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Anyone have experience with a Pioneer SX-950?

R

rkgren1

Super Member
Seller says it is fully functional. Needs a bit of cleaning on the wood on the right side. It was slid against a painted surface. I can fix that easily. It will look nice once it is cleaned up.

He has a small electronic shop, so he can demo it for me.

He wants $125.
 
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Ditto - great unit and a terrific deal at twice that price.
When you demo it put it on phono (even if you don't have a turntable) and listen for sharp crackles. The phono stage transistors (and also those in the preamp stage) are notorious for going bad.
Not a huge deal to fix and the parts are only about a dime each (plus S&H) - but a good thing to check.
 
Very good deal at $125 if it works. Expect it to need work in the regulator power supply, cleaning of controls and switches, and probably some signal caps will need replacing. But the SX-950 is a really nice unit. I had one that I restored, and once I rebuilt the Regulator supply, it worked like a champ. The only negative thing I can say about it was the design of how they placed the regulator power supply. It is mounted flat on the underside of the chassis, can get pretty hot, and because there is no ability to vent the heat, the regulator transistors overheat, and you wind up with a bunch of bad solder connections as well. To properly rebuild this board, you will need to remove a bunch of wires to get to the underside of the board. But if you only have to rebuild the regulator PS every 40 years, thats not too bad.

I used to have a spare "rebuilt" regulator PS board from a SX-950, but I sold it to an AK'er a year or 2 ago.
 
Good input.

I will pull the case off and have a look for signs of ill-considered maintenance. I plan to take a laptop with an RCA cable adapter to test the AUX and TAPE inputs, and a piece of wire I can use to improvise an antenna for checking FM.

I do not have a working turntable, so that is not important to me.

The $125 price does give me pause, though.
 
Thanks for the input Tom.

I will anticipate the possibility that I may need to do some resoldering on the power supply, then.
 
So, I am sitting here thinking this over now that I have a bit of down time.

What I know about the seller from talking to him last week:
He is a self-employed building contractor who fixes TVs on the side.
He has rented a storefront, and he sells used audio gear from the front room.
He is outfitting the back room for repairing surface mount electronics.
Seems like a nice guy.
He has a business card.
No reason to think he does not know what he is doing, and he is definitely in the electronics repair business.

So, if this thing is work 4-5 times his asking price, then why would he sell it for what he is asking?

Makes me wonder.
 
rkgren1 said:
So, I am sitting here thinking this over now that I have a bit of down time.

What I know about the seller from talking to him last week:
He is a self-employed building contractor who fixes TVs on the side.
He has rented a storefront, and he sells used audio gear from the front room.
He is outfitting the back room for repairing surface mount electronics.
Seems like a nice guy.
He has a business card.
No reason to think he does not know what he is doing, and he is definitely in the electronics repair business.

So, if this thing is work 4-5 times his asking price, then why would he sell it for what he is asking?

Makes me wonder.
Click to expand...

Works out in your favor, because even after you rebuild it you won't be paying as much as they are selling the used forty year old units. With a lower initial investment, you can go all out and have something worth owning !
 
No matter what it needs that's a no-brainer deal, I'd grab it and ask questions later. That's an SX-950 at an SX-550 price.

Just rebuilt mine from the ground up (just felt like doing it, it was still working fine). This series from the SX-850 on up is the best Pioneer had to offer IMO.
 
That is my favorite Pioneer series ever, I "only" had an SX-450 when I was in Jr. High, but it sounded excellent. That is a great unit and an incredible price.
 
Here is one serviced.... 850 bucks. That should tell ya something.

Edit: Not sure we can include links, since it is another site, but an audio dealer has one for $850.00

PM me OP if you want the link.
 
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Thanks for the great advice everyone. I went and picked it up today.
I can find no major functional shortcomings.

Flaws: the paint on the side, a few light scratches on the top front, a couple of cobwebs behind the glass, and the ball mount of the AM antenna is broken, which I suspect is an easy acquisition on ebay.
paint-on-side.jpg broken-AM-ant-mount.png worst-spot.jpg top-opp-side.png

The inside had just the lightest coat of dust. Here is the 'before' picture.
inside.jpg

The paint cleaned up with some solvent and 4-0 steel wool, and I cleaned out the cobwebs.
I wiped the case with a light coat of Watco oil, then wiped it all off. I will give what little was left a couple days to cure up, then I will give it a coat of paste wax.
cleaned-up.jpg front.png P5220003.jpg

Not a single scratch in the controls or bulb not working.

Sounds great and it is a beauty.

Sorry for some of the poor photography. My camera focuses poorly in dim light.

Thanks again.
Ray
 
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