Yamamura RIP

[gian60]

Today i am very sad because i knew my friend Be Yamamura passed away.

I knew him in 1989,when he came to live to Italy doing one company in Italy with Luigi Basagni,named A.R.T.
Having one of the 2/3 best system in Italy,and knowing Luigi he came to my home bringing Yamamura.
I had an incredible system in 1989.
P. Lurne TT with Pluto 5A
Pre ML 6B
Crossover mono ML LNC2
4 pair bridged ML N 20
SoundLab A1 with mono sub B1

After 15 years of trial and develop my system and spent a lot of money,i reach the Nirvana
That day Yamamura listen and told nothing about the system.

I started to buy some accessories and bought one turntable he had,and after 4/5 times he came to my home i told him,Dear Be,now we are friend so please tell me the truth about my system,what do you think.
He reply,dear Gianluigi,sound is TERRIBLE.
I had one big shock.

Then he explain to me one way and horn speakers,tube amp with 211 and 845,superpermalloy trans,Graphite high density for reduce vibration,beryllium membrane,ecc,ecc,a new world for us,so i sold everything and bought a whole system from him,made with a 4 stack preamp,mono with external power supply with superpermalloy trans and a amp with 845 tube 4 stack,for the whole weight of 320 kg pre and amp.

I saw him many years later in Munich and before in Milan show,and he always cried when see me to remember the good time spent together.

He was in my garden under one tree to work for my amp and my father brought the coffee to him.

I miss them both a lot

 

[Steve Williams]

I remember when Marty and I visited you that you said Yamamura was such an influence on you

 

[analyzer]

R.I.P. sad news...

 

[Folsom]

Sad day.

 

[bonzo75]

Best speaker ever. Sad we could not enjoy more of his work due to his sickness

 

[Vienna]

Gianluigi it’s awful to see friends becoming just photos and memories.
i am sorry for the loss of your good friend

 

[gian60]

Here Be in Bologna when setting the system he made,ALE 6 way and 12 mono amp,transistor in current of 30 watt class A each

 

[gian60]

Here in a meeting in 2012,sometimes we met with my wife and 2 boys and his second with Keiko

Keiko always claim with me that Be work all day until 2 in the night and sleep only 4/5 hour every day and work 16/17 hour every day and smoke a lot

 

[Steve Williams]

Friends are forever Gian

 

[kach22i]

Sounds like an interesting person, I'm sure the world will miss his contributions.

 

[Steve Williams]

I remember when Marty and I visited you that you said Yamamura was such an influence on you

I have many fond memories of our short but pleasant visit with you a few years ago but what I remember most is how you constantly referred to Yamamura‘s friendship and his constant influence on your audiophile listening habits

 

[gian60]

Yamamura explain to me in 1989 that soundstage of cd was no good because the board of cd was reflective and took one cd and with sand paper did opaque the board of cd,and the image was more stable.15 years later someone did the green pencil to do opaque the cd.

Then put high density graphite under my Soundlab speaker and sound was more clean and bass more controlled.
And gave to me shark oil to clean the cartridge.

Then took my cable madrigal,cut the plastic coating,put the copper cable in the oven of my mother at 200 degree to keep out the oxygen particle and sent me to the pharmacy to buy cotton gauze to cover the cable when cold and told this plastic material that cover the cable of Madrigal,YBA,Monster cable,is terrible because don't give natural sound.

When did mono power amp with push pull of 845 and super permalloy output transformer and big mono external power supply,told me the best power supply is using battery,but there are no good battery in the market and he could take the military battery used in Scotland marine used in nuclear submariner.
But had problem to take and this project finish.

He wanted to do a DAC but never did because explained me that all chip are in the market are terrible quality and was impossible for this reason do a good dac.

He did some top horn speaker,one 6 way to my friend in Bologna,and told best driver are ALE,but the top of ALE,the model DEP,23 kg weight,is not enough good,so push Mr Endo to do a big magnet of 110 kg in permendur and membrane in graphite.This serie is named SUPER,so also the tweeter and super tweeter has the magnet of 110 kg

Then he went to my marriage and gift to me one mono amp transistor in current and one to my wife,so we had a pair mono amp

And when was in my home to do some and my mother asked him what he would like to eat,he always wanted tomato spaghetti.

This is the fantastic Be Yamamura

 

[Nascimento]

Gianluigi it’s awful to see friends becoming just photos and memories.
i am sorry for the loss of your good friend

Very sad to know that our friends, that our generation is passing!

 

[kach22i]

Yamamura explain to me in 1989 that soundstage of cd was no good because the board of cd was reflective and took one cd and with sand paper did opaque the board of cd,and the image was more stable.15 years later someone did the green pencil to do opaque the cd.

Ahead of his time.

I stumbled across this method below just yesterday - similar.

CD Tweaks

 

[djsina2]

Was he friends with Imai? They sound similar in their approach to natural sound such as by using the graphite.

 

[microstrip]

Some years ago, after reading a post from gian60, I found this great article on a fantastic system - unfortunately I never managed to find anything again on it https://www.monoandstereo.com/2016/06/jean-hiraga-meets-ale-and-be-yamamura.html

R.I.P.

 

[Joe Cohen]

Be Yamamura was my mentor. In 1993 I met Luigi Basagni in Las Vegas. He gave me an A.R.T. Cable to test. I was taken with it and became the U.S. distributor. At the time I believed that it was an Italian made product. That year I travelled to Italy. Luigi introduced me to Be who informed me that in fact the cable was made in Japan by Tri Associates. I was then able to purchase the products directly from Japan. I suggested the name Millennium 2000 which was adopted. I spent many trade shows in Be’s company and queried him endlessly about his practices and theories. When we visited Be and Keiko in Tuscany he had a true air bearing turntable: It had a graphite platter that fit over a brass cylinder with air holes on the top and sides so the platter was centered by air and never came in contact with the plinth. While an LP was playing he lifted a rubber mallet, drew my attention to it and then hit the center of graphite record weight with some force. The sound did not waver, not a blip! At that time he had the first generation cork covered Dionisio loudspeakers. I became the importer for the speakers, and electronics, along with the Ciabatta power conditioner. The Dionisio were in my living room for years with the gracious permission of my wife. I know she would have much preferred a grand piano.

Be was a unique and tireless innovator. The very first ball bearing based vibration control device that I am aware of was the Millennium Bearing. We sold many of those. We also had a shielding material, Tri-guard, which we sold. Paul Waukeen was one of my earliest customers.

I brought the entire Yamamura system to the Chicago C.E.S. One of the Lowther drivers had a problem and we had to air mail a replacement from England. We had one channel of sound until the final afternoon of the show.

After some time we ended our business relationship and I left the high end industry. However, I was unable to stay away for long and began creating my own cable designs and founded PranaWire in 2002. In 2005 I met Be again in Las Vegas where he introduced me to Mr. Murayama of Oyaide. I later became the U.S. importer for Oyaide and Acrolink.

Be was an innovator who stressed the importance of dealing with the myriad vulnerabilities in high end systems in order to release the natural and organic sound that is lurking beneath the noise - an exploration without apparent end. Be may not be a household name for many audiophiles, but in one way or another we all owe him a debt of gratitude.


The original Dionisio.


Second Generation Dionisio


Yamamura Resistors made by Sfernice


Yamamura Electronics

 

[bonzo75]

These were the last of his horns, which pepe57 (pietro) owned

http://zero-distortion.org/yamamura-horns/

 

[BruceD]

These were the last of his horns, which pepe57 (pietro) owned

http://zero-distortion.org/yamamura-horns/

I agree such finesse in the presentation--I've heard those horns-set apart on a long wall

effortless presentation Be Y certainly was unique and master of his craft .

We only have Matsumoto-san and 2or3 of the Most respected Hi end Old guard audio Designers

left now with BeY /Sakuma joining past masters Shindo/Kondo all passing

BruceD

 

[gian60]

I remember i meet Yamamura around 2000/2004 years in Milan Show and told me Acrolink push him to develop the market in Italy and find one distributor.I asked him what he thinks about Acrolink cable.
He reply are terrible because Acrolink are no good to do cable.He explained to Acrolink how to do cables,but they didn't understood.

This is first turntable he did with platter completely on air and arm in graphite high density with Pantograph design,like KL Audio is doing now,
and the first system he did in Italy,did for me with tube mono preamp with 2 external power supply and 4 stack mono amp,push pull of 845
Speaker made with top Lowter driver in Alnico and super tweeter TAD 703 modified from him.
The sub was a very heavy cylinder high 2 mt,2 people cannot move with 2 woofer on top.
Passive crossover cut at 100 hz he made

Impossible find a better system in that years.

This 2 photo Ken Kessler made in my home,he come from England to my home to listen this system and put on HIFI NEWS on 1992