Anybody here into Vintage Home Audio?

Long story short, I have a vintage stereo system I inherited from my mother years ago. I have a mid 70's Pioneer SX series receiver and two massive custom built speakers.

The receiver stopped producing audio. It powers up, but that's it. I left it alone for several years, but I kind of want to get it working again.

Are there people out there that repair these vintage receivers? I love the way this thing looks when it's on and when the lights are down low or off. With the crazy custom built speakers, it produces excellent sound.

I actually found a picture of what it looks like.

As soon as I post this I find a site. It's local too!

http://www.soundsclassic.com/index.html

There's this place which is local to me.

http://atlasaudiorepair.com/index.html

I used to own one that looked just like this as a teenager:

8" subs with 4 and 2" tweeters on both sides of my headboard hooked up to an rooftop FM antenna. Turned it off one night just a thunderstorm was rolling in. Next morning I went to turn it on and it let all the smoke out :( sure enough when I crawled up on the roof later, the antenna had burns on it as well.

I have been wondering about things like this... Is this when people just recap them?

In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid:

Have you popped the top to check the fuses? Could be as simple as that.

I spent hours looking at audio store advertisements saving up for a Pioneer SX receiver. Those were the coolest thing back when I was growing up. Take a look at what they are selling for on ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-PIONEER-Powerhouse-Stereo-MONSTER-Receiver-SX-1050-EX-NR-/190632521589?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item2c62956f75

In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid:

Check the fuses...

Other than that, there's a few places that will repair it, but i would suggest trying to find a place local. It's likely that it blew a couple resistors or the caps have finally leaked enough to bork something else.

This is the point where you have to decide how much it's worth to you. You won't be walking away less than $100-$150 lighter in the wallet.

I've got a Pioneer SX-680. Bought it when I moved away from home. I'll be 60 in a few months.

I checked the fuses 10 years ago when it went out and they were fine.

I would't mind paying the money to have it repaired, it produces the best sound for playing music. I can't explain how much I miss my stereo. Newer iPod docks and crap like that don't do real music justice.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: I checked the fuses 10 years ago when it went out and they were fine. I would't mind paying the money to have it repaired, it produces the best sound for playing music. I can't explain how much I miss my stereo. Newer iPod docks and crap like that don't do real music justice.

Preaching to the choir, man.

I don't run much vintage stuff anymore, but i used to.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: Newer iPod docks and crap like that don't do real music justice.

Amen.

Watch this if you haven't already seen it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ

High fidelity (any fidelity for that matter) is long dead. Protools is great because it put the ability to record cheaply into the hands of the musicians, but it ruined what we actually hear to a large extent.

A friend of mine who is a mastering engineer said it best--music used to be recorded in great rooms with expensive mics and brilliant producers. Now, it's done on a laptop and no one cares.

I miss good-sounding recordings.

The reissue/remaster of Dark Side Of The Moon is ear porn. It sounds BEAUTIFUL. I'm told the quadrophonic vinyl sounds even better.

gamby wrote:

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: Newer iPod docks and crap like that don't do real music justice.

Amen. Watch this if you haven't already seen it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ High fidelity (any fidelity for that matter) is long dead. Protools is great because it put the ability to record cheaply into the hands of the musicians, but it ruined what we actually hear to a large extent. A friend of mine who is a mastering engineer said it best--music used to be recorded in great rooms with expensive mics and brilliant producers. Now, it's done on a laptop and no one cares. I miss good-sounding recordings. The reissue/remaster of Dark Side Of The Moon is ear porn. It sounds BEAUTIFUL. I'm told the quadrophonic vinyl sounds even better.

I have the multi-channel SACD of that record... Very awesome.

There's still good sounding CDs out there, though... If you're into Snow Patrol, give "Final Straw" a try. Incredible job done by the engineer.

Good to know.

The Fleet Foxes disc "Helplessness Blues" is really pretty. Strange, distint vibe to the whole thing--this churchy reverb.

I still have to grab the remaster of Smashing Pumpkins "Gish". I've been told that it has a ton more depth than the original (which changed my life as a 20 year-old guitarist when it first came out in '91).

It's a little unusual that it would stop making any sound at all. You might try it one more time, and work every switch and every knob. Sometimes a dirty tape monitor switch will make a load of silence, but that's a really, really easy fix.

With both channels dead, I'd maybe suspect a dirty speaker relay. Does it have pre-out/main-in? Sometimes jumpers get pulled and no one notices.