A friend went to Yamaha for (piano tech) training.
Every morning the employees recite a slogan, roughly "Nobody needs the stuff we make!" The idea is since their products are not "essential", they must work hard to make the products *desirable* (and more desirable than other products) so they will sell a lot and keep their jobs.
Every Yamaha I have seen does seem to reflect this thinking.
precisely, and I would add that the B-2 is one of the most musical amps I ever heard, a pleasure to listen to.
It is obvious that the pesky B-1/B-2 pots and switches are there to serve the marketing department agenda (working on a permanent fix for that) but if you dig deeper under the hood of a B-2, you will find a DC coupled design with minor ancillary but robust circuits to ensure the V-fets do not go to V-fet heaven as easily as they do on the Sony cousins. B-1 is a totally different animal.
These amps are total sleepers and Yamaha gets no where the respect it deserves for what they have created.
I wonder how many nice market / boutique manufacturers create their own devices, except of course ours truly, Mr Pass and maybe another small shop in Japan using old Yamaha silicone?
Yamaha went to the extent to building new semiconductors never used anywhere, implement them in an amplifier design never "mass produced" before or after. The number of B-1s sold is around ~ 3000, and that is a lot considering that their cost new was same as that of an automobile.
Number of B-2s sold is around 10,000, more than all of its price point competitions combined and competition was no slouch (Sony TA-N7, Victor JM-S7 and even the B-3, its younger brother). B-2 survival rate is also much higher than that of the competitors form other Mfgs. This says a lot about the B-2 since the astute HiFi enthusiast of the 70's had the opportunity to go into a showroom and listen to all these v-fet amplifiers side by side, yet the B-2 outsold the rest by a long margin (same price point).
The B-1 which in my book is as exotic as it gets even compared with modern small production units. I wish more people would have the opportunity to listen to a restored B-1 or a B-2. Both amps can be hot-rodded to by-pass all the junk and go straight to the input stage..
The B1 is unique because it also uses small signal VFETs in the driver chain, and the output VFETS are unusually beefy for the breed. These aren't used in N&P complementary pairs but use the more tortuous circuit to attain class B. I have never heard a B1 but by report even a bit better than B2.
I have looked at the B2 circuit to see about bypassing the volume pots and switches to make it 'pure' power amp, but I really have to make sure I'm not blowing it. It looks like it shouldn't be too hard to wire directly to the amp input cards.
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The Digital Do-Main version of the B1 is an improved replica, if you can find one,
and it was offered at a very reasonable price, apparently a labor of love by an
industrialist who certainly didn't need the money.
Like the original, all devices were VFETs.
I have a small quantity of those parts.
Locked in a safe, and guarded by a leopard.
and it was offered at a very reasonable price, apparently a labor of love by an
industrialist who certainly didn't need the money.
Like the original, all devices were VFETs.
I have a small quantity of those parts.
Locked in a safe, and guarded by a leopard.
Speaking of Digital Do Main , is it right to surmise that VFET characteristics while desirable are not a 'must have' to build an SS amplifier to emulate single ended triode type amplifier sound ? It's a shame that SemiSouth went out of business but when I look at the uber expensive bling coated amplifiers on display at many expos today a part of me cannot help but wonder that aren't we following the same path as once the great Swiss watch industry ? Rolex submariner used to be a tool watch and today a diver cannot afford it , you better have a high paying white collar job or a business to afford a submariner , to be brutally honest at least Rolex makes it's own movement and cases from ground up ; the same however cannot be said of many expensive amplifiers out there that might be using COTS components (some of them handpicked and carefully matched) . I wish at least the big names in this industry invest in transistors that have closer to ideal characteristics needed for audio amplification there by simplifying the topology and reducing the component count . At least that way big names in audio would be able to clearly differentiate themselves from rest of the field akin to the top dogs in the Swiss watch industry.
Manufacturing audio grade SIT
Akin to Digitial Do Main or even Semisouth why don't we see any American/EU company take lead in manufacturing a SiC JFET or any other transistor that caters to hifi audio amplification needs ? I mean if one draws a parallel between hifi amplifiers and the Swiss watch industry the ones commanding high price are watches that have their own movements . Mr. Pass has been kind enough to open source many of his designs which sound at par if not better than amps costing thousands of dollars , be it high end Munich or many such hifi Expos the price of equipment at display is ridiculous and to think that under the hood they all are using a commodity transistor albeit carefully matched makes it too hard to justify their price tag . Ok, I will give it some who spend more money on casing design and the dials and knobs .
Akin to Digitial Do Main or even Semisouth why don't we see any American/EU company take lead in manufacturing a SiC JFET or any other transistor that caters to hifi audio amplification needs ? I mean if one draws a parallel between hifi amplifiers and the Swiss watch industry the ones commanding high price are watches that have their own movements . Mr. Pass has been kind enough to open source many of his designs which sound at par if not better than amps costing thousands of dollars , be it high end Munich or many such hifi Expos the price of equipment at display is ridiculous and to think that under the hood they all are using a commodity transistor albeit carefully matched makes it too hard to justify their price tag . Ok, I will give it some who spend more money on casing design and the dials and knobs .
My understanding is that it is not a matter of cost. Neither Yamaha, Sony, Hitachi or NEC are willing to license their V-fet know-how or patents
My understanding is that it is not a matter of cost. Neither Yamaha, Sony, Hitachi or NEC are willing to license their V-fet know-how or patents
I don't think that's the problem. The patents are long expired.
"Exotic High End Audio" is simply too small a market to command production
of SITs. It took a billionaire in Japan to get some made, and I was fortunate
enough to be able fund an experimental run of SiC SITs from SemiSouth.
It's possible that some more will get made, maybe by Transphorm, who
recently worked with an academic from my alma mater on a team
making SITs with Gallium Arsenide.
I wouldn't count on it though, as companies developing power semis at
this time seem to be concentrating on switching performance only, at
the expense of reliability in linear applications. I am seeing new parts
rated at hundreds of watts for switching that die at 20 linear watts.
it is in my 3-4 months schedule , however , not ersatz , but ersatz - THF51 or 2SK182 , instead of 77
I don't think that's the problem. The patents are long expired.
"Exotic High End Audio" is simply too small a market to command production
of SITs. It took a billionaire in Japan to get some made, and I was fortunate
enough to be able fund an experimental run of SiC SITs from SemiSouth.
It's possible that some more will get made, maybe by Transphorm, who
recently worked with an academic from my alma mater on a team
making SITs with Gallium Arsenide.
I wouldn't count on it though, as companies developing power semis at
this time seem to be concentrating on switching performance only, at
the expense of reliability in linear applications. I am seeing new parts
rated at hundreds of watts for switching that die at 20 linear watts.
Yes, with the Bose and Sonos of today, the pool of consumer demand for high end audio is indeed shrinking even more.... tears
Yes but that's a completely different B1 and from the look of it a very nice piece of work that I could be happy with too.
That said I'm thinking Nelson might agree that there's something quite magical about the V-FET that he might not have fully appreciated back in the day and has since rediscovered to our benefit with his new SIT DIY offerings.
Absolutely and he did an awesome job of it!
not to mention that perhaps now his ears might still be recovering from all of that brute force and today it's all about the First Watt that we all love so much.
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