a vintage tube amp will be arriving at my doorstep.  i already consulted sir Tony about the things i'm planning to do, i.e, recap, change resistors, fuse, power switch installation etc and in one of our PMs he said one thing that stucked to me - " kung okey naman ang function ng amp mo, then no need to recap and replace resistors. meron bang issues ang amp mo?"  he was right, hindi ko pa nga natatry ung amp upgrade na agad nasa isip ko. anyway, it's good to know that if i do find any problems with my new amp sir Tony and the others here would certainly lend a helping hand

[markcrenz]

... mod it immediately then claiming "night and day" difference from the stock ...

i am not a believer in "capacitors and magic chokes".....they are audio voodoo as far as i am concerned....i believe in well-engineered amps.....

[Amielc]

Sirs ive inquired about the Sakura av200, from the showroom they mentioned that they do not carry the av400 a bit weird coz that was their showroom but don't carry their own brands? But its available from other retailers? From what I read this seems like a good entry level amp, Savin up for it then will dive into the purchase

[markcrenz]

Sirs ive inquired about the Sakura av200, from the showroom they mentioned that they do not carry the av400 a bit weird coz that was their showroom but don't carry their own brands? But its available from other retailers? From what I read this seems like a good entry level amp, Savin up for it then will dive into the purchase

may showroom na ba ang sakura? saan?