If you have been in this audio industry quite some time, then you might not be surprised to hear this name: Yamamoto. Yamamoto is well known for its Telfon tube socket. Although we can find other products manufactured by this brand.
To be honest, there are not much tube socket manufacturer in the world (I mean, “good” tube socket manufacturer). Off course you can always find “standard” tube socket (could be Ceramic base, Teflon, Bakelite, and other materials). The price also could vary, from less than US$ 10 a piece, to over US$ 10 to 20 a piece (usually for Teflon based).
Yamamoto holds its own class, as Japanese manufacturer with high quality construction. But the bad thing is, you have to spend more to grab his product 😉
Despite its quality, Yamamoto also quite genius to release some dual construction tube socket. One of them which suits my need is the UX-UF socket combination. I can save space to make my system able to use two type of rectifiers: B4/UF based rectifier (RGN, what else?) and UX based rectifier (like #80 or #83 Mercury Vapor type). Actually the original idea was to use 300B and PX25, but we can always have another use, right?
The bottom side of the pins.
This is the 5pins Rectifier tube socket. We can have the Octal one also, but this one is specified for Rectifier purpose.
The 9pins version is one of the most expensive line up from Yamamoto. According to some source, the construction is more complicated as this is the smallest tube socket with quite high count of pins (so they will charge you more). Also, the precision of the machine to build this socket is on the level of building watches.
Although this picture is quite big, but actually the real size is quite small. See the pins construction on the bottom of this 9pins socket? The detail and precision are there. Not quite sure if they really use a machine which uses to build watches, but definitely this kind of socket is not easy to be manufactured.
Last but not least, I also need P-Socket. But sadly, Yamamoto only has Ceramic based for this type. I think due to the complexity of the construction (and probably less market demand), makes the Teflon based for this socket is out of economic scale.
All of the Yamamoto tube socket pins are non-magnetic type. Based on the information from the Yamamoto itself, they don’t use Nickel during the construction of the pins. This will result a slightly less shiny gold plated finish, as Nickel is normally used to give shiny ‘expensive’ look. But magnetic things could degrade the sound – which I’ve been there on several ‘magnetic’ cable. So, I don’t like magnetic things on my signal chain 🙂
Roy
April 8, 2012 16:29Ada sisa? Bro Jim ada YM?
Auw Jimmy
April 9, 2012 11:18Hi Bro,
Karena harganya lumayan bikin manyun, saya hanya beli seperlunya Bro.
Kalo mau order, bisa coba ke JacMusic. Sellernya OK sih menurut saya.
Thanks.
GGG Tube
April 9, 2012 20:17Great goods from you, man. I’ve be mindful your stuff previous to and you are simply extremely magnificent. I really like what you have got here, certainly like what you’re stating and the way wherein you are saying it. You make it entertaining and you still take care of to stay it wise. I can’t wait to read far more from you. That is really a terrific website.
Tyo
April 11, 2012 21:52Socket Yamamoto secara built qaulity emang bagus, tapi bukan nggak ada kelemahannya. Nggak bisa keseringan dibuat tube rolling. Karakter socketnya mudah longgar dibanding CMC (yang sama2 teflon).
Auw Jimmy
April 11, 2012 23:01Hi Pak Tyo,
Oh kalo itu sih kasus lama koq. Yang 9pin kan? Seingat saya sudah cukup lama juga Shigeki Yamamoto-nya juga sudah mengklarifikasi hal itu (nanti coba saya cari arsipnya). Tapi dari pengalaman saya sih sejauh ini – setidaknya beberapa tahun terakhir – enggak seperti itu ya? Ya kita juga pakainya hati2 lah. Lihat2 dulu sebelum tabung dipasang, jangan main hajar saja hahaha. Kalo socket 25rb-an sih coblos aja, rusak beli lagi. La wong ini harga socket-nya bisa berkali2 lipat harga tabungnya koq 🙂 Saya aja kalo masang selalu hati2 dan make sure kaki tabungnya bagus koq (enggak ada bekas solderan yang aneh2).
Dan soal suaranya ya definitely jauh lah. Pak Tyo sudah pernah pakai pasti sudah tahu rasanya, kan?
Anyway, kalo bicara kuat2an gigit, saya sih pegang Ceramic socket, apalagi yang tipe B4/B5. Langsung gigit ke Ceramic-nya sih itu pin-nya. Dijamin enggak akan lepas deh. Keterlaluan kalo sampe lepas he he he.
Thanks.
Tyo
April 16, 2012 22:26Nggak hanya yang 9 pin omm Jim, yang lainnya juga kurang lebih begitu. Yang 8 pin atau yang versi B4 sami mawon. Ini lebih ke perkara moda jepitnya yang hanya dibelah 2, bukan dibelah 6 atau 8. Tapi saya pikir kalau hati2 hal2 semacam ini bisa lah dieliminir.
Soal suara hmmm jauh lah dengan brand2 lain. Metal quality pin Yamamoto memang top. What you pay is what you get…..
Auw Jimmy
April 16, 2012 22:49Hi Pak Tyo,
Kalo yg selain 9pin sih saya ga pernah denger dan belum pernah tahu ada yang ngalamin juga. Semoga ga perlu ngalamin deh. Males ngencengin lagi gitu2an.
Ngomong2 Pak Tyo pake socket Yamamoto yg mana? Dan dipake di mana? Pasti barang maut punya (pake 9pin, octal, dan B4)?
Thanks.
nick bojko
January 7, 2013 01:47nice socket but mediocre in sound,problem lies with the pins,to many different metals.Idealy the best would be tellurium copper plated with silver not gold,gold plating has about 30% actual gold rest is who knows what.In all my research of metal for sonics pure silver occ than occ copper followed by oxygen free copper.for socket pins occ copper pins can be used but brass like yamamoto uses,pass!!!!!!!since no one makes occ copper,tellurium copper is available from puciano.I’ve seen some oxygen copper posts but are they pure oxygen copper pins with gold plating?what yamamoto charges for brass pins is sad,since brass is one of the worst sounding material i have tried,remember brass binding posts,try cardis pure copper posts for an eye oppener.sincerely.nick.
Auw Jimmy
January 7, 2013 02:36Hi Nick,
Perhaps this could be another eye opener how the socket was made and what was the material (not a Brass, please). If I could recall my memory correctly, Brass was used on Yamamoto 9-pin converter socket (on the PCB). All standard sockets should use Bronze (I believe you know the different between Brass and Bronze?).
http://www.jacmusic.com/sockets/Socket-Yamamoto.htm
I agree on one side that silver is better than gold or any other. I use pure silver for my cable and capacitor to. The problem is, they are damned expensive.
But on the other side, I’m not really agree if you say Yamamoto is mediocre performer. You mention puciano (I suppose the Italian, Luciano)?
His socket is good, not too expensive for a Tellurium Copper based, but my ears prefer Yamamoto. Material wise, yes Tellurium is better than Bronze used by Yamamoto (but who knows the ingredients inside) or perhaps I have a bad ears!
Thanks.