Question Does anyone know what this is?

[TK311]

Hi

I've been trawling through google for a very long time to try and work out where this amp is from (got it for free from a family friend, who was also given the amplifier). It's a UKAA AVV-60A Valve/Tube Amplifier. I've paired it to some B&W floor speakers and they perform alright, but just wanting to look up more information for it. My first guess is its a Chinese amplifier and I probably will never find anything on it, but any insight is much appreciated!



Thanks!

 

[Al ears]

Interesting, apart from finding an identical one for sale in New South Wales there seems nothing else available in terms of information about it.

 

[Deleted member 188533]

Interesting, apart from finding an identical one for sale in New South Wales there seems nothing else available in terms of information about it.

That was all I could find as well. That and links to this thread.

Is stereo spelled wrong on it or is that a language thing I don't know about? Any other model or product numbers on the back?

 

[Al ears]

That was all I could find as well. That and links to this thread.

Is stereo spelled wrong on it or is that a language thing I don't know about? Any other model or product numbers on the back?

Good spot, it says Stero, hadn't noticed that. Perhaps it is Chinese.....
Would be interesting to see what tubes are fitted although they might not be originals.

 

[Friesiansam]

Tried several different search engines and, a reverse image search. Nowt.

 

[Al ears]

Tried several different search engines and, a reverse image search. Nowt.

Then that makes it a very rare beastie indeed.

 

[TK311]

That was all I could find as well. That and links to this thread.

Is stereo spelled wrong on it or is that a language thing I don't know about? Any other model or product numbers on the back?

I'm 100% sure its a typo which I believe is normal for "unbranded" Chinese products, and theres nothing on the back, just inputs. It does say its made by "UK Audio Advanced" which turns up nothing in a Google search.




The tubes seem to be "J Grade" Shuguang Chinese tubes (courtesy of Google), which leads me to think this is a chinese amp. If i'm wrong about the tubes please let me know, I have never owned any shape or form of tubes so have no idea.

 

[TrevC]

The right hand valve looks gassed.

 

[Deleted member 188516]

The right hand valve looks gassed.

potential fire hazard ?

 

[TK311]

potential fire hazard ?

This is what i would like to know as well. If it's a hazard will probably try find a replacement or stop using it

 

[Al ears]

If you got it for free might be worth getting it checked out by a qualified electrician and replace all the tubes.

 

[TrevC]

No, it means the vacuum has gone and it's buggered. No fire hazard!

 

[TK311]

If you got it for free might be worth getting it checked out by a qualified electrician and replace all the tubes.

Ordered 4x JJ EL84 tubes from a local supplier to replace the smaller ones. The bigger ones look pristine so going to leave those for now. Will do with the electricians check! Thanks

EDIT: Also noted that this amp seems to "merge" all the 5.1ch together into just one garbled stereo output. Probably fake 5.1 or is this due to the blown tube?

 

[Al ears]

No, it means the vacuum has gone and it's buggered. No fire hazard!

I'm assuming, if it had gone, you'd notice it.....and maybe the OP has just answered that with his latest post ...... that I have only just read, ho hum!

 

[Al ears]

Ordered 4x JJ EL84 tubes from a local supplier to replace the smaller ones. The bigger ones look pristine so going to leave those for now. Will do with the electricians check! Thanks

EDIT: Also noted that this amp seems to "merge" all the 5.1ch together into just one garbled stereo output. Probably fake 5.1 or is this due to the blown tube?

5.1 channels? Got any photos of the rear of this beast?

 

[TK311]

I'm assuming, if it had gone, you'd notice it.....and maybe the OP has just answered that with his latest post ...... that I have only just read, ho hum!

Haha, this is my first ever tube amp, and i have no understanding of tubes, other than they're supposed to sound great. Didn't even realize it was blown because ive never heard it with an unblown one so it seems!

5.1 channels? Got any photos of the rear of this beast?

Whether i connect only FR/FL or SR/SL even CEN/SW, it just plays across all connected speakers regardless. Testing individual channels with my PC, Right is isolated nicely, however the left, centre, surround channels seem to be "merged". Feels like all the 3 right channels are just 1 and all the left channels are just 1.

EDIT: There isnt much info on this, but ive seen the ad for this amp go for $250. Stupid question, but in terms of tube amps will there be a huge perceived difference comparing this to say a $4,000 tube amp?

 

[Al ears]

Now I am confused.
So it's an AV amp but what have you got hooked up to it as sources?
Can see why sound is muddled, how do you get multi channel output if you don't have an hdmi cable as an input from your bluray player?
To get all those speaker channels outputting you need a DVD player with separate audio outputs for all speakers and all those input sockets on the right of your photo need to be populated.
Without this you might as well disconnect everything apart from FR and FL and use it for stereo only.
You said it was connected to some B&W floorstanders so what are all those other speaker cables connected to???
I think you need to g back to basics, it appears you only have a left and a right audio signal going in, correct me if I am wrong, so there's now way you're going to get multi channel output.

 

[TK311]

Now I am confused.
So it's an AV amp but what have you got hooked up to it as sources?
Can see why sound is muddled, how do you get multi channel output if you don't have an hdmi cable as an input from your bluray player?
To get all those speaker channels outputting you need a DVD player with separate audio outputs for all speakers and all those input sockets on the right of your photo need to be populated.
Without this you might as well disconnect everything apart from FR and FL and use it for stereo only.
You said it was connected to some B&W floorstanders so what are all those other speaker cables connected to???
I think you need to g back to basics, it appears you only have a left and a right audio signal going in, correct me if I am wrong, so there's now way you're going to get multi channel output.

Ahh sorry for the confusion. For that photo, i had already disconnected the 5.1 inputs and removed the surround speakers. There is a centre and two floor standers still plugged in. I was under the assumption you wanted a general photo of the rear.

I plugged in what i had before and took a photo:


My desktop PC is the source here, with each of those going to the appropriate jack on my 5.1 sound card. I used the inbuilt 5.1 ch test in the Windows sound control panel, and any channel i test it just plays back through all speakers. I have an old regular Logitech 5.1 kit that works perfectly so its definitely not the sound card, so im just guessing that the amp itself doesnt actually have 5.1.

What was also interesting to note was that when i removed a pair of inputs (i.e. removed SR/SL, FR/FL etc.), the signal got stronger, which leads me to think all these inputs are shorted out inside the unit and when all 6 are plugged in, is causing interference with one another.

 

[Al ears]

Still confused. Surely the outputs from a PC soundcard are meant to go to speakers not inputs into an amplifier.....
Perhaps someone who knows a bit more about PC audio will come along to educate....
Anyhow, does it function in pure stereo mode with only the two front speakers and inputs connected?

 

[TK311]

Still confused. Surely the outputs from a PC soundcard are meant to go to speakers not inputs into an amplifier.....
Perhaps someone who knows a bit more about PC audio will come along to educate....
Anyhow, does it function in pure stereo mode with only the two front speakers and inputs connected?

Sadly the PC soundcard itself does not have enough power to be able to drive speakers directly, hence i connected it to the amp's AC-3 Inputs, which accepts 5.1 input. I guess the best way to describe it is a PC Soundcard is just a DAC/PreAmp and could only probably power headphones at best without assistance.


There is sadly no HDMI on this machine just component video and an odd VGA port which i believe is for a karaoke monitor.

Yep 100%! Stereo mode is great. Sounds excellent! Could definitely just use it as a stereo amplifier as is, just a shame about the 5.1, which i was hoping to play movies through my PC

 

[Al ears]

Sadly the PC soundcard itself does not have enough power to be able to drive speakers directly, hence i connected it to the amp's AC-3 Inputs, which accepts 5.1 input. I guess the best way to describe it is a PC Soundcard is just a DAC/PreAmp and could only probably power headphones at best without assistance.


There is sadly no HDMI on this machine just component video and an odd VGA port which i believe is for a karaoke monitor.

Yep 100%! Stereo mode is great. Sounds excellent! Could definitely just use it as a stereo amplifier as is, just a shame about the 5.1, which i was hoping to play movies through my PC

Good to hear. Perhaps that tube isn't blown. Anyway best replace them if you have no idea how long the originals have been in place.