Death of a pioneer

[admin_exported]

Hi there clever hifi people.

I have a bit of a dilemma. I am the happy owner of a beautiful silver fronted 1976 pioneer SA-7300 amp. It was given to me by a friend a long time ago, It sounds great, and has been happily driving a pair of new B&W 685s with perfect results until yesterday.

Some slight scratchiness had developed in the volume pot over the years so i opened it up and cleaned the pots with Deoxit (an oxidisation removal product) and fired it up. The scratchiness was gone and all was well.

I then adjusted the interconnects and re-plugged it in, but i must have knocked something loose. When I turned the power on, my beautiful amp that has served me well for many years, emitted a bang, a burst of light and tripped my surge protector.

So. Do I get it repaired or replace it with a modern amp? Is it even possible to get those old pioneer amps repaired in the UK?

What do you think about how modern amps compare to vintage amps? - When i was auditioning speakers, i heard the rotel RA-04 with my 685s but it felt like it was lacking something. The sound was a bit lifeless and that was something that my old amp cured.

What sort of modern amp would you recommend as a replacement for my vintage pioneer?

thanks for any advice,

Tim

 

[Lost Angeles]

To give someone on here a chance to offer some solutions what size is your room, what do you listen to and from what source.How big is your budget?

 

[Tear Drop]

Personally I'd look into repairs - if the cost isn't too high it will be worth it, getting kit repaired is far more cost effective a lot of the time, especially if it is something which you really like the sound of. Lesson! Never open stuff up unless you really know what you're up to...

 

[Anonymous]

It's a small room, and the source is generally high bit rate or lossless files from my laptop.
I just wondered what modern amps would give me a comparable quality. Are cheaper modern amps as good as the old ones? i.e. have they improved?
I'd prefer not to spend a fortune if i can avoid it

re: repairs
Is there anyone doing repairs to vintage pioneer amps in the UK? I'm assuming that i'd need to send it off to see if it was save-able or if it was scrap, but i can't find anyone who fixes them...

 

[Anonymous]

hoojama:When I turned the power on, my beautiful amp that has served me well for many years, emitted a bang, a burst of light and tripped my surge protector.

If it tripped the surge protector, then it was nothing to do with the amplifier! It would have been a surge from the mains that would have done it! That is unless you mean a circuit breaker...

To diagnose the problem, open it up and find where it seems some smoke has been. The places to look are on the transistors (those things stuck to the heatsink check if the silicon gel has melted), the transformer and the capacitors (which is most likely the cause). The capacitors (and sorry if I'm sounding patronising) are the big cylindrical objects most likely covered in a thick paper standing tall in the amp.

I've made a little diagram below to help (this is based on the SA-8500 which is very much the same amplifier).

If it is the capacitors that have gone, I can talk you through how to change them - it's not that hard.

 

[Anonymous]

Don't cut the PURPLE WIRE - You'll kill us all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Anonymous]

JAXON5:Don't cut the PURPLE WIRE - You'll kill us all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't cut any wires!

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry - Thought I was in Lethal Weapon there for a second. Phew.

 

[Anonymous]

hehe,
hey hughes123, i'll post a piccy and show you where the flash was - it does look like a hamster has been living in it though, and it's nowhere as clean and lovely in there as your example. to be honest, i think it's come to the end of it's life.

Dunce level is fine for the electronics lesson. and i won't cut any wires

I haven't even plugged it in since it went, as don't want to fry anything that may be saveable.

 

[Anonymous]

here you go..

I can't see any burn marks anywhere or any melted or destroyed bits on any of the boards so i reckon all the bits that matter are ok. The flash and bang was from the power bit somewhere (blinding electronics knowledge on show) and i never even went anywhere near that, so i reckon I must have knocked or pulled something that was just tenuously hanging on as i moved the amp about and moving it around was the last straw.

It was either that or the hamster was irritated with me taking the roof off his house.

anyway... i didn't get any resounding responses about the overwhelming superiority of modern amplifiers, so that really crystallised my thoughts about high quality vintage kit.
I just bought an even better 1979 pioneer amp off the 'bay for £75

worth a punt i thought...

 

[Anonymous]

Ah, I wouldn't bother with it mate - it seems, shall I say, a little past its best before date!

Oh, but I'd love to know what model you just bought! I've always lusted after an SA-9800 (100wpc from 1979) but instead I bought a JVC A-X9 (1979 100wpc too!). My current Arcam A32 is very good, probably better sound quality wise, but the vintage stuff is just sooooo much fun and better value that I use it aswell!

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I thought as much... oh well, it's served me well over the years.
This beautiful SA-708 is now mine and should arrive on Wednesday

yay!

 

[Anonymous]

Man, That is a shiny toy.

 

[Anonymous]

That is absolutly beautiful! Wow! What an amp! Make sure you make a video of it when you get it and pop it up on youtube for us all to see! Wow!

 

[Anonymous]

Sure beats my old beast!

 

[Anonymous]

weeeellll... if you're in the mood to indulge that yearning from the past...

In my search for a replacement I uncovered a pretty mint looking SA-8800 up on ebay right now.
I was seriously interested in it and I emailed the seller and he seems an alright guy, but I didn't want to risk it going out of my price range, losing the auction and ending up with no amp, so I plumped for the one I just bought cos i could get it straight away. Not sure why i'm putting this on here as i still might bid.

anyway, if you're a connoisseur of the silver front check this out...

link to ebay

 

[Alec]

right. next time im getting something old and beautiful like that. sod sound.

oh, and, "its just been revoked"...

 

[Anonymous]

yeah.. well that's the dilemma I was in... I still am i suppose.

I reckon a quality bit of vintage amplifier will make a better noise than newer, more expensive, but budget class amps.. and look awesome while it does it..

obviously, i'm not saying that the old amps sound better than any/all today's higher end stuff. cos that'd be daft

thanks for everyone's help, i'll let you know what it sounds like when i get my new shiny beast

 

[plastic penguin]

hoojama:
Yeah, I thought as much... oh well, it's served me well over the years.
This beautiful SA-708 is now mine and should arrive on Wednesday

yay!

It's gorgeous looking. I had a Pioneer SA 702 for 17 years and it took a £400 modern amp to edge it, sound-wise.

If I could find one at a decent price I would'nt hesitate to buy one as a second machine.