PURE Avanti Flow – replacing the OLED display
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An Avanti Flow with new OLED display
** Updated 13th May 2022 **
PURE FLOW PLATFORM SHUT DOWN
PURE has quietly shut down the Flow Internet radio platform completely. It is no longer possible to access your favourite Internet radio channels through your PURE Flow radio.
PURE cites the usual guff about how it's old technology, we're chucking it out and investing in new tech instead, and all that jazz.
"Only selective older radio models" [their words not mine] are affected, including:
- Avanti Flow
- Contour
- Evoke F4
- Evoke Flow
- Oasis Flow
- One Flow
- Sensia
- Sensia 200D
- Siesta Flow
- Sirocco 550
- Jongo speakers (when using Pure Connect app)
"This change in technology does not affect the majority of Pure customers, nor users of the Pure Select app, which is still available and fully functional", they say. Well, I've seen plenty of interest in keeping these older radios working by replacing the faded OLED displays. I powered up my Avanti Flow today and was gutted to find I couldn't tune into my favourite stations broadcasting online from Spain. The Lounge no longer works, and PURE has once again thrown a band of loyal users onto the scrapheap.
It's an appalling decision and a slap in the face for PURE Flow users who invested in these products in the first place to help make PURE what it is today. No amount of 'sorry for the inconvenience caused' will make this any better. Instead PURE is offering a 30% discount off new products. Why would I want to throw away several excellent radios and invest in another platform that will likely get shelved sometime in the future anyway?
This is what happens today with network-based tech: it's great until they pull the plug and leave you with a load of perfetly-good hardware that is fit only for landfill.
What a grim day for us PURE Flow fans.
More details: https://support.pure-audio.com/en-GB/news/posts/internet-radio-service-flow-announcement-of-shutdown
Latest sources of suitable OLEDs for PURE Evoke Flow / Avanti Flow
Please read the latest news on my Pure Evoke Flow pages, where the majority of interest is.
The recommended source of replacement displays (white only) is Alibaba - please read all the comments carefully for advice and feedback about 'buying direct' instead of via the Alibaba portal.
Many folks report good service and good quality high-brightness displays, delivered quickly:
On Alibaba - Shenzhen Liyuan Huida Technology Co (Jack Wan) offers some new stocks of higher brightness OLEDs and are known to offer a good service to UK individuals. Many people say they have been very successful replacements recently. See https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/22pin-yellow-white-3003319301002-Pure-Evoke_60671545961.html
I recommend reading all the user comments on my Evoke Flow repair pages as this used the same display.
SOME EARLY REPLACEMENT OLEDs BOUGHT FROM BULGARIA and ITALY CAUSED PROBLEMS WITH MIRROR IMAGE DISPLAYS - PLEASE READ THROUGH THE [Evoke Flow] COMMENTS SECTIONS CAREFULLY TO AVOID BUYING PROBLEMATIC ONES.
-- ARW
I’ve had lots of requests asking about replacing the OLED displays in a PURE Avanti Flow tabletop receiver. Since I had a spare (white) OLED display left over after repairing my portable PURE Evoke Flow, eventually I sourced a used, working Avanti Flow which needed a new display. It’s a very common problem: the working life of these OLED displays is about 30,000 hours so they just wear out over time.
Before you start
Note that some owners reported it was straightforward to swap the display by taking out the front panel; I think they were quite lucky, as some users still ended up having to access the insides by dismantling everything from the REAR anyway, as shown in my full photo sequence. And if ribbon cables become disconnected internally, you'll have no option but to take the whole radio apart anyway to reconnect them. Don't be put off, as a successful repair is achievable either way, with care.
The Avanti Flow can be much trickier to repair than a PURE Evoke Flow because it contains a sandwich deck of printed circuit boards, each connected by a spaghetti of ribbon cables all located in a restricted space. In my case [working from the rear panel] I needed a number of electronics tools to reach around and manipulate cables and connectors, and the work was more like keyhole surgery at times!
Some users say it was not easy that way, but they got there in the end. Others struck lucky by removing the front panel instead, simply needing to modify the plastic panel very slightly to hold the new display (see comments).
Despite everything I was pleasantly surprised that I managed to get mine working first time and it now sports a new white OLED display. What follows is a general guide only to give you an idea of what's involved. I have tried to cover everything but I don’t guarantee I covered every last little thing, nor in exactly the right order, and I’m not responsible for anything that’s been left out. Hopefully without explaining the ‘baby steps’ my photos and text will show a skilled tech. an idea of what’s involved so you can decide whether to tackle this job yourself. As far as I know there is no such guide about the Avanti Flow anywhere else online.
You will need to set aside some quality time (up to 2 hours), working carefully and delicately, while being vigilant and observing the routes of all ribbon cables and cable headers closely to ensure you can disconnect and reconnect everything properly. It’s hard to replicate a multi-million dollar factory at home but a number of tools will be needed and you’ll also need to be patient and pretty resourceful to complete the repair successfully. It's tricky, but having said all that, it can still be done successfully!
Opening up an Avanti Flow from the rear
I am guessing that the radio internals are pre-assembled on the factory bench before being fitted into the cabinets. At that time, I could not figure out how to access the display from the front as the front panel and speaker grille were very secure with invisible fixings at each corner. Much later it was found that it slides out if you grip the grille carefully with eg electronics pliers. Not wishing to damage the grille I started from the radio’s rear panel instead. If you start from the front, and some ribbon cables become disconnected internally, you'll have to open up the rear anyway to reconnect them.
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Remove 8 x Phillips screws [click to see];)
The rear panel removes easily and can hang out [click to see]With the radio face-down on a cloth, start by removing 8 x Philips screws from the rear panel. The rear will then lift out completely and can be swung to hang over the edge. It also carries the power supply and bass port tube.
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Rear panel hanging down before removing the sub woofer [click to see]Reach inside the radio and use radio pliers to unhook the 2 x leads from the sub-woofer speaker. Remove the acoustic wadding.
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Sub woofer terminals can be removed next [click to see];)
Internal view after removing acoustic wadding [click to see]
Remove the sub woofer
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The speaker mesh can be prised out carefully [click to see];)
... revealing the sub woofer [click to see]Underneath the radio, the speaker mesh is a simple interference push-fit and can easily be teased out with eg a pointed probe. Then remove 4 x Philips screws (15mm long) on the speaker plastic mounting ring, and then unscrew the sub-woofer (4 x 10mm screws) and extract the speaker from inside the radio. This makes the interior accessible.
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Then the sub woofer can be withdrawnReach through the speaker cut-out and unscrew 2 x nylon P-clips that secure wiring looms to the cabinet; some black foam rubber ‘shims’ were removed from ribbon cables next.
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First glimpse of the radio board, the first PCB to be removed [click to see]The Avanti Flow carries a stack of circuit boards inside the cabinet: first is the radio board, underneath that is the audio board and finally the display/ front panel switch board is fixed right at the bottom. They are all interconnected with various ribbons and wire connectors and they all mount on plastic pillars using self-tap screws.
Radio board
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Radio board with copper-screen ribbons x 2, and ipod dock above (and more ribbons!) [click to see]The radio board is held with 4 x 8mm long self tap screws, one screw also traps a (solder tagged) shielding wire hooking to the PSU screen. I used a long-reach electric screwdriver with a (magnetic) Philips tip to remove the screws successfully. You don't want to be dropping them inside the radio.
Unhook 2 x ribbon cables on the ipod dock. They will simply pull out and they connect to the main board.
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Remove the ipod dock ribbons and pin header [click to see]The radio’s two main wire looms are an obstacle: stiff and inflexible, they obstruct the removal of the boards, but you can cut off any nylon tie-wraps to loosen up the wiring. I cut off all the tie-wraps.
Gently lift the radio board away a little, I moved it to one side. Two ribbon cables (10mm and 15mm wide) are shielded with copper tape; these go to the OLED display board at the very bottom of the radio, so unpick the copper foil and unhook both ribbon cables. (That’s because later I saw it’s easier to unhook these two ribbons from the 'radio board end' and leave them connected to the display board. Otherwise you will need eg a long-reach flat-bladed tweezer to reconnect them to the display board (which luckily I had!) once in situ. My photos however show these two ribbons as disconnected from the display, not the radio board.
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The radio board partly removed. See text re. the two ribbon cables [click to see]
Audio board
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The audio board is revealed [click to see]
Disconnect 2 x header wires on the radio board and lift it away to reveal the audio board under it. Note how a short 20mm ribbon is fitted between the radio board (underside) and audio board (top side).
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The audio board lifted slightly, note the headers underneath [click to see]The audio board is held down by 4 x black self tap screws. Disconnect 2 small pin headers along one side (3-pin and 4-pin – see how a very short wire disappears inside into a front stereo speaker), and then disconnect a 3-pin and 5-pin on the board’s longer edge.
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Reach through the speaker cutout and unhook the headers - I marked them with Sharpies to colour-code them [click to see]
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Disconnecting the audio board [click to see]This leaves three 3-pin headers on the other short side of the board. I used coloured Sharpie pens to mark which cable plug goes into which header. See again how a very short cable disappears into the cabinet to the other front stereo speaker. The other two cables carry ferrite cores which are a nuisance, but they slide back up the cables out of the way. Having colour-coded the wires, unhook them from the audio board and gently remove it or set it to one side.
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3 x pin headers (inc. one stereo speaker), mark them and remove [click to see];)
Audio board removed [click to see];)
The display board revealed [click to see];)
The OLED display/ switch panel removed [click to see]
Display board
With the audio board removed, the OLED display/ switch is revealed. It has 6 x self tap screws and another 10mm ribbon cable. Taking this apart, the OLED itself can be lifted off, helped by e.g. a right-angled probe.
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Separating the display [click to see]The OLED display ribbon clearly shows pins 1 and 22 and the ribbon cable can be disconnected from the PCB header by gently sliding out the ribbon connector’s black plastic holding clamp. (See my Evoke Flow guidance and photos for more details – it’s the same connector).
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Preparing to disconnect the old display [click to see];)
The flat ribbon latch (black plastic) is very delicate [click to see];)
Disconnected, note the pin labels 1 - 22Remove any protective poly film off the new OLED display and clean the front display window. The new display ribbon is passed through the mounting frame the same as before. My (white) display was a direct replacement, the same shape and ribbon orientation.
Unfortunately it would be easy enough to get a new display upside down or the wrong way round and you would never know until the radio was assembled again, so take some photos if necessary to remind you of the display’s orientation. I also used two small dabs of glue to hold the new OLED on its black plastic mounting frame. Unlike the PURE Evoke Flow, everything is located securely in place with no scope for misalignment. More recently, it's been found that the plastics needs altering slightly to carry the latest OLED boards.
The PCB also carries the front panel push switches and an LDR (light-dependent resistor) which must all align properly with the front fascia and its buttons.
Reassembly
With the new OLED fitted and the display board screwed back in place, the audio board can now be reconnected which is easier said than done. There are no less than seven PCB headers to reconnect and it’s also easy to get the board the wrong way round in situ.
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Re-installing the audio board and its wiring;)
I'd left my radio board hanging around, partly connected. See text about those two copper-clad ribbons [click to see]Don’t overlook those two (15mm and 10mm) ribbons that stem from the display board and go ‘past’ the audio board to the radio board above it. Of course, ensure all ribbon cable conductors mate with the corresponding PCB header properly: the metallic conductors can be seen and they must mate together when the ribbon is inserted into the connector.
I used flat-bladed radio tweezers (similar to ‘postage stamp’ tweezers) to grip and slide the ribbon cables back into their headers successfully. This worked extremely well.
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The audio and radio boards back in situ [click to see]Probably the hardest part was re-connecting the audio board leads, which I found very fiddly and time-consuming. I used a variety of long-nose pliers, bent-nose pliers, hooked probes and a lot of dexterity to hook them back UNDERNEATH the audio board (which lies component-side down), but it was possible with care and a lot of keyhole surgery. Definitely not a job if you have ‘sausage fingers’ but it can be done. Slide those ferrite cores back up the wires out the way, if necessary.
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This short 20mm wide ribbon connects the audio and radio boards [click to see]
Re-locate the radio board in place, reconnecting a short 20mm wide ribbon on its underside to the audio board located underneath. The ipod dock ribbons can also be reconnected.
The ‘memory’ of various wire cables helped with routing them to the relevant headers on the radio board and it was fairly straightforward to re-connect everything else. Soon I was only left with the sub-woofer cables to hook up, so the speaker and grille were refitted and the sub-woofer was finally reconnected.
I decided to leave off all P-clips and nylon tie-wraps, leaving the wires routed loosely inside. The acoustic wadding was put in again and the case rear was closed up with 8 x screws.
I did notice white specks of dirt etc inside the display window (not on the new OLED), which is a shame but I decided to leave it alone as it’s an old radio anyway and I just wanted to prove a point. Power up time... would it work?
Powering up again
Every electronics hobbyist knows the feeling of anticipation when powering up their project for the first time. Switching on at the mains and after a few seconds I was rewarded with the Avanti Flow splash screen (in white) followed by Initialising...... and then the radio burst into life. I’m thrilled to say the repair was entirely successful, and the radio could be retuned to local DAB stations without a problem. All buttons and menus worked as expected.
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After a few seconds, the splash screen appeared [click to see];)
Tuning in... [click to see]
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More stations... [click to see];)
Standby screen [click to see]
Replacement OLED displays are getting harder to source, but those purchased via Alibaba seem to be the best quality. I can only re-iterate that the Avanti Flow is a very fiddly job best undertaken by those who are used to fiddling with electronics and manipulating wires and PCBs. With the right skills, patience and tools it’s entirely possible to fit a new display to an Avanti Flow as I hope the above photos prove.
Alan W
Front speaker grill removal
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After a reader tip-off I managed to removed the front grille - Doh! - it simply prises out (the metal mesh only - not the plastic surround) by gripping one of the silver plastic 'fins'. Or you could try using a bent paper clip or hooked wire on the grille. Then 8 Philips screws can be removed and the entire front speakers / display assembly will start to come out - but not all that far because of the internal cables.
I am loathe to try removing it, because some of the ribbon cables don't have much 'slack' in them to allow withdrawal, so if you accidentally yank them out from within the cabinet you'll have to start disassembly all over again from the rear of the cabinet, which would be quite a fraught job. At the moment I can't recommend trying to swap the OLED by accessing it from the front. AW
Alan W
Update 9th September 2020
Fix from the front or the back?
There's still some debate about whether to swap the Avanti display by removing the front or go in from the rear panel like I eventually did, per the photos. The front panel is easiest, but I felt that there was a lot of scope to accidentally pull out the ribbon cable and if it disconnects internally you will have to open up the radio from the rear panel and reconnect it that way. So you could try it from the front first and see how far you get - the choice is yours!
Alan W
Avanti Flow v5.1 firmware update
The final software version was V5.1 but (typically) PURE has 404'd their support page for this update.
I found it on Archive.org here (Mac & Windows) (Active 30th April 2023)
My radio wouldn't connect to wi-fi so I had to update via Windows and a USB cable, a slow but successful process. My radio now works as expected, hooking to my wi-fi successfully but because PURE dropped its web access the former owner's 'Lounge' folder and favourites can't be changed. AW
Reader Comments (31)
Successfully did the repair just now. Went in through front and subwoofer. Not easy at all but finally everything works again. Used the white display from the Alibaba link. Modifications at the mounting frame necessary but easy to do.
Whole job took me two hours - thanks to the excellent guidance here... :-)
New white display fitted (seems that the yellow ones are not currently available) from Alibaba - Shenzhen Liyuan Huida Technology Co (Jack Wan) delivery was quick (18 days) note total cost including delivery was £36 but worth it to bring the unit back to life. Note that strange faults can occur if the ribbon between amp and radio board is damaged or disconnected. No need to remove back as going in through front/sub works well, check the light sensor cover is still fitted before reassembly as it can fall out.
Firstly, many thanks for your excellent guide showing how best to replace a failed display in an Avanti Flow.
I thought you might be interested to know that they are still available from Alibaba.com
https://liyuan-elec.en.alibaba.com/?spm=a2756.trade-list-buyer.0.0.a95a76e9LlG9Sd&tracelog=from_orderlist_company
The replace display works perfectly well. It was slightly larger, about 2mm wider than the original, but interestingly, the plastic mounting for the display could accommodate the wider display when, on one side, an upper and lower locating moulding were cut out with a sharp blade.
Having powered up the radio I discovered that somehow a small piece of debris was showing on the face of the new display (difficult to see when it's black). Rather than dismantling it all again, I found that by removing the front grill one could gently prise the window off over the display and remove the offending article. All is now perfectly clear!
Again, many thanks for helping me to repair my Avanti flow and save the planet by repairing rather that throwing away!
-- David
Thank you very much for this instructions. Very, very useful.
Brought my Avanti Flow back to live those days. I also ordered the display linked above over Alibaba. Was delivered in roughly 2 weeks.
I even like my Avanti Flow now more with the white display :-)
Had to also cut a bit from the plastics of the display holder as the width is a little larger.
I started from the front, but I decided to also open the rear as the cables are really short. Having rear and front open made it really flexible in working on it.
Hi Alan,
Your detailed and practical instructions much appreciated! Without them I would have been left with a pile of electronic junk and a headache!
The white display looks great and makes my Avanti Flow look much more contemporary.
Thanks again!
Robert
Hi Alan. I’ve had my Avanti flow for 10 years. I really love it and was gutted when it became almost unusable as the screen dimmed to nothing over time. Several e mails to Pure resulted in them telling me it was uneconomical to repair! After reading your article I decided (with trepidation) to give it a go. Your post was invaluable with some excellent tips along the way. I accessed the unit from both front and back as this allowed me to work on the sandwich of boards in the open rather than through the case. I fitted the OLED from Alibaba at a cost of 30 quid all in. It arrived in about 2 weeks. As mentioned by others I had to adjust the plastic holder. I used a Stanley knife (other brands are available!!) and trimmed out two from one end and thinned the other two at the other end. It held nicely in place. The best advice of all was just to take your time and tread carefully! It’s the best feeling when you power it up and you realise that you’ve got ‘old faithful’ back again. Thanks again Alan.