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preferences in Nikko lines?

K

kaliph11

Super Member
I have a few pieces of Nikko gear. They are all the Arabic numeral lines like an Alpha 450.
Reading in the archives let me in on things like the 220 line was improved and renumbered as 230, etc.
What I have not found is when the Roman numeraled stuff came along, and was it better or just bigger.
Any history lesson would be appreciated. And comparisons would rock.
Thanks.
 
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Hi.

The Alpha was Nikko's most popular amplifiers. Particulary the Alpha 130, 230 & 450. I am not sure what you are looking for. If you have a particular question just ask.

Best Regards,
 
And before all that...

501-1.jpg
 
As far as I know, the greek letter series were the separates -- alphas were power amps, betas were preamps, and gammas were tuners. The tuners probably had the best reputation, but the power amps were also first rate. I think the preamps were perfectly fine, but didn't get as much audiophile respect, for whatever reason -- snobbery about mass market manufacturers is always a
major factor, but when the products were outstanding, as in the Gammas and to a degree with the Alphas, it didn't stand in the way of recognition, so I think there may have just been too much good competition for the preamps.
The numerically identified components were the midlevel stuff, which often was right up there with any of the competition, and in the case of the XX19 series, combined high quality with distinctive and, to my eyes, unusually appealling cosmetics -- they may be the most attractive series of recievers I've seen (a rash statement in a world that includes the Sansui XOXOs). I like the look of the early black face Nikkos also, but the series in between is pretty run of the mill in appearence, though they sound fine.
 
The earlier roman numeral Alphas, the I, II, III, and V were dual mono amps. I could not tell you the difference between the 220/230 and 440/450 other than the obvious cosmetic changes.

One thing is that the suggested price per watt went down with the X50 series. The 120watt amps, Alpha's 220 and 230 had suggested retail prices of $525 and $470 respectively and the 440 and 450 had suggested prices of $1005 and $900. Not sure what to infer from that.
 
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