Vintage and LARGE Mitsubishi Dual-Mono stereo compents: DA-A15DC, DA-P20, DA-F10 & DA-M10

Gentle reader,

I have been very fortunate in my lifetime, thanks to my deciding to collect cameras back in the early 1990's set me on a fun course which also enabled me to make some money. How? eBay. I had subscribed to Shutterbug magazine as well as Popular Photography. One issue of Shutterbug, which was much larger than most magazines, I turned a page and there was a photo of an old camera in the center of the page with one word below it: eBay. At the very bottom of the page was their web address and that it was an auction site.

So, I joined eBay and began the hobby of buying things at various places, cleaning and fixing them up and selling them on eBay. As time went by I continued to do so, plowing the money from sales into buying more stuff. Enjoying it for a while then selling it and buying something else. The cycle continued for years. I was able to buy things then for small fractions of what they are selling for now, because I was an early adopter of eBay.

Without further ado, I present the rare and spectacularly large Mitsubishi Dual Audio line of Audiophile components.

Impressive, aren't they? But wait, there is far more. When I get into stuff, I buy information on them too, such as these brochures:

As a result, I learn a great amount about these objects, whatever they may be. And if people ask specifics about them, I can rattle off specs and things. I have the sales brochures for most of the cars that I once owned, for an example.

Let's start with the massive dual-mono power amplifier the DA-A15DC. Produced from 1979 to 1980, it retailed for $700. Which is $2,510 in today's money. 150 clean watts-per-channel. Being dual-mono, the two channels are completely separate so cross talk is eliminated and if one channel has a higher load, such as a lot of bass, it has it's own power supply.

The meters you see are optional. The amp itself is all black. While the meters bolt to the amp, they do not electrically couple. One runs RCA cables from the preamplifier, through the meters and to the power amplifier.

This series of photos shows how they couple together. An believe me, those handles are necessary, they combine into one seriously heavy beast!

The power amp, as I said is a free standing unit. It is massively overbuilt which is essential for the incredible specifications and clean, clear sound it provides.

Obviously, these components came to me used. Many areas are difficult to reach to clean. But then I bought them for clean sound!

Serious heat sinks abound. Next are photos of the DA-M10 power meters. Made from 1978 to 1979, they retailed for a measly $170. Which is $710 today. No longer measly.

I did not take a photo of the side of the meter, so thanks to a Google search, here is one, thanks to Classicaudio.com:

Now, for the preamplifier, of which one had a couple of choices in this series. I chose the DA-P20. Also made from 1979 to 1980, they retailed for $430. Which is $1,542 in today's money.

Owners of classic aluminum faced audio equipment quickly learn how tricky it can be to make photographs of them due to their extreme reflect-ability.

As you can see by these two side views, the preamp can be bolted directly to the power amp to make the largest and probably heaviest "integrated" amplifier of all time!

Because of the design, the rear is plain. Very clever those Mitsubishi audio engineers.

I do not have individual photos of the DA-F10 Tuner. It was made from 1977 to 1979. It retailed for $300. Which is $1,256 in today's money. Not chump change. No sir.

Mitsubishi made another set of meters called DA-M30, from 1980 to 1984. Other preamplifiers in the line are: DA-P10 and DA-P30. The former made from 1979 to 1980 and the latter from 1980 to 1984. Power amplifier choices are: DA-A07DC, DA-A10,  DA-A10DC, DA-A15 and DA-A30. I have not researched these other ones to confirm they are all in this line. But the numbers work. FIVE Tuner options included two that are Preamplifier-Tuner combinations, as well as three tuners. Besides my DA-F10, there was DA-C7 and DA-C20 which are the combo units. The other tuners are DA-F20 and DA-F30. Years of production for these five are: 1979 throught 1982. Retail prices ranged from $360 to $490 a piece.

If you saw my previous post about the tiny AIWA components which are about as opposite as they can be from these massive beasts. Here is a link to that post:
TINY Vintage AIWA Stereo Components: SA-C22U, SA-P22U, ST-R22U & SD-L22U

BONUS!

Here are photos of later and quite a bit smaller Mitsubishi components that were designed to work together: They too were labeled "DA", but I doubt they are  dual-mono. The Integrated amplifier is a DA-U41P, the stereo Tuner is DA-F41P and the stereo Cassette deck is DT-41P. There is no information in my Orion Audio Blue Book on these components. They are about 14 inches wide, if memory serves.

Here are some clearer photos of them. If you look at the amplifier, it had preset tone changes which would illuminate when one chose them on the graph below the Volume Indicator. Also, when one selected a component with the amp, each symbol would also light up.

I bought inexpensive short RCA cables and mono 1/8" (3mm) cables to connect them all. You can see with the front panel on the amp open the three preset tone settings. I'm not sure what the use of "Preset Volume" would be. 

As far as size goes, these are considered "Midi" components. Around fourteen inches wide. They were designed to have cables connecting them all together. See the "Auto Selector" below:

The photo below shows them all wired together with stereo RCA music cables and separate 1/8" or 3mm mono cables which carry the signal between components. One selects a components with the "Selector" buttons on the integrated amp at the top of the stack. That sends a signal that turns on that components as well as switching to the audio signals from that unit. Clever. Other companies have done that too, but these were the first I owned that I hooked all together.

I used them for quite a while with a nice Garrard turntable that was capable of playing 78 RPM records. Which after a time, I became un-enchanted with. I ended up re-donating theses components and all the 78s too. Below is when they were being used some years ago. I wasn't using the cassette deck, though. My, I have gone through SO many audio changes!

Mitsubishi was far from the only company that used the little mono cables to connect all the components together. It's a nice feature from before remotes and systems got sophisticated enough to enable one to switch between components without getting out of their chair.

Thanks for looking,

Scott