FS: Ultra rare Yamaha B1 amp (SIT Amp) - 2 units - Sold

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raov1

Hi all,
I'm helping a friend with a sale. He is not internet savy.
There are 2 highly regarded Yamaha B-1 amps for sale. One of them also has the UC-1 interface  :thumb:

http://www.thevintageknob.org/VFET/B1/B1.html

These are very special amps, made with V-FETs or static induction transistors (SIT), which ARE the SETs of solid state. The info I have is that yamaha made only 50 of these. They are highly sought after world wide. Here is your chance to own not one but 2. I also have the user-manual  :D. The units are heavy close to 100lbs each  :o .
Recently the Japanese company digital-do-main resurrected these SIT amps, which cost >$10,000. They were shown with the Lansche plasma speakers in recent CES. You can enjoy the same technology for much less.
To go with these are the the yamaha C-2 or C-4 preamps also available.

The asking price is $**** (for both). Shipping extra. Bay area audiophiles have the opportunity for local pickup.

Please msg me or email me for details.

Thanks
VJ



Additional info:
  SIT amps are said to be the SETs of solid state. I'm no engineer, but from what info I gathered, they have a similar switching mechanism to tubes (which is diametrically opposite to solid state). Hence the tube like characteristics.  Secondly they have a ultra fast rise time, this specific amp I'm not sure, but a SIT amp on the web mentioned a rise time of 72 nanoseconds  :o  :o  :o  :o. That might be one of the reasons this amp sounds good, be cause it can direct its power very... very fast.
   The last amp went on sale on ebay .... ended up in a bidding war, the owner got so uncomfortable he ended up not selling it.  :D
« Last Edit: 6 Mar 2009, 11:52 am by raov1 »

raov1

Bump for the weekend.

Carl V

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I'm a little slow....but is there a price for these amps?

raov1

Hello Carl V,
   Thank you for the enquiry.
   Please email me (provided above) for additional info.
   Best,
   VJ

JDUBS

I think you're supposed to list the asking price (in the rules).
« Last Edit: 1 Mar 2009, 05:10 am by JDUBS »

Bemopti123

Is either a public FS post or is this a private PM auction?  As of late there has been loads of people who have forgotten to add prices to their posts which is understandable with the effort that it gets to get it advertised, but in this case, especially when one is posting for the first time to hawk a sale, there should be more clarity in terms of pricing.

If private bidding is what one seeks, perhaps there are other venues where these rarities will command more correct prices. 

Please put the price that your associates expect into public view. 

MaxCast

My guess is he doesn't know what to ask for these amps.  Or that the asking price is very high.
They do sound interesting.

raov1

Gentlemen,
   I was just helping a friend. I would rather stay out of the negotiations, and for that reason I did not state the price. Since there is a forum requirement (thank you JDUBS), with permission from the owner, here is the info. 

   The asking price has been fairly set @ $**** (for both).

MaxCast:
    More than interesting, these amps are the real deal. You got to hear a SIT amp to appreciate what I'm talking about.
    There is another Japanese company which deal with SIT amps "Maxonic"
    http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.src-el-main.com/amplifierpage.html&ei=TRuqSYS3DImGsQOpzMDpDw&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=6&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dmaxonic%2Bsit%2Bamp%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den-us%26sa%3DG
    There is an overview on 6 moons on SIT amps
    http://sixmoons.com/audioreviews/roadtourdigitaldomain/visit.html

   Best regards,
   VJ
« Last Edit: 6 Mar 2009, 11:50 am by raov1 »

studiochap

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I've both used and owned various  B-1 amps with UC-1 controllers since maybe 1977 or so until a couple of years ago. This in a professional music recording environment, so often for 12+ hours a day of serious listening.

The sheer authority of their sound is amazing, and the transient response can be very seriously appreciated when one is listening through NS-1000 speakers.

In the late 1970's some studio friends and I once made a comparison between a B-1 , an original ( Norway not Scotland...)  Electrocompaniet power amp, and a beefy ( but not classy...) H & H power amp that used to be regarded as a workhorse power amp. This comparison was carefully set up by Henry Dienn, at the time a studio maintenance engineer in London ( now www.highend.co.jp and  http://www.ib-lansche.de ) .

The source was a one-to-one  first generation 1/4"  careful professional tape copy of the original stereo master tape of a world-famous jazz-fusion keyboard player's album. This had arrived from a cutting-engineer friend who had vinyl-mastered the album in question...:-)

One track contained a synth bass note which was so low in frequency that it had needed to be mono'd with an elliptical equalizer in order to cut the vinyl master.

The H & H amp displayed no evidence that it knew the bass note was present.....

The Electrocompaniet certainly knew the bass note was there, but couldn't really do much about it.

When we hit the play button on the Studer A-80 recorder with the B-1 in the system, the walls of the basement control room in which we were listening shook!

All present were deeply impressed....!

As far as price goes, today these B-1 amps are highly-prized by German audiophiles. I've seen 1500 euros for a B-1 without the UC-1 controller.

Personally I'm a fan of the UC-1. If you own several sets of speakers, you can now drive them all from your best amp, and  eg in a late-night domestic environment if you want to listen quietly on a small pair of quality speakers instead of on your main ones, the ability to do so is really nice. IMHO the peak meters on the B-1 are extremely useful. After all , they are showing the output level of the amp...and they are the fastest analogue PPM's I've encountered. Nobody would wish to be driving their power amp flat-out , and with (non-NS1000) speakers it's easy to have the meters on the endstops when the amp has work to do, as I've found when teaming a B-1 with JBL 4343 speakers and playing music with a solid kick-drum component....


There are however some serious caveats for a prospective B-1 buyer......

The 2SK77 output devices are quite impossible to obtain now. You can forget it! 10+ years ago even the former service manager of Yamaha in the UK could only find them in stock at Yamaha Canada, who now have none left. The protection circuitry on the B-1 is fantastic , but if you do have an output device go down, you've basically had it until you can find a donor amp for some spares.

I have it on good authority ( ex-Yamaha UK service manager....) that the smoothing caps in the B-1 psu were sometimes prone to blowing, and Yamaha UK had made representations to Yamaha Japan about this. Due to the age of the electrolytics in these amps, any serious prospective buyer should consider having the amp completely recapped , both to protect their investment , and to restore the sonic integrity of the signal path that will certainly have degraded somewhat with the signal-path electrolytic caps drying up over 30 years or so.  This is not a hard job ( and the B-1 uses some plugin circuit boards, which helps ) . Obviously if you do this it's worth spending the the extra to use  105 degrees C electrolytics with decent audio properties.....




« Last Edit: 1 Mar 2009, 05:50 pm by studiochap »

raov1

Thank you Studiochap,
     Your post pretty much sums up the amp completely. As you mentioned if updated, the amps which are built like "Sherman Tanks" will last a lifetime of listening.
 
     Cheers,
      VJ

studiochap

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 3
Hi VJ,

I am in no way an audiophile , just a recording engineer. However. I've  worked with my ears since 1975, and personally not heard another amp with this level of authority....

There's another thing.... listening to music through a B-1 simply gives me great pleasure! When I closed my studio a couple of years ago I gave my B-1  as a present to a very good friend , so I should really say "gave....".

I do rather like Chord  power amps, they sound very open to me and don't seem to add any unpleasant artefacts....but after you've been exposed to the pleasures of longterm B-1 listening, I don't think there's anywhere much else to go as far as solid-state goes.

I've never had the pleasure of comparing a B-1 to a world-class valve power amp  ( although I'm a valve enthusiast with a lot of  practical experience with valve sound at mic and  line level...). Have you...?  Or anyone ...?

Cheers,

Gwyn


raov1

Greetings Gwyn,
   I have not compared it with a statement tube amp as yet, but I will have the opportunity to do so in a couple of weeks, if the amps are still around.   aa
   
   Cheers,
   VJ
« Last Edit: 2 Mar 2009, 06:20 pm by raov1 »

raov1

Sale pending!!
« Last Edit: 6 Mar 2009, 11:51 am by raov1 »

raov1

Re: FS: Ultra rare Yamaha B1 amp (SIT Amp) - 2 units - Sold
« Reply #13 on: 6 Mar 2009, 11:52 am »
Thanks everyone,


odango

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Re: FS: Ultra rare Yamaha B1 amp (SIT Amp) - 2 units - Sold
« Reply #14 on: 22 Mar 2009, 03:46 pm »
The reason why those 2SK77s die in the B-1 is due to a power resistor situated next to the bias voltage supply cap.
Over time heat from the power resistor drys out the cap and viola the 2SK77 dies.
If you have a working B-1 you should move this resistor.
It would be a good idea to change all the caps as they are at least 25-30 years old.

The 2SK77 has been remade and improved by Digital Do Main Inc., Tokyo, Japan. Now in a different package as 2SK77B.
You can see a photo of it here: http://www.digital-do-main.com/product/amp.html

I used two Digital Domain B-1a amps as mono blocks at the Tokyo Audio show in October driving a pair of Lansche No.5 speakers which feature a plasma tweeter, really great sound.
Here's the link: http://www.avcat.jp/event/2008/HESA/high/index.html
And again at the CES 2009 in Vegas using the Lansche No.3 speakers: http://spintricity.com/26/1700/public/Vol1-3/page1315/lansche-audio-digital-do-main

BTW the designer of the Yamaha B-1 and Digital Do Main B-1a are the same.

Henry

studiochap

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 3
Re: FS: Ultra rare Yamaha B1 amp (SIT Amp) - 2 units - Sold
« Reply #15 on: 22 Mar 2009, 05:48 pm »
Henry, as usual you are a fount of info!

PM me please as I've lost your mail address.....,

Cheers,

Gwyn

datman

Re: FS: Ultra rare Yamaha B1 amp (SIT Amp) - 2 units - Sold
« Reply #16 on: 22 Mar 2009, 05:59 pm »
I worked at an audio store in Los Angeles in the 70's and sold the first pair of these amps in the US to Crystal Sound,  a recording studio.  They bought them for Stevie Wonder who used them when mastering Songs in the Key of Life.  I remember EVERYONE, from Yamaha to the recording studio was floored by the sound of these amps.