Quality built, as all the 50 series were. Large Capacitors in power supply. Twice as big as Kenwood and 1.5 times bigger than marantz. Sound is the real srength. I am very impressed. Sounds like a 125 watt stereo instead of 65.

Only weakness is that it is approching 30 years old. May need volume control etc. cleaned with deox, lps contact cleaner, even wd-40 will work. Lights may burn out. Have to special order.

Wow. This has got to be the best sounding 65 watt receiver I have ever heard. The sonic purity is awesome. I have a SX-750 as well but the SX-850 sounds even better. Pioneer leaves Kenwood and Marantz in the dust with this one. I can't believe it is only 65 watts. It blows away my SX-1010 100 watt(which may have just been too old and tired) Sounds better than my SX-939 (75 watt) which sounds pretty darn good. I thought my Kenwood KR-6600 (60 watt) sounded good until I got this SX-850. I am running my sx-850 on pioneer hpm-100 speakers that I bought new in 1977. The tuner works perfect, the crossovers are a nice feature, the controls are quality. I did have to clean one switch and the volume control. All the lights still work. I can't imagine needing more power, but the avid enthusiast that I am I just bought a Kenwood KR-9600 (160 watt) on ebay. Haven't got it yet. I will let you all know how it sounds later. I am using this receiver for right and left channels with a dvd home theater player. Sounds better than the IMAX. Buy a sx-850,sx-950,sx-1050,or sx-1250. You will love em.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer sx-750, sx-3700(not really in the same class),sx-1010,sx-939,Kenwood KR-6600 and soon to have a Kenwood KR-9600.

built to last; lots of power; looks;

will make you listen music all day long

I bought SX-850 for 120$ from a guy that kept it in a basement. Although he uses Threshold NS10/400-A, that is no excuse to dump a beauty like SX-850 in a basement. I was amazed by the way it works after 27 years (made in 1976), but when I opened it I saw the reason to that. It is built like a tank with a huge transformer and two massive 17000uF capacitors placed on the left side. I replaced two bulbs and gave a new finish to the wooden case and that was it. I use it with a pair of KEF speakers (bass B139; mid B110a ; tweeter T27;) and the sound is brilliant. And to the owners of a tiny 300wpc desktop speakers all I can say is that Im more than satisfied with my 65wpc that blow my windows out. It has good THD value of 0.1% (distortion less than 0.3% cant be registered by human ear).But the way it looks is what separates this unit (and the whole silver series) from others. You can always find something more powerfull and more expensive but you dont need anything better for home use than SX-850. (tipp: good amplifier with great speakers will always give better result than great amplifier with good speakers. so if you have money to waste, waste it on the speakers)

65wpc of underrated minimal output. Take your new 120wpc A/V reciever and chuck it in the dumpster. High filter & low switches. Selectable crosover points for bass/treble adjustments. Preamp in and out. (very handy with a good quality DTS/dolby digital pre-amp)

Nadda one.

Pioneer SX-850. 65wpc @ 8ohms. 85wpc @ 4ohms. This reciever is grade A beef. It gets mighty loud (if you want it to). Musical instruments with great detail and purity. I use this unit with a pair of Pioneer CS-77A speakers. The tone, and the response of those speakers and the SX-850 is great. Clearity, and precision all day long. Without doubt, this is a system I will hang onto as long as I live.

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Pioneer SX-3700

pure power,,at 85 rms,,,new rxv1 yamaha shuts down way before sx 850 even gets started

imagine ,,a new retro series of recivers,,from all the top names,,but adding a/v,,that only thing get me to turn away from my 25 year old

its all been said,,just adding my 2 cents worth,,, why have we come to this i dont know,,maybee the cost cutting accountants ,,but hear is one of the most perfect examples of they dont make them like that any more.....the materials the build quality,,the sound,,,all there,,,all things have a golden age,,the zenith of development and style ,,the peak,,for audio,that was 25 years ago

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all of them ,,been doing this too long

I bought my sx-850 from my best friend Sal when he was trying to raise the cash for an Italian Racing bike. We were still both in High School;late '70's.During the last 25 years maintance has cost me a whopping ten cents to replace a fuse.I've gone through at least 3 sets of speakers,2 turntables, a cd player, a laser vision player(Which played Cd's.)and it still sounds and works great.I thought I was upgrading when I bought a SONY Dolby pro-logic receiver with all the bells and whistles. I was wrong. The 850 with it's modest 65 wpc drove the speakers better then the SONY's 100 per! A friend of mine opened a bar. I gave him the 850 on a'permenent'loan basis. I would get it back if when when he bought a new system.Well after five years of having Rum and cokes spilled on it I got it back. You know what, it still works great!

Durability Clean, rich sound

I bought this unit in 1977 or 1978 when I was in the military. I think it was from a place called "Warehouse Sound" somewhere on the East Coast. My roommate bought an SX750. We each bought two HPM100 speakers, for a total of four. We ran the four HPMs off of my SX850 in our dorm room. At low volumes or high, it sounded great. I still have my 850 and the HPM100s, which continue to play brilliantly. The SX850 has been in the shop twice for the same intermittent power interruption that another reviewer experienced. At the time it was in the shop, probably 1999, the technician said "they don't make them like this anymore," and I happily paid him to fix it. All the lights still work. The switches and dials can get a little scratchy if you don't regularly move them. However, this is minor compared to the continued value I have gotten from this unit. It has survived several moves; I still have the schematics and original documentation. It's that kind of unit: a member of the family. I agree that the sound is clean and well balanced. Whether you are listening to Bach or Zappa, the SX850 continues to prove why I believe this was the best audio purchase I ever made. If you find one, buy it.

Lots of headroom for its rated output

none

I bought this new in 1976. It has been driving a pair of Dynaco A25''s that I bought new in 1975 ever since. It''s been in the shop once for an intermittent power cutout problem. You cannot buy this kind of quality brand new for any where near $350 today. Something of this quality would probably be well over $1000. Not bad for 25 year old equipment that was used frequently. When this was my main stereo I would frequently get comments on how good my system sounded, especially considering the size of the speakers. They were a good match. Here''s some specs on it. Total Harmonic Distortion per channel 65 watts at 8 ohms no more than 0.1% 33 watts at 8 ohms no more than 0.05% 85 watts at 4 ohms no more than 0.1%

Similar Products Used:

A Kenwood reciever that my roomate bought in 1975 it was either 50 or 70 watts. I don''t remember the model number.

look real nice, power, value

none

I purchased my 850 on ebay on 2-15-01 for $150. It was to replace an SX-450. I figured that it would just be louder than the 450 but it sounds so much better too. And it does crank. It can go wickedly loud. I use it to power 4 EPI 100's and I keep waiting for the neighbors to pay me a visit with their shotguns. The analog tuner is weighted nicely and it glides very smoothly. I can't wait to get a 1250 but they cost a lot. If you can get one of these for under $200 that is a real deal. By the way, the 50 series is better made the the 80 or 38 series. If you have a 950 or up real cheap(that would be under $150) please e-mail me.

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none

Longevity

None

I purchased this from a friend who had picked this sx850 up at an estate sale. He was moving and needed to unload some things so without hesitation I feel I stole this from him. You see at the time I presently owned a Pioneer SX750 which I purchased in 1978 new.It has never has seen the inside of a repair shop. It has cranked like a MOTHER for over 23yrs so I felt the sx850 would be worth it. I wanted to use this reciever for my outdoor parties, I used to rent a 1000 watt amp. and two large outdoor speakers you know the ones with the 15" woofers and large horn tweeters, the black ones covered with some kind of fabric that used to cost me 100.00 each time I rented them. So what the h-ll I had some old Marantz speakers I replaced the 12" woofers and put some kicker midranges in and use this 850 and WoW!! Power Power and more Power. I just got finished cleaning both of my units up, I sprayed the guts down with Blue Shower, cleaned the tuner so the tuner knob just floats across the anolog scale, waxed the Walnut cabinets, replaced the blowen out indicator bulbs which they no longer make anymore, but I did find a suitable replacement for them [they are a glass wedge base #168] there not quite as bright but neither am I so I won't tell if you don't. So all I can tell Ya'll is that iffen you can lay yar grubby filthy stinken hands on one fer 60 or so bucks you'd better do it. otherwise you're a stinken sunken ditch! hey in all seriousness there good machines have fun. Eddie

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too numerous to mention

I bought the SX-850 receiver back in the May of 1978. It was my first and still over the years, my favorite. The SX-850 was developed during the vintage years of the high power receiver wars. The receiver was about the third model down from the flagship unit SX-1250 in the 50 series. Specifications on the SX-850 is as follows: A massive sheilded transformer, four discrete transistors per channel for a total of eight power output devices. This provided a very conservative 85W rms. at 8 ohm loads and 105W rms. at 4 ohm loads with .05 %THD. The receiver has two 15,000uf 70 WVDC capacitors to handle the large music peaks. I've owned several different amps but this one cranks and is very neutral. There is no substitute for clean neutral power. Those who say powerand size doesn't matter have no idea of what audio is about, poor guys!! The manufactures of audio equipment have loss some craftmanship and definite quality in this price range after this time era. They don't build-em like this anymore, all brushed metal front panel with brushed metal control knobs, real walnut wood case, analog dial, white faced analog tuning meters, conventional dial
backlighting,an awesome size, sight and weight(65 lbs).

I never had a problem with this receiver and used it daily in the 21 years since I've had my unit and paid $350.00 dollars in 1978. Incredible !! I do have a factory service manual on the SX-850.

After 21 years, technology changes to Home Theater and I did purchase a Yamaha RX-2095 7 ch. A/V receiver 3/26/99 with a service manual. The craftsmanship and quality is there but today the price is $1200.00 dollars and the all brushed metal front panel with brushed metal control knobs are now black, metal case
is black,"no wood". Weight is there, but yellow digital readout and processor controlled, no analog dial, no analog meters or conventional backlighting of
the dial with light bulbs.

Yes, the technology has changed, more features and less quality unless you pay
a lot more today. But I feel lucky to have the new system of home theater and
if I want to go listen to music in the other room in the dark and the SX-850
is glowing,it does bring back golden memories. I can only hope that the
Yamaha will perform 20 plus years from now.

Thanks for reading,

R.L. Faucette