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After two hours ride from Tokyo, the express train brings you to the small town of Tateyama near the beautiful seaside.
At the end of the street, you find a small restaurant called " Concord".
As soon as you step into the entrance, you are puzzled by the fantastic sight of many hand made vacuum tube amplifiers.
'Am I in a restaurant, or in an audio shop?'.
When you need someone's help, across the counter you will find the man with a smile.
This is Mr. Susumu Sakuma.
We call him "Sakuma san".


Sakuma san was born in 1943.
After making many amplifiers, he noticed that the amplifier conforming to electronic theory does not always satisfy our emotional sense.
He decided to build his system by his emotion, not theory.

His many original ideas have resulted in an unusual monophonic system.
Sakuma amplifiers are especially unusual.
He didn't care about slander against himself, but he was concerned for the feelings of Sakuma amplifier users.
The one way to prove their correctness, was by giving audio concert demonstrations.
During some two scores of years, there have been presented innumerable domestic audio concerts, as well as those in Milan and Paris, using amplifiers of his own production and other audio instruments of his choice.
More than 4,000 people have listened to music played through his system with great enjoyment. Newspapers and magazines welcomed his performances.
Experiencing his sound, both music fans and the media agreed that reproduced music can be also a form of ART that has beauty and communicates as much emotion as "real" music.

Today more than 200 audiophiles visit Sakuma each year to seek truth in the words "Farewell to theory".

In 1977 the editor of "Audio technology MJ Musen to Jikken" visited the Concord Restaurant.
He was impressed with Sakuma sound and requested Sakuma san to write a report of his works for "MJ".

More than 40 Sakuma articles have appeared in "Audio technology MJ Musen to Jikken" in nearly 20 years.
"MJ Musen to Jikken" is a most authoritative magazine, published since 1924.

In 1980 Direct Heating was incorporated.
Our activities include publishing "Direct Heating" magazine, giving audio concerts and other beneficial steps to bring audio into the fine arts.

In 1989 Sakuma san published "The Remembrance of Sound Past".
Both 1st and 2nd edition are out of print, and he is writing a new book.


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