Calling All "Vintage" Integrated/Receiver Owners
May 4, 2014 at 9:00 PM Post #12,481 of 19,093
  I'm not familiar with tube amps or the LCD2's but like I said earlier I use an SX750 for both my BS22's and for my Q701. The BS22's won't need much power, so anything between 50-100 watts per channel should do it. That leaves a lot of options. I use mine near field and 50 watts per channel is more than enough.  

Yeah, I was using them with a Lepai tripath, which is only 20 wpc. The SX750 definitely looks like an option, its widely available on ebay for 250-300, and one on craigslist near me for $150. The only thing is that every time I look up something I find on ebay or craigslist, I find an AudioKarma thread where someone says they found it at a thrift shop for ~$30, or asking if they should spend $100 on something, and everyone saying no. Is this just something I'll have to invest time into to find decent deals? I'm fine with that - summer's on its way.
 
May 4, 2014 at 9:06 PM Post #12,482 of 19,093
  Yeah, I was using them with a Lepai tripath, which is only 20 wpc. The SX750 definitely looks like an option, its widely available on ebay for 250-300, and one on craigslist near me for $150. The only thing is that every time I look up something I find on ebay or craigslist, I find an AudioKarma thread where someone says they found it at a thrift shop for ~$30, or asking if they should spend $100 on something, and everyone saying no. Is this just something I'll have to invest time into to find decent deals? I'm fine with that - summer's on its way.

Yea, I don't think I'd pay more than $200 for an SX750. I found mine at a local flea market for $40, so I got a smoking good deal. Something like this would be worth the money: http://www.ebay.com/itm/PIONEER-SA-9500-STEREO-INTEGRATED-AMPLIFIER-QUALITY-VINTAGE-80-WPC-XCLNT-/161294546214?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item258de77526 
 
May 4, 2014 at 9:23 PM Post #12,483 of 19,093
  Yea, I don't think I'd pay more than $200 for an SX750. I found mine at a local flea market for $40, so I got a smoking good deal. Something like this would be worth the money: http://www.ebay.com/itm/PIONEER-SA-9500-STEREO-INTEGRATED-AMPLIFIER-QUALITY-VINTAGE-80-WPC-XCLNT-/161294546214?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item258de77526 

What in the world. I don't know what I'm doing, or if I'm just selectively blind to good deals. I JUST went through the ebay newly listed vintage amps and came up with squat. I've seen online that a good price for the SA9500 is around 450? Looks like a good price.
 
May 4, 2014 at 9:32 PM Post #12,484 of 19,093
  What in the world. I don't know what I'm doing, or if I'm just selectively blind to good deals. I JUST went through the ebay newly listed vintage amps and came up with squat. I've seen online that a good price for the SA9500 is around 450? Looks like a good price.

 
I wouldn't expect to find any crazy good deals on Ebay. The prices on there are going to be somewhat high because lets face it, this vintage stuff is now in demand. The only way you're going to find a crazy good deal is to find local at a yard sale/estate sale/garage sale, flea market, or thrift store where the seller is unaware of how much the stuff is really worth. You may get lucky on craigslist too if the seller hasn't done their research and doesn't know what they really have. Or perhaps you may see something on ebay with a low "buy it now" price because again, the seller didn't do their research, but it's unlikely. The one in the link I provided looks to be a decent price if it really is in good condition. I like my SX750, but I'd definitely rather have that integrated amp instead. 
 
May 4, 2014 at 9:40 PM Post #12,485 of 19,093
Don't forget local Antique Malls - where dealers setup booths.  I've found a few good deals there on occasion.  But like everywhere else, many items are overpriced at the same time.
 
May 4, 2014 at 9:43 PM Post #12,486 of 19,093
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May 5, 2014 at 7:51 AM Post #12,487 of 19,093
  Don't forget local Antique Malls - where dealers setup booths.  I've found a few good deals there on occasion.  But like everywhere else, many items are overpriced at the same time.


Antique malls and flea markets tend to have some of the best gear in terms of desirability, but you wouldn't want to buy something from one unless you're willing to pay more post-purchase to restore it. Most dealer booths have receivers that are polished up and work at the time, but are quickly deteriorating inside since they're being sold on "antique" value instead of audio interest.
 
May 5, 2014 at 10:09 AM Post #12,488 of 19,093
Is the SA series a notch better than the SX series or not .Thanks 
 
May 5, 2014 at 11:13 AM Post #12,489 of 19,093
The local fleamarket has a vintage hi-fi stall but the guy wants 2-3x CMV for his stuff and dickering with him is a waste of time.
 
May 5, 2014 at 11:38 AM Post #12,490 of 19,093
Is the SA series a notch better than the SX series or not .Thanks 


That's not really an answerable question. SX are receivers, over many many iterations. SA are integrated amps, also over many product generations. You have to list specific models of each in order to compare them.
 
May 5, 2014 at 1:04 PM Post #12,491 of 19,093
I don't believe it's a case of an IA sounding "better" than a receiver, more like there's more crap that can break or go wrong on the latter. :wink: If I don't need or want a feature than I'd rather it not even be there at all, if you get what I'm saying.
 
May 5, 2014 at 1:11 PM Post #12,492 of 19,093
Yeah, that's a very tricky question. You  have the sx line with the 1010 being at the top. Then came the sx-xx50 line up followed by the sx-xx80 lineup. With the integrateds, you have the line with the sa-1000, sa-9100, sa-9900, sa-9500, sa-9500II, and sa-9800. Some of those flagships aren't as desirable and regarded as higher end receivers, and couple of those are even higher regarded. Then there's the power ratings. Even to two most desirable integrateds(9900,9800) pale in comparison to the 1250, 1280, and 1980 watt wise. Then  the sound signature ranges from very warm, to just the brighter side of neutral. There's enough of a variation to even say it's apples to oranges. But one thing they all will have in common is the famed pioneer build quality, and I've never heard a vintage pioneer of any kind that didn't sound good. Even their low end gear of that era have many fans.
 
May 5, 2014 at 1:49 PM Post #12,493 of 19,093
That's not really an answerable question. SX are receivers, over many many iterations. SA are integrated amps, also over many product generations. You have to list specific models of each in order to compare them.

Pioneer SA 8500- 2 compared to a SX 750, the SA 8500 is 60 WPC.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
 
May 5, 2014 at 1:56 PM Post #12,494 of 19,093
Well the SA-8500 would be most directly equivalent to the SX-850, so in theory at least the 8500 would be the nicer of the two units, and make more sense if you require neither the radio tuner nor the fancy meters :D
 
May 5, 2014 at 2:59 PM Post #12,495 of 19,093
Well the SA-8500 would be most directly equivalent to the SX-850, so in theory at least the 8500 would be the nicer of the two units, and make more sense if you require neither the radio tuner nor the fancy meters :D



Right, like I said in my previous post, the receivers as a whole are way more powerful. You could even make the case of the 8500 being compared to the 1050. The 8500 is next to totl. For example, many prefer the sa9800 to the sx1280. And the consensus is, they are at least equals sonically. But the sx1280 has about 65 more wpc. So don't compare them when it comes to wpc. The higher and pioneer integrated have goodies like dual power supplies, and dual trannies. While the higher end receivers have over sized toroids.
 

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