• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

Adopted a Pioneer SX-535

americannigh

americannigh

Active Member
Seems few and far between finding classic receivers at my local Goodwill these days. They usually end up on the auction site. That said, I lucked out yesterday and paid $24.95 for my first Pioneer to add to my collection, a Pioneer SX-535. Overall condition is probably a 7 on the case. There is a bit of paint splatter on top and some de-lamination near the bottom edges of the veneer case. Maybe it served as a garage stereo at some point. But overall not a bad looker after wiping down and putting a little oil on the cabinet. The story I'm sensing from this receiver is that someone tried to work on it at one time. Those blue Sanyo caps have all been replaced with some Nichicon caps. All the lamps work and glow strong except the grain of wheat bulb for dial indicator that needs replacement. The front face of this specimen is really clean and lights up nice. It's a real looker, especially in a dim room. Control POTS all work great. Maybe someone cleaned them. The original owner's name is engraved on the back along with California. I'm guessing original 70s owner because California is abbreviated Calif. Didn't we switch to two letter state abbreviations in the mid-80s? That's my recollection anyway.

Before powering it up, I had to repair one dangerous modification someone made to this unit, however. The speaker protection fuses AND fuse holder had been removed and the outputs were hard wired to bypass that protection circuit. I installed a couple standard AGC fuse holders and 3V fuses as per the manual and schematic. Also put about an hour doing a cleaning of the electronics and close inspection. No burned components or bad looking caps that I could see. The two 4V fuses on the outputs were blown, however. Totally expected those and maybe even the 3V protect fuses I installed to blow when I powered it up. However, all powered on good and the unit sounds excellent. Maybe someone just rode it hard? This is my first Pioneer and I'm impressed with it so far.

I emailed dwojo69 about the grain of wheat bulb. Tried to replace it with one from my local electronics shop today but the bulb was too large to fit.

Here are some pics of the unit.

20181226_214723.jpg
20181226_212759.jpg
20181226_214729.jpg
 
Last edited:
Register to hide this ad
Nice find. You're fortunate that the unit is intact, with all the knobs and appurtenances still present, with the exception of the fuse holders, of course.

Even the black plastic stuff seems to have disappeared from the shelves at the local thrift stores. GW has their own auction site now, and it seems that much of this gets routed to the regional large centers where auctions are a specialty.
 
I'm glad you were able to get it working. That fuse thing is pretty silly. I usually shotgun all the caps and transistors on everything except the tuner board on these. The 535/636 are amazing receivers when rebuilt. I prefer their sound over almost everything else.
 
EastPoint said:
I'm glad you were able to get it working. That fuse thing is pretty silly. I usually shotgun all the caps and transistors on everything except the tuner board on these. The 535/636 are amazing receivers when rebuilt. I prefer their sound over almost everything else.
Click to expand...

I may just do that as well. It is amazing how nice it sounds but definitely aware there are some ticking time bombs in there. This morning I noticed the phono RCA jacks are worn causing intermittent contact on the center pin. Checked the solder joints on them and seems it is the jacks. They just don't make a firm connection on the center pin anymore. Do you or anyone have a PN for a good drop in replacement pair of jacks?
 
Replaced the grain of wheat bulb tonight for the dial lamp. Thanks dwojo69 for the LED and bulb. I went the route of using the brighter LED (I ordered both). Replacing this bulb was like delicate surgery as not to damage the mount for the pointer and the pointer itself. They are very delicate parts! But I got it done. I was surprised to see just the very bottom of the pointer lights up. Pictures online seem to confirm this is normal. Lots of work for just that little pointer but glad to have all functioning lights now. Also replaced main power supply filter caps with new Nichicon KW and dialed idle voltage in to proper 15mV spec. It was high by a couple mV in each channel. This is as far as I want to take things for now. It sounds great.

20190104_222707.jpg
 
Sorry to bump an old post, but can you share what bulb you used for the dial and where to order? Want to replace mine as well. Thanks!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom