YAMAHA B-3 on the way...to me!

Cosmin2000

Active Member
I've been looking for a long time to buy one of these. I had postponed the purchase moment a year or so due to other problems, mainly because I was not able to find a decent, clean B-3 on the Chinese internal market. Finally, I spotted a good candidate and made the move. My wife encouraged and supported me all the way, she even got involved in this acquisition using some Chinese friends. Long story short, the last SIT amplifier, with the price tag same as B-2 (200000 yen), having the famous V-FETs from Yamaha, is on the way to me.
I will probably get it on Friday or Saturday.
The Chinese seller had some crazy expensive gear and send me many small 10 seconds movies with the B-3 in action driving some huge JBL 4344 speakers.

http://hifido.co.jp/KW/G2/P0/A1/E/220-10/S0/C17-12621-66594-00/

Hope I made a good move quality wise with the B-3, with which I intend to drive the NS-1000M speakers.
Keep you posted with pics asap!
 
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Super cool!

Congratulations, I know you'd been searching for a while. Good to see one came through.
 
Was the B-3 ever sold commercially anywhere outside of Japan? Perhaps as a 'special order only' option, to dealers, etc.?

(Funny though whenever I think 'B-3', I just mentally finish with 'Hammond'. LOL)
 
Super cool!

Congratulations, I know you'd been searching for a while. Good to see one came through.
Thanks, zaibatsu! This B-3 promises to be from an audio pasionate, just like all of us. He was selling also the following: Yamaha B-2, Yamaha C2, Yamaha C-2X, Yamaha B-4 (the Japanese version of the M-4), NS-1000M, NS-1000X, GT-2000 high-end record player, and ultimate pro model PC-5002. I just counted the Yamahas, not to mention other beauties like Sansui AU-111 tube amp, Sansui BA/CA-3000, Diatone DS-505 and Diatone DS-3000 speakers. Quite a good audio collection.

As far as this B-3, I'm very enthusiastic and curious about the sound signature.
 
Although it is a refined circuitry of the B-2, it has half of the B-2's VFETs (only two per channel), and it has a sound signature of its own.
Over time, I may prefer the B-3 sound over the B-2, but I should complete a full rebuild of both models to really A-B them.
The B-3 is designed for BTL mode, hence as monoblocks, making a full 4 VFETs per channel, and half of the THD (according the manual)
The very reason why I got 3 of them :)
Oilmaster, I only knew that you have one B-3. Now you tell me you have three of them, so probably you are the "B-3 master" here on AK.
May I know what kind of 230-100V transformer you are using for the B-3s?
 
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sweet, let's hope it makes it to you just as described.
Will you take possession of it in China or in Romania?
 
Congratulations Cosmin! I'm curious, how are you going to run a pair of NS-1000M's with a single B-3?
 
sweet, let's hope it makes it to you just as described.
Will you take possession of it in China or in Romania?

Greetings, rottalpha! Actually, the discussion with you via PMs intrigued me to buy this model. The B-3 will come in my possession in China. The NS-1000Ms are in Romania, so I will have the chance to really see what sound will come from B-3 close to Christmas.

Congratulations Cosmin! I'm curious, how are you going to run a pair of NS-1000M's with a single B-3?
Thanks, Mark! rottalpha is right in the previous post (please see the picture below).B-3 _4.jpg
 
You can't go wrong with VFET's and Beryllium domes. They seem to be a perfect match invented by Yamaha back in the day...

Yes, Yamaha was a true innovator. There is an B-2 advertisement showing a pairing with the NS-1000M. Too bad VFET's were too expensive and too fragile to be adapted by the market. IMO, they represented and advance over standard output transistors.
 
Greetings, rottalpha! Actually, the discussion with you via PMs intrigued me to buy this model. The B-3 will come in my possession in China. The NS-1000Ms are in Romania, so I will have the chance to really see what sound will come from B-3 close to Christmas.


Thanks, Mark! rottalpha is right in the previous post (please see the picture below).View attachment 1026455
It is conforting knowing that the long journey from China to Romania, would be under your control.
 
By any chance does anybody have the full blown schematic for this beauty that they'd be willing to share? :)
 
Was the B-3 ever sold commercially anywhere outside of Japan? Perhaps as a 'special order only' option, to dealers, etc.?

(Funny though whenever I think 'B-3', I just mentally finish with 'Hammond'. LOL)
Unlike the older brothers, i.e. B-1 and B-2, B-3 was only sold in Japanese domestic market. You'll never see one on 220V or 120V.
 
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