garymd Posted September 14, 2006 Share Posted September 14, 2006 I am surprise no one has mention anything about the pioneer sx-1980.I own two of those at almost 90lbs each.it's amazing seeing people on ebay are bidding over 1k for it.to my ear.it sound just like any other receiver.. You are correct! The SX-1980 (built in 1980 of course) was the last of the great 70's era power receivers and probably the most coveted. They still sell for easily over a grand in NM condition. They are huge and put out 270 watts RMS. My Kenwood KR9600 weighs in at about 65 lbs so at 90 lbs, the Pioneer is enormous! A high school buddy of mine still uses his and it still sounds great (for SS that is[]). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted September 14, 2006 Share Posted September 14, 2006 marantz 2325/4400 DROOL!! Doug, just to help drive the prices up, what model numbers are the most prized and what kinds of prices are good to pay? I take it that all the quad stuff and Dolby FM switches really doens't do anyone any good nowadays, right? So really half the button get no use on some of the complex models? I'd maybe be looking for a mid-powered unit, maybe 60-80 wpc, kind of in the line up like my HK730. But I do love that big tuning dial and the blue lights! I gotta get me one of those. And does Thebes wish to adopt-a-kid? In lieu of adoption here's some more blue lights for you kiddo. It's the eye-candy-sounds-bad Fisher I described earlier. Thanks for the info on the Setton Duke. I think I did read somewhere on the net that they were French designed with japanese guts. When I get a chance I'll open it up and again and see if it's put together with noodles and rice or brie and cornichones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 COME ON You guys have more 70's Muscle Receivers.........Show them off......No Kenwood's.......No Mc Intosh receivers.........Thebes and tuned4life have piles of Stuff to show off...............No one owns one of those 300 per channel Technics ? Still alot of nice gear displayed all ready......thank Guys........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarheel Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 I am surprise no one has mention anything about the pioneer sx-1980.I own two of those at almost 90lbs each.it's amazing seeing people on ebay are bidding over 1k for it.to my ear.it sound just like any other receiver.. You are correct! The SX-1980 (built in 1980 of course) was the last of the great 70's era power receivers and probably the most coveted. They still sell for easily over a grand in NM condition. They are huge and put out 270 watts RMS. My Kenwood KR9600 weighs in at about 65 lbs so at 90 lbs, the Pioneer is enormous! A high school buddy of mine still uses his and it still sounds great (for SS that is[]). Does anyone remember what the retail price was for the SX-1280 and the SX-1980? I saw a 1280 go for $585 on ebay with 41 bids recently. The bid got up to over $700 as I recall and I guess the over exuberant bidder withdrew his bid. What a control center these recievers are with several phono settings and tape to tape duplication with the push of a toggle switch. The only styling item that looked a little strange to me was the slide settings for marking radio stations. Chuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dp1954 Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 I believe the msrp for the 1280 was 950 and the 1980 was 1295. Not cheap by that days standards..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarheel Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 Thanks for the info Dave. Yes....a tidy some for that day. Chuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptnBob Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 Bob Shaw, the head guy at J. C. Gordon, St. Louis' Bozak/Audio Research/Mageplanar dealer in the '70s and '80s, sold Setton for a while. He claimed the cosmetics were designed by Pierre Cardin. He was always vague about who actually built the things. Allied was an old and respected company who had both stand alone stores and catalog sales. They sold a lot of high end gear - their catalogs are still fun to look at, with Marantz and Altec liberally represented. They also had house brand. When I was first getting into hi-fi, the hot receiver (if you couldn't swing a Dynaco PAS-3/Stereo 70/FM-2) was an Allied receiver. I forget the model, but it was all tubed, had a "magic-eye" tuning indicator, and was reportedly made by Pioneer. Pretty neat stuff. Eventually, Allied got bought out by Radio Shack. 'Nuff said. Lafayette was a similar operation, although their equipment seemed to be pitched a little below Allied. My first receiver was a tubed Lafayette - kind of my "Rosebud." Next thing you know, I'll be waxing rhapsodic about Utah Celestias... My 1979 price list puts the Pioneer SX-1980 at $1,295 and SX-1280 at $950. Of course, these things were pretty readily discounted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 MMMnnnn ... I .. had Utah's ... sold 'em for JBL's .. but enjoyed them at the time.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 co-incedentially... I ran them with a Lafayette Reciever ....[] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Garrison Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 I had a humongous Nikko receiver, rated at over 300 watts / channel. Thing was so big I didn't have a shelf it would fit on, had to keep it on the floor. Biggest problem with those things was if it ever broke it was just about impossible to repair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 Come on more pictures..............anybody got Carver equipment......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted September 17, 2006 Share Posted September 17, 2006 Out of Steam.....No more....Thanx to those of you that showed equipment, interesting assortment of brands........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1stcav Posted September 17, 2006 Share Posted September 17, 2006 OB, never owned a monster Technics, just the li'l 25-watter '77 Technics SA-5170 I bought new with my paper route money. Still have it boxed away out in the garage, but my kid bro burned out the right channel back in the late '80s. It was always decent sounding for what it was...maybe someday I'll see about having it repaired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1stcav Posted September 17, 2006 Share Posted September 17, 2006 OB, here's a pic of two monster Technics receivers from '79 or '80 I found online awhile ago...these brutes had gobs of power and were built like tanks, like the majority of these '70s monster receivers. Wish today's retro-stereo/AV receivers still had some of these aesthetics...cool brushed aluminum silver faceplates and matching knobs, and old-style analog tuning dials, all on a new, modern chassis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted September 17, 2006 Share Posted September 17, 2006 SA-1000 isn't that the 300 watt per channel Killer receiver? Nice pictures thanks....seems like today 100 watts per is average but don't have the wallop, punch of the older high powered units . I like my Sony 100 per in 5.1 sounds great, but find 100 per in 2 channel a liitle lacking, I bet 300 per wouldn't be lacking..........eh????............ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRiv Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 Selling audio equiptment was a fun but short part of my working years to date, and I was lucky to be selling during some hot years for the big recievers, 1979-1981. Just a local 2 store place in Cleveland Ohio, we sold the entire Pioneer, Kenwood, Akai, and Sansui lines along with SAE, Soundcraftsmen, AR, Epicure,DBX and others I forgot, anyway, sold a lot of Kenwood KR-9600's, was actually our best selling "big" reciever, the Pioneer SX1250 and SX-1280 were second, but the biggest we had was the Sansui G-33000 @ 330 watts per ch, and this reciever along with a smaller 220 watts per ch G-22000 actually came in two sections, the pre amp/tuner section, and the pwer amp section. Both sections could be bolted together to make one very large reciever, or stacked one on top the other or even separated a distance as options. I have no pics to offer nor have looked to see if any are for sale on ebay for pics, but they looked just like the Sanui G-8000? posted on the first page of this thread. The only speaker we sold at the time that could handle the power of the 33000 was the Acoustic research AR-9. It was a fun job at the time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 TRiv, an interesting time to sell Audio, Big Monster units they were selling, God to have some of those now, really, speaking musically, those were Brutes, far more equipment than what you find in recievers today.......I realize times have changed, electronics is far more advanced today, and really, the equipment today is probably better, but there is something about showing off your big Fine looking old receiver, and telling someone, "Oh yeah it has alittle power, about 300 watts per channel, and watch the look on their faces", Yeah Man, crank it up............You were selling just about before it sarted to go down hill, it had reached a peak?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SET12 Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 OB, Doesn't that tell you something! I went through the same erra I never owned any recievers just seperates I never thought they could hold a candle next to the seperates that I owned! in the late 70's I started thinking more about quality then quanity I went from a Phase 400 and a Dynaco ST400 to a Yamaha C2 preamp , B2 power amp, And the pride and joy I still own a Rare Black CT7000 tuner I used this with Dahlquist DQ10's the Yamaha stuff was pretty amazing at the time so I went from 200/ch to about 130/ch with out any regrets it sure was alot of money at the time to be sure that B2 was some power amp! For me at least. SET12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 OB, Doesn't that tell you something! I went through the same erra I never owned any recievers just seperates I never thought they could hold a candle next to the seperates that I owned! in the late 70's I started thinking more about quality then quanity I went from a Phase 400 and a Dynaco ST400 to a Yamaha C2 preamp , B2 power amp, And the pride and joy I still own a Rare Black CT7000 tuner I used this with Dahlquist DQ10's the Yamaha stuff was pretty amazing at the time so I went from 200/ch to about 130/ch with out any regrets it sure was alot of money at the time to be sure that B2 was some power amp! For me at least. SET12 It tells me it was an interesting time, the 70's a great period for music, and a greater time for equipment......the Market exploded...trying to draw everyone in....You have to admit, the equipment was nice......The stuff you had was considered Top shelf in that day.....the high wattage had more to do with speakers, than just brute force, most speakers liked goobs of power........I couldn't afford Klipsch back then, not that I can now......and the Market was flooded with Sansui, Pioneer, Advent, Avid, Bozak,Marantz, and last but not least Fisher speakers, some good, most bad speakers...3,4,5,7 way speakers.....yikes...thank god for speaker only companies.......I just have fun looking at the Old Gear......Old Guy just thinkin' back to a simplier time....I mean no harm.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SET12 Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 OB, Doesn't that tell you something! I went through the same erra I never owned any recievers just seperates I never thought they could hold a candle next to the seperates that I owned! in the late 70's I started thinking more about quality then quanity I went from a Phase 400 and a Dynaco ST400 to a Yamaha C2 preamp , B2 power amp, And the pride and joy I still own a Rare Black CT7000 tuner I used this with Dahlquist DQ10's the Yamaha stuff was pretty amazing at the time so I went from 200/ch to about 130/ch with out any regrets it sure was alot of money at the time to be sure that B2 was some power amp! For me at least. SET12 It tells me it was an interesting time, the 70's a great period for music, and a greater time for equipment......the Market exploded...trying to draw everyone in....You have to admit, the equipment was nice......The stuff you had was considered Top shelf in that day.....the high wattage had more to do with speakers, than just brute force, most speakers liked goobs of power........I couldn't afford Klipsch back then, not that I can now......and the Market was flooded with Sansui, Pioneer, Advent, Avid, Bozak,Marantz, and last but not least Fisher speakers, some good, most bad speakers...3,4,5,7 way speakers.....yikes...thank god for speaker only companies.......I just have fun looking at the Old Gear......Old Guy just thinkin' back to a simplier time....I mean no harm.......... I second you for the speaker companies I also owned Magnapans, and AR LST's these could really goble the power they were rated for 25 watts continious before the fuse would start to think of going and a rating of 180 watts for thirty seconds the AR's had some of the best bass I ever heard at the time they required a special dealer franchise over the other AR line and LST stood for Labortory Standard Transducer they touted very low distortion. in the mid 70's these were 1200$ a pair and beautifully made. The first amp to catch my ear was a Sansui 9500 integrated at 75 watts/ch playing into double Advents which I owned also, My first amp was a 1060 Marantz a great looking amp first preamp a Marantz 3300 it sure was nice looking a friend of mine owned a Marantz 500 power amp talk about powerfull! He tried out a SAE at 400/ch the Marantz with 250/ch just blew it away! So yes don't we all think of those yrs but all in all I think we are hearing more imformation today then of yesteryear! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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