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just good design

The Advent 300 FM stereo receiver was introduced in 1976. In audio-speak, ‘Receiver’ indicates a device which combines a tuner (radio receiver), a pre-amplifier (a device which governs audio control functions such as level, source selection, etc), and a power amplifier (a device with high current output in order to drive speakers to a listening level).

I have always admired the design of this piece, and I was excited to pick one up today (in the box, no less) at an Estate Sale for a few dollars.

The ‘industrial’ styling of the piece is striking considering the era. It almost looks like a piece of industrial paging-equipment. IT stands to reason that the design was motivated by the fact that the major selling point of the unit was a sort of ‘less-is-more’ attitude. This unit sacrifices high-wattage-output (which few people ever use anyway) in order to devote more dollar-value to a higher-quality signal path throughout, and more R+D efforts. Advent clearly knew that the design was stellar; they even included a graphic representation on the box of the unit.

Here is a scan of the entire manual, in case you want to check out the details. I really like the way that this manual is written. The writing is very much in-line with the electronic philosophy of the unit. For instance, there is basically no ‘instruction’ to it – the unit is so simple that it hardly needs any explanation. Instead, the manual focuses on the ‘why’ of the unit.

Manual: Advent300_Manual

There is a schematic printed on the bottom of the unit, which is a good thing, because my 300 did not work when i hooked it up. The schematic revealed a likely culprit, and after opening the unit and replacing a few internal fuses (located AFTER the power lamp!), it was cooking. And it works well, especially the tuner.

The best part of the manual is the ‘in-situation’ ‘serving suggestions’ that Advent offers. Enjoy a trip to Tasteful Contemporary Home c. 1976:

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Joe Bigliogo says:

07/04/2018 at 6:00 pm

Nice receiver. The phono section was designed by APT Holman and is a very well thought out design just like Holman's own preamp... a lovely sounding unit who's design (along with the Advent) is said to eliminate cartridge impedance interaction allowing (MM) cartridges to sound their best. The Advent 300 even looks like the Holman preamp with it's industrial look. The power amp section is text book, competent but nothing special. It barely puts out 15 watts/ch and only down to 40hz but it sounds very good if a bit warm. The 300 shares a lot in common with the legendary NAD 3020 who's phonos stage was also a Holman design. The NAD however puts out twice the power and can drive any impedance including ridiculous (reactive) speaker loads.