Pioneer SX-990 for $50? Should I go for it?

[Anubis]

I just ran across a Pioneer SX-990 for $50 on local CL.
Seller says it works but needs a bulb for back light.
Not my choice of looks or what have you, but I'm trying to learn repair and such and this might be a good lab unit.
What do you guys think, should I go for it? (Provided I can get the seller to plug it in or something).

 

[relaximus]

That's actually a pretty nice, lower-power Pioneer. Decent tuner and phono section. Something like ~27wpc and pretty good build quality. Make sure it has the adapters for the speaker connectors on the back. If you're looking at it as a lab rat, try offering $30.

Dave

 

[SicMan]

I have one. In excellent condition all working, FM receive excellent etc etc. Case 9 out of 10 , remember this is late 60's 70ish receiver. 28W channel 8ohms. 30W 4 ohms. (I wouldn't recommend 4 ohm speakers with this)

[Edited by Moderator]

Hope this helps in your selection.

Cheers and have a safe weekend.
John Mik

 

[Anubis]

I have one. In excellent condition all working, FM receive excellent etc etc. Case 9 out of 10 , remember this is late 60's 70ish receiver. 28W channel 8ohms. 30W 4 ohms. (I wouldn't recommend 4 ohm speakers with this)

But I may sell it for about $50...

I offered it up to someone looking for low cost vintage here awhile ago but that didn't happen. This is a really nice unit. They go for $35 - $85 on the bay and you take your chances.

Hope this helps in your selection.

Cheers and have a safe weekend.
John Mik

Hmm, the info from classicaudio.com says 30 + 30 watts 4 ohms and 28 + 28 watts 8 ohms. Just curious as to why the warning on the 4 ohm speakers?
Personally, i haven't seen 4 ohm speakers on 30 years anyway so there is nearly no chance of my even opting to get 4 ohm speakers.

 

[Anubis]

That's actually a pretty nice, lower-power Pioneer. Decent tuner and phono section. Something like ~27wpc and pretty good build quality. Make sure it has the adapters for the speaker connectors on the back. If you're looking at it as a lab rat, try offering $30.

Dave

Hey guess what! He accepted my offer of $30 right over the phone. He hesitated, but took it! I'm picking it up either tomorrow or this weekend.
I got me a lab rat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My first lab rat and first piece of vintage!!!:yes: Good price too, I can always sell it later, I've seen working ones go for $125 on ebay. (I have to use CL so I can at least get $50 once I fix it.

Darn, I forgot to ask about the adaptors you mentioned. What are those adaptors? I see the you hook the A speakers up via screws with which I can just use spades to make life easier. Are you talking about the B speakers area? That does look funky.

 

[relaximus]

Darn, I forgot to ask about the adaptors you mentioned. What are those adaptors? I see the you hook the A speakers up via screws with which I can just use spades to make life easier.

If there are screws for the speakers terminals, that means the adapters are in place. If they weren't there, all you would see is a few slots.

For 30 bux, I think you done good! :thmbsp: Get your Deoxit locked and loaded!

Dave

 

[Anubis]

If there are screws for the speakers terminals, that means the adapters are in place. If they weren't there, all you would see is a few slots.

For 30 bux, I think you done good! :thmbsp: Get your Deoxit locked and loaded!

Dave

Yes, the screws are there, I'm looking at the pic again now.
First I have to buy some Deoxit, but you can bet I will as it's part of the lab kit I need to build.
Woohoo!!!:thmbsp:

 

[MisterFishey]

I have this unit, and with the exception of the amplifier board, I found this unit very easy to service. It would make a great candidate for a first restore project. I still need to remove the big coupling caps on the amplifier board - they're held on by 4 lugs instead of two, and I didn't realize that, so I cracked the board while trying to pull one of them out! Fortunately, I only had to bridge two traces with wires. That scared me away for a while, but I'll probably replace those in a month or two, now that I know better. :thmbsp: It's a fine little unit, I believe it was for the 1970 model year.

 

[blhagstrom]

finally

Dude, nice score. You're gonna like it.

Adapters look like this. If you don't get them, you just have to shove the bare wire in the holes and be careful they don't fall out when you move the unit. + is on top.

Some of the higher end speakers are 4 ohm. Dahlquist DQ20 for one.

 

[Anubis]

Dude, nice score. You're gonna like it.

Adapters look like this. If you don't get them, you just have to shove the bare wire in the holes and be careful they don't fall out when you move the unit. + is on top.

Some of the higher end speakers are 4 ohm. Dahlquist DQ20 for one.

Thank you blagstrom! My very first! (From here on out though it's gonna be saving up and strictly hunting for TOTL). This is just a lab rat and I may replace it someday with a higher wattage lab rat to test speakers when I start looking for them. At least I know I can get $50 for it on CL and maybe a bit more when it's all cleaned up and stuff, but I will be keeping it for a bit so I can learn stuff. I didn't intend to find this thing as I was just messing about in CL to pass some time, but there ya go. I did it! The guy is only 5 minutes from where I work by side street! Yes, I see those on the back and they are both on the A speaker side in the sellers pic.

 

[blhagstrom]

That's how it starts

Yup, that's how it starts, then you get the fever.
I just popped for a TOTL that I've thought about for many many years.
It turned up close to me and the price was fair.
Now I'm passing a whole room full of gear along.

I have an SX-990 on the bench right now for a friend.
Something whacked in the amp section.
Having a lot of fun and frustration fixing it.
They have a hell of a tuner section. 7 gangs!
In all the stuff I've played with, Pioneer has one of the finest tuners I've seen.

Now see if you can find some Advent Heritage wood towers like these. They are astounding even with low power. They seem to sell cheap. Silly people.

 

[Anubis]

Yup, that's how it starts, then you get the fever.
I just popped for a TOTL that I've thought about for many many years.
It turned up close to me and the price was fair.
Now I'm passing a whole room full of gear along.

I have an SX-990 on the bench right now for a friend.
Something whacked in the amp section.
Having a lot of fun and frustration fixing it.
They have a hell of a tuner section. 7 gangs!
In all the stuff I've played with, Pioneer has one of the finest tuners I've seen.

Now see if you can find some Advent Heritage wood towers like these. They are astounding even with low power. They seem to sell cheap. Silly people.


LOL, I think I officially got the fever about 2 years ago, but didn't know what to do about it until someone over at AVSforums referred me to AK which is heaven sent as far as I'm concerned. I haven't even been here a month yet and so many have saved me from making huge mistakes and are giving me sound advice and really helping me out. The wealth of knowledge here is amazing.
Lesson #? What is a gang in regards to tuners? From what I gather so far, it seems the more of those there are, the merrier.
What is the model# of those speakers? What would be a good price point range to pay for these?

 

[blhagstrom]

gangs

There is a great thread over in the tuner forum about tuning capacitors and care there of, nice photo on the second page of posts. Its the air capacitor that does the actual "tuning" to get the signal. In the old school units, the larger or more of this there is, the better they are to pick the signal out of all the electro noise that is our environment. (OK, radio experts, shoot me and explain better).

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=144163

The speakers are only labeled Heritage. I see some other things called that, that is why I put up a photo. I paid $30 at GW and refoamed one woofer. True score. I see one set on the auction site sold for $165 and one set asking $300. Worth it? Yeah. Pay it? well, not me. I'm just recommending them, highly. Look around for them, watch CL, auction site, thrift stores. If you see your price range. DO it.

I think they are better than my Sansui SP-3000, SP-5000, BIC Formula 5, Cerwin Vega AT-10, Large Advent, Speakerlab 3, Advent Maestros, Infinity Monitor Jr, Marantz 6-G, KEF 103.3 (with Kube) and Dahlquist DQ20. (I'm not done comparing but....)

Now some of those are not that hard to beat and maybe some of them can hold their own, but these darn Heritage are just nuts good. If you see any of the above speakers cheap, grab them too.

Hmmm, just now those Infinity Monitor jrs are sounding good. I had to refoam them and I'm pushing some Judas Priest British Steel through them with a Kenwood beast I drug home today. Maybe their getting the idea that I mean business here....

No idea what this Kenwood KA-828 can do but its a heavy beast and powerful. Looks like the fancy "Operating indicator" self destructed and someone wire up some bulbs to get an "on" indication.

Ooo, were getting to some good drums here now.

 

[Anubis]

Thanks for the link. I'll look for those speakers when I'm ready to start focusing on bigger better speakers. (That will be when I get a TOTL unit for myself).
$30 for those speakers is a fabulous deal, I'd pay that without hesitation. $50 would even be a good buy.

I went and got my SX-990 today! Seller even hooked it up to prove it worked and work it does. It needs lamps big time. The only one that lights is the Phono indicator. Needs a cleaning too. You better believe I will be looking for and asking advice from the pros here on that. I look forward to working on it. A sx-990 is a good labrat, not too much concern about hurting it.
cosmetically it's about 8/10, there's some black pen ink in a couple of spots on the face which I think can be safely cleaned somehow. It also has on button that is slightly bent or escue and I'm thinking that can be easily fixed as well. The wood is actually in fabulous shape, barely shows any wear.
Not too bad for $30! I actually think I may have saved it's life! The guy just had it on it's side with a bunch of junk in his garage packed full and didn't place much value in it. I had a funny feeling it was going to be junked soon. It seemed he has been trying to sell it for some time...I'm just guessing on that. It's just feelings I had so I went with my gut and saved it from a questionable demise....poor little guy.
I am so excited to finally have my first peice of vintage even though it's only a low powered lab rat. At least now I can get to learning more and focus on TOTL stuff.
Can hardly wait to set up my little lab.

 

[blhagstrom]

weird

I wonder what it is with the 990. This one has a bent shaft too.
A little alcohol works on ink (pen marks).
More mild household cleaners on the outside are good.
(NOTHING ABRASIVE, no I don't think you're that silly).
Damn, you got the speaker connects. Those can go for $20 a pair at times.
If she's dirty inside, see the thread about cleaning the tuner that I sent and lookup the Deoxit for dummies thread. Those two steps clear up a lof of issues and "fix" a lot of broken units.

Sooo, do you have any speakers so you can play with it?

 

[Anubis]

I wonder what it is with the 990. This one has a bent shaft too.
A little alcohol works on ink (pen marks).
More mild household cleaners on the outside are good.
(NOTHING ABRASIVE, no I don't think you're that silly).
Damn, you got the speaker connects. Those can go for $20 a pair at times.
If she's dirty inside, see the thread about cleaning the tuner that I sent and lookup the Deoxit for dummies thread. Those two steps clear up a lof of issues and "fix" a lot of broken units.

Sooo, do you have any speakers so you can play with it?

I'm beginning to think all the 990s have that one bent button, like a trademark or something. LOL I assume it's easily fixed up.
Your right, I'm not that silly. I wouldn't use anything abrasive.

I didn't find any speakers for it in my outings, so I'm just going to order up a pair of those Dyanex ones for $25 or whatever they are. All I need for now is lab rat speakers. The 990 is not going into a keeper system or anything, it's just a lab rat.

 

[elgato8905]

Where are you from in O.C. Anubis?

 

[Anubis]

Where are you from in O.C. Anubis?

West Garden Grove for now. I used to be in South OC. Ironically, I just found a place that repairs and restores vintage gear in Mission Viejo! Woot!
I'm enbarking on learning to do my own work, but it's nice to know I'll have a safety net if needed.

 

[SoCal Sam]

Congrats Anubis! You are off to a good start.

 

[Anubis]

Congrats Anubis! You are off to a good start.

Thanks Sam. As I state, it's only a lab rat, but for $30 it's almost a no brainer. Besides, the important thing is that I may have saved it from an unpleasant ending. I hate to see that happen to anything like this, it should never be allowed.
The TOTL rule still in effect and that is what I am now saving for, so I'm making an effort to refrain from looking around for a couple of months when I'll have a little money. (I just don't like to think that I may miss a golden buy though - you know unbelievable low price on a TOTL unit).