Pioneer SX 1080

[Oldaudioschool]

I put my 1080 away a couple of years ago, but a problem with my Sony STR GX 9 developed, so I decided to put the Pioneer back in the stack. I had this one rebuilt by Pacific Stereo over on TH's in late 2011. Even after having it repaired I didn't use it much. It probably had less than 50 hours on it when I put it away. But now its back.

Its a much better receiver than the Sony. The Sony came on the market in 1998 and the 1080 was introduced in 1978.

Ron

 

[laatsch55]

That series is hard to beat..

 

[Elite-ist]

Nice to see your SX-1080 back in rotation, Ron. What struck you as the Pioneer being better than the Sony?

Nando.

 

[Oldaudioschool]

Nando, The Sony doesn't even come close to the 1080. The 1080 reproduces the highs and lows much better. It also holds a much better balance between the rt & left speaker. And it does a lot better with the midrange.
Of course the Sony has many more outputs and therefore accommodates more equipment but I can live with just two pieces of equipment. If I need to add something, I have three spare routers.
Besides, its time to get rid of some more equipment. I'm probably going to end up keeping just two R2R's and a couple of CD players.

Ron

 

[Elite-ist]

And the SX-1080 is a handsome deck, to boot. I bet you don't have to fiddle with the tone controls on the 1080 and just leave them in the (flat) centre-detent position.

Nando.

 

[laatsch55]

The 50 and 80 series receivers were just beautiful pieces of gear...

 

[orange]

I don't know about the 780, you find more of those as parts, especially the chip amps. The SX-880 is not part of this series, it's an early 70s black face model, pre SX-424 and others c. 1974 or so.

The SX-780 is Pioneer's Rodney Dangerfield, it doesn't get any respect. It also couldn't take the propensity of US owners to thrash it.

 

[Oldaudioschool]

The 50 and 80 series receivers were just beautiful pieces of gear...

Sony made an STR V7 receiver that was a very handsome piece of equipment and rated at 150 watts. If you were judging the silver line by ascetic's only, Pioneer was still the clear winner. Pioneer's SX-3400 / 3500 / 3600 / 3700 / 3800 & 3900 series were also some nice looking decks. Of course, I'm not discounting all the rack mounted spec gear. Although, I will say it did look industrial when mounted in the racks. But my days of collecting gear are long gone.

 

[J!m]

I am really liking the look of the silver face now. In the 80’s when I started building my system, I always preferred black.

Now that I have some old Kenwood stuff, I’m diggin’ the analogue meters, big ol’ knobs and the silver face.

Out of curiosity, how long were you waiting for PS to fix that up for you?

 

[Oldaudioschool]

I am really liking the look of the silver face now. In the 80’s when I started building my system, I always preferred black.

Now that I have some old Kenwood stuff, I’m diggin’ the analogue meters, big ol’ knobs and the silver face.

Out of curiosity, how long were you waiting for PS to fix that up for you?

Turn around time was about three weeks when you include shipping. I didn't put any restrictions on the repair. If there was a problem or anything was questionable, he fixed it. When I got it back, it looked like it just came from the factory. Not a blemish anywhere. It still remains in that same condition.

 

[J!m]

That’s pretty fast! And it sounds like he did a good job on it too.

Enjoy it!

 

[Oldaudioschool]

That’s pretty fast! And it sounds like he did a good job on it too.

Enjoy it!

Jim, This is the info from the service invoice; all parts and labor. This is direct from the invoice.

Service Performed: Full inspection. Repaired bent tuning flywheel shaft. Replaced all electrolytic capacitors (except main filter capacitors) on all boards with high-frequency low ESR, high temperature parts. Overhauled power supply. Repaired old/stressed/defective solder on various PC boards. Replaced defective transistor in right channel power amplifier. Set bias and offset. Repaired and renewed output relay contacts. Repaired and renewed surge-relay contacts. Cleaned and treated all switches and controls. Performed full FM and stereo FM MPX alignment. Performed full AM alignment. Calibrated output power meters. Measured output power and distortion. Performed "beauty-maker" cosmetic treatment, including chassis and behind the glass cleaning and treatment. Replaced broken union nut on faceplate assembly. Full audition and expert sonic evaluation, PASSED. All functions OK.

Parts:
69 Electrolytic capacitor
02 2SD712 transistor
01 2SB682 transistor
06 2.5A 1000V diode
01 2SA850 transistor
01 2SC945 transistor
01 2SC1735 transistor
01 2SC1775 transistor
03 1A 250V fuse
01 ABN-021 boss/union nut

Labor: 8.0 hours

Shipping: $140.00. This price included my portion of the cost. This receiver traveled about 2,000 miles round-trip.

I didn't include PS's labor or parts cost as his cost probably differs between machines. This receiver was repaired in August 2011.

Ron

 

[Fishoz]

Put my SX-828 back online last week. Have it hooked up to the penguins. Set it up for background in the living room. Not the best choice of speaker but it is producing a very smooth Bose like sound. No TT hooked up yet, next project is rehabbing one of the Duals.

 

[Elite-ist]

Looks great there, Dave. Got to love that panel display. My QX-949:



Nando.

 

[J!m]

“The neighbors shudder and the power company smiles...”

 

[Oldaudioschool]

Some times a person just can't win. A couple of days ago the SX-1080 developed a problem in the right channel. At first I thought it might be a cable, so yesterday I went through everything to possibly pinpoint the problem. I started with the speaker cables since there was static on the right side. I checked continuity of the cables; no problem but I changed them anyway. Problem was still there. Time to check the speakers. No improvement. Changed the cables on from the tape deck to the receiver with no luck. Then I checked the balance control on the receiver. There's the problem. Pulled the receiver out and exchanged it with another Sony STR GX10ES. While I was at it I changed all my cables on all the outboard equipment. It probably wasn't necessary but since I had to take everything down, what the heck; change them all. Then I had to spend some time to balance the Pioneer CS-A700 speakers. Finally, three hours later and everything was back together. Now I have to decide what to do about the wounded 1080.

 

[Elite-ist]

Ron: Perhaps, it's something as simple as a clean-up of the balance control. Infrequent use of components can cause such issues, as I think most of us have found out by now. Surely, there should be some tech reasonably close to you who can get it sorted out for you.

Nando.

 

[Oldaudioschool]

Ron: Perhaps, it's something as simple as a clean-up of the balance control. Infrequent use of components can cause such issues, as I think most of us have found out by now. Surely, there should be some tech reasonably close to you who can get it sorted out for you.

Nando.

Thanks Nando, I hope its just a minor problem. I'm going to contact Sam and see if he can help me out. I'm going to Chicago in June or July, that way I can drop it off to him. I don't want to have to ship it to somebody. I'm also going to contact PS, and see if he has any thoughts regarding the problem. For now, I'm still up and running, but the Sony GX10 is my last receiver. I now wish I had kept one of my spec rack systems.

Ron

 

[MarkWComer]

View attachment 38511

Nando.

WHAT are those SPEAKERS???
Speakers in my system are quickly becoming the weak point, poking around for something that can take on some POWER!

 

[laatsch55]

WHAT are those SPEAKERS???
Speakers in my system are quickly becoming the weak point, poking around for something that can take on some POWER!

Super modified K's....