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Your visit to Japan

Posted by Lynn Olson (M) on September 19, 2003 at 13:48:10

In Reply to: Re: Glad you like your system posted by cheap-Jack on September 19, 2003 at 09:14:23:

The Sakuma amplifiers aren't hi-fi at all in the usual American sense; in other words, if you have any sympathy for the sounds preferred by Stereophile/Absolute Sound, you will not like the Sakuma sound. Like Lowthers, it is an acquired taste.

I had been listening to my own Ariel/Amity setup for six months before hearing the Sakuma system at the first VSAC, and was surprised at how totally different the Sakuma and Amity sounded. The Sakuma system is intensely vintage (mono only for example), while the Amity sounds somewhere between a Citation II and the Ongaku. In other words, the Amity and Aurora don't sound vintage at all, and are quite different than mainstream vacuum-tube high-end audio or most SETs.

But it has to be kept in mind the Sakuma system is indeed a complete system intended to deliver a very specific musical and esthetic experience - Sakuma publishes a poem with each project, and tells the reader what LP he was listening to while he wrote the poem. It's not about hi-fi at all in the usual American sense of faster, better, more super-duper.

And my philosophy is different yet; I am optimizing for lowest possible distortion in the forward path, selecting devices for most favorable distribution of harmonics, lowest THD and IM, and raising operating currents to attain very high slew rates. The Aurora, for example, delivers full power with no visible slewing at 500kHz, a test that would destroy most transistor amplifiers. As a side effect, this gives a sound I like, one that is not available commercially. I may or may not put the Amity, Aurora, or future projects in production, depending on the economics and demand. They are extremely expensive to build - the combination of DHT's, Lundahl's, no circuit boards anywhere, all-copper chassis, power supplies with low switch-noise and very high peak current capability, all add to the cost. And cutting corners anywhere is immediately audible.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Kimber Kable

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