Yeah, So Tonight That I Might See definitely getting played later. I adore that album
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Clive Cussler has passed on. I have fond memories of reading tatty second hand copies of his output on summer holiday in West Cork (horizontal rain obligatory).
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I used to like his Dirk Pitt stuff when I was a kid, although I knew they were just enjoyable nonsense.
Tbh, I thought he had died a while back, doesn’t his son continue to write the novels under his name these days?
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Very sad.
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In the early/mid 1980’s he used to hand make one of the nicest amplifiers. The first one that really shook (for me) what I’d to that point accepted as the way things were. It was a 211 amp he built using custom Tamura transformers. The layout was a bit like an Ongaku although the colour scheme was brown & grey. Sounded fantastic. Just so enjoyable with all sorts of music. Would love to find one. I think most ended up in Denmark. I’ll try to find a picture of one.
I finally met him at a Munich show perhaps 3 years ago where his was showing some giant horns as part of a static display.
I found this that I’d written about him on here a couple of years ago.
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Nice piece here
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If I remember correctly the amps with the curved wooden fronts in the above picture were transconductance types, would love to hear one of those as well.
I was contacted by a guy who was trying to write a biography of Yamamura 3-4 years ago. I told him what little I knew & also sent him some pics of various bits that Be had made for customers in the UK. He did seem to offer a Bespoke service to those that found him & could afford it.
The 211 amp (want)
One of the tt’s he made
Parts of unipivot arm (it had a ceramic tube I gather)
From the would be biographer
Studio Beco was formed in 1977; a partnership consisting of Bei and Bob Yates. I know nothing of Bob Yates background, though it’s possible he might have worked for a shop called Knightsbridge Hi Fi, that Be had dealings with in the mid 70s. In this period, Bei was involved in motor racing-Formula 3 and Ford. Apparently Be leased the cars and budding Japanese racing drivers paid large sums of money to come to the UK to race them. Bei, also, either owned or co- owned a Japanese restaurant in Beak Street in Soho called Yamaju(I think it’s now a Pizza Express). This address was
also the registered address of Studio Beco, though I don’t think any demos were conducted amongst the sushi. Bei was then married to an English woman, living in Bushey. I gather the front “garden” and living room resembled an audio from hell(or heaven, depending on your perspective) construction site. Demonstrations were conducted at Bob Yates’s mother’s house in Chiswick. The company imported AudioNote, Melco, Hi-Lect? and marketed Be’s own Beocord cable. I understand that both Bei and Bob used Sequerra Pyramid loudspeakers, which I think at that time were marketed under the Metronome brand.
The partnership came to an end in I guess 81/82. I haven’t delved into the details, but for all intents and purposes, Bob Yates did a runner and disappeared , owing Bei and at least one of his customers money and leaving Bei to pick up the pieces. Around this time Bei divorced, and a customer/friend arranged for Bei to live in a very basic and dilapidated old coach house near the Kilburn High Road. This is where Bei concentrated on his audio designs for the next couple of years. From my understanding Bei only had a handful of customers during this time, including the aforementioned friend, a doctor in the Midlands, a Brazilian architect, Chris Rice of Altarus Records, and a Canadian called Pierre Bolduc, who’s now the editor of Audiophile Sound in Italy. My contact , Jim who arranged the Kilburn property had a complete system designed by Bei A one ton air -floating turntable made out of steel and glass, with a ceramic tone arm with first an AudioNote cartridge, then Koetsu Rosewood Signature.Various incarnations of Bei’s 211 Set, the final version of which had a large wooden cabinet containing up to 100 paper capacitors, with the main chassis sitting on top with the 211s (purchased as a job lot of 3000 from a shop in Paris!) and car batteries for valve heaters. His speakers consisted of: Western Electric 12" drivers (2 each side) in a shallow horn made of steel, paving stones and plaster , 2 midrange horns made from stainless steel and iroko wood, using stainless steel reinforced Fostex compression drivers, together with a Pioneer Special Products high range horn and a stainless steel super tweeter horn with Beryllium ribbon.
When Jim moved to a smaller house the turntable and arm were damaged and by this time Bei had requisitioned the high range, super tweeters and 211 amp for demos.
He left the bass horns at his old house!!! I’ve been offered the mid-range horns and am considering buying either for heritage sake or as part of a suitable project - any ideas? Acting on your tip off, I phoned Peter Empson this morning, and though understandably slightly cagey, I twigged that “the customer” was in fact the aforementioned
Jim! Must e-mail him to ascertain what he was selling; I thought I had first dibs!
After a couple of years in Kilburn, I think Bei moved to Notting Hill for a time. Then around 1987? he moved to Tuscany , helped by introductions by Pierre Bolduc, he formed a company with Luigi Basagni called Audio Reference Technology- A.R.T. They produced a range of graphite accessories, feet, record clamps, ferrite rings etc along with Bei’s cables, which found their way to this country, in drips and drabs from the late 80s - early 90s. From the earliest time in Italy Bei started work on the cork horns initially using modified Lowthers, which were later to be fully realised in the Yamamura Churchill Dionisio using Bei’s own Cantus driver. These went through various incarnations , the horn increasing significantly in size and the driver using differing materials and suspension components. A.R.T in Italy also marketed Bei’s all carbon Air-Float turntable, Pantograph style arm and AudioTekne produced, MC and various bespoke amps and speakers.
The partnership with Robert Churchill was formed around 93/94 and Yamamura Churchill proper appeared to start in1996.Bei was still in Tuscany during this period and I think that most of the hardware was sold in Italy and the States. I’m unaware of any Yamamura Churchill systems in the UK and I think they only sold the cables and accessories here. Graham Tricker was involved in making some of the cheaper cables & QC. The company appeared to fizzle out around 2001. by which time Bei had moved to Florida, possibly as a result of having some problems with his eyes, which he had treated there. He subsequently returned to live in Japan, where he still currently resides. Whilst there, he has acted as an advisor for Acrolink Corp & Oyaide and lately I gather he’s been working with ALE Laboratory.
The most recent information I have from Pierre Bolduc is that Bei( that is apparently how he now spells his name) is still very active and should relatively soon be coming out with a number of new designs, which could actually result in commercial offerings. Pierre said that there should be UK representation in the near future. Amongst others he mentioned solid state class A, integrated amps & phono stage; a very sophisticated Dac and digital “platform” for measuring and compensating multi -driver speakers; a turntable & cartridge; a cuddly toy and an affordable horn speaker!
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Another pic of one of his 211 amps as advertised by Abbott Audio (Newark?) mid 80’s
Be was pretty much ploughing a lone furrow in the UK at that time!
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I remember the lush adverts for copper coloured bits in Hifi News in early 1980s? A tonearm that looked like a tower crane and large curvy horns come to mind.
He was a cable believer, just like Kondo.
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What a lovely car, chunky. Is that all engine under the bonnet ? 
Think it was a 4.0L V8 - presumably BMW.
Oh bugger.
Whether you like them or not (I do) it’s just another firm that oozed quality and style, regardless of cost, down the drain 
Our ever increasingly mass produced World is going to be so dull.
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Oh, I could develop a heavy right foot in that. Probably need a second mortgage to keep the tank full.
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McCoy Tyner - one of my favourite jazzers I haz the sad now 
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