Sony PS-8750 early impressions

Posted by Curious (D) on September 26, 2010 at 20:02:03

First, it sounds different than any other table I have.

213Cobra, along with a few others here at VA write reverently about pace and tone in a turntable. Attributes that leave the reader with two impressions: each is sublime, and they can only really be captured with the great direct drives.

Having owned the Luxman PD444 for 5 months and using every arm/cartridge combo at my disposal on it (see my systems in my profile), I understand where 213Cobra and other Luxman owners, particularly of the PD444 are coming from. Unlike every other table in my stable, there is a quality to the Luxman PD444 that seems to drive the music, or perhaps it's the Luxman that allows the drive of the music to breathe free and flow through it unimpeded. The best sounding arm I've put on the table is my JA Michell TecnoArm, and it does a great job with the aforementioned pace and tone, while revealing a high level of detail.

But what pace and tone is to some of the folks around here, that's what detail is to me. And the TecnoArm on my Thorens TD-2010 allows a level of detail to come though that the Luxman hasn't quite been able to match. The Thorens just digs deeper.

Enter the Sony PS-8750.

Of course you know that I'm about to tell you... that the Sony matches the Luxman in the pace and tone department while delivering all the detail of the Thorens. By the pace and tone of this post thus far, it should be obvious. But here's what isn't obvious-that the Sony matched the Thorens and the Luxman/ JA Michell combo with a 30 year old, hardly used Signet MK110E moving coil cartridge (with detachble stylus) on the end of it's PUA-1600S tonearm.

And of course I just had to find out what the PS-8750 would do with the Ortofon Kontrapunkt B, and what it did was amazing. Stunning really. The Shelby Lynne "Just a little Lovin'" album never sounded better. And then I had to drop in my old favorite, the Benz Micro ACE LO and what we had with that combo was pure velvet, but a level of detail I've hardly ever heard from it on any of my other decks/arms. I would not describe this combo as recessed or polite. Not at all. It was intoxicating actually.

But I had to get to the bottom of this. Why was the Sony taking every cartridge and making it sing? So there's my stock Denon DL-103D on my Signet XK50 tonearm and I had to try it. All that work...VTA, proper balance and level, correct overhang. I had it perfect and I finally dropped the arm down on the Louis Armstrong album "Under the Stars" and the opening track "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails".

It sucked. Lifeless. Music never left the edges of my speakers. Louis' voice floated around center but never seemed to settle in a specific spot, as if it were diffused. What the hell was the problem with this combo? But thank God for short attention spans, because I realized my Signet arm had no cartridge and my NOS Signet MK110E wasn't connected to anything. Why not get these two crazy kids together on the Luxman PD444?

Man-that was more like it! What synergy! Folks, I don't know if there are compliance issues that should prevent these two devices from working well together or not, but damn did they sound great together. Did the Signet MK110E sound as good on the PD444/XK50 combo as it did on the Sony PS-8750/PUA-1600S combo? Without being able to do quick comparisons, I can't say, but both combos were excellent. Really excellent. Desert Island excellent. No reason to separate these two now.

The DL-103D on the PS-8750? Well, imagine all the negatives of CD without any of the positives. Probably a compliance issue. OK, no sweat. The Sony simply doesn't work with the Denon-that's life.

Overall, and these are early impressions, the Sony is offering up the better aspects of the PD444 and the TD-2010, in one player. As I said, synergy plays its roll, but there has to be more to it. As good as the table and motor on the Sony are, something tells me it's the damn arm that's kicking so much ass. I am so tempted to take that PUA-1600S off that little bruiser and put it on the Luxman. Maybe I just haven't put the right arm on the PD444-I don't know. The PUA-1600 is a very, very good arm. It's build quality, its machining, it's so responsive and just won't flinch. Activate the X-TAL Lock and you are locked in a groove you can't get out of until the song is over. The Kontrapunkt sings in it and the auto return is a feature that I proudly admit in public to appreciating. Now I can play records like I did when I was a kid-without worrying about getting to the arm before the end of a record and ruining a cartridge.

I need to spend more time with the Sony. And I have to throw more albums at the Signet duet. The MK110E is such a surprise-why there isn't a lot more info on the internet about it I have no idea but it's punching way out of its weight class and is easily right there with my Goldring Eroica LX. In another 30 days I'll post a review here at the VC about the PS-8750.

Man, if this much fun were illegal, I'd be in jail.
"Hope is a good thing. Maybe, the best of things. And no good thing ever dies."

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Topic - Sony PS-8750 early impressions - Curious 20:02:03 09/26/10 (8)

RE: Sony PS-8750 early impressions - AudioSoul 03:38:03 09/27/10 (5)

RE: Sony PS-8750 early impressions - Curious 11:04:17 09/27/10 (0)

The Signet mentioned is a cart; the arm is a Sony - travisty 04:35:41 09/27/10 (3)

RE: The Signet mentioned is a cart; the arm is a Sony - Curious 05:23:38 09/27/10 (2)

RE: The Signet mentioned is a cart; the arm is a Sony - Lew 06:01:59 09/27/10 (1)

RE: The Signet mentioned is a cart; the arm is a Sony - Curious 06:54:32 09/27/10 (0)

RE: Sony PS-8750 early impressions - Fred J 20:48:49 09/26/10 (1)

Just imagine the sonics with a well tuned idler wheel table? - tubesforever 23:02:07 09/26/10 (0)

Sony PS-8750 early impressions

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