A & R Cambridge (Avalon) C 150 pre-amp & SA 150 power amp
This is a difficult amplifier combination to find information on. The SA 150 is from A & R Cambridge but from what I can find the pre-amp is designed by A & R at the request of Avalon the New Zealand company that assembled the products here. In the UK the pre-amp, I presume, would be the C200. I can't find any reference to the C150 in the UK and the C150 has an Avalon name plate on the front.and on the back says it was designed and made in NZ with the co-operation of A & R (see photos).
This amplifier was a little neglected and had been in storage by the looks of it. It needed the filter capacitors in the pre-amp replacing; when turned on it took a long time to stabilize enough to close the relay and play and when it did start there was a lot of hum and noise and a poor sound quality. The capacitors replaced and controls cleaned and it now plays as it should. The sound is delicate highs, clear, strong mids and good bass; a wonderful transparent sound much better than I could hope for. More work on the cosmetics, the knobs have been repainted using etch primer and satin black as the original paint was flaking off. There are just a few electrolytic capacitors in the pre-amp, I pulled and measured, some were significantly out of spec so I have replaced all of them; see the images with my Peak Capacitance Meter! I also replaced a resistor and several wire jumper links that had corroded.