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Pioneer Linear Fidelity 3-Way Speakers. Vintage – No! Retro -Yes!

April 14, 2013 · admin

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A 130 Watt Speaker from Pioneer’s Linear Fidelity Series.

Here is a Pioneer pair of 3-way speakers that I came across in my adventures. While they are definitely not what I’d consider vintage at a guess I’d say they hail somewhere from the late 1980s to early 1990s. However, that said these speakers have a high-quality wood-grain finish with a deep shine that helps them to blend in very well with the 60s and 70s period gear.

I would be interested in finding a little more on these units as they look a little higher end and do not look like the junky speakers that Pioneer were producing for their complete component HiFi’s aimed at teenagers at that time (late 80s early

90s).

Being unable to find any official data or information on these speakers I’ll start with what I can read off the label on the rear. First and foremost they have a ‘rated power’ of 30 Watts and a maximum power rating of 130 Watts and their impedance is 6-ohms.

The cabinets measure 50 cm x 25 cm x 25 cm and are of a bass-reflex design with a port in the upper-right rear corner. The bass driver measured approximately 20cm across

These speakers seem to be well suited to genres such as Rock, Pop, Dance, and Dubstep, with a tight well controlled bass response and with good mid’s and highs that don’t over power you. I was nicely surprised with just how well these speakers performed and filled my living room effortlessly with hefty beats!

If I ever come across more info and what the “Linear Fidelity” series was all about I will post it here.

Akai SW-T30 60 Watt Bookshelf Speakers

April 14, 2013 · admin

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Here is a pair of vintage Akai SW-T30’s that have passed through my collection. I haven’t been able to pin down these 2-way bookshelf speakers from Akai to a precise year, but from available catalogs and guessing by the style of the speaker I would place these bang in the middle of 1970s circa 1974/75.

I am a big fan of Akai gear and these speakers were a sweet surprise! They are rated at a very usable 60 Watts max input at 8 ohms and provide a great range of sound for their size and class and featured a 10 inch woofer and 1 3/4 inch tweeter in a sealed cabinet. As you can see the tweeter voice-coil domes on both speakers have been depressed – unfortunate cosmetically but this in no way impairs the sound.

I test drove these out on a 100 Watt RMS Sansui amplifier keeping the volume within the limits of the speakers and was pleasantly surprised at the range and performance. I was especially impressed at their bass response which I was not expecting with their sealed cabinets. While I stress again these are not for the high-end audiophile, they were very enjoyable to listen to and quite musical. Also the drivers look great in action and give a lovely ‘pull’ on firing up.

If your looking for a pair of 2-Way bookshelf speakers for your vintage setup that are not going to cost you a terrible lot, and you like listening to pop and rock, then you won’t go to far wrong with a pair of these. I think they would be very suitable candidates for a lot of mid-range 1970s Receivers and Amplifiers. IMHO these are very attractive speakers with or without the semi-transparent grilles.

While these are no longer in my collection they did peak my interest and I have recently acquired a slightly higher end version of them in a 3-Way I am going to get around to trying out soon!

Sanyo DCA 200 Amplifier & FMT 200K Tuner Combo

April 11, 2013 · admin

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Have I mentioned I am a fan of 1970s Sanyo gear?

1970s Component HiFi amplifier,tuner, turntable & cassette combination refinished in iPod white with original speakers, all in great condition!

Give your lounge room some 70s flare! As I have mentioned in other posts, Sanyo purchased Fisher (the company that invented HiFi) in the 1970s and produced some truly amazing gear during that decade. This little unit is rated at 15 Watts per channel at 8ohms and easily hold it own against similar units of the same vintage produced by Pioneer and Sansui. It styling is crisp and minimalist and fits the small profile HiFi’s that were very popular in the 1970s with all the major manufactures. The performance of this unit would suit most modest size lounge-rooms or bedrooms.

This unit has inputs for a record player, tuner,
auxiliary and two tape inputs (1x RCA and 1x DIN) and 1 microphone and outputs for two sets of speakers and a headphone jack. What surprised me was the clarity even at volume that this unit was capable of producing. It has plenty of low-end for it’s power range and would easily fill the average lounge-room with smooth 1970s analogue sound.

The Tuner display has great styling with a white back-lit display and orange illuminated tuner indicator and the cases have been re-finished in iPod white. With the addition of an iPod dock this unit looks and sounds fantastic and puts to shame most of the designer docks available on the market today.

These units are in amazing condition even include their original floor standing speakers finished in wood laminate or veneer with brown grills and a unique inset strip at the front. The speakers are in very good shape with only a couple of minor marks (with the exception of the bottom of the speakers which is usual). One speaker is missing a plastic tap for the speaker wire mechanism (see pictures) but does not effect the operation of the mechanism. The grills on these units are not removable. The iPod, dock and record player in the pictures below are not included with the unit.

Pioneer SX-1980 – The Holy Grail of Vintage Receivers?

March 7, 2013 · admin

1978 Original RRP ($USD): $1,295.00
Inflation Adjusted RRP ($USD): $4,574.00

This is it! The Big Kahuna! The most powerful Receiver of its time! What else do I need to say?
……well if you insist 🙂

In the 1970’s Pioneer was not just a meaningless brand name. The company had truly led the industry not just in cutting edge research and development but also in terms of design and aesthetics producing industry firsts in many areas.

As their brand suggested they were in fact Pioneering the brave new worlds of stereo. They were the first company to introduce a 100 Watt RMS Receiver, a 160 Watt RMS Receiver and a 270 Watt RMS Receiver. They say that imitation is highest form of flattery, and Pioneers aesthetics heavily influenced their competitors with even Marantz imitating aspects of their design.

The Pioneer SX-1980 was their flagship top-of-the-line Receiver from 1978-1980 and was the most powerful Receiver on the market upon it’s release. It is no overstatement to say it is one of the most desired and sort after vintage amplifiers on the planet today. Sure there’s the Sansui G33000, the Kenwood KR-9050, Marantz 2600 and the Technics SA-1000, however these were created after the SX-1980, and mostly because of the SX-1980 in the first place. All of them are excellent receivers with their dedicated followers, but none of them have inspired the wide popularity and almost cult following that this receiver has. This was Pioneer’s last receiver built for the Receiver Wars.

Released in 1978 the SX/80 Series followed on from the extremely successful SX/50 Series and saw subtle but stylish aesthetic improvements and increased wattage throughout the range. It also saw the introduction of a new top model – the SX-1980. Pioneer had again raised the bar in the final years of the Receiver Wars.

The amazing power-supply of the SX-1980 with it's dual wound toroidal core transformers and a total of 88,000uf of Capacitance!

The amazing power-supply section of the SX-1980 with it’s dual wound toroidal core transformers and a total of 88,000uf of Capacitance! Note: the shielding covers have been removed in this photo.

Building on much of the technology of the SX-1250, the SX-1980 included some subtle technical additions. Other than the increased wattage the other metric that saw a massive improvement over their previous model was THD – which saw a reduction from 0.1% to a tiny 0.03% across it’s entire power spectrum.

The amplifier consisted of a cascade connected, current mirror loaded, differential amplifier with a three-stage Darlington triple parallel-push-pull direct coupled OCL circuit. Just try saying that three times! With a dual power supply arrangement incorporating a massive toroidal-core transformer with two independent windings and four ‘Coke Can Sized’ 22,000uf filter capacitors provides the amplifier with an enormous reservoir of power to draw from.

Vinyl fans will love the the phono section on these units with 3 cartridge impedance and capacitance settings for the phono input and a 500ma phono pickup that cannot be overloaded by any magnetic cartridge.

This model also featured Pioneer’s unique dual tone controls for Bass and Treble which they boasted would give you tens-of-thousands of tone combinations.

Physically this unit is impressive measuring 56cm (22″) Wide X 21.1cm (8 5/16″) High X 49.7cm (19 9/16″) Deep and weighs an incredible 35.4Kg (78 lbs). Its brushed aluminium fascia is one of the most attractive ever produced during the 1970s and would stand out as a feature in any lounge-room.

This is the model of receiver that recently went head to head with modern amplifiers in a blind listening test in which it was overwhelmingly voted as having the best sound. – http://www.audioreview.com/cat/amplification/receivers/pioneer/sx-1980/prd_118735_1593crx.aspx

Specifications (the short version)

Power output: 270 watts per channel into 8 ohms
Total harmonic distortion: 0.03%
Frequency response: 5Hz to 80kHz (line)
Signal to noise ratio: 87dB (phono), 100dB (line)
FM tuning section: 87.5 to 108 MHz
AM tuning section: 525 to 1605 kHz
Dimensions: 560 x 211 x 497mm
Weight: 35.4kg

Reviews:

“I can’t say enough about this gorgeous piece of Japanese quality.To me,it is the Rolls Royce of all receivers.” – http://www.audioreview.com/cat/amplification/receivers/pioneer/sx-1980/prd_118735_1593crx.aspx

“It is the most awesome receiver my ears have ever heard.And I’ve heard a lot of them in my 50+ years of listening to audio equipment.”– http://www.audioreview.com/cat/amplification/receivers/pioneer/sx-1980/prd_118735_1593crx.aspx

“This may be the best receiver ever made…[t]hey are extremely rare, and unbelievably impressive.” – http://www.audioreview.com/cat/amplification/receivers/pioneer/sx-1980/prd_118735_1593crx.aspx

“This monster is not for the faint of heart” – http://www.audioreview.com/cat/amplification/receivers/pioneer/sx-1980/prd_118735_1593crx.aspx

“The SX 1980 is a receiver for a fortunate few. I’ve owned it for a while and say what you will about the Marantz, Kenwood, and Sansui of the same period (1978-1981) and it matches up with them and exceeds it most areas.” – http://www.audioreview.com/cat/amplification/receivers/pioneer/sx-1980/prd_118735_1593crx.aspx

“I believe the SX-1980 is one of the best receivers Pioneer ever built, and I’ve never regretted the purchase.” – http://www.audioreview.com/cat/amplification/receivers/pioneer/sx-1980/prd_118735_1593crx.aspx

“This unit is possibly the best piece of mass market audio gear ever built.” – http://www.audioreview.com/cat/amplification/receivers/pioneer/sx-1980/prd_118735_1593crx.aspx

“They can keep their all black components with plastic knobs and face plates. This is a real component, 18 years old and I’ll put it up against anything made today. You young boys need to learn what the real Hi- Fi days were all about!!” – http://www.audioreview.com/cat/amplification/receivers/pioneer/sx-1980/prd_118735_1593crx.aspx

“It is the most awesome receiver my ears have ever heard.” – http://www.audioreview.com/cat/amplification/receivers/pioneer/sx-1980/prd_118735_1593crx.aspx

Specifications (The long version)

1977 Pioneer QX-949A KingQuad

February 26, 2013 · admin

1977 QX-949A Original RRP: $750.00USD
2014 Inflation Adjusted RRP: $2,908.00

I currently have one of these beauties in my workshop. Will share the process of it’s restoration shortly! Check back soon 🙂

This is it! Pioneers TOTL Quadraphonic Receiver in its most advanced incarnation, a full featured Quadraphonic amplifier supporting all Quad formats! I have to admit vintage Pioneer is my favorite gear, and this unit demonstrates so many of reasons why.

Many Quad Amps and Receiver’s suffered from a common problem, lack of power. Not so with the QX-949A, one of the most powerful Quadraphonic Receivers ever made featuring 40 Watts RMS Per Channel @ 8 ohms (40×4) in Quad Mode or 60 Watts RMS Per Channel @ 8 ohms in Stereo Mode.

The dual power +/- supply is very beefy consisting of a heavy transformer and 40,000uf worth of capacitance for dynamic power. This fuels an All-Stage Direct Coupled OCL Power Output Circuit and a 3-Stage Direct-Coupled Equaliser Circuit.

Aesthetically the first thing that hit me about this unit was its size, it was a lot bigger than I expected it to be when I first laid eyes on it. It measures 55cm Wide 44cm Deep and 16cm High. It also has one of the most attractive controls and front panel displays Pioneer ever developed, IMHO of course!

Its styling is a cross between NASA’s Apollo Program meets the Marlboro Man with its shining brushed aluminium, plentiful array of important looking knobs and buttons, a battery of lights surrounding the glowing blue tuner dial that are so distinctly mid 1970s Pioneer. The scope display can also be used to program Inter-Continental-Ballistic-Missiles upon multiple targets and also interfaces with the Star Wars Defense Initiative…. well that last one may be stretching the imagination a little too far 🙂

What it does have is the upgraded CD-4 and SQ Matrix decoder units which were a great improvement over the earlier QX-949, along with a regular Matrix decoder as well. Other features include separate Bass and Treble Tone Controls for the Front and Rear channels, Low and High filters, Front and Rear CD-4 Separation Controls, 3 Tape Inputs including 2x 4-Channel and 1x 2-Channel, and an option to add a Dolby Noise Reduction Processor.

One of my favourite features is the input for two turntables, thus allowing you to enjoy different setups and makes for easy DJ’ing at parties!

The Specs:

60 Watts RMS 2 Channel
40 Watts RMS 4 Channel
T.H.D 0.3%
Weight: 49lbs (22.4kg)
2 x Phono Inputs
1 x Aux Input
1 x 2Ch Tape Input
2 x 4CH Tape Input
Dolby NR Adapter
Low & High Filters
Provision for up to 8 Speakers

Replacement Lamps and Bulbs for Pioneer SX-450, SX-550, SX-650 and SX-750

February 24, 2013 · admin

These bulbs are identical to the original bulbs in terms of voltage and milliamps and are a close fit in terms of size. Note these lamps are for the tuner dial diffuser only and not the inidicator lamps. These lamps will faithfully recreate the original lighting of the Pioneer SX for the following models:

SX-450
SX-550
SX-650
SX-750

Sanyo (Fisher) Quad Receiver 3100k

February 23, 2013 · admin

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Sanyo is not considered a sexy brand today with its corporate focus in components, solar cells and batteries. However in the 1970’s Sanyo produced some very impressive HiFi gear, the brand is considered as a sleeper amongst the vintage HiFi enthusiasts, meaning that the brand isn’t recognised widely but the components perform well, so well in fact there are vintage models you would pay hundreds of dollars more for that wouldn’t perform as well as these.

Sanyo purchased Fisher (the brand that created component HiFi) in 1975 and it was Fisher that produced many of the 1970s HiFi gear for Sanyo in the US. In Japan Sanyo produced many high-end units under the brand name OTTO and sometimes Sanyo-OTTO.

I have not been able to find any reliable information on this model in terms of specifications. This particular unit was a Sanyo/Fisher model produced around 1975/76 and is a Quadraphonic receiver with built in support for Discreet, SQ and Matrix sound with an external adapter available for CD-4.

While this is not a top-of-the-line model, I like it for it’s distinctive look and particularly warm sound. It features inputs for Auxiliary, Phono, FM, FM Stereo and AM, 4 Channel AUX and 4 Channel Tape and DIN.

The sound is has that warm associated with valve amps and is accompanied with a surprising bass response even at low volumes. While this unit isn’t a powerhouse designed to rock your foundations, it performs well at moderate levels. My personal unit is operating in 2-Channel mode driving a pair of 100W RMS Jensen SPX-5 series speakers which it powers effortlessly at volumes which I find comfortable in my living room.

I invited a friend of mine who is a recently signed recording artist down to my holiday shack where this unit is located and she sanyo-post1 attached (to the Sanyo) her personal ZOOM Pro Digital Recorder which she had taken into some of her studio sessions. Now, the ZOOM was just her personal recordings of her sessions and not the actual studio recordings, anyway this Sanyo’s sound blew her away, her own words were “My voice has never sounded so good!“
She asked me where she could find one of these units and my reply was “Good luck!” at the time I only had this one unit and I was definitely not parting with it!

Rotel RA 713 Amplifier

February 18, 2013 · admin

Rotel is a Japanese company that has a 50 year old history in manufacturing high-end audio gear, and some of their finest units were produced in the 1970s. Still owned by its founding family and run by a family member, Rotel has operated since the late 1950s and initially manufactured products for various HiFi brands including Harman-Kardon, H.H. Scott and Marantz. It wasn’t until 1969 that the company started producing units under its own name.

The RA 713 was introduced in 1976 as a medium power amplifier producing 45 Watts RMS per channel.

This unit is in clean condition, there is some fading of the lettering above the volume knob however.

Specifications:

Power output: 45 watts per channel into 8 ohms
Frequency response: 10Hz to 60kHz
Total harmonic distortion: 0.1%
Damping factor: 35
Input sensitivity: 2.5mV (MM), 145mV (DIN), 145mV (line)
Signal to noise ratio: 75dB (MM), 90dB (line)
Output: 300mV (line), 100mV (DIN)
Speaker load impedance: 4 to 16 ohms
Dimensions: 430 x 143 x 304mm
Weight: 10.2kg

Pioneer’s Fluoroscan Components – 1979-1982

January 31, 2013 · admin

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1980 was a turning point for Pioneer in terms of aesthetic design, electronics and control interfaces. Digital was just revolutionising the radio tuner, LaserDiscs were a reality and CD’s were only one or two years away from hitting HiFi in a big way.

A component system featuring the SA-510 amplifier (note: this system is not available for illustration only)

If Darth Vader had a HiFi I’m betting it would have been one of these babies! These units are a fusion of the vintage silver era of shining brushed aluminum fascias and futuristic design with their glowing blue Fluoroscan displays.

These designs promised a bright future but in actuality this was the last summit peak for Pioneer in terms of aesthetic design and audio quality, for in only a few short years :0 “the event” :0 would happen and Pioneer and the rest of the major HiFi manufacturers would forevermore only produce units that at best could be described as homogenous (the bland black fascias that are churned out to this day) and at worst cheap and ugly.

The beauty of these models is that while the displays represented the beginning of the digital micro-processor controlled era, behind the scenes the amplifiers and components were still all high quality discreet analog technology.

Fluoroscan was only featured over a few short years lasting from 1979 until the very early eighties. We know that there are a lot of vintage audio fans out there, in fact we know that there are a lot of vintage Pioneer enthusiasts out there too, well within this niche within a niche is another niche – the vintage Pioneer Fluoroscan fanatics!

Some just can’t get enough of these rare beauties..take a look at some of these freaks…um I mean collectors!

Source: audiokarma.org

In the above slider you are seeing some of the low-profile components offered by Pioneer around 1980. Designed with the now standard component width of 420mm and a unique low height profile, these units became very popular and the format was adopted by many other manufactures such as Onkyo, Teac and Akai. Inheriting much of the technology from the Receiver Wars the sound of these units is crisp, precise and well balanced. The amplifier is teamed up with the top-of-the-range tuner for this lineup the TX-710. These two units are in remarkable good condition with clean fascias.

Here is one of the Pioneer’s Fluoroscan components that I have renewed…

The very rare and superb top-of-the-line Pioneer SX-D7000. This Receiver was the top-of-the-range model released post Receiver Wars and as such possessed less than half the RMS power of it’s predecessor the infamous SX-1980. This version of the model is exceedingly rare because it featured beautiful walnut side panels, most of these came as the bare metal variety.

The Pioneer Prelude-4000A Vintage Receiver (1975-1976)

January 27, 2013 · admin

And you thought glowing blue electronic devices were only a new millennium thing! Back in the 1970s Pioneer produced some stunning gear, however when piecing together a complete HiFi from their component catalogue the combined price could easily exceed that of a new car! Surprisingly in 1970s America a lot of people were happy to pay that as well!

So for the folks in the more impoverished countries like Australia who could just not afford to blow that kind dough, Pioneer put together some complete systems designed to be sold together as a package at a fraction of the price of their component gear.

The Complete Pioneer Prelude System

A friend of mine who is an accomplished jazz musician was amazed when he saw my Prelude, he had purchased the complete system back in the 1970s brand new. He had many fond memories of this unit and supplied the above picture of him and his HiFi.

This Receiver Model is not to be compared to Pioneer’s high-end QX range of Quadraphonic Receivers or their high-end SX range of Stereo Receivers. Sadly I have seen some unscrupulous sellers on eBay try to pass off these units as part of the QX range!

Budget models such as the Rondo and Prelude ranges saw many cost-saving measures taken which included the use of small transformers and the use of only a single small filter capacitor in the power supply.

That said the unit does have very good build quality, especially in the wood vinyl case, and doesn’t suffer from vinyl peel that afflicted even high models from various manufacturers in the late 70s. It looks great and would suit a small apartment or space in which huge amounts of power is not needed either as a stereo unit or as an introduction into the realms of Quadraphonica.

Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon Quadraphonic SQ Release

Quadraphonic Amplifiers & Receivers were not merely 4 speaker stereos, these were the original surround sound processes of the era. Quadraphonic suffered from a format war the likes of which has never been encountered since with a myriad of competing formats and devices such as reel-to-reel, 8-track and vinyl.

This model supports both Discreet (for 4 track sources) and SQ Quadraphonic for Vinyl, with SQ being one of the most available media formats. Incidentally these units can also be adapted for modern home theater use as the discreet component option allows for four independent sound channels.

Specifications:

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