Rick Stout's Pioneer Spec 4

[Elite-ist]

It's rewarding to see those numbers, Lee. They are small where they need to be, and large where it's important. You've been fooling around long enough with the Pioneer Spec series amplifiers that it has become second nature rebuilding them. Quite impressive specs for a Spec! Innovative Audio's technician, Brian, just completed extensive rework of a Pioneer SX-1980. It now can handle a 2 ohm load and pushes 330 w.p.c.. I don't know what values are associated with that power ratiing, except for 8 ohm loads. Brian, recently, redid my original owner Pioneer SX-1980. Another Pioneer SX-1980 owner had his receiver in for some repairs to some phono issues. Here'a a picture, taken by Gordon, this past Wednesday, of me and two Pioneer SX-1980s. Mine is on the rolling cart. I had taken it in Wednesday to have Brian tighten the tension on the spring for the tuning dial. He, also, rewaxed the string for the tuning dial. Brian did that while I spent time in the store taking in the latest arrivals. I appreciate that kind of service!

Nando.

 

[laatsch55]

Watch out for Lee - he'll kick your ass if you don't comply! Don't remember if I said this before but welcome - you may never be the same again!!

I can say with confidence--not likely we'll see his kind again, a character..and God knows.....

 

[laatsch55]

It's rewarding to see those numbers, Lee. They are small where they need to be, and large where it's important. You've been fooling around long enough with the Pioneer Spec series amplifiers that it has become second nature rebuilding them. Quite impressive specs for a Spec! Innovative Audio's technician, Brian, just completed extensive rework of a Pioneer SX-1980. It now can handle a 2 ohm load and pushes 330 w.p.c.. I don't know what values are associated with that power ratiing, except for 8 ohm loads. Brian, recently, redid my original owner Pioneer SX-1980. Another Pioneer SX-1980 owner had his receiver in for some repairs to some phono issues. Here'a a picture, taken by Gordon, this past Wednesday, of me and two Pioneer SX-1980s. Mine is on the rolling cart. I had taken it in Wednesday to have Brian tighten the tension on the spring for the tuning dial. He, also, rewaxed the string for the tuning dial. Brian did that while I spent time in the store taking in the latest arrivals. I appreciate that kind of service!

Nando.

You have that same grin as when you had your arms around the 2 hotties at the IA garage sale!!!!!!!!!

 

[Elite-ist]

You have that same grin as when you had your arms around the 2 hotties at the IA garage sale!!!!!!!!!

Technically correct, Lee. Stuwee liked this shot:

And the rest of us liked this one:

Nando.

 

[laatsch55]

I thought there was another one....

 

[laatsch55]

Last day of the shakedown for the Spec 4. Nice amp, to bad it's missing 350 watts a channel.....

 

[laatsch55]

I had put a couple of pretty deep scratches in the right meter lens when my bench glass broke. Jani went with a 3 tiered system. Took her 5 hours but she got it to where I could not differentiate between the scratched and unscratched one. I will elaborate on that one later, as soon as I can pry the details from her. She treats it like proprietary info.

 

[Elite-ist]

I thought there was another one....

Oops... maybe Geri deleted it. She has my all of my passwords.

Nando.

 

[Rick]

Watch out for Lee - he'll kick your ass if you don't comply! Don't remember if I said this before but welcome - you may never be the same again!!

Thanks. And no doubt about the ass kicking. I'm just glad I'm in WV instead of WY where he could go medieval on my ass. You should see how he talks to me via email in the middle of the night. He's been forcing me into a position where he can just do anything he wants with my amp and charge any amount he thinks is is right.

I'm not saying what he "right" amount is but I think it's heavenly and he assures me I'm gonna love the amp in newly refurbished condition. I think he is trying to trick me into coming to WY to go trout fishing in one of those streams of his to see if I can keep from breaking my ankles stumbling along the bank while shouting... "Damn, there he goes again!" LOL.....

 

[laatsch55]

I'm quite a multi-tasker if walking and talking aren't 2 of them!!

 

[laatsch55]

Who'd thought a manual peddler could be so funny????

 

[Rick]

The funny manuals peddler is gonna weigh in on the results of the boss's overhaul of the Spec-4.

So this past Friday I find this "spec cabbage case" thingie on my front porch that looks like it would survive a nuclear attack. I told Lee that I had to borrow 2 men and a dozen boys from the neighborhood just to get it in the house. So he promptly starts bragging about how rough and tough his is and how he throws around spec cabbage cases with a single finger and thumb and can do it all day long. OK, well maybe he didn't say all that but it was a clear attempt to demean my manhood. Well in defense of my manhood, I hereby admit that I lied to Lee. I actually did pick up the case myself and carried it the entire 10 ft into my front hall with no assistance from men or boys, or even door holders. So then after stumbling into the living room and resting for 5 hours, I was fully able to get up and walk again just as if it never happened. So there Lee... from my perspective, I'm still the rough and tough SOB I was 4 decades ago.

Now that we have that cleared up, here is how it went. Later that night I get the Pioneer SA-9800 amp out of the rack beside my desk and eventually get the Spec-4 in and hooked up. First thing I notice is how much I like those glowing meters down next to my feet. I've missed them over the past few years. But I did also notice that I'm going to have to do better at keeping my toe nails trimmed as it's the first clear view with proper illumination I've had in a long time.

It's late at night so it only gets a small tryout with some FM radio station. I decide that the next day I'll get a chance to crank 'er up and give it a real check. So Saturday arrives. Wife is at work and no other family members are around to discourage me. I'm sitting for awhile sucking down coffee and trying to get awake while the same classic rock station is playing on the ole stereo.

OK... along comes Eddie Money and "Take Me Home Tonight" and after about the 2nd 'jus like Ronnie said".... I couldn't stand it any more. I crank it up to a nice satisfying level and it's jus like Ronnie said.... "It's my little baby" (close enough). Then I feed it some Boston "Foreplay/Longtime", and start remembering why I like that song so well on a real stereo system. So now I send some John Fogarty to it and crank to about 75% - 80% full volume. Damnation that sounds good.

With the walls rattling I head out the back of the house and about 50 ft. down the alley. Yep! That's my system the way it's meant to sound! I spend a bit of time pondering why in the hell I'm living in the city instead of out in the country where I could do this all day everyday if I wished. Then like a responsible good neighbor sheeple, I go back in and turn it down to a respectful level.

Bottom line... Lee spent time reading up on some of Glenn McDonald's (AK echowars) stuff about the Spec-4, and did some consulting with Joseph King (if I understood that correctly), applied his own common sense and knowledge, replaced numerous parts and substituted some... and ended up with a fantastic sounding amp for me. He says it's specs are better than when new and also now more reliable.

I couldn't be more thrilled with what he did and with the manner in which he did it. Lee has mucho respect from me for this and also for just being a real good man.

 

[laatsch55]

Sorry Rick, had to correct a name there....


And I thank you for that rousing, but factual review....

 

[laatsch55]

So, a week hasn't changed your opinion.? Not searching for pats on the back, just wanna know if you've got enough hours on it so the caps are starting to sound good.

 

[Rick]

So, a week hasn't changed your opinion.? Not searching for pats on the back, just wanna know if you've got enough hours on it so the caps are starting to sound good.

You can't get any pats on the back cause my arms aren't that long.

I think I still have fairly good ears, but in spite of reading thousands of posts about folks listening to their caps, their power cords, their power outlets, their hookup cables, etc.... I've never been able to make those distinctions.

I will tell you this. I AM SO DAMN HAPPY TO HAVE IT BACK IN GOOD WORKING ORDER... And it sounds GREAT!!

For a few days when first turned on (with very low or no input signal), the left channel meter would immediately rise to about 1 to 5 watts reading while the right channel was at 0 or nearly so. It would take about 3-5 minutes to settle down to 0. If there was sufficient input signal, the above was not noticeable. In other words the meter was working accurately above the 1 to 5 watt level. The past couple of days I have not noticed it doing that. When I turned it on a couple hours ago I watched for it and both meters came on at 0 wt. reading with no input as they should.

A few nights ago I was in the midst of a 15 hour non-stop session slaving away at web site editing. I loaded up a play list on the server computer and was having a great time. It dawned on me that I should go outside and check how much I might be disturbing neighbors at 2 AM. I came back in and turned it down a bit.

A day or two later, 2 of my family members mentioned neighbors suggesting that I might keep it toned down on school nights. One neighbor told my wife she didn't have the nerve to tell me to turn it down. So for whatever it's worth, I guess I'm really liking having it back and functional.

Because I don't have enough space between me and neighbors, I seldom fire up my system to levels that I really like. So for that reason alone, it means that I can't tell much difference on a day to day basis between the SPEC-4 and the SA-9800 that I had been using. But, I can most certainly tell a huge difference when I crank it a bit. It seems to have an effortless ability to rattle the walls, shake my bones, vibrate my ass, and other good effects.

 

[laatsch55]

You should visit my mancave somne day. I can put 300-400 watts through my K-Horns, and the neighbors no longer call. They e-mail their requests. It does get damn loud in here. But ever so cl;ean. We no longer have a set of CPR paddl;es laying around. We just throw the cardiac feller in the "Sweet Spot" chair and tiurn up the Shpongle!!

 

[laatsch55]

That 9800 is no slouch, one of the quieter amps they made, and they made some VERY quiet amps.

 

[laatsch55]

Does the output relay "click" before the meter settles down??

 

[Rick]

Does the output relay "click" before the meter settles down??

The amp comes on and runs perfectly at any output level exactly as expected.

The only unusual thing was the left channel meter reading. And it settled down to perfect in 3-5 minutes.

I didn't even notice it the first several days cause when turned on, the volume was already set too high to notice it. After I did happen to notice it, I started watching it closer.

The past couple days it seems to come on at 0 reading when input level is set to 0, precisely as expected.

 

[laatsch55]

Does the output relay "click" before the meter settles down??

Damn amps are like oilwells, I swear they all have souls..../../.female no doubt....