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Teaser picture- identify this amplifier

DonH56

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Brand is correct Don!

The SA-9100 however is from 1973/4 and looks like this:

View attachment 39583

This amplifier is from the late 1980s.

Ain't no good at keeping track of all the new-fangled stuff, mate. :) It all looks sooo tantalizingly familiar, and 1980 is the time I was actually in the audio business, need to cogitate... I don't think we carried Pioneer though I saw plenty of it. They made some huge high-powered (200 W+/ch) receivers around then IIRC (*). Several products used the long coupling shaft for the input switch to put it on a board at the back right at the inputs.

LIke this one: http://www.classicaudio.com/value/pio/SX1980.html
 

DonH56

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Ain't no good at keeping track of all the new-fangled stuff, mate. :) It all looks sooo tantalizingly familiar, and 1980 is the time I was actually in the audio business, need to cogitate... I don't think we carried Pioneer though I saw plenty of it. They made some huge high-powered (200 W+/ch) receivers around then IIRC (*). Several products used the long coupling shaft for the input switch to put it on a board at the back right at the inputs.

LIke this one: http://www.classicaudio.com/value/pio/SX1980.html

Is that a 1280? NO, need to think integrated amp...

Ran across this beast (Sansui G-33000), a friend had one, mainly for crowing rights: https://www.ebay.com/itm/113727233678
 
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restorer-john

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Looks an awful lot like this

I'm going to give it to you. Its the A-717!

The amplifier had several incarnations. the 717, 717mk2, 757, 757mk2 and the 777. They were all essentially the same amplifier with very minor changes to layout.

1574293584983.png


It weighs 19kg.
 

Fledermaus

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Well then, not so far !
How could you not crack the box open when new ? This is what I call strength of character...
 

DonH56

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BTW I really appreciate your posting pictures of this vintage gear, John, brings back lots of memories.
 
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restorer-john

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How could you not crack the box open when new ? This is what I call strength of character...

I opened it just to test it and confirm it wasn't damaged in transit. Always figured it'd be fun to open some time warp HiFi down the track.
 
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restorer-john

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Pioneer M-73 amp

Same era, but a switchable 4 channel power amp.

There's a C90s/M90/F90s trio at my father's place. That was a fun purchase. Came across a mint set advertised- not cheap but fair. Bought it all and had a colleague pick the gear up in Sydney, and our factory (furniture) made me a solid MDF screwed/glued together crate and sent it up on a pallet. Fork lift into the back of the car.

Reused the crate a few years later to send empty to Adelaide and got up some more Sony ES gear from a retired Sony state sales manager.

The crazy stuff us collectors/restorers do for our hobby...
 

ripvw

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...The SA-9100 is the amplifier my Dad never bought. He still has the original brochure. It was ~AU$475 IIRC in 1972/3/4...
The SA-9100/TX-9100 combo was my first hi-fi system, along with the matching Pioneer direct-drive turntable, a Shure V-15 Type something-or-other and Acoustic Research 2AX speakers. I bought them all separately (except the combo) over a period of months as I saved up the money. I waited until the end of Fair Trade in the US so that I could get everything at a discount. The system worked wonderfully except for the turntable being sensitive to both footfalls and feedback - I mounted it on the wall which solved the problem. I started replacing the system piece by piece over time - first change was to a Dual top-of-the-line belt-drive turntable. Last to go were the speakers - moved up to AR 11's.
 

Biblob

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Dang! What a beast. How much would it cost to refurbish this thing / replace the caps? Or are these so beefy, they don't need replacing?
 

captain paranoia

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I'm still boggling at the thought of spending a fair wodge of cash to buy an amp, only to stick it back in its box and not use it for 29 years...

I buy stuff to play with and stick on the pile, but only ever really cheap stuff.
 
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restorer-john

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I'm still boggling at the thought of spending a fair wodge of cash to buy an amp, only to stick it back in its box and not use it for 29 years...

There was a great big blockmount poster of this amplifier in the entrance of my local HiFi store with it's top off. The words were "Pioneer A-717- for audiophiles only". Then I saw one at the HiFi show with a perspex cover highlighting the parts inside. I'd already committed to the Sony ES route but I had a soft spot for the big Pioneer. So I added it to the collection as a 'rainy day' amplifier.

There's also the matching PD-7300 CD player in the storeroom bought at the same time- also never used- only opened the box to take out the supplied AAA batteries in case they leaked over the years. :)

Soon after, I was selling Pioneer and Yamaha, but within a year or two, the high end two channel was essentially finished and all things were AV. During that time, I went crazy buying all sorts of stuff at clearance/rebated dealer cost. Restoration of older gear became huge in my life and 'new' stuff lost its appeal, so there's heaps of sealed time-warp stuff to come out for air as I tackle my storerooms.

My plan is to pull out the interesting ones (well built) and remind people how it used to be for us. :)
 
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restorer-john

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Does it work and sound ok?

I haven't listened to it yet. Just ran a few quick tests, more to go before it gets to play. So far, it is absolutely as new- so it should be!

Tests below are right and left frequency response (10Hz-20K) at 1W@8R done on my old AudioLab hardware. Doesn't get much flatter than that...
pioneer a717 r1w.jpg


pioneer a717 1wl.jpg


Swept frequency response tests are the first thing I do after checking units turn on and all functions work. All the tone controls, filters, loudness level pots, channel balance etc can be tested and characterised very quickly with these simple tests. My ancient AudioLab (PC driven hardware) is great for this. Plots can be layered and any problems in response are exposed very quickly.

Here is an example (not this Pioneer, an old Pioneer SA-708) of filters, bass and treble, loudness, direct, all tested one after another at a nominal 1W@8R 1KHz:

SA708.jpg


Cheers.
 
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