AWA Stereo 45 & AM 3

[MovingAhead]

Here's an old one our brethren from across the ditch may recognize.

AWA - Amalgamated Wireless Australasia , Made in NZ

Orthofidelity Series   -Ortho is a Greek prefix meaning “straight”, “upright”, “right” or “correct”.

 

 

Stereo 45 – 12 watts into 8 ohms, Capacitor coupled topography.

Phono 3+3 transistors , Tone 2+2, Main Amp 7+7 (outputs TO-66 package) -total 24 Si transistors

 

and AM3 tuner

 

 

 

I finally found myself with a moment to tackle a project. The AM3 tuner found me a few weeks ago and I had the amp awaiting repairs from years ago. The amp is easy to work on. The phono and tone cards pull out and real estate isn’t densely populated. The axial capacitors looked sick and generally were +75% off manu spec. Replaced with film and electro. The transistors were hissy in the pre stage and it looked like replacements had been done in the past. Originally used BC variety. So I replaced all small signal transistors with matched modern BC components. Aligned.

 

Maybe one of out SNA members can share their knowledge / history with AMA?

 

 

[Antipodean Brad]

Lovely. Thanks for posting.

[Colin Rutter]

I had the tuner years ago.

It was ok but not in the same class as a Quad or Leak.

[MovingAhead]

That would be correct. To be sensible the above units were produced for a low price range.

However, it is still all discrete (even the tuner is IC free) and clear as a bell 50 years later. And serviceable to boot.

Also made in NZ before manufacturing was off-shored.

What appeals to me is the low transistor count, TO66 outputs with TO5 drivers and a low NFB. The first watt is delivered without complication.

Edited January 13, 2021 by MovingAhead
added text

[Ian McP]

Apparently the Audiosound wideband AM 101 tuner (1977) was a top performer

 

http://www.audiosoundlabs.com.au/

 

regards Ian

 

[MosfetMainac]

Late to the party…but I have a couple of pre-amp (M1200/1), power amp (M1205) and tone (M1203/3) boards boards if anyone wants them. Akl.