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Review NaN of
Price Paid:
$400.00
from eBay UK Summary:
Bought about 5 years ago on eBay for £400, since then it's grown to be one of my most treasured audio possesions. I have a thing for vintage Pioneers, the build quality of the best is about as close to true high end you'll find unless you're willing to spend a lot of money on modern high end gear. Sure, I'm not under any illusions and they're far from perfect, they have far too much complexity to ever earn the respect to be classed as true audiophile but they're still pretty good and deserve a place in a hall of fame somewhere - modern consumer grade Pioneer is a joke compared to this, it hurts me to say that but it's true. If you really want to experience a high end Pioneer, the years 1975-78 were the pinnacle...after this the quality gradually decreases into the early 80's where it's virtually worthless.
This came in near mint condition with the manuals and some sales literature, it was stock except that somebody had replaced the volume control and ripped out the speaker terminals and put a plate with binding posts on set A - the other two sets were cut off and the wiring taped up inside. Found an original volume control in the US, I'd fitted an Alps which worked well but didn't have the tap for the loudness circuit, I never use the loudness but wanted everything working so spent ages until I found an original part.
One thing with these receivers is that you need decent speakers. When I first had this I was running a pair of Wharfedale Valdus 500's, these were woefully out of their depth on most decent audio systems, let alone this one...they sounded really pushed in the low end with no dynamics and a false, glassy treble. A while later I came accross the chance of a pair of Celestion A3's from a studio - these are large speakers which can sink large amounts of power and are able to reach very high sound levels on a good amplifier. The best word for the resulting sound between these two is impressive - these are a high end pair of speakers which would need quite an amp and large room to really shine, however the SX-1250 makes a good stab at driving them with apparent ease and the deep soundfield and tight, dynamic bass coupled with the sheer amount of clean sound and the warm tonal quality of the receiver really sounds something special. The sound is so clean that you don't realise how loud it is until you walk into the room and try to speak over it, at those levels the imaging has ample depth and on a good recording it sounds like a very believeable surround sound. I'm gradually getting into high end audio gear but the sound of this is really something to sit down to and enjoy even if lacks the outright transparency of good purist audio.
There are a lot of connections, more than you'll find on most amps, including two sets of tape connections, two phono inputs and a pre in/out which can be split to run another preamp with the SX-1250's amp or vice-versa. Also there's three sets of speaker outputs, ideal to use the first two for a pair of bi-wired main speakers and the third for a small pair of monitors. You can't use all three at the same time but then you shouldn't need to. The tone controls here are good, rather than having 'turnover' switches for the bass and treble, you get two sets of controls for both - main and sub. The main controls are roughly in the places where they are on most pre-amps, 100hz and 10khz, the subs set at 50hz and 20khz, right on the edges of the frequency range. The sub controls work well, the bass will add to the weight and definite punch at the extreme low end without mudding the sound while the treble will add some sparkle right at the highest frequencies without altering the midrange at all. Aside from this you get the usual high and low cut filters (for FM/tape noise and turntable rumble), also mono/stereo and loudness switches and a -10dB muting switch which gives more control of the volume at low levels.
One of the few minuses lay with the stock speaker connections; these are a joke, I can't understand why Pioneer didn't spend an extra few $$ on better connectors so that people could hook better cables up. Somebody had attempted to put binding posts on mine and had hacked the original wiring short, I made a set of binding posts on aluminium plates and replaced the speaker wiring with audio grade stuff and everything is very happy running thick gauge speaker cables now. One of the few parts of the design I've never been happy with was with the speaker wiring snaking all the way around inside the receiver to the push switches on the front, I'd never have thought those tiny push switches could take the current of the receiver on full bore...apparently they can. I once toyed with fitting some relays somewhere to shorten the wiring run but if it ain't broken, just enjoy it for what it is.
If you're after pure, naked, high end audio then this isn't for you. However, if, like me you enjoy music with a solid, room filling sound, depth and clean dynamics, something with soul and character to enjoy like a classic car for what it is rather than crave absolute perfection then this is probably one of the finest pieces of equipment you'll find for the money, even after 30 years.
Strengths:
The high watermark of Japanese audio engineering, lashings of brushed aluminium, real glass and real walnut veneer. Imposing but understated looks, soft lit white tuning meters and amber indicator lamps look great against the aluminium and walnut case. All controls and switches feel quality, spin the tuning knob and the dial silently glides right accross the scale...try doing this on a mid 80's one.
True 150-200w RMS power output, hook it to a good pair of large speakers and you can hear the power output in the quality of solid bass it can put out at high volumes. Able to drive 4 ohm speakers with aplomb unmatched by many other amps.
Three speaker outputs, ideal to use the first two for a pair of bi-wired main speakers and the third for a small pair of monitors.
Nice set of tone controls, both bass and treble have main and sub controls, the 50hz sub on ther bass adds great low end presence without mudding the sound.
Very good tuner, just a shame that FM is being phased out here in the UK.. Weaknesses:
Seriously heavy (35kg, 75lb), seriously large (if you judge that a weakness).
Puny speaker connections, the single largest drawback with vintage Pioneers...what were the designers thinking?
Inevitably complex, well designed so have proved reliable on the whole but they are over 30 years old after all. Could prove expensive to get repaired unless you can do it yourself.
Runs quite warm compared to most Pioneer amps of the era, keep it well ventilated so that everything stays happy.
No MC phono stage, these didn't come until the final '80' generation amps and receivers. Usual MM phono stage is really quiet and open sounding though. Similar Products Used:
Pioneer SA-9500
Pioneer SA-9800
Pioneer SX-424
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