Recommend Speakers For Yamamoto

Some high efficiency speakers tend to be tipped up in the presence region from 1k - 4k. I built a pair of bass reflex boxes using Fostex 206E's that exhibit this characteristic. They are great speakers with intimate fare but get boring (into your skull) with hotter music.

With the solid plate EML's, the Yamamoto is not the prototypical SET amp. It isn't particularly lush or euphonic. It isn't syrupy or mellow either. Aside from the obvious efficiency concerns remember this pair won't mellow speakers.

From what I've read, the mesh plates will relax the presentation and NOS tubes further so. I don't have experience with these so won't comment.

That said, the solid plates in this amp are really spectacular. They have edge and grit where the music calls on it while still filling in the breath and space of real performers in live spaces.

My setup with the Def. Pro's lets me change the XO between the sub array and mains so when I really want to crank, the 2 watts can still do it without complaint. It's really something.

Borg and company,

My Yamamoto a-08s came last week and I have got to say I agree with Borg that this thing is a tremendous piece. It is strkingly beautiful for such a product and sounds excellent. Frankly most American designers in a quest for sameness year after year could learn a lesson here. Most tube amlifiers I am familiar with do not have this sense of natural flow combined with agile bass and punch. There are limits to what 2 watts can do but this is very engaging sound with very little if any euphony. The tone is fabulous. Only maximum weight and impact yield to more powerful designs. I am very happy and proud to own such a product. I must beg Darkmoebius's pardon but hum and noise are also ridiculously low and I experienced none of the problems alluded to several postings ago. The literature says "High the strength..."; I couldn't put it any better.
By the way, I am using Omega Grande 6s at 95db/W and got them for a very reasonable sum. Excellent work to Omega loudspeakers as well!!

Ghanson,

How loud can you play Omega Grande?

Thanks

Rocky,

I have a small listening room that measures 11 X 13.5ft. I listen in the nearfield, perhaps 6 feet from the speakers. The question of loudness is quite subjective but I am able to listen to a wide range of material at loud volumes. As my a-08s is just now breaking in completely I can envision having 98db or higher speakers that may give the amp more headroom on some material (rock and large classical works) or in larger rooms. But I have no plans to switch anytime soon and I would not buy this amp if I were a headbanger. Again there are unique advantages with this amp; it can't be eveything to everyone but it is a great alternative to other amplifiers- used with proper speakers there is nothing that makes it a radical or strange choice.
It is also much better at getting the flow of music right in comparison to every other tube amp I've heard.

Congrats Ghanson,

The Yam is a superb amp. As sson as everything is fully broken in, I bet you will begin to hear subtle nuances in recordings that you'd never known existed. There really is no equivelent to well executed SET and single-drivers, it has wholly unique sound of it's own.

"I must beg Darkmoebius's pardon but hum and noise are also ridiculously low and I experienced none of the problems alluded to several postings ago."

I wasn't implying that you were guaranteed to have that problem, just that it was a possibity.

My 6wpc Art Audio PX-25(or Welborne DRD 300B monos), S&B TX-102mkIII transformer volume control, and 97dB Cain & Cain IM-Bens revealed a fairly annoying 60/120Hz AC line noise that I never knew existed. The hum simply couldn't be heard with my mid-efficiency system. As a result, I spent weeks in frustration trying to eliminate the hum from all the wrong places in my system.

Anyway, be prepared for long listening sessions while you rediscover your music collection. That's 2/3rds the fun.