Pioneer dealer “The Rack”

SMelching

New Member
I recently aquired an original “circa 1980” Pioneer dealer rack. Mine has the cutout in the shelf to recess in the turntable. My understanding is that there were two different versions made. Anyone know the difference’s in them? I have heard that the early versions did not have the two aluminum support legs that the later models have? I have the original assembly manual from a 1980 unit and it has the legs shown. The picture of the assembled unit was taken by the previous owner.
Thanks
Steve
 

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Good question! As a Pioneer factory rep from 1977 to 1996, I assembled at least two of these for Circuit City (one for a retail customer and one for a CC store) and, at least two or three for Best Products. One or two in a Best Products showroom and one for a customer of their's in the Tidewater area in Virginia. I was there for multiple hours doing the Tidewater assembly all by myself until later in the evening. The consumer left at lunch time to get something to eat yet never offered me a soda or anything during my long day at his house. He said it had to be completed by evening so I couldn't leave his house until it was done. I was just out of college maybe a year. He also insisted I install a keyed power on/off switch he had picked up so that the teenager in his house couldn't turn it on when he wasn't home. He's lucky I knew what I was doing because no one taught us how to do that prior to any install. He did make up for the lack of drink, snacks or food, though, by giving me a few very vintage and rare Pioneer brochures he had picked up many years ago when he was in the military! I still have them in my literature collection. "The Rack" was mainly used to display and demo Pioneer gear at store level but retail customers could buy a complete, outfitted rack from an authorized dealer, provided they came up with the dough to buy one! I believe the legs were added a bit after initial introduction due to liability concerns regarding any idiots who might lean (or sit on!) the protruding shelf holding the turntable. The Rack with all its gear mounted was quite heavy! The Best Products catalog from 1978 pictures "The Rack" on the inside last page of that catalog and it does not have legs. I believe any that were sold to retail consumers did come with the legs. Too long ago so I can't be certain. Retail cost to a potential customer involved adding up all the components at retail price and, if memory serves me correctly, the rack itself was "thrown in" for free. So was assembly by a young Pioneer rep like me! And my cheap boss never compensated me in any way for these extra "projects" in consumer's homes. Just part of my responsibilities he'd proclaim. I also worked on several more store level "Racks" when newer gear replaced older models over the next few years up until about 1980.
 
Thank you for the reply and all of the great information. It has filled in a lot of the gaps for me. If you still have the Best Products catalog would it be possible for you to upload a picture of the front of the catalog and the page with the rack info on it? I have been trying to find an original catalog with the rack info in it for years with no luck. Also heard that Pioneer showed it in a full page ad in one of their catalogs but have never been able to find it.
Thanks again.
 
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If you still have the Best Products catalog would it be possible for you to upload a picture of the front of the catalog and the page with the rack info on it? I have been trying to find an original catalog with the rack info in it for years with no luck. Also heard that Pioneer showed it in a full page ad in one of their catalogs but have never been able to find it.
Thanks again.

And, here you go! The Rack appears on the last inside page of both the 1978 and 1979 Best Products catalogs. I've attached copies of both of those pages, the front cover of the Best Products 1978 catalog and, drum roll (heh, heh), a page from Pioneer's December 1977 mini full line brochure. I'll look to see if I have the larger brochure you mention later today during a break. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these.
 

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Oops! I should have attached jpg images, not pdf's. So, here are the three pages showing "The Rack", again. By the way, the rack was available by itself (without components) for a retail of $1750 in 1979.

The Rack - Pioneer - Best products 1978.jpg The Rack - Pioneer - Best products 1979_0001.jpg The Rack - from Dec 1977 mini full line brochure.jpg The Rack - Pioneer - Best products 1978.jpg The Rack - Pioneer - Best products 1979_0001.jpg [ The Rack - from Dec 1977 mini full line brochure.jpg
 
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I recently uploaded a video of starting the restoration project on the rack to YouTube. Sorry that the audio level is a bit low as it was windy outside that day. Will be adding more videos later.
Steve
 
Oops! I should have attached jpg images, not pdf's. So, here are the three pages showing "The Rack", again. By the way, the rack was available by itself (without components) for a retail of $1750 in 1979.

View attachment 1160384 View attachment 1160385 View attachment 1160386 View attachment 1160384 View attachment 1160385 [ View attachment 1160386
I now have three of the old dealer racks. One from Virginia with no legs complete with tt cutout. One from Ohio with legs and tt cutout and I just got one from Michigan with legs and tt cutout. Only the Ohio one has the Pioneer logo in the woodgrain on top, the others do not. I find it odd that some had the Pioneer logo on them and some did not? I still have not found a version with no turntable cutout but the search goes on lol. Steve
 
Good question! As a Pioneer factory rep from 1977 to 1996, I assembled at least two of these for Circuit City (one for a retail customer and one for a CC store) and, at least two or three for Best Products. One or two in a Best Products showroom and one for a customer of their's in the Tidewater area in Virginia. I was there for multiple hours doing the Tidewater assembly all by myself until later in the evening. The consumer left at lunch time to get something to eat yet never offered me a soda or anything during my long day at his house. He said it had to be completed by evening so I couldn't leave his house until it was done. I was just out of college maybe a year. He also insisted I install a keyed power on/off switch he had picked up so that the teenager in his house couldn't turn it on when he wasn't home. He's lucky I knew what I was doing because no one taught us how to do that prior to any install. He did make up for the lack of drink, snacks or food, though, by giving me a few very vintage and rare Pioneer brochures he had picked up many years ago when he was in the military! I still have them in my literature collection. "The Rack" was mainly used to display and demo Pioneer gear at store level but retail customers could buy a complete, outfitted rack from an authorized dealer, provided they came up with the dough to buy one! I believe the legs were added a bit after initial introduction due to liability concerns regarding any idiots who might lean (or sit on!) the protruding shelf holding the turntable. The Rack with all its gear mounted was quite heavy! The Best Products catalog from 1978 pictures "The Rack" on the inside last page of that catalog and it does not have legs. I believe any that were sold to retail consumers did come with the legs. Too long ago so I can't be certain. Retail cost to a potential customer involved adding up all the components at retail price and, if memory serves me correctly, the rack itself was "thrown in" for free. So was assembly by a young Pioneer rep like me! And my cheap boss never compensated me in any way for these extra "projects" in consumer's homes. Just part of my responsibilities he'd proclaim. I also worked on several more store level "Racks" when newer gear replaced older models over the next few years up until about 1980.

How did you modify the rear panels/doors for a key lock if you remember? Also what was normally done on the inside of the cabinet to combine all of the power plugs to one central point? Was any kind of a surge protector normally added? Thank you Steve
 
The special lock I installed for that one customer was for the AC power, only - no surge protection, no lock on the doors. It was a keyed switch that you could disable the AC with when you put in the key and turned it to "off" and then walked off with the key. Don't remember too much about it since the customer provided it (for me to install). This was over 40 years ago so I don't remember if there was a power strip inside the "rack" or if I simply daisy chained the components together by plugging them into the preamps AC sockets on the back (more likely). I then had to cut into the preamp's power cord to wire it through the keyed power switch. I had to drill a hole in the side of the rack to install the keyed switch if I recall correctly. This was not a standard option for "The Rack". This was a customer provided switch which he insisted I install so that his teenage roommate (or son, not sure of the relationship) couldn't fire up the system when he wasn't home. I think back and wonder how safe that switch was since I probably didn't have any heat shrink or any way to insulate or cover it! I thought the customer was a PITA at the time!
 
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I must admit what surprises me a bit is that they didn't include the RT-707 or 909 in this outfit. This pretty much demonstrates that Pioneer didn't hold the 707 or 909 in very high regard and rather opted for the earlier styled RT-2022 R2R model to fill the shoes of an open reel tape deck even though the 707 was readily available in 1978~79 as was the 909 by that point in time(79). Also the CT-F1000 wasn't used either rather they went for the earlier CT-F9191.

I do understand though the choice of the Spec 2 over the Spec 4 as this was their highest output unit at the time in component Power Amps even though the 4 was a better designed unit.

Was this just to clear out some old stock they had hindering them quietly or didn't they consider the later units as professional enough ?
 
The special lock I installed for that one customer was for the AC power, only - no surge protection, not lock on the doors. It was a keyed switch that you could disable the AC with when you put in the key and turned it to "off" and then walked off with the key. Don't remember too much about it since the customer provided it (for me to install). This was over 40 years ago so I don't remember if there was a power strip inside the "rack" or if I simply daisy chained the components together by plugging them into the preamps AC sockets on the back (more likely). I then had to cut into the preamp's power cord to wire it through the keyed power switch. I had to drill a hole in the side of the rack to install the keyed switch if I recall correctly. This was not a standard option for "The Rack". This was a customer provided switch which he insisted I install so that his teenage roommate (or son, not sure of the relationship) couldn't fire up the system when he wasn't home. I think back and wonder how safe that switch was since I probably didn't have any heat shrink or any way to insulate or cover it! I thought the customer was a PITA at the time!
Thanks for the info most appreciated. If you ever see one of the 1978 Best Products catalogues for sale that you mentioned earlier please let me know with the rack in it. I will pay good money for one. Steve
 
I must admit what surprises me a bit is that they didn't include the RT-707 or 909 in this outfit. This pretty much demonstrates that Pioneer didn't hold the 707 or 909 in very high regard and rather opted for the earlier styled RT-2022 R2R model to fill the shoes of an open reel tape deck even though the 707 was readily available in 1978~79 as was the 909 by that point in time(79). Also the CT-F1000 wasn't used either rather they went for the earlier CT-F9191.

I do understand though the choice of the Spec 2 over the Spec 4 as this was their highest output unit at the time in component Power Amps even though the 4 was a better designed unit.

Was this just to clear out some old stock they had hindering them quietly or didn't they consider the later units as professional enough ?

The RT2022 (and 4-channel version RT-2044) was Pioneer's top-of-the-line reel-to-reel tape deck in 1977 when it was introduced. I believe retail was $1,599.99 so it towered over the RT-701/707 and RT-909, price-wise. It was also modular in construction so you could convert an RT-2022 to an RT-2044 by buying the head assembly JT-2044T and adding another TAU-11 record/amplifier unit. The RT-909 wasn't introduced until 1979. When the RT-909 was introduced, many of the stores carrying "The Rack" sold off the RT-2022 and replaced it in "The Rack" with the RT-909. Both the RT-707 and RT-909 were highly regarded by Pioneer, their retailers and the audio Press. They just weren't top-of-the-line at the time and the intention of "The Rack" was to show off top-of-the-line Pioneer models. Not sure where you come up with your conclusion that Pioneer didn't hold them in high regard; that just isn't true. In fact, I bought an RT-707 as a Pioneer employee and still have it to this day. It still performs extremely well! The CT-F9191 was more readily available than the CT-F1000 which didn't ship until late 1977, hence its initial inclusion in "The Rack".
 
I was a retail sales rep on the floor of a Polk Brothers store in Chicago in 1979 (summer job). We sold a lot of Pioneer and and there was display which "appeared" one day on the floor. They called it "the rack" and if memory serves, it had two turntables and two RR decks. It may have included an RT-707. I also recall it had a component which would add reverb to the audio and had a 3-d lighted window on it. All of this created quite a stir and customers loved it! The HPM speakers with the plastic dispersion tops completed the look, but I felt they were a bit "disco" looking, although this was 1979. I did write up a sales sheet for a customer but it never went through.
 
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