The Armstrong 200 Series

The units were:

220 Power Amplifier
221 Integrated Amplifier
222 Integrated Amplifier
223 VHF/MW/LW Tuner
224 VHF Tuner
225 Stereo Control Unit (pre amp)
226 Receiver (tuner-amp) VHF/MW using 221 amplifier sections
227 Receiver (tuner-amp) VHF/MW using 222 amplifier sections

In some cases both Mono (single channel) and Stereo version were available and were designated by using an ‘M’ or ‘S’ suffix. So a 221M would have been a single channel version of the 221.

The above picture shows a 222 amplifier. This had a light grey perspex front panel with darker grey control knobs with chrome trim. The chassis for the 200 range units were cadmium plated. As was usual in those days, units were normally sold uncased, but an optional case (as shown in the picture) was available at extra cost.

The 222 was introduced in 1963. It was an integrated stereo amplifier that used ECL86 output valves to provide a rated power of 10 Watts per channel. Its pick-up (i.e. disc cartridge) input was for ceramic cartridges and had a sensitivity of 80mV.

The photograph above shows a view of the back of a 222. You can see the output transformers to the right of the row of input sockets. A slide switch which operates a rumble (high pass) filter can be seen below the sockets. The output tappings for the loudspeakers are at the bottom of each output transformer.

The 220 Power amplifier and matching 225 control unit were also both introduced in 1963. The 225 had facilities which included a treble filter and loudness switch, plus tape outputs and monitoring. It had an input for magnetic pu cartridges with a sensitivity of 4·5 mV. The 220 Power amp used EL84's in ultra-linear mode for its output valves, and had a rated power of 12 Watts per channel, so was slightly more powerful than the 222.

Content and pages maintained by: Jim Lesurf
using HTMLEdit and TechWriter on a StrongARM powered RISCOS machine.