Anybody used Nikko amps before?

What do you guys think of the Nikko 130 coupled with the Beta 30 pre-amp

I picked up a pair of Cerwin Vega CLSC 12's (Tower Speakers and needed something to power those.

They are rated at 150rms @ 8 ohms,

I listen to mostly rap and every home theater receiver i tried out there doesnt push these speakers to well.

Someone told me to get a power amp...

what do you guys think?

I've had the Nikko NA-690 for ages now. Having already pursued the high end and home theater ad nauseum for some time, I can without reservation vouch in this case for the amp's reliabiltiy and sound; it plays like it did when new and has the clarity, warmth and headroom mentioned in prior posts. Sure it's mid-fi strictly speaking, but represents everything good about the genre/era and yes, sounds robust and vibrant after all this time. Right now it's connected to a Philips 963SA DVD/CD/SACD player and kicking tail through it's generous headphone output. Also sound good with Rega 25 and Shure V15VxMR using it's MM phono amp. Power belies modest rating, runs great in family room. Unless it's been abused, recommended especially at the used prices it goes for.

I have a Nikko NA 790 and it is not working. We have it hooked up to our PowerMac G4 (using iTunes) and Bose Acoustimass 3 series IV but for some reason, we are not getting any sound out. We are using a standard RCA to mini cable. This is really frustrating. And unless we can resolve this issue, the almighty Nikko is headed straight to the curb. I am a total novice, so any advice in layman's terms would be hugely appreciated.

I just picked up a nice Nikko Alpha III power amp for next to nothing, and I have to say it's a great little amp. It sounds pretty clean / distortion free and the clipping protection circuit seems to work very effectivley. I'm an Adcom / NAD / Pioneer / Marantz fan, but I have to say that the Nikko holds its own quite nicely. It's 80 wpc is a little too small for the power hungry vintage AR speakers I'm driving with it, but it is clean right up to the max output, and the protection shuts it down right when it should. It's the first Nikko power amp I've ever had (I had one of their analog tuners once that was pretty decent and an integrated receiver that was only so-so) and for the money it's a decent amp - I would've paid more than I did for it if the seller had asked. Super nice build quality, and looks like it has a seperate power supply for left and right channels (ala Adcom GFA-2). Probably best suited for ported or smaller bookshelf speakers, or great for the fronts on a surround system but DEFINATELY NOT GARBAGE!!

I owned the Nikko Alpha 230, Alpha 450 and 330 watt-per-channel Alpha 2000 between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s, as well as the Beta 30 and Beta 600 preamps. The amps were much better than the preamps, having a smooth, sweet sound. In the mid-'90s when I was looking to upgrade my system to something with a little more detail and transparency, I pitted the Alpha 2000 against a number of high end amps and the Nikko held its own. It eventually took a Classé amp costing more than twice that of the Alpha 2000 to better it. Inspite of that, since that time I have been collecting and restoring vintage amps and am sorry that I ever got rid of that Alpha 2000.