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Pilot SA-232...Can it rock?

I have a Pilot SA260 amp getting ready to have a minor thing done to it, just a new cord put on it by a freind of mine lives near by. I hope as we do that he looks it over and might want to do some real work on it, he is busy right now but never know. See where it lands. So I am always on the look out of those that have done a full rebuild of the amp. Cans and caps and resistors so when we do get to doing a full work over of the amp I will have any parts or be aware of the parts needed the best way to approach it things to beware of all that good stuff. So I post up anytime someone talks about there work and what they did and best pre amps and speakers that matched up well with the amp. I believe this amp can do much better when I was using it before it never ran hot like just a work horse of an amp I liked that but was missing something so that is that about my Pilot Amp
 
From experience with my own SA-260 I can tell you its cramped to work on and was full of off-value resistors. It works a lot better after replacing a bunch of bad parts underneath but it wasn't any fun to do. On the bright side, once you suffer through the process it should be good to go for many years.
 
Thanks Gad, that is about the best news I have heard about the Pilot since I got the amp. Wish I would have bought the pre amp that was with the 260 but at the time I only had the money I had.
 
If it was an SP-210, I've paired one with my own SA-260 at one point and it wasn't that special. Sounded fine and all but I don't know that they justify the money they sell for. I had it here for a repair, and since it has no power supply of it's own the SA-260 got tapped for that job. The 210 wasn't fully overhauled though, I changed the handful of bad parts that were causing issues and left it at that point. Maybe with more of a scorched earth rebuild it would have made it a little more special. I have an FA-590 tuner/preamp and the preamp section is extremely similar to the 210. I need to do some further work on it to get rid of a hum, but its still running original filter caps and my money is on those being less than ideal after 60 years.


I would like to hear an SP-216 though
 
I also have a 680 or something it is a maybe 602 ? It is in my storage area is a integrated reciever I had it running for a while used the EL84 tubes nice Holland Bugle Boys in that amp with other very nice tubes. Anyhow put it aside and forgot about till just now really. Pre amps Pre amps why do people charge so much ?
 
canton said:
I also have a 680 or something it is a maybe 602 ? It is in my storage area is a integrated reciever I had it running for a while used the EL84 tubes nice Holland Bugle Boys in that amp with other very nice tubes. Anyhow put it aside and forgot about till just now really. Pre amps Pre amps why do people charge so much ?
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Build out a good tube preamp with parts from Mouser.
You'll understand why they cost so much.
 
honestly even not so good preamps tend to sell for a lot of money. There is a lot of complexity there but if I'm paying for something I want one that sounds good too.
 
You guys know more then me esp if you are building your own pre amps that said. When you take away the phono stage, remove the tone controls bc sonically it sounds more true and charge a lot more for less eh I don't know.
 
I haven't built my own preamp. Tony has though.

The one I use regularly is a tube/mosfet hybrid and my other preamp started life as a Dynaco PAS but the line stage amp is different. Still rocks the Dynaco phono stage though. I like the Moscode slightly more, but the Dynaco sounds fine. Very simple, not much gain, no tone controls, which also means it can't screw anything up too badly. The Moscode also has no tone controls but its a much more complicated circuit. I'm not specifically anti-tone controls but some of them sound bad and I want no parts of that.
 
I have a Pilot 602 receiver that sounds really good, and a Pilot 590 preamp that does not. They both could use some work, especially the 590, but I don't think that project will be fun. For reasons Gadget mentioned. They are STUFFED with parts.
 
I got the coupling caps done in the 590 without a huge amount of fuss. There is a lot going on in there, but most of it is tuner related so it doesn't really need to be touched. The audio stuff is all tucked in right behind the switches which makes it a bit messy though. Mine still needs filter caps though. I should pull that out and make an order list. Even if I don't get to it in the short term, if I've got the parts on hand I can deal with it whenever I have the time.
 
I seem to remember the Pilot reciever having a lousy tuner in it and wish they had not even put it in the unit and just made it a integrated amp would have been a lot nicer and less busy but the year it came out predicted maybe how it was disigned tuners and FM were still being used. Tone controls I grew up with them so there is that but would let them go if it improves the sound. I run a PAS3X that I enjoy it too could use some going over how is the phono stage in your pas pre amp or do you ignore it and go stand alone ? Now I may have to listen to the old Pilot reciver again maybe. I miss FM but that is a topic for another day. I got the tuners just nothing in the air anymore like it used to be.
 
canton said:
I have a Pilot SA260 amp . . . and might want to do some real work on it. . . So I am always on the look out of those that have done a full rebuild of the amp.
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Yeah, both the Pilot SA-232 and the SA-260 are pretty well packed with parts. I have both and I rebuilt them completely. I also have some Pilot integrateds but I've never heard any of the separate preamps or pre/tuners.

I did a partial rebuild on my SA-260 a long time back and then went back in a year or so ago and replaced everything that was still original. @gadget73 's earlier thread / comments about his were very helpful.

These amps are definitely worth the effort!
canton said:
So I post up anytime someone talks about there work and what they did and best pre amps and speakers that matched up well with the amp.
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I was glad to see that my suggestion to try a different preamp with his SA-232 worked so well for @MadcapLaughs. There's a lot to be said for synergy but it tends to be totally unpredictable. You just gotta mix and match until you find something that works.

I'm using the SA-260 with a preamp I built and, thankfully, the combo seems to work really well. At the moment, I'm running it with a pair of Rogers LS 3/5a speakers but I've also used it with a variety of other vintage speakers, like the KLH 6 or 17.

As I recall, the preamp @trainbuftony built is pretty much state of the art. Perhaps he'll post a link to the details. Stuff like that is not cheap, even if you DIY.

I'm pretty much of a hack when it comes to DIY so I when I built a preamp - which I call the Boogie Factor - I tried to keep it as simple as possible. Because it's so simple, the parts cost is pretty low. Here's a thread about it:

https://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/1626-preamp-build.931276/

It's just a line stage, no phono, no tone controls. Looking back, multiple inputs would have been nice but an external switch box from a thrift store works fine too. The "chassis" is a bamboo box that's sold at Target as a kitchen drawer organizer. What can I say, I'm cheap. :rolleyes:

If you restore your SA-260 properly, you'll be glad you did!
 
Thanks Charlie, as I mentioned I am convinced with the proper rebuild the Pilot could really do the trick, but as you said what you put inline with the amp makes all the dif I have two older Bogen 110 amps that I use as little blocks added a KLH 17 and it really does sound nice so yes that is a key to gettting the sound I am looking for. I am using Bozak 4000s with my bigger system has its advantages and dis like everything else but vinyl is a must for me. Whoever said having the parts on hand is good idea also. I was misdirected or heard wrong that the parts are hard to find. I see from this talk that is not the case very good to know.
 
canton said:
Thanks Charlie, as I mentioned I am convinced with the proper rebuild the Pilot could really do the trick, but as you said what you put inline with the amp makes all the dif . . . I was misdirected or heard wrong that the parts are hard to find. I see from this talk that is not the case very good to know.
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Usually, the only things that are difficult to replace on vintage tube amps are the transformers.
 
Well put Charlie, and as I make up a parts list I will put it up and see what is the best direction to go in for those pcs. Appreciate all the direction and input from everyone on this topic.
 
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