Onkyo Integra A-808 (circa 1978)
The Onkyo Integra A-808 is a "super servo type pre-main amplifier" that Onkyo introduced around 1978 at ¥85,000. It belongs to the first generation of the Integra line - the 1978-81 series that also included the A-805, A-815, A-817, and A-819 - and it was Onkyo's serious push into DC amplifier design at the end of the 1970s.
The engineering here is about getting capacitors out of the signal path. Onkyo fitted a super servo system to both the preamp and power amp sections. A servo amplifier forms a loop that shuts out frequencies below 1 Hz, so the preamp's signal path, coupling and NF loop alike, contains no capacitors at all. Even with the tone circuit engaged (a "direct tone" method), no capacitor enters the path. The phono stage is similarly direct, with a preamp that smoothly cuts everything below 2 Hz. The output stage uses a linear switching system with a special bias circuit. That gives operating characteristics equivalent to Class A with very little switching distortion, helped along by high-ft power transistors.
Onkyo also paid attention to the details around the circuit. A bus-earth method suppresses potential differences across the ground line. A dedicated constant-voltage supply feeds the equalizer and preamp sections directly. The volume attenuator is a multi-slider design in a die-cast body with interlocking accuracy of 70 dB within 0.5 dB, and the pin jacks are gold-plated. The protection circuit includes a transient killer to suppress power-on noise and a high-speed DC-leak cutoff. A recording selector lets you pick a recording source independently of what's playing.
Rated output is 70W + 70W into 8 Ω (20 Hz to 20 kHz, 0.015% THD), with a damping factor of 90. Distortion is low: 0.005% phono to rec out, 0.008% tuner to speaker at half rated output. S/N ratio is 85 dB or better on phono and 100 dB or better on line inputs. The phono stage has a switchable load impedance (47k Ω or 100k Ω). It draws 120W and weighs 11.5 kg, measuring 435 × 125 × 385 mm.
Documentation on this model is thin beyond the spec sheet. The record shows it was a Japanese domestic model (100V), and surviving listings describe it as "very musical" and "sounds great in any system." One YouTube comparison pits it against a Yamaha A-1020 and Pioneer A-757 Mark II driving Radiotehnika S-90 speakers. A service manual has not surfaced in the usual databases.
Known Specifications
- Rated output: 70W + 70W (8 Ω, 20 Hz–20 kHz, 0.015%)
- Damping factor: 90 (1 kHz, 8 Ω)
- Power bandwidth: 10 Hz–100 kHz (IHF-3dB, 0.2%)
- THD: 0.005% (phono → rec out); 0.008% (tuner → speaker, half rated)
- S/N: 85 dB (phono), 100 dB (line), IHF A network
- Phono input: 2.5 mV / 47k Ω or 100k Ω (switchable)
- Dimensions: 435 × 125 × 385 mm; 11.5 kg
- Original price: ¥85,000 (circa 1978)
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