SX-3900 vs SX-1980

[rcs16]

The one that I've always been surprised at that doesn't get much respect is the QX-9900, it's a TOTL machine that sounds every bit as good if not better that the SX big ticket machines, and you can pick them up on ebay for about $400, and it doesn't even get included in the discussion. If I was given a choice between those three, I'd pick the QX myself, I love their sound and they are beautiful machines and in the same class as these.

I have one too, I like it a lot, one of the best looking of the lot imo. Never fails to impress my guests with vintage technology. I managed to get mine for ~$200, expensive to ship however. As far as power goes, it has plenty of power for my usage. Proves that you do not need ultra low THD to have a good sounding amp. It is a challenge to service as they packed it pretty tight in there. I like that fact that it is 4 ch, so I can drive an extra set of speakers, can use one set as a sub woofer, by using the 4ch balance/tone controls I can adjust the levels for my space.
In fact the amp has lots of power, as it can drive 8 sets of speakers, no problem

 

[KentTeffeteller]

The SX 1980 is the king of the big Pioneer Receivers. Their most powerful ever. And from 1978. Peak silver era for many who like monster receivers. The QX quads are very nicely built, sound nice, but a lot more difficult to repair, and the IC chips related to the Quad functions are also unobtainium.

 

[Idunno]

Count me in!I

Matched up with HPM-100's.

Both rare to find to find here in the U.K. so I'm well pleased!

Mind you, I did look at the 3900 before and I still like that as well!

 

[kvining]

I have one too, I like it a lot, one of the best looking of the lot imo. Never fails to impress my guests with vintage technology. I managed to get mine for ~$200, expensive to ship however. As far as power goes, it has plenty of power for my usage. Proves that you do not need ultra low THD to have a good sounding amp. It is a challenge to service as they packed it pretty tight in there. I like that fact that it is 4 ch, so I can drive an extra set of speakers, can use one set as a sub woofer, by using the 4ch balance/tone controls I can adjust the levels for my space.
In fact the amp has lots of power, as it can drive 8 sets of speakers, no problem

If you want quad and you want mad gobs of power, the QA-800A Quad pre-amp can output to four two channel or two four channel power amplifiers. I love mine, it is IMO the best looking vintage Pioneer unit I own, a beautiful walnut case and the best looking knob style Pioneer ever produced, and it sounds fantastic when I run it with the QM800 four channel amp in two channel/four speaker mode. The matrix mode also is very sweet with complex music like Mozart, etc. All these Pioneer TOTL quad units are also being neglected by collectors, they don't come up very often but when they do they are dirt cheap compared to the hot ticket Pioneer receivers, but I think I see prices starting to rise for them.

 

[jozeppy26]

If you want quad and you want mad gobs of power, the QA-800A Quad pre-amp can output to four two channel or two four channel power amplifiers. I love mine, it is IMO the best looking vintage Pioneer unit I own, a beautiful walnut case and the best looking knob style Pioneer ever produced, and it sounds fantastic when I run it with the QM800 four channel amp in two channel/four speaker mode. The matrix mode also is very sweet with complex music like Mozart, etc. All these Pioneer TOTL quad units are also being neglected by collectors, they don't come up very often but when they do they are dirt cheap compared to the hot ticket Pioneer receivers, but I think I see prices starting to rise for them.

A limited/decreasing supply and continued demand will cause even the cheapest low power receivers of this era to be astronomically priced eventually. I definitely cherish what I have with the understanding that there's only so many still out in the world that are fully functional.

 

[jozeppy26]

Count me in!I

Matched up with HPM-100's.

Both rare to find to find here in the U.K. so I'm well pleased!

Mind you, I did look at the 3900 before and I still like that as well!

Fabulous combo! Maybe I secretly crave a 1980 for the HPM-100 pairing, although the 3900 with them sure doesn't sound too bad. ;-)

As a side note to make everyone angry, the HPM-100s are by far the greatest speaker ever created, and ever will be created, by man. Relax, I'm kidding, although I do love mine. (there's a historical troll thread that starts off this way on audiokarma and it's pretty fantastic)

 

[rcs16]

If you want quad and you want mad gobs of power, the QA-800A Quad pre-amp can output to four two channel or two four channel power amplifiers.

The QX-9900 has this ability too. the QX-9900 is just pure and simple, a eye candy receiver. I have a couple of SX-1250 transformers if I need more power. and the SX-1050 PS in the Sansui G-7500 with a LME49830 latfet amp, so I got loads of power if the party starts up
Working on re-firb of the Altec Lansing Model 9's, would give the HPM100's a go I do like the older Pioneer speakers, have to look up the model #'s, with the wood grills = stylish, would look real nice with the QX-9900.

 

[jozeppy26]

Anything with a wooden lattice grill is a non-starter with my wife. I spoiled her with the looks of the HPM-100s and backed myself into a corner I think.

 

[Bama Brian]

I just received my 3900 last Thursday after wearing ebay and CL out for months trying to find one and it is the best sounding receiver I have. It makes my Pioneer CS-911's and Rectilinear Lowboy III's sing sweetly! I was running my Marantz SR-4000 and it sounded very good, but I wanted more( don't we all?). My KR-6030 has the power, but not the sound I wanted. I was disappointed in my Sansui QR-4500 as well.
My HK-930 is currently being serviced as I plan to use it as a preamp with my Adcom GFA-585 along with some custom speakers I'm building. After the HK comes out, the 3900 is going in for service and cleanup. I might try recapping and servicing the 6030 and just maybe it will help with better sound.
The 980, 1050, 1080, 1250, 1280, 1980 along with the Marantz 22xx, 23xx, Sanui's, etc. are all on my want list. The 1280 will probably be my next one. I really love the looks of the 1280, plus I hear the sound is fantastic.

 

[Bama Brian]

Anything with a wooden lattice grill is a non-starter with my wife. I spoiled her with the looks of the HPM-100s and backed myself into a corner I think.

If you can find any, try the CS-911's or the Rectilinears. Both are fantastic speakers. Will not disappoint IMO.

 

[Cosmo-D]

I found an SX-3800 in the electronics recycling (trash). Not quite the same as the 3900 though. I've used it for a few years and it sounds good. I am currently using it to power my speakers with a Pioneer C-90 as the preamp section.

 

[Ricktptman]

Re-read my earlier post. It doesn't sound BAD, but it definitely has a lighter weight presentation than the Classic xx50/xx80 series does. The auction prices tell the story. BUT, if you're going to run it (I don't advise pushing it hard) CHANGE The output connectors from the amp boards. They become brittle with age and will short out. Many xx00 series receivers met a bad end that way.

 

[james may]

i grew up with a sx-3900 in the house, i was born in 1980, dad had it the whole time. be it as it may, by far the glitziest and prettiest pioneer of all time imo, idk could be bias due to it being all i knew. 3 years ago we pit it against pioneers origional monster, the sx-1010. the 1010 is at least 10 watts weaker, and a lot more distortion on paper, after both units were rebuilt, went throu the sound test. if nothing else, the 3900 looks better, but thats about as far as ill throw it, 40 years and even my father said the 1010 was better sounding than it was, more sound, projection, seperation, and just dirtier overall. the 1010 let us know it was ready to rock with a thump from the 15' woofers, after it was game on. i still love the 3900 for image, but ill be honest, any unit in the x50 and x3x, maybe even the x80 seriese would comand respect over the 80's and on erra "i have a sx-880"

 

[djbuszko]

I bought my Pioneer SX-3900 brand new, saved my allowance, doing odd jobs to pay for it. It was shelved for a very extended time when AV receivers came out.
First AVR was a technics SA-R477, then went Technics SA-DA10, Then Technics SA-TX50, which esthetically is so awesome, and pared with the Technics SH-AC500D for DTS is incredible. For my rec room i went with a Pioneer Elite VSX-29TX it was really good but not as good as the Technics SA-TX50, got another Technics SA-TX50 & Technics SH-AC500D. That lasted for a very long time till HDMI & BluRay. I used a Technics DVD-A10 another stunner and sound was awesome DVD-audio was just off the hook. It was hard to find a good BluRay with RGB video outs went with a sony bdp-s550(which is still a main player) my other was a panasonic. I used a Technics SA-DA10 for a short period but With HDMI becoming the standard it was time to move into a different era, So both Technics SA-TX50's the Technics SA-DA10 are on the shelf in storage same with both Technics SH-AC500D's. My main living room now has a Onkyo TX-NR555, and my rec-room has a Onkyo TX-RZ3100 both are awesome, the RZ being the much better of the two. I was feeling though i was missing something. I broke out my Pioneer SX-3900 and was fiddling with it and it still sounded great so i had it serviced a complete service and calibrated. Once i get it back I had to setup a new rack for my old equipment, The vintage rack consist of : Pioneer SX-3900 receiver, Pioneer PL-530 turntable, Pioneer H-R 100 8 track deck, Pioneer CT-F850 cassette deck, Luxman K-8 cassette deck, and the auxiliary is one of my Technics DVD-A10. All vintage equip is one owner me all bought new over the years. Speakers are a set of Cerwin Vega RE-38's. I do have to say that the 120wpc is powerful and thumps. I serviced all the tape decks myself replacing the belts, clean and demagnetize heads and working now perfectly and sound great. I recently found in my stash another two cassette decks, a Technics TR-575 which will go in the Onkyo rack, and the other is a Luxman KX100 suck face deck. The technics tr-575 is a tank and after all the years sitting it works perfectly just a head cleaning. The Luxman KX-100 needed serious help, playing was slow and sticky, the suckface did not work. I serviced it, new belts, cleaned and lubed all, rebuilt the suckface and the belt for it was broken, its hidden in the motor gearing section replaced that with a spare i had found the was close and now that works, its going to go on the shelf for now.

The sound of the vintage equipment i find to like better than the digital stuff of today.

 

[TRC]

To be bluntly honest, I've never listened to the SX-1980, but I do own the SX-3900. To me, the SX-3900 is a huge disappointment. I like the sound of vintage Pioneers, and even through the 3900 is silver faced, wood cabinet and all.. I cannot place it in the same category of classic Pioneer. It has the sound of *today's* receivers. Weak and wimpy. It looks the part, but performance-wise.. it isn't there. It doesn't have the "drive" and sound that I've come to expect through the years from a silver faced Pioneer receiver. I have a host of them.. including the SX-1280. The SX-3900 PALES in comparison. Some of you may disagree with my assessment, and of course that's your right. IF the SX-1980 sounds anything like the SX-3900, then the SX-1280 was the LAST of the classic silver faced Pioneer receivers.

 

[rmeade]

To be bluntly honest, I've never listened to the SX-1980, but I do own the SX-3900. To me, the SX-3900 is a huge disappointment. .......

This is a suprise review. Things do go wrong with age - capicitors dry out and their resistance change and sometimes transistors fail. I wonder if your 3900 would benefit from a compoment refresh. Of couse these big machines are difficult and expensive to work on - its kind a labor of love.

 

[TRC]

This is a suprise review. Things do go wrong with age - capicitors dry out and their resistance change and sometimes transistors fail. I wonder if your 3900 would benefit from a compoment refresh. Of couse these big machines are difficult and expensive to work on - its kind a labor of love.

I don't know, rmeade, I'm sure it would now.. I've not used it in many years and it's been in storage ever since. The sound quality was just so substandard, it's just been sitting there. I have Pioneer receivers many years older than this one.. and they still sound fantastic.

 

[ToyDoctor]

I bought a fluoroscan model just to evaluate these and it's not impressive. I plan on keeping it, but this change in philosophy seems to have been to drive the prices lower with a cheaper product, resulting in easier sales. My curiosity has been resolved and I won't likely grab up on any more of these.

 

[james may]

To be bluntly honest, I've never listened to the SX-1980, but I do own the SX-3900. To me, the SX-3900 is a huge disappointment. I like the sound of vintage Pioneers, and even through the 3900 is silver faced, wood cabinet and all.. I cannot place it in the same category of classic Pioneer. It has the sound of *today's* receivers. Weak and wimpy. It looks the part, but performance-wise.. it isn't there. It doesn't have the "drive" and sound that I've come to expect through the years from a silver faced Pioneer receiver. I have a host of them.. including the SX-1280. The SX-3900 PALES in comparison. Some of you may disagree with my assessment, and of course that's your right. IF the SX-1980 sounds anything like the SX-3900, then the SX-1280 was the LAST of the classic silver faced Pioneer receivers.

just curious if your a xx50 and x3x series fan? i love my sx-1010 X3X series, and have a 3900, i know exactly where your coming from, how a 100 watt unit could overtake in sound, volume and just experience over the 20 watt stronger "in theory" receiver. never had the privilege of the sx-1980 neither, but have herd the sx-828, sx-1010 and sx-1250, nothing in those lines ever give a doubt of the lineage its pioneer. only differences is volume knob. mind you that's the totl for 72-73, 74-75, and 76-77. perferadly i like the 1010 the most. its grandma's receiver with a bad attitude

 

[james may]

I bought a fluoroscan model just to evaluate these and it's not impressive. I plan on keeping it, but this change in philosophy seems to have been to drive the prices lower with a cheaper product, resulting in easier sales. My curiosity has been resolved and I won't likely grab up on any more of these.

i grew up with the 3900 my entire life, and never knew it was a unique stereo. i think its a beautifull recever, but now ive experienced the older pioneer, even cross compaired models, i find the special pioneer sound fadded around the x80 seriese imo. by then, intergraded circuitry and clarity were a primary focus for most manufacturers, it seemed to lose a certain touch. warmth, power, and music. not that i diss any 680 780 880, ect, but the 750 we herd has much more attitude than the 780 ever will, and the sx-3700 sounded limp wristed to even a sx-780, same power.