Vintage Iconic Pioneer SX-1280 for sale

Ledformyhead

Ledformyhead

Junior Audioholic
Receiver is in top rate shape inside and out. Recently fully serviced at vintage repair shop, fully documented. Asking $3000.00 plus shipping which I won't kill you on. Contact me for pics....couldn't load one or any of mine on here....too large. Pick up is also an option. I live in York, Pa fyi. Serious inquiries only please
 

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highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
Receiver is in top rate shape inside and out. Recently fully serviced at vintage repair shop, fully documented. Asking $3000.00 plus shipping which I won't kill you on. Contact me for pics....couldn't load one or any of mine on here....too large. Pick up is also an option. I live in York, Pa fyi. Serious inquiries only please
$3000? Get a grip.

Iconic? When it was a new model, we called it 'a receiver'.
 
Ledformyhead

Ledformyhead

Junior Audioholic
$3000? Get a grip.

Iconic? When it was a new model, we called it 'a receiver'.

While I do appreciate your feedback on my "Receiver" I have seen units far worse off cosmetically sell for that $3000.00 figure. Others have sold in the $1500 to $2500.00 range. This is a lightly used and VERY well cared for unit and it looks and acts the part. It's fully serviced, has the LED light kit upgrade (also have a set of new standard bulbs that come with it) and a downloadable copy of the original owners manual.

And if you check reputable reviewers many will tell you that the ultimate Beast of a receiver the SX-1980 that pumped out 275 watts a channel conservatively (the SX-1280 pumps out 185 watts a channel....again conservatively measured) was not the best sounding of the two receivers. Many think Pioneer went a bit over the top with the SX-1980. I'm not bad mouthing the SX-1980....it's a true iconic receiver as well.

And my $3000.00 asking price is just that, an asking price. I think it's worth it....the market also agrees with me.

And for what it's worth the SX-1980 has sold for as much as $5000.00 or slightly more. Saw one sell for $5500.00 recently. So my $3000.00 asking price is not out of line.
 
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T

TankTop5

Audioholic General
While I do appreciate your feedback on my "Receiver" I have seen units far worse off cosmetically sell for that $3000.00 figure. Others have sold in the $1500 to $2500.00 range. This is a lightly used and VERY well cared for unit and it looks and acts the part. It's fully serviced, has the LED light kit upgrade (also have a set of new standard bulbs that come with it) and a downloadable copy of the original owners manual.

And if you check reputable reviewers many will tell you that the ultimate Beast of a receiver the SX-1980 that pumped out 275 watts a channel conservatively (the SX-1280 pumps out 185 watts a channel....again conservatively measured) was not the best sounding of the two receivers. Many think Pioneer went a bit over the top with the SX-1980. I'm not bad mouthing the SX-1980....it's a true iconic receiver as well.

And my $3000.00 asking price is just that, an asking price. I think it's worth it....the market also agrees with me.
You do realize there’s this website called eBay, on you can see list prices as well as transaction prices. It’s pretty cool! If you want to sell one for the highest price in history it better be in perfect condition with packaging, documents and preferably an original receipt. I think you’d refer to it as museum quality, is yours museum quality?
 
Ledformyhead

Ledformyhead

Junior Audioholic
You do realize there’s this website called eBay, on you can see list prices as well as transaction prices. It’s pretty cool! If you want to sell one for the highest price in history it better be in perfect condition with packaging, documents and preferably an original receipt. I think you’d refer to it as museum quality, is yours museum quality?

I plan on posting it on Ebay.....thought I'd post it here first to some that would truely appreciate it. And I've fully researched selling prices on this unit on Ebay and others for what that's worth.

Again thanks for the feedback.....not sure why the negativity. Just advertising what I truly believe is a VERY special receiver and again "asking" $3000.00. I will consider any reasonable offer.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
While I do appreciate your feedback on my "Receiver" I have seen units far worse off cosmetically sell for that $3000.00 figure. Others have sold in the $1500 to $2500.00 range. This is a lightly used and VERY well cared for unit and it looks and acts the part. It's fully serviced, has the LED light kit upgrade (also have a set of new standard bulbs that come with it) and a downloadable copy of the original owners manual.

And if you check reputable reviewers many will tell you that the ultimate Beast of a receiver the SX-1980 that pumped out 275 watts a channel conservatively (the SX-1280 pumps out 185 watts a channel....again conservatively measured) was not the best sounding of the two receivers. Many think Pioneer went a bit over the top with the SX-1980. I'm not bad mouthing the SX-1980....it's a true iconic receiver as well.

And my $3000.00 asking price is just that, an asking price. I think it's worth it....the market also agrees with me.

And for what it's worth the SX-1980 has sold for as much as $5000.00 or slightly more. Saw one sell for $5500.00 recently. So my $3000.00 asking price is not out of line.
A bit of history-

I was selling audio equipment when those models were in the Pioneer line- very familiar with them but they were never high-end, nor were they meant to be. The reason people are paying so much is (one, or all of these) A) because they can, B) because they have some nostalgia for that time in audio and C) they just want one.

As far as the specs being conservative, I would say that most equipment performed a bit better than the specs stated, but most didn't perform better by a great margin unless the model was part of a higher end line, like Sony's Audio Lab or Pioneer's Spec series, which included separate pre/power amps, equalizer, tuners, etc. The standard lines ratings were different from now, too- it wasn't long before that lineup when the FTC imposed rules on power output and distortion specs- before, they were a free for all, with IPP (Instantaneous Peak to Peak) being the main method of overstating output. The FTC's ruling called for consistent specifications, being Watts @ stated THD, 20-20KHz, with a +/- tolerance and both channels driven for the test, so it might have shown something like 185W @.03% THD ± .5dB with both channels driven. Fines were imposed if the specs were, let's call it 'optimistic', if not dishonest or impossible. This is when and why the audio magazines started testing equipment- if random samples showed errors that weren't in a positive direction, the manufacturer would re-test and restate the specs that weren't 'real word' accurate. Granted, these tests are done with load resistors that don't present a real speaker load, but for the sake of consistency, it's not a bad way to do it since there's no way to know the speakers someone will use and speaker simulators didn't exist at that time. It was also the reason we, as salespeople (well, some of us, anyway), would tell the potential buyer that they may have different results because not all speakers were the same. That said, there weren't a lot of 4 Ohm speakers at that time- most were rated at 8 Ohms and some ways to tell a better receiver/amplifier from something that wasn't as good was by looking at a combination of the load rating at the speaker terminals, the output power, THD/IM distortion and frequency response range and tolerance. Ratings that were restricted to 20-20KHZ, .1% THD (or higher) with lots of IM distortion and ±3dB into 8 Ohms show limits that can impact the sound quality. Doesn't mean it won't sound good, but it wasn't as good as tests showing +20-50% higher output power AT rated distortion, 1-100KHz within ± .1dB tolerance and capable of driving a 4 Ohm load without catastrophic failure.

Around the same time as this model came out, the manufacturers became involved in a race for more and specs and that's when consumers became interested and confused by details they didn't understand, nor did they need to know. I couldn't possibly estimate the number of people who asked about Slew Rate after Sansui started showing it, but the lack of understanding didn't stop the questions. Many also didn't know the difference between Amps & Watts and they would expect to hear a large number when asking "How many Amps does this put out?", so they were disappointed. Or, they would leave and think we didn't know what we were talking about when told that a 100W output driving an 8 Ohm load would come to about 3.5A. When questioned, some of us would explain the difference.

Now, sellers like Beast Buy show a seven channel 100W/channel AVR as somewhere around 700W on the card with the price that's at the front of the shelf in the store but that's with one channel, at 1KHz. Hardly an honest way to do it and it only makes people go for the higher powered model, even if it adds to their confusion. A clock radio can drive just about any speaker at 1KHz at fairly low distortion.

A lot of mystique exists about this stuff, usually perpetrated by people who weren't alive when this equipment came to be, weren't interested in it and/or don't understand why the info being troweled out may or may not be accurate. If you're a member of AudioKarma, you need to know this because a lot of the beloved brands and models on that forum were lower-end and never sounded as good as people say. However, I'm not saying that some members aren't very knowledgeable and that some recommendations aren't accurate or valid- I'm saying that it's important to watch out for stories that seem plausible but don't stand up to scrutiny. Some of the equipment being shown as very good or great was actually extremely prone to problems, like the Harmon Kardon A and B series (330A and 330B being prime examples) and just about all of the Sansui R-series receivers. They could sound decent, but only if they didn't blow up. The H-K 330C came out because the A and B models had high failure rates and the R series failed because they were set up for higher output, which was the direct cause of their failure. The shop where I started had a service department with lots of test equipment and people who were trained in electronics, not a bunch of hobbyists who liked to tinker. When an amplifier was repaired, they actually tested the output on an oscilloscope and distortion analyzer. among other devices. The store also had a service warranty, which is something a hobbyist won't.
 
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highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
I plan on posting it on Ebay.....thought I'd post it here first to some that would truely appreciate it. And I've fully researched selling prices on this unit on Ebay and others for what that's worth.

Again thanks for the feedback.....not sure why the negativity. Just advertising what I truly believe is a VERY special receiver and again "asking" $3000.00. I will consider any reasonable offer.
Good luck with the sale. I don't have a vendetta against this stuff (or you), but $3K is a lot of money for a 43 year old receiver that was never considered 'high-end'. It's good, solid equipment, though. I think that much of the appeal is due to the styling at the time- I really like the look of a lot of that equipment. I sold some older Sony Audio Lab pieces around 5 years ago and it looked great- when I checked it before shipping, I was reminded of how good it sounded, too. I ran it through the speakers I bought in 1979 and won't sell those because our store was the second US dealer for that brand and the company is no longer under original ownership so there's definitely some nostalgia involved but they still sound really good, even after hearing a lot of equipment over the decades that is absolutely amazing and incredibly expensive.

The main reason I have sold my older non-tube equipment is the potential for not being able to easily source parts, if they're needed. I don't have a lot of tube equipment, but even the esoteric stuff can be repaired pretty easily and it's still possible to find almost any tube from before the original production ended. They're not necessarily inexpensive, but they can be found at rummage/estate sales and antique stores. I'm at the point where I'm considering selling my turntable because if some proprietary parts fail, I doubt I'll be able to find them and that would result in me having a nice looking paperweight. The 80+ year old guitar amp I recently sold still works well and sounded great only hours before it changed hands.
 
Ledformyhead

Ledformyhead

Junior Audioholic
I got some pics to upload.....attached to my first post / listing.
 
S

Sergio Aguilar

Audiophyte
Serviced words scares real collectors, the outputs on these models are unobtanium, but there are some replacements kits using discrete components, power supplies on pioneers runs hot! That's why you can find boards for the 1980 which tend to self destruct.

It is a sweet in very nice condition unit and vintage gear is hot right know...3k? Who knows! It would be a record I'm pretty sure.

Good luck
 
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TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
There is a market for vintage audio. That receiver was specked by Pioneer at 185 watts per channel into 8 ohms. There is a market for vintage audio, like vintage cars.

I would not say those far Eastern receivers were in fact the best of their time, far from it. They did achieve consumer acceptance though. The release date of that receiver was 1978.

Checking eBay completed sales those seem to be fetching $1500 to $2500. In their day those units were never considered high end, but high quality domestic. For instance you would never see one powering really top end speakers of their time. They were definitely mass consumer audio. Their original listed price was $900.00.

The one big advantage of gear from that era, is that it remains serviceable. They were relatively simple and above all they were discrete transistor, and preceded the integrated circuit chip era. ICs quickly become obsolete and unavailable. ICs were being used on some gear in the 1970s, but they were not common. The first gear that I was aware of using integrated circuits was Studer/Revox gear.
 
Ledformyhead

Ledformyhead

Junior Audioholic
This item has sold......and for those "haters" on here that said my asking price of $3000.00 was "nuts". The item sold for $2919.70. Hmmmm?
 
Mikado463

Mikado463

Audioholic Spartan
good for you, as 'Doc' said Vintage appears to be hot right now !

wanna buy a '67 BB Corvette ?
 
davidscott

davidscott

Audioholic Ninja
I remember that unit was Pioneers entry into the high power receiver wars of the early 80s. Marantz. Sansui, and Technics also had their own models. Unheard of receiver power back then.
 
Ledformyhead

Ledformyhead

Junior Audioholic
I remember that unit was Pioneers entry into the high power receiver wars of the early 80s. Marantz. Sansui, and Technics also had their own models. Unheard of receiver power back then.
The SX-1280 was only produced for 2 years, 78-79 unless I'm mistaken. This was also the time of the SX-1980. When the early 80's hit these were gone and replaced by less tank like units that were also down on power and build quality.
 
K

Kenema

Audiophyte
$3000? Get a grip.

Iconic? When it was a new model, we called it 'a receiver'.
I have one of these, redone. I have a little more than $3200 in it. Best sounding receiver I've ever heard. I've listened to quite a few "good" ones in my day, too. If it's redone, it's worth $3000.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
The SX-1280 was only produced for 2 years, 78-79 unless I'm mistaken. This was also the time of the SX-1980. When the early 80's hit these were gone and replaced by less tank like units that were also down on power and build quality.
The dollar lost value vs the Yen, too- that made a big difference.
 

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