Nikko hifi gear. What do you think about it.

[Archangel55]

Hi all,

I was given a Nikko system several years ago consisting of a Beta 20 preamp,
an Alpha 220 amp and NT-790 tuner. I run these through a pair of JBL 4411's that the
same coworker gave me (Which needed one woofer replaced. A big THNAK YOU
to a guy in Jacksonville Fl who had one!!!). I use a vintage Pioneer CD player and
a Marantz 6300 turntable with this system. To me, the system sounds really nice.
Tight deep bass with out that subwoofer boom and rumble as well as clear crisp mids
without the ear fatigue I seem to find with many vintage solid state setups.
The highs are also great. Not too pronounced but not veiled sounding.
From what I have read in the few places I have ever seen Nikko mentioned,
people's opinions range from 'Gee, it's crap" to 'best system I ever owned'.
In comparison to the other systems I have, which are all vacuum tube, the Nikko
holds it's own. I also have a Marantz 2270 and I can barely tell the difference in sound
between the Nikko and Marantz systems. Both sound quite nice to me.
Do any of you have any Nikko gear you use and what do you think of it?

 

[Mr.Jim]

Nikko is underrated goodness

 

[8xlaxx]

Paging AK member @chicks

He's gotta sweet looking lil' black Nikko that was rescued. So sexy looking. Maybe he'll post a pic of it.

 

[chicks]

Paging AK member @chicks

He's gotta sweet looking lil' black Nikko that was rescued. So sexy looking. Maybe he'll post a pic of it.

 

[8xlaxx]

Yes indeed,... @chicks delivers! That is a beauty.

 

[xero-D-hero]

I like NIKKO gear.
Have a couple of EQ-1 around here,one is in my workbench rig w/a NAD 3140 integrated.
Plan to get more of it as the opportunity presents itself.
So I'd say BAH to any naysayers.
What you have is some really nice gear IMHO.
Take care of it and enjoy it knowing what the naysayers are missing.

JM2¢

Bret P.

 

[KentTeffeteller]

Hi all,

I was given a Nikko system several years ago consisting of a Beta 20 preamp,
an Alpha 220 amp and NT-790 tuner. I run these through a pair of JBL 4411's that the
same coworker gave me (Which needed one woofer replaced. A big THNAK YOU
to a guy in Jacksonville Fl who had one!!!). I use a vintage Pioneer CD player and
a Marantz 6300 turntable with this system. To me, the system sounds really nice.
Tight deep bass with out that subwoofer boom and rumble as well as clear crisp mids
without the ear fatigue I seem to find with many vintage solid state setups.
The highs are also great. Not too pronounced but not veiled sounding.
From what I have read in the few places I have ever seen Nikko mentioned,
people's opinions range from 'Gee, it's crap" to 'best system I ever owned'.
In comparison to the other systems I have, which are all vacuum tube, the Nikko
holds it's own. I also have a Marantz 2270 and I can barely tell the difference in sound
between the Nikko and Marantz systems. Both sound quite nice to me.
Do any of you have any Nikko gear you use and what do you think of it?

A very nice system you have, good friend. Enjoy it as it also compliments your tube equipment. Nikko made some very nice equipment, which was well made, and performed very well in the era.

 

[WillVT]

Wow, that is a fine looking receiver. I've never seen one before. It's kind of like an early Sansui AU series integrated had a baby with a HK 330. Very nice!

 

[bobschneider]

A Nikko 501-S was my first real amp, 45 years ago. I paid $20 for it with a busted tuner, which I never did get to work. I used it for a few years, until I bought a Scott 299 and 330b. I don’t remember what happened to the Nikko, but I still have the Scotts

A couple of months ago I found another 501-S on the auction site with a wood case, for $75, about the same as I paid for my first one, after inflation. It looked to be in nice shape, except the tuner wasn’t supposed to work. So I bought it. I got it here, cleaned the controls, and fired it up. It works fine, including the tuner! I’ve now recapped it, and it sounds good, although it won’t go super loud on the speakers I’m using with it. Now I just have to track down the same Frank Zappa LPs I was listening to in 1975

 

[c.coyle]

Lots of Nikko threads here. Circuit breakers on the speaker outputs are a Nikko quirk.

 

[Dswankey]

I was given a Nikko system several years ago consisting of a Beta 20 preamp,
an Alpha 220 amp and NT-790 tuner....From what I have read in the few places I have ever seen Nikko mentioned,

Do any of you have any Nikko gear you use and what do you think of it?

As @c.coyle mentioned there lots of threads here on AK regarding Nikko, seems to be a lot of love for them too. If you care to learn more about what people are or have said about them there is a "Search" feature at AK which is a great asset when looking for info, opinions etc.

It's in the upper right hand corner, place your cursor in it, click and you'll see this (pic #1)

if you wanna go deeper click on "more" and then you'll see this below (pic #2)

From there you can fine tune your searches to specific brands, model #'s you can also search in specific sub forums to get straight to the pertinent content your looking for.

In the meantime I took the liberty to do a broad search for you so you can search around and learn about all things Nikko

https://www.audiokarma.org/forums/i...&q=Nikko&o=date&c[title_only]=1&c[node]=12+13

 

[Dswankey]

Yes indeed,... @chicks delivers! That is a beauty.

Agreed plus his photog skills are pretty sweet too, always posts clean, detailed shots of his gear. Respect!!!

 

[Skywatcher]

Hi all,

I was given a Nikko system several years ago consisting of a Beta 20 preamp,
an Alpha 220 amp and NT-790 tuner. I run these through a pair of JBL 4411's that the
same coworker gave me (Which needed one woofer replaced. A big THNAK YOU
to a guy in Jacksonville Fl who had one!!!). I use a vintage Pioneer CD player and
a Marantz 6300 turntable with this system. To me, the system sounds really nice.
Tight deep bass with out that subwoofer boom and rumble as well as clear crisp mids
without the ear fatigue I seem to find with many vintage solid state setups.
The highs are also great. Not too pronounced but not veiled sounding.
From what I have read in the few places I have ever seen Nikko mentioned,
people's opinions range from 'Gee, it's crap" to 'best system I ever owned'.
In comparison to the other systems I have, which are all vacuum tube, the Nikko
holds it's own. I also have a Marantz 2270 and I can barely tell the difference in sound
between the Nikko and Marantz systems. Both sound quite nice to me.
Do any of you have any Nikko gear you use and what do you think of it?

The Nikko Alpha 220 is a high speed amp very similar to the Pioneer NSA amps. And sound just as sweet if you ask me. That is, once restored properly. I have the same Nikko setup as you, plus the matching EQ.