I took down Lance because I got tired of looking at his smug face. I'll have new equipment to tell you about soon, I think.

Ortofon 445s first photo.

  I've learned more about these wonderful speakers. They were top of the line when introduced (sometime between 1975 & 1977) in North America, and cost a staggering $700/pair back then (adjusting for inflation, they'd be over $2,500 today!). The woofers are aperiodically vented. The crossover and all drivers are by Scanspeak. The speakers were available in walnut or rosewood veneer. These are rosewood. Most file photos and descriptions I found suggest that the front baffles are simulated woodgrain. This pair has real rosewood veneer front baffles.   These are much nicer than yesterday's file photo, and sound very good.

Just revived! Mission 780s circa 2001

  I described and raved about these speakers last year, when I installed new woofers in a friend's pair.
  There was one huge problem with this speaker line when released. According to Frank Fabian at The Speaker Shop, the Keraform woofers were assembled with a poorly chosen adhesive that actually corrodes copper (leads and voice coils). The woofers had failed before I bought them, and if yours haven't, rest assured, they will! After much searching (and some blind luck) I found the correct replacements, made in 2011 with silver wiring, and heavier magnets. They're brand new, and sound fantastic.

The Sony TA-F6B is here!

Updated with better photo.    It sounds great. My pictures don't do it justice today (very flat light). It's a beautiful piece. Dark silver, with lighter machined aluminum knobs (all with set screws) and engraved white lettering. The VU meters work perfectly (everything works perfectly), but need bulbs (which, if they're the same type as in the TA-F5, will be very hard to find).
  This is a much beefier amp than the TA-F5, and quite heavy, despite the lightweight pulse power supply. I'm very happy.

   The Vintage Knob link here.

I've been looking for one of these since I had the TA-F5 in 2009, and the TA-F4 in 2011. In pictures, I don't find it as beautiful as the lower powered ones, with their centred VU meters, and silver faceplates, but it should sound even better than they do, and that's saying a lot!