SX-1980 back from Markthefixer - WOW

Hello Everyone,
I bought a non-working SX-1980 a few years back, with the hopes of getting it working some day. Well, that day has arrived.
After reading a ton of Markthefixers posts, I found he was THE go to guy. It turned out he only lives about 12 miles away. I was politely told by Mark that I would have to "wait in line". Well, almost two years later, I made it to the front. I dropped it off in early Sept. I don't think mark had bargained for this 1980. The deeper he got, the more problems he found. A few output trannies were blown, other parts were missing, someone had attempted a "fix", and really botched the job. Many caps, resistors, etc. had to be replaced. The tuner also was in real need of help. Mark did a beautiful job MAKING all of the parts for the new output trannies (Ala Echowars previous mod on an SX-1980) , as well as a few parts I wasn't familiar with.
I made it home (drove about 5 mph down side streets with my blinkers on, just kidding), hooked it up to my HPM 100s, turned that big ol' sparkling tuning knob to my favorite oldies station.... Heaven!
It was so da_n clear and strong, I was truly amazed. I only have a basic indoor antennae, and the needle on that meter hugged the right wall like I was parked outside the station. Hooked up the CD player and put on Clapton Unplugged. I have heard that cd many times, but never with so much detailed separation, clarity, bass, Eric was in the room.
I am one happy camper!
Needless to say, Mark is a true Artist.
He really enjoys what he does. I had the chance to bend his ear for a few minutes and I learned quite a bit. Besides being such a great technician, he is also one hell of a nice guy.
So thanks again Mark, I appreciate all of your hard work.

To all AKers...Thanks for the opportunity to learn from all of you.
Rager1882 (Ray)

I should visit him one day. I am at Mount Prospect and he is next to my sub.

Mark is one of our BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pictures?

PICTURES-----------------------Inside an'out!

Uh, I got her working, I didn't try to make her pretty. Sort of like that gal I heard about on the TV show that made the judges jaws drop after just a few seconds of listening to her sing? Susan something...

Someday I'm going to try to make something pretty instead of utilitarian with all the woodworking stuff downstairs.

The REAL fun? The heat sink surfaces had milling marks in them, and hill to valley were over 0.003 inches tall. The clamping force CUT into the standard 0.003" mica. But not right away. So apart it came, and I hand filed all TWELVE mounting pads smooth.

edit: that cutting through the mica insulators? - it meant some pretty high powered short circuits to ground, from the main capacitors.



Lightning, flames, smoke.... all kinds of hell cut loose.

Sigh... (go get clean shorts) start over....


Yes, I DID get some pretty good sensitivity out of that tuner. After the tuning cap was finally clean and quiet.

And Ray is GREAT company...

Good for you markthefixer.I believe guys like you are few and far between.Later generations are going to be that much poorer when techs like are no longer working on these units.

Mark is the best. Period!

Filing down smooth all those mounting pads because of differences of < 0.003" ... now that is real attention to detail, and dedication to perfection! :thmbsp:

Mark, any chance of you moving to Hong Kong? I'd happily let you work on my SX-1980, and a good number of other nice components, if you ever did (at normal fees, of course)! :yes: Seriously, there are some good techs here, but no one I'd remotely feel as comfortable handing my favorite gear over to. Shipping cost on a beast like the SX-1980, though, would be prohibitively expensive, not to mention the increased risks of damage or loss. Here, I'd rather do it myself, even though some here know much more than me, because at least if I screw it up, I have only myself to blame. I don't know how I could forgive someone who screwed up my 1980... or my Citation Receiver... or...

Yes, it will be a sad day when the "uber-techs" like you (and several others on AK and elsewhere) are gone. Future generations will face an increasingly hard time keeping these heirloom pieces running. You guys are a real asset to today's generation of audio collectors!

Great to hear, the line just moved up one!

I am amazed at the patience of Mark with reading his posts and the way he guides newbies/novices troubleshooting and repairing this gear and some of it can be pretty daunting at the best of times especially to somebody who has had little or no electronics experience.
Also because of Marks enthusiasm and persistence with doing what he does, it means that more vintage Pioneer will be saved and not end up in the landfill like it probably was 10 or so years ago due to most repair places not wanting to get involved with something old or people not realizing what they have is far better than what they have replaced it with, normally some BPC!
I also have to commend Echowars for the same and the others who have a passion in keeping this stuff alive.
Yes we are a rare breed in this respect as I do the same for people here in NZ, try and help where I can and will happily restore something even it takes me ages due to time constraints! Young family and all