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Anybody used Nikko amps before?

Hi, I would like to know if anybody here ever used Nikko amps and pre amps? If so, how would you classified its quality and sound? Does is stand up to todays electronics? The reason for my question is because there aren't to much info out there. What I do know is Nikko is no longer made. Thanks for your concern and happy listening. :)
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apm66esmk2's avatar
apm66esmk2
1 posts
 
I have a Nikko 450 that a buddy gave me. I never hooked it up to the beta pre-amp because it just looked "cheap"...I took the shorting pin out of the back of my sony 909 strgx and used it as a source and pre amp into the nikko. I had hooked it up with 4 rf klipsch 82's and one m&K 2500 dual 12 inch drivers with on board 500 watt amp. This amp can put out very serious power with very low noise and distorsion ....music and bass was very clean and tight! However I discovered that it had loosend the srcrews in a couple of power receptacles in the basement causing them to "arc" and eventually cause power outage in those receptacles. The nuances from my speakers were nothing short of "AWESOME ".. very low slew rate on the nikko 450 at  150 kept the dual 8 inch references in check at all times. I played alot of music at 3/4 volume with no distortion what so ever. It is definitely not a krell but sonically it performs pretry damn close. If you find one in good shape with new caps definitely buy it .overall it' a very good amp...just make sure it has good ventation on the top of it or it will burn your house down.
remcd44
1 posts
 
Does anyone know where to get these old Nikko products repaired? I have the classic Alpha 450 amp start up clipping.
tbl_hk's avatar
tbl_hk
9 posts
 

While many users of Nikko components say their preamps are nothing special and their amps are better built, I have observed the contrary. I think that they had their best preamp on their Beta 1, followed by Beta 20  with nothing close to being a third best. Their amps side probably was the same, Alpha I being their best, and the second best, this side of the gear category, being a far Beta VI.

My gears of Nikko are :

Beta 600 preamp (all Mitsubishi opamp inside)

Beta 20 preamp (mostly discreet circuitry, with tone circuit being on two opamps, MM and MC)

Beta 1 (only MM and line, but all FET and transistors inside. Also, best built pcb among their Beta line)

Alpha 220 X 3, 230 X 1, 440 X 1 (the 220 had best components incl wires inside, otherwise the 230 is the same. The 440 had big output but all these amps have discontinued drivers and outputs. So pray these won't smoke at start up!!)

I think I like their Beta 1 the best. It sounds so so not like all the other gears listed up here. It has body in its delivery and low distortion, Also the stage depth is the best, almost holographic if you close your eyes and attentively listen. I opened it and found 6 FET pairs with 6 other transistor pairs in its phono, line and tone stages, respectively. I pray they won't go bad or, I may not be able to repair it coz they do not exist as of now, not even on eBay.

My .2 cents


Terence


jcmaedl
1 posts
 
Hi There,

I recently acquired a Nikko Alpha III without knowing exactly what I was getting, but I figured it was worth exploring - I guess I was right! 

Without meaning to hijack this thread, can anyone tell me, on the back are two sets of inputs, one is "Normal" and the other is "Direct."  What is the difference between these two? Are they line level vs. phono or something like that?

Thanks in advance!
erik_squires
15,945 posts
 
For the gear available in the 1980s, it was far better than most mass produced Japanese equipment.

I believe they were sold under the Radio Shack brand too for a while.

Really liked their integrateds a lot.
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