Anybody used Nikko amps before?

Firstly, I'm absolutely no expert. I'm a "fledgling" audiophile at best who has taken a liking to older 70's and 80's gear. Once I bought my Sansui Quad QX4500, the "sickness" hit me and I've spent the last few years building a monster cool, midrange quad system with the intension of having surround for movies and plenty of balls to push my big Fisher (15" woofers) and my system of eight speakers and sub when I want to shake the rafters. I own only one Quad album and have never been that serious about perfect, true Quadraphonic sound. Just love the Quad emulation modes and the ability to connect eight speakers.

So, I may not be as savvy as you "adrianbacon", but I can tell you that you are WAY OFF when it comes to Nikko. Of course, every manufacturer has it's "reputation", but that doesn't mean that at least a few of it's products don't shine, no matter how it may be viewed by the general public.

Even Phase Linear, which has been the butt of "Flame Linear" type of jokes for years, has some great vintage gems in it's line-up. So, to make a blanket statement that ALL NIkko is garbage is just plain WRONG. Do you have any experience at all with Nikko? If so, I can't believe you would make this blanket statement.

Specifically for me, my experience revolves around an older Nikko 1200 Module Stereo Pre-amp amplifier. Kinda rare. I was using a well respected Dyanco Pat-4 as my pre to help drive the big array of speakers in my "surround" system. But I found a "never used" Nikko 1200 and bought it. It was absolutely new and has a solid build quality. And you know, when I replaced the Dynaco with that Nikko, my system came alive!

Not to say the Dynaco is at all bad, but this Nikko gave me loads of new power and the clarity, warmth and headroom that I was looking for. It also has a really solid build quality and decent features, yes, albeit mid range gear, it seems that AT LEAST SOME Nikko pieces were engineered with great care. Unless you have experienced a few of their gems, I doubt you would rate Nikko very highly, but don't talk out of school. This one is by far one of my favorite pieces of KIT EVER!

Recently, I found the matching tuner and bought it. It has the weighted tuner knob and nice display, and again, although not considered more than mid-level, this tuner has above average build. Plus, design on some of this decades' Nikko offerings includes some cool toggle switches and rumble/noise filters that seem to be of a bit higher than average design/engineering. Certainly, inventive design at the least!

I wouldn't scoff at Nikko at all. AND, I would highly recommend the 1200 if you can find one!
JMHO

I own a Nikko NA-2000 I bought it for $60 from a friend. The sound quality is pretty good in you have good quality speakers. Remember sound quality has 70% to do with your amp and 30% speakers. I've had it for 2 years and it still sounds like new, nothing has every been replaced as far as I now. I have it powering two tower speakers with 10 inch subs 400 watt 4ohm. Really delivers deep bass freqency.

I've owned many 1980's era rack amps, and the nikko has to be one of the best. I suggest running a cooling fan to prevent meltdowns.

Does anybody now if nikko amps have a cooling system because mine runs really hot and doesn't seem to cool down

nikko,what can i say, probably the best thing to come out of japan since godzilla, ha-ha. no seriously very hi end stuff very reliable, all of my home stereo except c/d changer is nikko and 20 plus years old. i have 2 alpha 450 and 4 alpha 230 amps beta 50,atd-1, eq, tuner. feel 10x30 room shaking at 2 watts- channel range,when i open it up little pieces of the loose plaster falls out of cieling . but there are a lot of people out there that will slam it and thats fine by me.......more used stuff for me .

I have a Nikko STA-7070 in perfect condition but I never use it. I have had it since the 70's

Hi i have had a Niko Alpha2 amp, Betta2 pre amp, EQ1 and even the 450 am/fm tuner for 25 years. It has been trouble free with many long hard driving nights on this set up. (and i mean hard continous use!) It powered a set of Sound Dynamics S15 speakers (15 inch woffers) as well as a set of Polks. It still has a smooth crisp sound and response. the amp weighs 30lbs with a continous power output of 110 watts per channel. Say what you want gentelman this equipment was not the top of the line but it most deffinetly in my opinion and useage was not the bottom but middle or better of the line up. What do you know i even have the manuals for all this stuff as well as the Mitsubishi 6 foot high stereo cabnet with storage for LP's? Did i say LP's?