Nice Pioneer find....

Crotalus

Well-Known Member
I went to a local antique mall I hadn't been to before and scored a Pioneer SX-890 and a pair of Boston Acoustics A40's all for $35. The SX-890 needs a major cleaning but everything works. One of the volume shaft prongs is broken off but still in the knob....and stupid sticker on top the faceplate that is stickier than a booger. The A40's are ok. I don't think they are the original woofers (anyone got a part number?) and one of the tweeters is out.
 
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SX-890 is the same as the SX-880 but with a black face. The 780, 680, and 580 had 790, 690, and 590 blacface variants. They were AFAIK available in the US as I have an SX-790 schem that came with my SX-780 svc. manual with US and Canada region codes (KU, KC).

Nice score! These are good units.

TP
 
Originally posted by Crotalus
and the A40's....

The A40's do not look like mine - but mine are Series II, perhaps yours are original? My tweeters are rectangular inserts, not round. The woofers do not have insert material in the groove running around the outside edge - in fact, the curve goes the other way around, so nothing could go there. If you know what I mean. But since it does not look like the tweeters have been replaced - I suspect you just have older/newer A40's than mine.

Best,

Wiggy
 
The sticky goo will likely submit to "Goo-Gone". Further, Goo-Gone will not likely damage the material underlaying the aforementioned goo :)
 
Sticky Goo

I find that Zippo lighter fluid will take off any sticky goo from faceplates quite easily and without damage. I use it on CD jewel cases, too, to clean off glue residue. Lots of excellent cleaning/shining tips on the forum, just do a search. Very nice score.
 
Thanks for all the help and tips everyone....especially the wd-40/goo gone tips.:) I can't wait to clean up the 890! Not sure about the A40's though.....they don't say "series II" anywhere and the tweeter has a sticker on the inside that says 1984, but the woofers say made in Taiwan:mad: and look alot newer than the rest of the speakers. Maybe the foam rotted and they just decided to replace the whole thing. I'll have to do some research. If anyone has a round tweeter for the A40 they can part with PM me since I'll be looking for one.
 
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Originally posted by Crotalus
and the A40's....

Hate to be the bearer of bad news... but wrong woofers, dude. :(

Those appear to be generic 6.5" drivers, Goldwood or something similar. That's a Series 1 A40, which should have a paper cone woofer. The Series 2 had a rectangular-flange tweeter... a round-flange tweeter is a dead giveaway of a Series 1.

As far as a replacement tweeter goes- any of the Audax TW010-XX series tweeters (TW010-E1, TW010-F1, etc) are appropriate replacements. The original in the Series 1 A40 was an older Audax (TW074, IIRC), but the newer ones are functionally identical.

Regards,
Gordon.
 
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hey Crotalus. Welcome to AK, and nice find. Can I put (non hoosier) next to my location too? I moved here about a year ago, and haven't experienced anything that makes me proud to be a Hoosier. :rolleyes: After I'm done with school, I'm so outa here! Sorry Hoosiers, but this place blows. :puke:

There are a lot of junk/antique shops around here too, but I haven't found any good scores at them... only at yard sales.
 
Thanks GordonW for the info on the woofer/tweeters....I figured as much but your a wealth of info! At least I didn't pay much for em. Guess I'll just keep a look out for a junk pair to part out and refoam.

(Hey jpciii I sent you a PM.)
 
Congrats on the find. I just got my 890 working after a year. Another wonderful Ebay experience. "Great shape" but missing a couple knobs (power switch broken off), missing foot, dirty, some small nicks to the face and vinyl pulling up in a few places. Got a dead Korean SX-780 from an aquaintance from which I took the bottom plate, power switch, various knobs, and the vinyl case and now it looks great. Enjoy.

Jay
 
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