Musing on boutique Japanese amplifiers

[Carlos269]

During my explorations into the world of low-power Single Ended Triode amplifiers and Directly Heated Triode preamplifiers I have been focused on American and European builders such as Radu Tarta, James Burgess, Thomas Mayer, Dr. Burkhardt Schwäbe, Oliver Sayes, Sean Casper, Jose Martins, Graham Tricker, Matt Kamna, Andy Grove, Will Vincent, Nick Bavera and others. I have been curious how their modern builds compare to the traditional designs and builds from Japan that often serve as inspirations.

Being the way that I am, I wanted to avoid the more mainstream brands like Wavac, Kondo, Shindo, Yamamoto, Air Tight, Audio Tekne, Miyajima and the likes, and instead focus on the “underground” or lesser known, at least to the western world, designers and builders.

Owning five different 45’s and 46’s SET amps, at least 3 sets 300B’s and 2A3’s, a pair of AD1’s, a 10Y/VT-25/801A, a 211 and a 845 SET and four different SET OTL amps, I wanted to explore different circuit topologies and different tubes, not mainstream.

So here is where I have landed and the Japanese boutique amps that I’m currently experiencing and enjoying:

Tatsuhiro Miyanaga
809 SET amplifier






Isamu Asano
45 Loftin-White SET amplifier






Tadaatsu Atarashi
45 Push-Pull monoblocks amplifiers







Toshiaki Kurashima
PX4 SET amplifier







These Japanese greats are artisans that offer a different flavor. I’m like a Cheshire Cat with a smile on my face, enjoying life:

 

[S0und Dragon]

That’s quite impressive……

 

[adaug]

wow!!!! krazy kool. feel like saying anything about what they sound like?

 

[RDSChicago]

Yes, please compare them to your American amps.

 

[Carlos269]

wow!!!! krazy kool. feel like saying anything about what they sound like?

Yes, please compare them to your American amps.

Absolutely, here are my impressions so far:

I’ll start off with the Tadaatsu Atarashi 45 Push-Pull monoblocks amplifiers. My experience with triodes has been with Single-Ended designs but I have read reports that well designed and executed flea-power Push-Pull triode designs can approach the qualities that we love about SET’s. I can confirm that the push-pull 45’s retain most of the character of the 45 SET with perhaps a bit more neutrality. Where a SET 45 makes 2 Watts this push-pull amp gets about 4.5 Watts. With the increase in power it allows one to listen at the same loudness level with less harmonics and compression and I think that is responsible for the more neutral sound, which may come across as a bit less musical. Kind of like drinking processed water. Devoid of a little flavor and color but still it’s the same general character of the Type 45 tube. If this was my only amp I could happily live with it without missing much.

Next is the Tatsuhiro Miyanaga 809 SET amplifier. I had not heard an 809 tube before and I am pleasantly surprised. I had expected it to sound like one of the larger transmitting tubes like the 211 and 845 but it has a very “sweet” sound to it. This amp sounds extremely “smooth” and musical. This is the type of sound that you can listen to for hours. It is very enjoyable and not focused on the sound but rather conveys the music with rhythm and flow that gets your toes tapping. I’m sure that the special transformers contribute to the euphonic sound, which is a nice combination of the clarity and transparency of the 10Y/VT-25/801A and the darker colorful flavor of the 26 tube. This amp is a keeper for life. Listening to this amps makes you put the iPad down and pay attention to the music. It’s design and circuit topology are unusual and the payoff is big time as the music just flows and flows from it in a very pleasing way. It does have a bit of a 801A with warmth sound to it. Love the bright shine from the thoriated tungsten filaments.

When the music started playing with the Toshiaki Kurashima PX4 SET amplifier I sat up and said wow! This isn’t listening to reproduced music, this is listening to music. The sound with this amp is amazing. Wide open soundstage that is three dimensional in all directions. Sound was coming from wider and deeper locations than I had expected and anticipate. I had never heard a PX4 tube before so I’m not sure if this is a characteristic of the tube, but I suspect that it is more of the amplifier. Just solid wide open sound that make you feel like you are listening to live music instead of a recording. Very nice Western Electric tone but with a solid delivery. Phenomenal bass notes definition and articulation. Lovely sounding amp.

Last and my favorite of my new Japanese boutique amps is the Isamu Asano 45 Loftin-White SET amplifier. I’m very impressed by how good this amp sounds. I wasn’t surprised by the immediacy of it sound as I have other Direct Coupled amps from Whammerdyne but I was pleasantly surprised by the tone of the sound. Sometimes when an amp is fast and transparent it can sound a bit lean but the Asano is full body and sounds very organic. I like it, make that I like it a lot! The amp sounds “refined” and “romantic” but fast and detailed. It doesn’t have the bass weight and definition of the Kurashima PX4 amp but overall from top to bottom you are just made aware of the quality of this amp. Perhaps it is because of the great MagneQuest output transformers or the 75 driver tubes, the 45 tubes went to another level. I will compare this amp in the coming weeks to my James Burgess 46 and 183 amplifiers to hear which one rules supreme. This is a great contender for pound-for-pound champ.

As you can see, I am impressed by all these amps. How do they compare to American and European built amps? Well if you take a look under the hood you will find that the American and European amps have the specialty boutique components and silver wound irons, the expensive binding posts and look like special attention has been paid to every detail. While the Japanese amps look less impressive underneath with what appear to be cheap parts and workmanship that is less “professional” and more “artisan” in nature. Amp design and building is a lot like cooking, where is not all about the ingredients but rather about the execution and preparation. These Japanese amps have a certain Je ne sais quoi about them. If you want to impress someone in the audiophile sensibilities the American and European amps are more authoritative but if you just want to sit back and listen to music for enjoyment and pleasure these Japanese amps deliver in spades.

I used my Radu Tarta 26 filament bias DHT preamplifier to drive all these amps and they powered my Loth-X Troubadour speakers with the Stefan Stamm fullrange drivers. No super-tweeters or subwoofers were utilized during my listening sessions as I wanted to gauge the sound of each amp driving the same full-range driver in the same identical set up for my listening evaluations and assessments.

Let me know if I can answer any questions or expand on anything that I touched on.

 

[jblnut]

I forsee a line forming in the Marketplace forum here...waiting for a chance to own one of these when you need more space in that very crowded room ;-)

 

[adaug]

thanks @Carlos269 ! one of the best posts of the year, imho

PS do you run these with power adaptors from 100v to 120v?

 

[Kpatch]

A truly impressive write-up. Well done. Thank you.

Now, about your speakers …

 

[Carlos269]

thanks @Carlos269 ! one of the best posts of the year, imho

PS do you run these with power adaptors from 100v to 120v?

Thank You. One of the things that I enjoy the most about this hobby is sharing my experiences with others, and specially with a good group like the fine people here on the Haven.

I use a 3,000 Watt 120V to 100V converter to power all of these Japanese amps. They all use the 2-wire power cords.

 

[Carlos269]

A truly impressive write-up. Well done. Thank you.

Now, about your speakers …

Thank You. The Loth-X series with the Troubadour and Polaris speakers that I own feature the Stamm fullrange drivers. Stefan Stamm did repairs on Lowther fullrange drivers in Germany. Stefan meticulously studied the Lowther design and redesigned them in his own driver design to address all their issues and weaknesses. Stefan ended up producing an exceptionally fast 104dB efficient driver that lacks any honk or cup coloration typically associated with Lowther drivers. Furthermore, he redesigned the whizzed design into a biradial design that extends the driver’s high frequency response in a smooth way that avoids the sharp peaks associated with traditional Lowther designs. The Stefan Stamm drivers and the Loth-X cabinets make for a wonderful combination.

 

[mhardy6647]

I think a thread like this needs a note that one must be 18 or over to view the contents of this thread.
Either that, or a "NSFW" tag.

😎

 

[Carlos269]

I will be posting future threads featuring my custom builds by Radu Tarta, James Burgess, Thomas Mayer, Dr. Burkhardt Schwäbe, Oliver Sayes, Sean Casper, Jose Martins, Graham Tricker, Matt Kamna, Andy Grove, Will Vincent, Nick Bavera and others.

 

[adaug]

I will be posting future threads featuring my custom builds by Radu Tarta, James Burgess, Thomas Mayer, Dr. Burkhardt Schwäbe, Oliver Sayes, Sean Casper, Jose Martins, Graham Tricker, Matt Kamna, Andy Grove, Will Vincent, Nick Bavera and others.

yes! looking forward to those.

 

[Carlos269]

I will be posting future threads featuring my custom builds by Radu Tarta, James Burgess, Thomas Mayer, Dr. Burkhardt Schwäbe, Oliver Sayes, Sean Casper, Jose Martins, Graham Tricker, Matt Kamna, Andy Grove, Will Vincent, Nick Bavera and others.

yes! looking forward to those.

The first two write-ups have been posted:

Radu Tarta

Thomas Mayer

 

[adaug]

The first two write-ups have been posted:

Radu Tarta

Thomas Mayer

thank you! so cool

 

[Carlos269]

thank you! so cool

I have added the thread on my James Burgess amplifiers:

Radu Tarta

Thomas Mayer

James Burgess