I've pretty much filled out my Technics collection, at least in things within a reasonable price range. I'd really like an SA-404 with those cool little purple LED arrows on the tuning needle, but not for what those are going for, but anyhow...
I'm looking at a local Pioneer "Fluoroscan" series SX-3700 receiver in great shape. Specs seem to be the same as the SX-780, only with (according to word-of-mouth) a better FM tuner and better use/nonuse of integrated chips on some circuitry. Plus, good SX-780s are going for way more than I'd like to pay (both locally and on eBay)
Looks-wise, some people decry the mangling of "vintage" design with the SX-3xxx-series display, but I rather like the combination of the classic wood case, silver face, toggle switches, and lamp lighting with the blue signal and tuning meters, much in the same way I prefer my slightly "bedazzled" Technics SA-303 to both my plainer SA-300 and woodless SA-203.
I've been dealing with late 70s-1980 Technics for about a year now and I've learned a half-decent amount about how they tend to work, but I'm completely unfamiliar with Pioneer receivers from the same period. Are there any common failures, quirks, little-known advantages they possess?
I've seen "preamp to amp jumpers" and Pioneer "speaker plugs" (screws on one side and sideways-T oriented plates on the other) on eBay, and I'm not entirely sure what they're for. A huge old SX-1980 that just sold for something like $1,400 for auction had a pair of square-C shaped metal bars linking a pair of RCA plugs on the back - were those the preamp-amp jumpers, and would I need some form of those on this receiver? It doesn't appear to have any.
I've also noticed that the speaker connections are the pincher-types rather than the poke-n-twist kind all of my Technics have. Are these connectors "worse" than the kind on my Technics receiver? Even if they are, I use old Pioneer speakers that also have the pincher connectors, so will having pinchers instead of twist-posts at both ends instead of one result in any kind of noticeable sound degradation?
Aside from those things, are there any general issues/things to watch out for/common problems/other neato things about these 80-81 Pioneers? Prices for Pioneers seem to generally be a lot higher than power-comparable Technics, so I won't be able to learn by variety as I have with my own Technics.
I'm looking at a local Pioneer "Fluoroscan" series SX-3700 receiver in great shape. Specs seem to be the same as the SX-780, only with (according to word-of-mouth) a better FM tuner and better use/nonuse of integrated chips on some circuitry. Plus, good SX-780s are going for way more than I'd like to pay (both locally and on eBay)
Looks-wise, some people decry the mangling of "vintage" design with the SX-3xxx-series display, but I rather like the combination of the classic wood case, silver face, toggle switches, and lamp lighting with the blue signal and tuning meters, much in the same way I prefer my slightly "bedazzled" Technics SA-303 to both my plainer SA-300 and woodless SA-203.
I've been dealing with late 70s-1980 Technics for about a year now and I've learned a half-decent amount about how they tend to work, but I'm completely unfamiliar with Pioneer receivers from the same period. Are there any common failures, quirks, little-known advantages they possess?
I've seen "preamp to amp jumpers" and Pioneer "speaker plugs" (screws on one side and sideways-T oriented plates on the other) on eBay, and I'm not entirely sure what they're for. A huge old SX-1980 that just sold for something like $1,400 for auction had a pair of square-C shaped metal bars linking a pair of RCA plugs on the back - were those the preamp-amp jumpers, and would I need some form of those on this receiver? It doesn't appear to have any.
I've also noticed that the speaker connections are the pincher-types rather than the poke-n-twist kind all of my Technics have. Are these connectors "worse" than the kind on my Technics receiver? Even if they are, I use old Pioneer speakers that also have the pincher connectors, so will having pinchers instead of twist-posts at both ends instead of one result in any kind of noticeable sound degradation?
Aside from those things, are there any general issues/things to watch out for/common problems/other neato things about these 80-81 Pioneers? Prices for Pioneers seem to generally be a lot higher than power-comparable Technics, so I won't be able to learn by variety as I have with my own Technics.
I have a couple of SX-3800's. They used the new flat pack transistors with cheesy connectors that fell apart. I just soldered the wires to the transistor and reset the bias. I also have a SX-780. It uses STK Darlington packs. I don't really like it because there is no adjusting the bias and that makes me think it is under biased to be on the safe side. All of the stuff before the SX-x stuff from the mid 80's is very well made and servicable.
I also have a SX-9 that I bought broke, and there is no hope of working on it. You can't get to anything without taking it apart, then you can't diagnose anything. Big bad POS (with a nice toriod and heat sink)
My SX-950 that made it through numerous beer spillings in college is needing some repairs. It's very well made.
I also have a SX-9 that I bought broke, and there is no hope of working on it. You can't get to anything without taking it apart, then you can't diagnose anything. Big bad POS (with a nice toriod and heat sink)
My SX-950 that made it through numerous beer spillings in college is needing some repairs. It's very well made.
The most I've done with stereo electronics is clean out switches and replace an integrated chip to fix the FM reception on my SA-300 (diagnosed by forum people, not me).
I don't plan to pop components out of it unless they're broken (I'm not even sure what bias is, much less how I'd adjust it), so should the connectors not be as much of a worry for me, or might they just crumble by themselves just sitting there?
I don't plan to pop components out of it unless they're broken (I'm not even sure what bias is, much less how I'd adjust it), so should the connectors not be as much of a worry for me, or might they just crumble by themselves just sitting there?
That's exactly what happened. Someone took the feet off the bottom (I guess so it would fit in a cabinet) and made it run hot. I also replaced a few caps that were oozing electrolyte. The ebay description said "sound out of one channel is a little distorted". THe connector was crumbling and loose. The cap seemed to still work, because it sounded fine after I soldered the connectors, but while pokeing around, I saw the caps and knew it would be a problem at some time in the near future.
Well, the one I'm likely to buy doesn't look tampered with; aside from some face smudging that could be toweled off easily, it barely has a scratch on it. Do you know if I should expect any of the same problems on this or any other SX-3xxx series, or do you think the problems on yours were just due to heat/poor operating conditions?
I would expect the same problem with the plastic connecters, but maybe to a lesser degree. Mot people either had stuff on top of these things or had them tucked in some sort of rack. All 20 yr+ electrolytic caps are suspect, but likely still functional. If the SX 3700 you're looking at uses the STK darlington transistor pack instead of disrete output transistors, it most likely doesn't have a connector, but is soldered to the board and doesn't haave said crappy connectors.
Buy it and enjoy it. I didn't mean to scare you off. I'm sure the Technics have as many shortfalls and are still very nice peices of equipment.
Buy it and enjoy it. I didn't mean to scare you off. I'm sure the Technics have as many shortfalls and are still very nice peices of equipment.
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