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Nikko vs. Mitsubisi

Nikkotopia

Nikkotopia

Active Member
As I get back into audio equipment I need to decide if I want to have a matched set of separates or keep my mis-matched set. I have a Nikko Alpha II amp and a Mitsubisi DA-P30 pre-amp. If I located a Nikko Beta II or a Mitsubishi DA-A30 amp which would be the better set?
 
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Both the amp and pre you have are great pieces restored. I have that Nikko amp as well, done a lot to it, and it's still one of my favorites, awesome meters and construction. Either way you go, you'll have a great setup, but my vote would be Nikko or keep mismatched.
 
Thanks ivandezande, good comments. I've seen nice comments about both the Nikko Alpha II and the Mitsu DA-P30 in this website and other places as well. What pre-amp are you using with your Nikko?
 
Might seem weird but I used a Sansui 5000x for most of the time. The amp section was having issues, but the pre sounded amazing and this was a secondary system so I put them together.
 
Both are interesting and both are dual transformer power amps. A lot will depend on price in relation to ebay. The Nikko's looks are not so dated. I like the meters with potential of conversion to LED of your color choice.
 
+1 on the Nikko. However, if you could find a Beta III or Beta 40 you will get a little better performance than the Beta II. I have owned all of those Beta's including the Beta I. I currently own a fully recapped Beta II and a few recapped Beta 40's. I think the Beta 40 is the best performer. It is easy to mod as well by changing opamps in it also. There is a thread on modding the Beta 30 on AK for better performance.
 
My Alpha II is the earlier sliver face place type, so from a display standpoint I'd try to find a silver Beta II, although I'm not seeing many of those out there. Did the Beta III's or Beta 40's only come with the black face plate? From a maximum bells & whistles standpoint the Mitsu DA-P30 does get style points. I've been looking for old stereo magazine equipment reviews for any of these, and have looked at the Audio magazines from the late 70's and early 80's that the American radio History posted, but not seen anything for these specific models.
 
Nikkotopia said:
My Alpha II is the earlier sliver face place type, so from a display standpoint I'd try to find a silver Beta II, although I'm not seeing many of those out there. Did the Beta III's or Beta 40's only come with the black face plate? From a maximum bells & whistles standpoint the Mitsu DA-P30 does get style points. I've been looking for old stereo magazine equipment reviews for any of these, and have looked at the Audio magazines from the late 70's and early 80's that the American radio History posted, but not seen anything for these specific models.
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There are silver Beta III's and 40's however, most of them were sold in Europe and are pretty rare. Same with the EQ-1 equalizer. I think your best bet would be to find a silver Beta I which are more common in the USA. The Beta I has a Mosfet design and is in the same league as the III and the 40. It has a very large transformer like those units also. Don't get me wrong the Beta II is a nice pre and has a nice feature set but if you could find one of the others I think you would be glad you did.
 
I have scant experience with Mitsubishi but have enjoyed my various Nikkos for decades.
I found that replacing the opamp in my Beta preamp yielded a significant improvement.
 
Thanks w1jim, this may be a dum question, but was the opamp replaced with a stock part or upgraded with something better. I'm a retired Mech. Engr. and not very familiar with electronics.
 
I typically replace the opamps with a socket so you can then plug various opamps in the component to see which one you may like better. There are much better opamps out there than the Originals such as opa627, lm4562, op2134 and others.
 
15196805330271560188347.jpg 15196805330271560188347.jpg I have an Nikko Alha230 amp/Beta 30 pre that I used for years. Absolutely no problems. It sounded good, like the rest of the mid-Fi competition.
 
1519683602285-1782503126.jpg It does not mention it, but it has that switch for direct or normal? And I can't remember what it's for, I use to know, Lol! thanks. It is a surprisingly heavy little amp.
 
Nikkotopia said:
My Alpha II is the earlier sliver face place type, so from a display standpoint I'd try to find a silver Beta II, although I'm not seeing many of those out there. Did the Beta III's or Beta 40's only come with the black face plate? From a maximum bells & whistles standpoint the Mitsu DA-P30 does get style points. I've been looking for old stereo magazine equipment reviews for any of these, and have looked at the Audio magazines from the late 70's and early 80's that the American radio History posted, but not seen anything for these specific models.
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My bedroom system has a pair of silver faced Nikko's: Alpha 2 + Beta 2. I have previously had other Nikko components (Beta 20 and Alpha 220) but found that the current pair sounded better to my ears. The Beta 2 has wonderful discrete components, as you can peep in here: http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/nikko-beta-ii-recap.756121/

PS: a pic of my Nikko pair is available here:
 
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