Okay, so would you agree a $300 per unit would be fair? If so, that's 33 meters sold to recoupe the cost of production. So you're saying what I was saying, you would have to make one for the popular worth while to fix units, the SA-7800 amp, SA-8800, SA-9800, then the CT-F950 and CT-F1250, and the RT-909. So that's six designs as the amps have different wattage numbers on them. So you are saying $10K per design or $10K invested? For if it's just $10K, and if it would be profitable to be the only sole supplier of replacement VFD's, then it could be profitable form that point forward. Imagining in China or Japan they would be made cost effectively after the initial cost, one could have them do a production run of say 100 units each and sell them for a profit online to guys that do the work on these old units bringing them back to life. There has to be thousands of these all over the world that have displays no longer working. If the gas inside does not leak out, then I'm guessing they just go bad after a long time. In that case, people that still have these that want to resurrect them from the dead would have one supplier who could pretty much charge whatever they want for them by that time. Problem is, would Pioneer sue for using the design or would the patent fall into play whereby it's now expired?
If I knew there was some serious return on the investment, $10K would be nothing to get a return over time when 33 of them would be $10K bucks! I imagine there is a higher demand than 33 in the world. Has to be at least several hundred needed. If that's the case, could be quite beneficial. IMHO
I have a feeling the company that did these could be found if not divulged by Pioneer themselves as they said to me in the late 1980's to early 90's that "there were no tape heads, no pinch rollers, and no motors left" and after my persistence on the phone calling Pioneer demanding to speak to someone that was still working there for about 10 to 15 years i.e., someone for example that I said had started there in the parts department and had moved up to say manager or a department head, they finally got back to me with someone that in fact had been there about 15 years did contact me. A lady spoke to me on the phone. I explained that I have been in my local car dealer or parts store and seen old boxes on the shelf with dust on them and 1950's looking typefaces and designs on the boxes from yesteryear and low and behold, there are parts in that box that everyone in the store has no idea whats in that box and if only one person looks up the part number, they could find out what it is and if someone is looking for it, make their day! So that's exactly what she did. She told me it may take her several weeks to look up their old number and then look all over everywhere in Pioneer corporation's parts inventory and find them if they even could and she would get back to me. She called me three weeks later and said, "Shawn, I found you your parts!" I was floored! She said she found three new tape heads left in their original packages, no erase head, two pinch rollers new, and two brand new Nidec capstan motors in their boxes. She wanted $700 for them. I told her the unit new was $1,000 and that it would be like me paying for the entire unit all over again. I pointed out how I was a faithful Pioneer customer, I pointed out that I had bought an entire rack, went through all of the model numbers, all the pioneer radio model numbers I had in my car, and I had and asked her if she could do me a favor and get the price down. She lowered it to $500 and I bought them right away with my credit card over the phone. I still have them but as CD came out, I bought a new 92 Corvette that had a my first CD player in it and I stopped using my cassette deck, eventually put the stereo in my closet and it's sat there since oh, I guess around 1992. I missed using that old stereo, missed watching the reels turn, missed the fluoroscan meters bouncing, their blue color, mesmerizing... and now as an adult, I went on Ebay one day and saw all this old stuff and someone on Ebay offering to service the RT-909 and I actually contacted the person years ago and asked why the price was so high. The person said it can take anywhere from at least 30 to 40 hours or more to work on them. It's a lot of work. Tedious work. But after seeing these are being brought back to life, I wanted to get all of this stuff fixed and use it again. I missed that warm Pioneer sound. I started this quest about 10 years ago when I bought an SG-9800 on Ebay for $50 plus $25 shipped, something also I could not afford when I was 16 years old. I knew that later down the road I wanted to invest a lot of money into this stereo to get it all back up and running and now with finding a mint condition CT-F1250 last month, I'm really getting amped (no pun intended) to do this and bring my rack back to life.
But seeing a Pioneer SA-9800 on Ebay that may be a good candidate for a rehab by someone on here or another board if I can find someone to do the work, is not worth it to me if the display is dead and there is currently one on Ebay now that has this same issue. He's asking way too much for it so I'm not interested in it as there are others that have been rehabbed and I have the patience to wait till one comes on that is mint and I'll spend the extra dough to buy it. I prefer the wood cabinet and finding them in mint condition is tough. But I'm going to remove the wood day one, like I did with all my other stuff I purchased in 1980 and put the metal covers I have on it and put it in my rack. The cabinet will go into my basement in the original Pioneer boxes with all the other wood cabinets that have sat there since 1980. One day I may buy duplicate units and use the cabinets to have a matching stereo for the second floor of my home. To sell them would be crazy. They're scratchess in the box for 36 years. Like my tape heads, and motors, they are something that most people don't have. Brand new 1980 Pioneer stuff.
But the thought of finding out what company Pioneer used to produce these fluroscan meters would be great as they may still make them, and still have the specs/templates in a warehouse to make them easily again. Just someone with determination has to call them and ask for someone that has been with the company for 36 years and started out in their parts department!
