Homer4beer
Well-Known Member
I thought this may be of interest for you guys as I've not really seen or heard much about this tuner amp, however, going by the little info I have, it could be considered one of the first designer pieces of HiFi as well as one of the first Solid State amps.
I picked this unit up from Ebay. It is in working condition other than the FM which tunes stations, however doesn't seem to come through to the amp properly. It's in excellent condition on the outside but I haven't looked "inside her heart", so to speak, yet.
I can't find an owners manual or service manual anywhere however the info I come across seems contradictory. Some sources state 40W but going by the brochure it is 100W? (2x50W I presume) If anybody knows of where I can source a service manual I'd be most grateful.
This is the unit I bought.
Some more pics I took when it arrived.
Some internal shots from an old Ebay ad
And finally about the only review I've found so far.
A repost of the review.
http://select45rpm.com/pages/hifi/vintage-hifi-reviews.html#142
AS-ORIGINAL: Very Good. UPGRADED: Excellent. 40w.
CC, Transformer coupled. After success with this brand finding the 1970 Akai AA-8500 below, to look out for more. This is a slimline designer looking receiver, the sort of modern design Bang & Olufsen will have seen. Thick wood sides with a dust trapping solid cast grille. Fully featured receiver, if no Filters which is unusual but these can compromise a design. First appears in Hi-Fi News April 1967 in the 'Audio Fair Preview' shows a picture, price was £147 5s, despite Akai having a London showroom as did Sony, they mostly sold Tape machines. On getting the not-great circuit diagram, as it's 1966 it has Nuvistors for the Tuner stage still. The circuit in transistors is Phono x2, Tone-Pre x1, Power Amp driver x3, Transformer coupling splitter to Output pair. The schematic is awful blurry with little detail to know even the components which makes it tricky. Appears in the 1967/68 HFYB as '40w music' for £156, if it's 40w RMS from giving 27v clean sine & the brochures say it weighs 13kg which is heavy for the slim size & the high price is in the range of the Fisher receivers. Not expecting this to be easy, but certainly worthwhile. The AA-7000 & AA-5000 brochure suggests the AA-7000 has germanium outputs if they aren't, the slighly later AA-5000 seems an updated design with silicons & no coupling transformer but only 8kg. The AA-7000 is actually very large 52cm wide, 11cm high & 44cm deep. On getting our new coffee table, aka this huge amp, it's very impressive 1" thick solid wood sides aka veneered ply, huge glass tuner display, Silicon outputs the same as the Sansui 3000A had the Bendix B170008 'orange'. The tuner has a space for '102' but even the ad shows it's not included, strange. The top is in two parts with the power amp output stage on the front one with 2 cable plugs. We've seen some stylish Hifi but this one will have delighted the women as it looks so cool, not some plain box thing, this is a designer piece. The transformer is a block one the full height, the size you see in 50w amps. The recess for the AM antenna which is usually a pain on receivers is mostly out of the way. Multivoltage switch & plug under a small cover to set to 6 voltages, ours was sold for 110v, can't see many UK buyers after this in 1966. The input phono sockets are the good not conical ones, Muting & FM gain switches, Speaker out is like the AA-8500 via 6.3mm mono jacks or more typical screw connectors. Amps like this need to be in Museums as Mid Century classics like Eames chairs, why is Hifi so underappreciated for design? All amps pre 1969 seem to need a full recap, after that the quality must have improved, but a 1966 amp needs a full rebuild. Still has the small grey hollow resistors like valve amps use & some are handpainted for the value lines. The power amp top lid section has 'Riken' large capacitors called "Dry Electrolytic" which doesn't quite make sense, cutting them open shows they are a typical electrolytic cap if dry & slightly crusty from age if smells different. Amps like this keep our interest in this alive. To get to the fascia etc, lids off, sides off, tuner part off & then 8 bulbs which are 6.3v bayonet type. To be extra careful of the tuner glass blue-grey & white lettering is important: if it looks 'bubbly' it'll wash off with just water as ours did, we know how to redo it. To recap this to our standards is a tricky one too, the 4 large caps are one single, one double & two triple so 9 caps in 4 cases. This amp has had a full recap on all but the 4 largest caps including the tuner, reveals an excellent sound, wide stereo & deep full bass shows it certainly is worth the effort. We left the 150v tuner ones as original as they get light use & having cut similar apart, they are still good, if it could be redone fully. The 3 larger caps were barely damp but not crusty so one you could get away with using occasionally. There are two minor versions, the side boards are solid veneered ply on the early ones, later the ply was machined out on the inside, holes in the metal sides made & metal runners added on the top edge which are vents for the inside, this is original & appears a rarer version from ones found online. There isn't much heat inside only the NuVistors, the top lid is the amp heatsink. The later one adds a resistor & transistor to the output stages, but the glue rusts the transistor & ruins it. As the manual doesn't show this addition, it appears to be the nearly the same as the Sansui 3000A output stage adding stability, if it works fine without it. The sound as recapped & upgraded on the Tannoy Golds is extremely good, rating a very high Excellent. The solid bassline this amp has as well as sweet crisp treble & a midrange smoothness & dynamics that rivals our valve amps. A tricky amp to get right, but a real winner if you have the space for it. BUY-RAW RATING: Will need some recapping as too old & it's got other tricky issues, but well worth the effort.REBUILD RATING: We've had two of these, to rebuild is an advanced job as so much needs redoing. COOL RATING: 9 the first 'designer' styled Hifi, unique looks with high quality build, made to impress. Treat it kindly & it'll not disappoint. (2015-16)
I picked this unit up from Ebay. It is in working condition other than the FM which tunes stations, however doesn't seem to come through to the amp properly. It's in excellent condition on the outside but I haven't looked "inside her heart", so to speak, yet.
I can't find an owners manual or service manual anywhere however the info I come across seems contradictory. Some sources state 40W but going by the brochure it is 100W? (2x50W I presume) If anybody knows of where I can source a service manual I'd be most grateful.
This is the unit I bought.
Some more pics I took when it arrived.
Some internal shots from an old Ebay ad
And finally about the only review I've found so far.
A repost of the review.
http://select45rpm.com/pages/hifi/vintage-hifi-reviews.html#142
AS-ORIGINAL: Very Good. UPGRADED: Excellent. 40w.
CC, Transformer coupled. After success with this brand finding the 1970 Akai AA-8500 below, to look out for more. This is a slimline designer looking receiver, the sort of modern design Bang & Olufsen will have seen. Thick wood sides with a dust trapping solid cast grille. Fully featured receiver, if no Filters which is unusual but these can compromise a design. First appears in Hi-Fi News April 1967 in the 'Audio Fair Preview' shows a picture, price was £147 5s, despite Akai having a London showroom as did Sony, they mostly sold Tape machines. On getting the not-great circuit diagram, as it's 1966 it has Nuvistors for the Tuner stage still. The circuit in transistors is Phono x2, Tone-Pre x1, Power Amp driver x3, Transformer coupling splitter to Output pair. The schematic is awful blurry with little detail to know even the components which makes it tricky. Appears in the 1967/68 HFYB as '40w music' for £156, if it's 40w RMS from giving 27v clean sine & the brochures say it weighs 13kg which is heavy for the slim size & the high price is in the range of the Fisher receivers. Not expecting this to be easy, but certainly worthwhile. The AA-7000 & AA-5000 brochure suggests the AA-7000 has germanium outputs if they aren't, the slighly later AA-5000 seems an updated design with silicons & no coupling transformer but only 8kg. The AA-7000 is actually very large 52cm wide, 11cm high & 44cm deep. On getting our new coffee table, aka this huge amp, it's very impressive 1" thick solid wood sides aka veneered ply, huge glass tuner display, Silicon outputs the same as the Sansui 3000A had the Bendix B170008 'orange'. The tuner has a space for '102' but even the ad shows it's not included, strange. The top is in two parts with the power amp output stage on the front one with 2 cable plugs. We've seen some stylish Hifi but this one will have delighted the women as it looks so cool, not some plain box thing, this is a designer piece. The transformer is a block one the full height, the size you see in 50w amps. The recess for the AM antenna which is usually a pain on receivers is mostly out of the way. Multivoltage switch & plug under a small cover to set to 6 voltages, ours was sold for 110v, can't see many UK buyers after this in 1966. The input phono sockets are the good not conical ones, Muting & FM gain switches, Speaker out is like the AA-8500 via 6.3mm mono jacks or more typical screw connectors. Amps like this need to be in Museums as Mid Century classics like Eames chairs, why is Hifi so underappreciated for design? All amps pre 1969 seem to need a full recap, after that the quality must have improved, but a 1966 amp needs a full rebuild. Still has the small grey hollow resistors like valve amps use & some are handpainted for the value lines. The power amp top lid section has 'Riken' large capacitors called "Dry Electrolytic" which doesn't quite make sense, cutting them open shows they are a typical electrolytic cap if dry & slightly crusty from age if smells different. Amps like this keep our interest in this alive. To get to the fascia etc, lids off, sides off, tuner part off & then 8 bulbs which are 6.3v bayonet type. To be extra careful of the tuner glass blue-grey & white lettering is important: if it looks 'bubbly' it'll wash off with just water as ours did, we know how to redo it. To recap this to our standards is a tricky one too, the 4 large caps are one single, one double & two triple so 9 caps in 4 cases. This amp has had a full recap on all but the 4 largest caps including the tuner, reveals an excellent sound, wide stereo & deep full bass shows it certainly is worth the effort. We left the 150v tuner ones as original as they get light use & having cut similar apart, they are still good, if it could be redone fully. The 3 larger caps were barely damp but not crusty so one you could get away with using occasionally. There are two minor versions, the side boards are solid veneered ply on the early ones, later the ply was machined out on the inside, holes in the metal sides made & metal runners added on the top edge which are vents for the inside, this is original & appears a rarer version from ones found online. There isn't much heat inside only the NuVistors, the top lid is the amp heatsink. The later one adds a resistor & transistor to the output stages, but the glue rusts the transistor & ruins it. As the manual doesn't show this addition, it appears to be the nearly the same as the Sansui 3000A output stage adding stability, if it works fine without it. The sound as recapped & upgraded on the Tannoy Golds is extremely good, rating a very high Excellent. The solid bassline this amp has as well as sweet crisp treble & a midrange smoothness & dynamics that rivals our valve amps. A tricky amp to get right, but a real winner if you have the space for it. BUY-RAW RATING: Will need some recapping as too old & it's got other tricky issues, but well worth the effort.REBUILD RATING: We've had two of these, to rebuild is an advanced job as so much needs redoing. COOL RATING: 9 the first 'designer' styled Hifi, unique looks with high quality build, made to impress. Treat it kindly & it'll not disappoint. (2015-16)
, l did see that for sale and was tempted but l have too much stuff already. As you say that would have to be one of the most unique Akai's ever made. I feel Akai in general is WAY underrated, their gear is very well built.
