[buson160man]

The unit looks like it is in pristine condition. It looks to be a dual mono design . Congratulations looks like you have a winner.

 

[buson160man]

  I'm just lucky the only vintage piece I've bought was refurbished, and I feel I got a good price.  I felt even better about buying it off ebay after chatting to the seller for a little bit on the phone.  Plus it sure is pretty.

 I bought my piece locally from  shops that sold vintage used receivers. I had bought a couple of items at the shop before I bought my receiver at so I had some experience with the store . But this is the first time that I have bought a used piece from them .I was lucky that the receiver had been refurbished . I do  not know how far refurbishing has restored the receiver but it is working pretty well at this point.. The store I bought it from did not do the refurbishing on the receiver so I do not know how extensively the refurbishment was .But I am happy so far .
  I may consider a parts upgrade at some point in the future maybe not a full upgrade but maybe where it matters the most .

 

[harrinj]

Picked this one up yesterday on Craigslist, It was posted 8 hours before I saw it. I cleaned it all up last night, put in white LED's (they sure are better than the blue LED's) and checked everything no cold solder joints or bad caps besides one that looks suspect I will have to replace at a later time. This and my two 4270's are the best sounding ones in my collection with this one being the best. The seller was so cool and had a lot of receivers. He may sell his SX-1050 that's just mint so I'm hoping he gives me first dibs

the seller didn't get my emails at all, They were not even in a junk or spam folder. I am glad he actually had a number listed instead of just email like most of these people... It would explain the KA-9100 guy ignoring me and the others they just didn't get them for some reason :/ 

 

[Silent One]

@ last harrinj!

 

[LugBug1]

  After owning a couple of sx1280s, I had a bad itch for a 1250 to compare. It was an itch I just had to scratch. I found one locally for 500.00 that had cosmetic and functional issues. So it only required about 8.00 in parts(recapping protection board, couple diodes and transistors on one of the amp boards). The faceplate had a deep nick though small it was very noticeable because of how deep it was. So I had decided from the very beginning this wasn't going to be a keeper(I've evolved to the point of my vintage gear being mint cosmetically). But I just had to scratch that 1250 itch. I think it's one vintage receiver every vintage lover should try once.
 
The wood case had quiet a few deep scratches and some chips around the edges. I knew I would be taking a chance of not recouping my money on ebay given the cosmetic issues. But it ended up cleaning up nicely considering. Here's a couple of pics
 
.
 

 

Although repaired, I definitely wouldn't called this restored. But I was fortunate enough to clear around 625.00 after shipping, ebay and paypal fees. So I guess all of the work I put in it was worth 125.00

.  I wish I had the before pics. The top edge of the faceplate really was horrible. I sanded it with a 225 grit 3m sanding block to sand through all of the scratches, afterwards I used 600 grit sand paper to get the finish fine and finished it with applying brasso to some steel wool to give it a mirror finish.
 
Now on to the sound. This unrestored 1250 flat out beat the restored 1280 I had. The sound was just slightly warmer, but the sound stage was just huge. It has better transparency, better grip on bass, and the mids were just buttery smooth. It aslo took the edge when it came to resolution and micro details. The noise floor is also lower. Where my w3000 hissed and humed loudly(even with the restored one), they hissed only a little with the 1250. In all honestly, this is a non issue. That can be easily fixed by swapping in some higher ohm resistors. But the lower treble etch which the 1280 had(the restored one to a much lesser degree) is completely gone. Now they both still sound very similar and the differences aren't drastic. But they are still there. This can be why the 1250 are starting to fetch near 1280 type money. Maybe all of the threads of 1280 vs 1250 are being more noticed. And in most(if not all) most seem to prefer the 1250, and now I'm one of them.
 
The 1280 still wins when it comes to looks imo. But I enjoyed the 1250 so much, I could really see myself owning it one day if one cosmetically mint fell in my lap at a great price. But I'm not going to search for one because as great as it is, it still couldn't beat out any of my mcintosh amps or the 500c. It's close to the 6200, albeit not as warm. But the 6200 beats it handily when it comes to musicality, and organic richness while the 1250 just narrowly beat it out when it comes to technicalities.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Oh, and the internal pic shown was before I recapped the protection board. I took those after I did the cosmetic work.

Just catching up on this thread. Always a treat to read about a Moody restoration! Great stuff. 

 

[moodyrn]

Thanks.

 

[Silent One]

Honestly, in days past, I thought about shipping one of my vintage lovelies to you for resto! 

 

[harrinj]

  @ last harrinj!

It's neat to have another with a wood case. May also pick up a Pioneer SX-939 next week too. 

 

 

[PhoenixG]

I don't know if anyone is located in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago, but I'm not. Anyways, I noticed a receiver for sale there that I have been trying to find for over a year. It even has the walnut case for Pete's sake haha! Problem - it's on craigslist and the guy might not be up for shipping. If anyone here from that area can lend an assist by literally picking it up and taking it to a UPS store, please send me a message.

 

[FunyunBreath]

So I made my first leap into the world of vintage receivers a few days ago. I picked up a NAD 7020 on craigslist and I'm just floored by how good the headphone out sounds with my HD650s. I haven't even hooked any speakers up to it yet because its been getting more listening time than my Bottlehead Crack haha.

The background is so black and the overall sound signature is shockingly close to the crack, with an even better low end. Super pleased with the buy, now I'm looking at desktop monitors to hook up to it.

 

[jgreen16]

Super pleased with the buy, now I'm looking at desktop monitors to hook up to it.

 
The Pioneer SP-BS22-LR speakers are pretty well regarded, and won't break the bank. They can often be found on sale for around $80-90.

 

[.Sup]

So I made my first leap into the world of vintage receivers a few days ago. I picked up a NAD 7020 on craigslist and I'm just floored by how good the headphone out sounds with my HD650s. I haven't even hooked any speakers up to it yet because its been getting more listening time than my Bottlehead Crack haha.

The background is so black and the overall sound signature is shockingly close to the crack, with an even better low end. Super pleased with the buy, now I'm looking at desktop monitors to hook up to it.

Ha! Yes black and better low end than the Crack and its getting more usage than the Crack - exactly my situation! I daily thank Lug Bugz in my head for convincing me to get one through his high opinion on vintage NAD amps in this thread.

Gratz on the purchase! How much did you shell for it?

 

[BobG55]

  After owning a couple of sx1280s, I had a bad itch for a 1250 to compare. It was an itch I just had to scratch. I found one locally for 500.00 that had cosmetic and functional issues. So it only required about 8.00 in parts(recapping protection board, couple diodes and transistors on one of the amp boards). The faceplate had a deep nick though small it was very noticeable because of how deep it was. So I had decided from the very beginning this wasn't going to be a keeper(I've evolved to the point of my vintage gear being mint cosmetically). But I just had to scratch that 1250 itch. I think it's one vintage receiver every vintage lover should try once.
 
The wood case had quiet a few deep scratches and some chips around the edges. I knew I would be taking a chance of not recouping my money on ebay given the cosmetic issues. But it ended up cleaning up nicely considering. Here's a couple of pics
 
.
 

 

Although repaired, I definitely wouldn't called this restored. But I was fortunate enough to clear around 625.00 after shipping, ebay and paypal fees. So I guess all of the work I put in it was worth 125.00

.  I wish I had the before pics. The top edge of the faceplate really was horrible. I sanded it with a 225 grit 3m sanding block to sand through all of the scratches, afterwards I used 600 grit sand paper to get the finish fine and finished it with applying brasso to some steel wool to give it a mirror finish.
 
Now on to the sound. This unrestored 1250 flat out beat the restored 1280 I had. The sound was just slightly warmer, but the sound stage was just huge. It has better transparency, better grip on bass, and the mids were just buttery smooth. It aslo took the edge when it came to resolution and micro details. The noise floor is also lower. Where my w3000 hissed and humed loudly(even with the restored one), they hissed only a little with the 1250. In all honestly, this is a non issue. That can be easily fixed by swapping in some higher ohm resistors. But the lower treble etch which the 1280 had(the restored one to a much lesser degree) is completely gone. Now they both still sound very similar and the differences aren't drastic. But they are still there. This can be why the 1250 are starting to fetch near 1280 type money. Maybe all of the threads of 1280 vs 1250 are being more noticed. And in most(if not all) most seem to prefer the 1250, and now I'm one of them.
 
The 1280 still wins when it comes to looks imo. But I enjoyed the 1250 so much, I could really see myself owning it one day if one cosmetically mint fell in my lap at a great price. But I'm not going to search for one because as great as it is, it still couldn't beat out any of my mcintosh amps or the 500c. It's close to the 6200, albeit not as warm. But the 6200 beats it handily when it comes to musicality, and organic richness while the 1250 just narrowly beat it out when it comes to technicalities.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Oh, and the internal pic shown was before I recapped the protection board. I took those after I did the cosmetic work.

Good ol' moodyrn, what would this thread be without your expertise.  Beautiful job.  I think I speak for a lot of us on this thread when I say this : you've probably earned yourself an honorary doctorate in the Vintage Amplifier field.  Dr. Moodyrn …. sounds pretty good. 

 

[LugBug1]

Hey guys I'm pleased you're enjoying the NAD sound  

 

[moodyrn]

Good ol' moodyrn, what would this thread be without your expertise.  Beautiful job.  I think I speak for a lot of us on this thread when I say this : you've probably earned yourself an honorary doctorate in the Vintage Amplifier field.  Dr. Moodyrn …. sounds pretty good. 

Haha, thanks. But in all honesty, there are quiet a few on this thread who knows a lot more than I do. I consider myself still a newbe compared to some here. That's one one the things I love most about this thread. Just so much knowledge. We might not have the superstars that Ak have, but I actually prefer it here. Ak is so massive, there are threads upon threads covering each brand. We all can discuss vintage gear in general, whether is a budget sx450 or something like a g22000/sx1980.


Oh, and was it someone here who scooped up that marantz 2500 on eBay for around 750.00? I'm still kicking myself for missing out on that one.