Why No Love For Pre-Silver Era???

[erik92da]

As a newcomer to the vintage Pioneer stuff, it seems to me that the silver era is the hot thing.

My first vintage Pioneer was a SX-700T (25 watt) receiver. It came out in the late 60's and is a predecessor to the silver era SX-7** receivers. The tuner is absolutely FABULOUS; best i've heard! (Im using it as a tuner for my SA-8000)

Recently I added an SA-8800 (good deal, more power ) and while its an excellent amp, I dont see how its any better than my old 700T sound quality-wise. Just more power and the fluoroscan.

Why do the older woodgrain models sell for so much less??? Is it because they are less common and dont have such a reputation because of it?

 

[kcollins4]

Personally, I like the silver era stuff because it came out during my teen years.
I learned how much I liked music, listening to it, on equipment I couldn't afford to own myself.

 

[flatmap]

I've never run across the SX-700T, but I've recently been listening to the SX-770 which is quite sweet. It's rated at 15 wpc, so a bit less beefy than what you have.

I don't see so many units from the 60's -- and I'd guess the silver face units are more plentiful. Of course over time they had models with a lot more power also!

 

[cbrworm]

I also was discovering loud music during the heyday of the silver face equipment. I had a hand me down SX-828, 2 Roberts reel to reels, an ELAC Benjamin Miracord (which I still have somewhere), and a couple big Fischer 4 or 5 way speakers. It was quite a setup in the 70's. I also had a disco-speaker which was like a speaker enclosure with a plastic front that had colored lights flashing to the music. Really 'far out'. I think I also discovered some other things around that time, but I used to chill in a hammock right in front of the speakers and watch the reels go round for hours and hours.



Now I have an SX-1050, an Akai GX-270D-SS and a Numark (don't laugh) turntable. I still sit for hours and watch the reels go round.


I have a perfectly good modern high end Onkyo reciever which does nothing for me other than a great job of decoding DTS signals.

I have no doubt that the onkyo does a better job (or at least as good) of reproducing music, but I just have so many good memories of the old gear - which I can now afford - that I use the 1050 all day every day. The onkyo only gets turned on when my wife wants to watch TV or a movie.

 

[spok]

Personally, I like the silver era stuff because it came out during my teen years.
I learned how much I liked music, listening to it, on equipment I couldn't afford to own myself.

was in 1977-78 that i got into buying and then subscribing to Stereo Review magazine, my cousin and I really loved to send in the little reader service card at the back and get all the brochures and whatnot from all the advertisers and I just fell in love with the Pioneer silver gear, just couldn;t afford it. I had at one time lots of the brochures at one time, wish i still had them

 

[pioneernut]

I'm sure there are many personal reasons why people go after the mid to late 70's gear, but I also think it's because by that time they really started to manufacture some of the best gear of that era.

Between 1969 and 1973 much of the industry was going through major changes. Some of this was the 4 Channel mess that caused confusion in the market place. Plus there were huge improvements in transistor quality and amplifier designs that offered better sound and higher output power. By 1974 you could get some top notch recievers and amplifiers that delivered some serious power and specs. By 1976~78 they really hit some high points in there amp designs with the Spec Series, and the 20 series stuff. Then the bean counters took over marketing in the 80's and cheapened everything up.

When you look further back from 1969, much of Pioneer's gear his vague to determine. I think I've seen maybe 1 dedicated tuner and tube amplifier, and 2 recievers. To top it all off much of it may have been rebranded Allied Radio stereos during the mid 60's. I really don't think Pioneer had a large market share prior to 1969. So theres not many units to find, when you do find one, it can be kind of a collectors item for the die hard Pioneer fan.

But this is only my observation and thoughts.

- Mike

 

[plainsman]

I just took out my "modern receiver" today and replugged in my old SX-700T. It sounds great! I would love to get my hands on some schematics as I am having trouble bringing in distant AM stations. But I have to admit, the receivers and tape decks Pioneer put out in the 70's were pure beauty.

Mike