DirectDrive Museum - Sony

Today when you hear of the name Sony you think of walkmans, play-stations and mediocre mid-fi stuff. In the glorious 70s however Sony was a major player in the audio game. Or as a quote from a Sony-brochure from 1971 tells you: "We make aggregates and systems for those who are willing to put a reasonable amount of professionalism into their hobby". Sony early discovered the Direct-Drive. Around 1970/71 Sony put out the 2250 and the 5520 as a direct answer to National/Technics SP-10. These were professional players without a plinth. Later Sony concentrated more on the mass-market but always had some kind of prestige top-of-the-line deck in its program. The venerable PS-X9 was the king of them, the japanese answer to the EMT decks. Its introduction in 1978 however was too late to conquer the professional market.

Sony 2250 / 2251

This was Sony's direct answer to the SP-10. Introduced just a few months later in 1970 its construction wasn't as heavy and bullet-proof solid as the SP-10's but nevertheless many 2250s made their way to radio stations, clubs or as a reference player in recording studios. The servo regulation of the 2250 might tend to drift a little if you suffer from dirty mains. You should always use a shielded mains-cable and even a mains-filter to put out the whole potential a 2250 is capable of.
Nowadays only few 2250 are around on the 2nd hand market you can get a good one quite cheap which makes it a nice table for beginners.

Sony PS-5520

This is a scan from a 5520. The big brother of the 2250 was only available without a plinth. Obviously built more rigid and heavier the 5520 features an enormous platter and servo-regulation. Now these decks are extremely rare and as I never saw one I can give you no prices.

Sony TTS-6000

The TTS-6000 was Sony's flagship in the mid-70s. Derived from the 5520 it featured a different strobe and came complete with plinth and the S-shaped PUA-237 10"-tonearm. Here it is mounted in a custom plinth capable of two arms. Extremely rare machine, too.

Sony TTS-8000

A sturdy, robust, very fine built machine with the same arm as the later PS-X9. These decks are extremely rare outside of Japan.

Sony PS-X9

Top-model from the first Esprit-Series introduced in 1978. 80 pds. of japanese engineering-arts. Built just a few years this model clearly shows what the Sony-engineers were capable of if they could. A quarz controlled motor span a large 15" platter. Tonearm was a 12" model. The PS-X9 also featured a built in MC-PrePre and not too shabby riaa-phono-preamp. For domestic use its design was a little too "macho-looking" and only few decks found their way to audiophile's homes. For the professional market the PS-X9 came way too late. Denon, Technics and EMT already controlled the market for transcription turntables that days. When introduced it costed 2000,- Dollars including a very good MC cart the XL-55. Today you rarely see a PS-X9 outside of Japan, where it has a big following. Its sonics are very good indeed playing in the champion's league of Direct Drives and the other components of the deck like arm and electronics keep this level, too.