• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

Ranking Equipment Obscurity through Tiers

rocksy

rocksy

New Member
As my interest of all things Nikko continues to...exist, I’ve come across a few pieces of equipment that I have never seen any real world proof that the product ever even existed.

I thought I’d put this post together to point out some products that have caught my interest. Given the history of Nikko is patchy at best, It’d be interesting to see if anyone has any more info on these.

I'd also like to hear from others of any products/white whales from other manufacturers that fit into these tiers.

The Tiers:
  1. Mentioned in non-official channels (like a forum post), but no official material for it exists
  2. Mentioned/photo in official material, like a brochure/ad
  3. In-the-wild photos exist
  4. Actually for/was sale, but still little info

---------------------------------
Tier 1

None products that I can find, but put this tier here anyway.


---------------------------------
Tier 2

- Nikko NCD-600 CD Changer​

https://hifi-wiki.com/index.php/Nikko_NCD-600

I have only ever seen scans of the official brochure for this, as well as a magazine ad. Outside of this, there is seemingly no information on this cd changer what so ever. I imagine it was extremely expensive.

There is no information for this outside of this 1985 brochure.​


- Nikko NPS-1R Infra-Red Remote Control Access Module​

index.php

There is no information for this outside of this 1985 brochure.​


- Nikko AVC-3 Audio/Video Computer Interface​

index.php


There is no information for this outside of this 1985 brochure.


- Nikko D-100 III Cassette Deck

https://www.hifi-wiki.de/index.php/Nikko_D-100_III

It’s a TEAC clone (Teac R-888X or TEAC V-850X), and mentions of it exist online, but no real-world photos exist.

​
---------------------------------
Tier 3

- Nikko D-403 Crossover

https://www.hifi-wiki.de/index.php/Nikko_D_403

Only in silver face?


- Nikko CO-23 Crossover

https://www.vintage-tuner.com/filtres-actifs-4.html#fa22

Maybe a US market version of the D-403?​

---------------------------------
Tier 4

Nikko BTL-1 Power Bridging Network​

index.php

I actually just bought this, but almost thought it didn’t exist.​


I didn’t include everything here, but there are also a few items of which I have also not seen much info here:

http://www.magnat.tv/nikko.shtml

http://www.eonet.ne.jp/~audio/amp9.htm
 

Attachments

  • Nikko_AVC.jpg
    Nikko_AVC.jpg
    130.2 KB · Views: 392
  • NIkko_NPS.jpg
    NIkko_NPS.jpg
    54.3 KB · Views: 401
  • Nikko_BTL.jpg
    Nikko_BTL.jpg
    48.3 KB · Views: 379
Last edited:
Register to hide this ad
HH Scott Alpha gear from around 1977-1979,was supposed to be HH Scotts attempt to break into the high end market.
Have seen decent amount of photos and talk on message boards and for sale scattered around the net of the Alpha 1 pre amp and Alpha 6 power amp rated at 60 watts. I own a set.
For a couple years on and off I have searched for info or photos of the Alpha 10 and Alpha 20 power amps. Rated at 100 and 200 watts.
I have found just a few pics on the net of the Alpha 10 so I know it does exist.
I haven't found one pic of the Alpha 20 anywhere. I have found a HH Scott brochure that speaks of the Alpha 20 and it's power rating but this is it.
Personally I believe the Alpha 20 was planned but never made production. I think it never made production because of slow sales of the Alpha 6 and Alpha 10. At the time HH Scott was trying to compete with the more well established brands after loosing market share to these more popular brands and the HH Scott gear was high in price.
By the way,there is also a cassette deck that matches this set but it's not referred to as Alpha.it's called the CD 87,I do own one but it is the only one I have ever seen.


20210801_173329~2.jpg
 
Last edited:
just dave said:
:needpics:
Click to expand...

Here is that CD 87 cassette player,it's the same size as the Alpha gear,measures 19 inches across.
On a side note,I really wish they would have made a matching tuner for the Alpha gear.
They probably were not far off from being tooled up to produce one,HH Scott did have tuners in the product list.
The 2nd pic is a set from a couple years earlier I believe.
The 3rd pic is a set from about the same time.
Only difference is these other sets only measure 16.5 inches across.

20221120_115248~2.jpg

20210223_113739~2.jpg

20220221_100245~2.jpg
 
goodolpg said:
No idea what tier, the MCS MCS-3325 125 wpc (77-81) $900 doesn't seem to exist. No pictures anywhere because it doesn't exist? The 3125 does exist but the price was $899, not $800 when new.
The 3325 must have been mentioned somewhere, sometime evidently, because the 3325 is included in this thread in the Solid State forum : https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/100-130-wpc-receivers-akai-yamaha.1034/
Click to expand...
Interesting
Reading your post here got me curious so I did some google searching,came up empty on the 3325.
Found an old post here you were involved with talking about this,some others mentioned they believe it's a case of typos or getting numbers confused.
Since there is a 3125 and a 3225,and the fact MCS had numerous other receivers using numbers somewhat close,I would guess it's just a case of typos or confusing numbers.
Thanks for mentioning this,I enjoy searching and or learning about the unicorns or big foots in audio.
 
triple20 said:
Interesting
Reading your post here got me curious so I did some google searching,came up empty on the 3325.
Found an old post here you were involved with talking about this,some others mentioned they believe it's a case of typos or getting numbers confused.
Since there is a 3125 and a 3225,and the fact MCS had numerous other receivers using numbers somewhat close,I would guess it's just a case of typos or confusing numbers.
Thanks for mentioning this,I enjoy searching and or learning about the unicorns or big foots in audio.
Click to expand...

That's as a good a theory as any, numbers transcribed or fat fingered. Power output and "production run" time period overlap with the 3125.
The 3125 has very polarizing cosmetics, people like it or hate it.
If there really was a 3325 I wonder if it had cosmetics more in line with what many people would find pleasing.
I suspect it never existed, but who knows.
 
triple20 said:
HH Scott Alpha gear from around 1977-1979,was supposed to be HH Scotts attempt to break into the high end market.
Have seen decent amount of photos and talk on message boards and for sale scattered around the net of the Alpha 1 pre amp and Alpha 6 power amp rated at 60 watts. I own a set.
For a couple years on and off I have searched for info or photos of the Alpha 10 and Alpha 20 power amps. Rated at 100 and 200 watts.
I have found just a few pics on the net of the Alpha 10 so I know it does exist.
I haven't found one pic of the Alpha 20 anywhere. I have found a HH Scott brochure that speaks of the Alpha 20 and it's power rating but this is it.
Personally I believe the Alpha 20 was planned but never made production. I think it never made production because of slow sales of the Alpha 6 and Alpha 10. At the time HH Scott was trying to compete with the more well established brands after loosing market share to these more popular brands and the HH Scott gear was high in price.
By the way,there is also a cassette deck that matches this set but it's not referred to as Alpha.it's called the CD 87,I do own one but it is the only one I have ever seen.


View attachment 2718570
Click to expand...
Cool. I don't think I've ever seen Scott separates from that era. Thanks for sharing.
 
There are some Luxman pieces that fit into categories, just not the ones you mention.

LRS-ad.jpg
In this ad they show the products of the Laboratory Reference Series, LRS. It shows two unknown pieces. From the top,
Nameplate
5T50 tuner
5C50 preamp
5G12 graphic equalizer
Unknown, expect it to be a crossover
5E24 Line/Speaker LED level display
5M21 power amp (the one with meters)
5E24
5M20 power amp same as above without meters
5E24
5M20
5E24
Unknown expect it to be a big honking power amp way more power than the 100 wpc 5M20/21.
4/3/23 edit: A Luxman.io member mentioned this amp is a 200wpc 5M40 and he has had one at the store where he sold a pile of LRS gear. Didn't make production but there were some units out there.

The other one is the cassette deck that was only a prototype. It would extract the tape from the cassette and rec/pb without the interference of the cassette mechanism. It was a big unit. The Luxman X-3K is discussed in this tapeheads thread: Luxman X3K the ultimate ? | Tapeheads.net
 
Last edited:
Yes, the NIkko-BTL-1 existed. I had two of them at one time. I didn't see pictures of the Nikko Lab rats the Nikko Alpha V and Nikko Beta V. They both existed as well and were sold on Ebay about two years ago. The Nikko components from the http://www.eonet.ne.jp/~audio/amp9.htm link were Japanese only as far as I know. The preamp and amplifier were essentially the Nikko Beta 1 and Alpha 1.
 
Last edited:
All this talk about rare Scott gear reminds me of a Tier 2 piece of their gear which I "have", an RD-1000 stereo receiver:
rd1000.jpg
The above image was borrowed from the "New Products" section of the November 1975 issue of Stereo Review. When I say I "have" an RD-1000, I mean that I found a box of parts and boards at a 'hamfest' (amateur radio swap-meet) which appears to have been meant for it. My main clue to that is the presence of a partially populated "FUNCTION SW" board which matches the button layout of the front panel shown above:
fsboard2.jpg
fsboard1.jpg
Most of the other boards are unpopulated, as shown below:
fcboard1.jpg


preboard1.jpg

And here are the other parts included in the box; the HiVac XNS-1 nixie tubes may actually have been meant for their T-33S tuner (considered to have been the basis for the RD-1000), but the Hewlett-Packard 7-segment displays and Litronix red LEDs definitely look like they may have been destined for an RD-1000, and the other parts could've been as well:
7segment.jpg
redleds.jpg
opamps.jpg
connectors.jpg
hivac1.jpg
 
You know I'm going to add the portables, how bout the Nikko RC-2038 from 1987?
Anybody seen a photo of the Nikko dp-2828 Carry Compo, I haven't....


Nikko RC-2038 1987.png
 
Last edited:
Much Optonica (Sharp) gear is probably a good brand for this topic. Much of their TOTL stuff falls into tiers 3/4, and they made a number of cassette deck models flirting with tier 1/2 territory. Service manual availability is pretty spotty on sites like Hifiengine as well.

The highly elusive SA-5901 receiver is something I would love to come across. IIRC, it was appropriately nicknamed "the rare receiver" in old sales brochures.

The photos below are of one owned (perhaps still owned?) by another AKer on here (Metalownz), and of a sales brochure/pamphlet shared by another AKer (jobrewer1983) that I'm guessing they were lucky enough to come across - so all photo credit goes to them!

The thread - https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/optonica-sa-5901.957462/

SA-5901.jpeg

SA-5901spec.jpeg

SA-5901spec2.jpeg

What really makes it unique is the triple power-supply design, as well as the ability to turn the power off to the tuner (and basically use as an integrated amp if desired).

I have it's little brother, the SA-5601, which is no slouch (and also has the switchable tuner power). But unfortunately it needs some service. They are not easy to come across, and the SA-5901 is next to impossible to find. Maybe some day, lol.
 
Turns out we can't edit posts beyond a certain time, but I have some non-eventful updates.

---------------------------------

Nikko NCD-600

Graduated to Tier 2.5 (photo exists from somewhere other than the manufacturer):

audio_1986-06_multi-2.jpg

Press photo from http://www.gammaelectronics.xyz/audio_06-1986_multi.html

---------------------------------

Nikko Soundruler C-10000 (Stereo Control Amplifier)
Nikko Soundruler P-10000 (Stereo Power Amplifier)

upload_2023-4-2_14-12-24.jpeg

New addition to what I would call Tier 1.5, as this is the only photo/mention I have ever seen for it (in the 1001 Hifi Facebook group). It doesn't even show up in any official material (though the photo itself looks official).

Looks like some sort of collab with Soundruler (no info on them either?); almost like a Nikko Alpha V:

Nikko_Alpha-V-Prospekt-1.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom