New tube gear from Yamamoto Sound Craft!

Dr. Evil actually visiting my hometown makes me a little nervous - he is seductively expensive enough from a distance. ;)

He even managed to get me listening to those shiney little records again.
 
Dr Evil has his ways....

Just ask me! I keep saying I have made my last purchase, and then.........You're hooked!!!!!!
Ron
 
Well, it took a little longer than expected, but I finally received my very own Yamamoto A-09 single-ended 300B amplifier. My first reaction upon unpacking the amp was that it is even MORE handsome than the A-08 (which is shown in my avatar). The chassis and side panels are dark brown instead of red, and the transformer cover is greenish bronze as opposed to champagne gold. A very manly-looking amp...

Being impatient, I decided to insert it directly into my current living room system, which is not exactly ideal for the A-09 - the amp is being fed by a Blue Circle BC101 solid-state preamplifier, and is driving a pair of not-terribly-efficient Shahinian Acoustics Compass loudspeakers. Even so, I can already tell that this is a rather special 300B SET amplifier!
 
Just think how nice the Yamamoto will sound with a tube preamp!

Brian,
You mentioned running your new amp with SS preamp. With my A-08 45 SET Yamamoto amp, the DeHavialland Verve preamp driving it sounds very powerful.

I know that is a term usually not associated with a amp pushing a awesome 2 watts/chnl. But I love my Yamamoto amp which with my Edgarhorns and Audio Note cd player provides a more powerful sound than with my 2A3 SET amp at double the power output.

I think the ALL tube system is the most conveying system I have heard in quite some time. I just love when visitors to my house keep looking for this monster 150watt/chnl SS amp that is not there.

The most critical area to judge a system is classical with very soft background details leading into a giant cresendo of the full orchestra kicking in at once. Most systems fail and leave out something. I no longer have that problem, never a sign of strain out of my 45 amp, and I have yet to run out of volume control :D

To anyone looking at a good SET amp, you have to really look hard at the Yamamoto line before anything else. You will be surprise how much sound comes out of such a simple and small circuit.

And my favorite part, no bias controls to mess with. The A-08 uses cathode bias for just sitting down and listening to the music, not fiddling with a screwdriver like I used to every hour.

Ron
 
Hi Ron,

I am SO glad to hear that you're really enjoying your new Yamamoto A-08 amplifier! I, too, think that this unit is rather special.

And yes, it is rather surprising how much more powerful it sounds than most 2A3 SETs - and even some 300B SETs - even though the A-08 does not drive the 45 output tubes all that hard or rely on some of the new "turbo-charged" 45 designs that have recently hit the market.

Speaking of which, what brand of NOS 45s did Yamamoto supply with your A-08?

As far as my new A-09 amplifier goes, I am REALLY looking forward to listening to it in combination with Yamamoto's new CA-04 tube preamplifier, along with some of my more efficient loudspeakers (perhaps the Audio Note AN-J ... or the DeVore Fidelity Gibbon 8, which was voiced using the designer's own 300B SETs). More often than not, I prefer the sound of 45s to 300Bs, but the Japanese DO seem to have a way with 300Bs, and Mr. Yamamoto considers the new A-09 to be his flagship amp, so it will be very interesting to compare the A-09 to the A-08...

Cheers,
Brian
Venus Hi-Fi
 
RCA 45's - Coke bottle style

Brian,
I don't know how efficient your speakers are, but once you get to 97db/watt or higher, that is where the 45/2A3 SET's really deliver to goods, so to speak.

I took off work early yesterday to listen to the Browns on the radio(not televised here). Well, the game was dismal(I am still Browns fan for life though), but I was listening to the FM radio feed on the "big-rig"(Edgarhorns) and was amazed at the little sounds I was picking up besides the announcer. The background sounds really added to the "you are there" sound.

I really like your A-08 amp with the WE 205D tubes, WOW, they are a little bit pricey(205D's). But if the opportunity came up, would the 205D's be a direct "drop-in" in the A08 amp??? And can the A-08 be used with 2A3's without any mods???? My fav is still the 45's, but might be useful in the event of emergency. I know the cathode resistor is a 1.5k ohm, just wonder if the 2A3 would work, just be biased down a bit. A question for Mr. Yamamoto-san to answer.

I can't wait to hear the Yamamoto and Edgarhorns on vinyl, That should be happening soon! :D

Ron
 
Hi Ron,

Yup, my 95dB Cain & Cain Abby's are probably the LEAST efficient speakers I'd use to show off the Yamamoto Sound Craft A-08. The new A-09, on the other hand, ought to be able to drive a wider variety of speakers, and I am anxious to try out this amp with a number of sub-95dB speakers that I currently offer.

Regarding tube substitutions, the standard A-08 would not work well with WE 205D output tubes - if you wanted to use these tubes, you'd need to get the 205D version of this amplifier. And as far as 2A3s are concerned, I am not really sure if such a swap is exactly kosher for this amp. I can tell you that I have one customer in Hawaii with an A-08 who has reported using 2A3s instead of 45s with no problems to date, but I'll have to check with Mr. Yamamoto to see if this is really okay.

I DO know that Yamamoto Sound Craft offers a version of the A-08 that is optimized for 2A3s (and is a bit more expensive than the standard amp), but I get the impression that Mr. Yamamoto does not regard it as highly. And this does not surprise me - all else being equal, I prefer the sound of 45s and 300Bs to 2A3s.

Cheers,
Brian
 
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