5196105892

AUDIO New Eguipment Reports

							MONITOR SELECTOR:
	SONY						AUX/TUNER
AC POWER				* ■» rr	. _		/MC PHONO/ -MM'PHONO
	-			r'		»	VOLUME
HEADPHONES		-	•« aw	ki w
TUNING						a |	mm mrnm
			BASS			L	- OTHER FUNCTIONS:
			tapf r.nPY				INFRASONIC FILTER.
			l k vw' TRFRI P				MONO/STEREO MODĘ:
			1 nCDLC DAl A M^/1'^r				LOUDNESS: PHONO LOAD (330/180 PF)

Sony's Packed

Receiver

Sony STR-VX6 AM/FM receiver. In metal ca**. Olmen-siona: 17 by 4 inches (front panel). 12% inchei deep plus clearance for Controls and connections. AC conven-tence outlets: one awltched (80 watts mai.), one un-switched (300 watts mai.). Price: S670. Warranty: "Urn-Ited.” two years parts and labor. Manufacturer: Sony Corp.. Japan; U.S distributor: Sony Corp. of America. 9 W. S7th St.. New York, N.Y. 10019.

FM Umer sectlon

MONOFREOUENCY RESPONSE

' "T *							^1 ■ i *
—4— »-••••- i
20 50 1C	10 200 500 1K 2K bK 10K 20

♦ tt.-1ftdB.20HztO 15 kHz

STEREO RESPONSE & CHANNEL SEPARATlON

Freguency response

- Lch    55. -1 '/> dB. 20 Hz to 15 KHz

-----Rch    V».-lV5<JB.20Hzto 15 kHz

Channel separation >38 dB. 20 Hz to 3 kHz

^28 dB. 20 Hz to 15 kHz

FM SENSHIVIT Y & OUIETING DB

10

20

30

40

50

60

s	s	■	■
m	■
m	■
m
	■	K	m		s				a

DBF 0    10    20    30    40    50    60    70    80    90    100

- stereo quie1mg(noise)

-----mono quietmg (noise)

Stereo sensitivity (for 50-dB noise suppression) 38% dBf at 98 MHz. wilh 0 62% THD * N (39% dBf at 90 MHz. 39’A dBf at 106 MHz) Mono sensitivity (for 50-dB noise suppression)

14% dBf at 98 MHz

Mutmg threshold    ^l9dBf(seete*t)

Stereo threshold    22 dBf

A distinctive style has been emerging in Sony equipment in the last year or two. and the STR-VX6 receiver seems to crystalli/.e the thrusts of that style: high technology cloaked in a deceptively simple package. However modest ii may seem at first glance. this receiver packs surprising capabilities and flexibility within its relatively smali dimensions. Considering the power rating. even the weight of the receiver is surprisingly Iow (thanks to Sony’s switching power sup-ply). but the flyweight impression is dis-pelled quickly once you begin to use what proves to be among the most satis-fying receivers around.

The satisfaction is partly tech-notogical (overall performance is excel-lent), partly functional (the VX6 will do so many things). and partly aesthetic. This last is the least tangible. but it con-sists largely in what an equipment designer (for another company) has called the “dialog" between designer and user. In this case. the dialog is much morę in-teresting than usual. For example. let\s say you are listening to a record and sud-denly remember that an interesting program isjust startingon a favorite FM sta-tion. Ali you need do is press the preselector button for that station: the receiver “knows" that this means you want to go from phono to tunf.r and will switch the source accordingly. The designer has, in effect. said: “Here. let me do it for you." If you Te used to the usual setup, in which you niust press tuner to hear the station you’vc se-lected. the designeFs intervention is both beguiling and a little startling at first.

The tuning. whetheron AM or FM. has two basie niodes and sonie subsidi-ary ones. The up and down bars can be used manually to change the tuned fre-quency by steps of 50 kHz (0.05 M Hz) in FM and of 9 or 10 kH/. (depending on the setting of a back-panel switch) in AM—thus allowing for our present 200-kHz FM spacing. a proposed 150-kHz spacing. our 10-kHz AM spacing. and the 9-kHz spacing used in some parts of the world and at one time under consid-eration for use here. The 50-kHz FM spacing is unusually close, slowing the process of moving from one part of the “dial" to another. even w hen you hołd the up or down button in for rapid change. But the process is not as wearying as it sounds. and we find we use the other tuning options most of the time.

There are eight preselector buttons. each of which will acccpt fuli memory for an FM or an AM station—including the setting of the three-position tuning/ muting control. This means that when you switch from a manually tuned strong station (for which you had chosen the high sensitivity) to a preselected weak one. the sensiti vity is automatically reset.

Then there are two scan modes. The auto/manual switch actually has three positions: auto (which sweeps the band in the direction you choosc by pressing UP or down. stopping only when it reaches stations above the selected tun-ing/muting threshold, and lights the LED), scan (which stops on each station in the sweep for only a few seconds and then continues on to the next. fiashing the LED as it goes). and manuał (which we have already described. and which exlinguishes the LED). In addition there’s a memory scan. controlled by a separate button. which sweeps only the eight preselected stations stored in memory. so you can skip all the also-rans and sample only your favorites.

It all works in exemplary fashion. When Diversified Science Laboratories measured the muting threshold. it found that there s a good deal of hysteresis. so that borderline stations don’l tend to pop in and out of mule (which can be annoy-ing). Curiously. DSl. found little dilTer-ence between the two muting settings of the muting/tuning switch (whose third option defeats muting). When you sweep the band automatically. however. you do find a difierence in the borderline sta-tions at which the scan will stop.

With the muting off. any station de-livering morę than 25 dBf to the antenna tcrminals (a little above the level needed

i

36

HIGH t IDEI.I I Y

4