Nikko Beta ONE Preamplifier -

This is my Nikko Beta ONE preamplifier from 1976.  

I remember seeing the High Fidelity and Stereo Review ads for the Beta ONE Preamp and the Alpha ONE amplifier and thought that it looked so cool, like serious hi-fi.  

Everyone else had large preamps, many that look like you were at Mission Control.  Think Pioneer, Sansui, McIntosh, Phase Linear, Kenwood, Onkyo, etal, and here was Nikko.  Super clean looking amplifier and preamp, just one LED power lamp, no meters, no dancing lights (think Citation 16), no glossy faceplate with toggle switches galore (think Phase Linear 4000), just a sleek, subdued elegance with the lowest profile of any preamp I can recall from that period. This look did catch on with Yamaha’s C2, and Kenwood’s C1, and the Technics ‘slimline’ among others just a year or so later.  But Nikko was the first.  

No frills, just everything you need in a quality preamp, and quality is an understatement.  This thing is heavy, the case work is thick, the circuit boards are mil-spec epoxy, the parts used in the construction of this preamp wouldn’t look at all out of place in a Mark Levinson preamplifier.  The beefy toroidal transformer, the ALP’s volume control, the super clean layout with internal trimming pots all scream ‘HIGH END’.  Which is what Nikko was in 1976, High End Hi-Fi.  

At your local audio store, this sat next to the Sansui Professional line of amps and preamps, next to Pioneers high end Series ONE preamp and amplifiers and Harman Kardons Citation line, and Phase Linear.  If McIntosh and Luxman  were sold, these would all be in the same room with the Nikko Beta ONE and Alpha ONE. 

Nikko had a version of each of their Alpha and Beta line in 1975 that were total class A.  The super rare Nikko C-203 class A preamp, and the Nikko M-204 Class A amplifier.  They both look identical to the Alpha and Beta ONE.  

I have spent many hours over the years  listening to the Mark Levinson ML2 preamp, the Audio Research SP-3, McIntosh C-24, 26, 28 & 29 preamps, Phase Linear 4000 & 4000II, Citation 11 & 17, GAS Thaila, Marantz 7, 7T & 24, Sansui CA-2000, SUMO Electra Plus, and Yamaha C2.  I feel like I’m missing a few. When they come to mind  I will add them later.  It’s the only preamp I ever used where I slap myself and say, “I’ve never heard that before”.  Whenever I have a guest listening, I will play whatever they request, usually something they’re familiar with and I get the same unprovoked response.  It’s uncanny.

The preamp has soundstage, depth, clarity, texture, touch, feel, sensation, and a sonic signature that just sounds amazing, no matter the program source.  You can close your eyes and place every instrument on stage.  

It has the finest phono preamp I’ve ever come across, bar none.  It trounces McIntosh, Marantz, Sansui, and Yamaha with such authority its embarrassing.  And yet I wonder, why aren’t these talked about?  Why aren’t they on everyones wish list?  

Then through the years, I find those who do know what glorious components Nikko built in the mid 70’s, and they quietly hang on to them.  There is a speaker manufacture in New York who tests his speaker with this very same combo.  Another speaker builder in Oregon, who uses the Alpha ONE amp exclusively.

From the Nikko line up, the Alpha ONE and Beta ONE stand out along with the C-203 and M-204  are the ones to have.  Yes Nikko built more powerful amps, (usually for commercial sound reinforcement) but none as musical as the Alpha ONE.  I will get to that in another post.  Yes, they built many, many more preamps, but none with the quality or sound of the Beta ONE sans the C-203 which is basically the same preamp.

Hear what you’ve been missing, it what I think whenever I put this preamp into my system. I almost always mate it with the Alpha ONE amplifier.  

The only flaw I can find is that there is NO head phone jack and no Mono switch.  Okay that’s two flaws.  I mean seriously.  So when I use the Nikko Beta ONE preamp, I use the Marantz 1030 as a head phone amp, fed directly off of the second line out from the preamp.

The Nikko sound, is unmistakably superb.  It does not however have the seductive, romantic, lush, liquid, texture, and tone of my Sansui 4000, Sansui AU-777, or Sansui AU-111.  But you can’t escapes its ability to let you hear with utter clarity and precise placement  every instrument, back ground vocal, key board depression, chord fingering, note plucking, harmonic overtone subtly in the music you are listening too.  It’s addictive.  You want to play everything you’ve ever owned to hear what you’ve missed.  I’m not kidding!

I am 64 years old, I have played my original 1977 copy of The Eagles Hotel California LP what seems like a million times on everything I have ever owned.  Last year I put it on while reading.  The reading didn’t last long.  There were harmonies, guitar parts, keyboard sections that I have NEVER heard before.  And trust me, my 64 year old ears don’t have the frequency range they use too, and yet that LP has never sounded so good.  Same with Fleetwood Mac, Fleetwood Mac from 1975 or Rumors, or anything else you put on the turntable.  It’s like there is something new in every song.  

You’re all thinking, “Nikko”, seriously?  I challenge anyone to grab a Nikko Beta ONE preamp, and put it up against whatever you’re currently listening too.  That’s what I have done, over and over and over again.  To date, and yes I am still looking.. this could very well be the finest stand alone preamp I’ve ever heard.  

Up next, Nikko Alpha ONE amplifier.  More to come!