Killer Pioneer System from the 1970's, SPEC-1, SPEC-2 and More

[@maryrafuse3851]

I lived through the era and the Stereo Showrooms were something special. Nothing like them today. Today we have nothing comparable to these impressive showrooms in cities of all sizes. The listening rooms and arrays of speakers were impressive. The height of the stereo wars was very intense with sales people giving real service including, in many cases, home installation.

[@MrSmartAlec]

It was great fun on a Friday night when you did not have much money to make the rounds to a few stereo shops and listen to great music on awesome systems. I moved to the St. Louis area in '76. We had CMC Stereo, Pacific Stereo, and a bunch of local independents. My favorite name was Hi Fi Fo Fum and it's still going strong today..

[@bigblueocean]

That's a stunning period piece.... Like old laboratory equipment.

[@SkyFiAudio]

Yes agreed -

[@hifijohn]

The 70's was the peak of hi fi all the equipment magazines and stores, it was a great era. And this stuff isn't cheap many thousands of dollars by today's money.

[@RUfromthe40s]

i saw one being sold last week for 10.000€ ,just like this but all components at a 100% condition , there´s a video on youtube. Forget to say he as the pioneer rack with it and i have a similar since new in 76

[@gelmann2]

All this Pioneer equipment came in a rack that was on wheels - I remember very clearly walking into Federated Stereo in California and seeing and lusting after this system! ! 1976 I think.

[@piker3000]

Yessir, the pioneer dealer rack!

[@AllboroLCD]

Just keep the tuner locked to 91.1 Fernando! Good stuff, keep em coming!

[@SkyFiAudio]

hahaha will do! Thanks for your comment.

[@stephenstevens6573]

Killer system that i had back in the day! Pair this system up with a pair of restored HPM 100s and you have something special!

[@SkyFiAudio]

Dont have a nice pair of Pioneers speakers yet to pair with it but still looking.

[@RUfromthe40s]

@@SkyFiAudio i´ve always used the HPM-150 and later exclusive 2401 speakers the 100´s are weak for the spec-2 but enough loud and enough quality

[@bertroost1675]

I have a Pioneer SA 8800 II and a Pioneer SC-3000 pre and SM-3000 power amp. All bought in a Beijing used electronics market 15 years ago. All are 100 volts. The 3000 series is really something.

[@SkyFiAudio]

That is so cool as to where you originally acquired them - hang on to them! Thanks for commenting.

[@bertroost1675]

@@SkyFiAudio The interesting thing is their journey. This stuff starts out in Japan (obviously) then gets sold used years later, then usually ends up in Hong Kong and then years later gets into mainland China where they make it to big city used markets. Then I wandered in one day and bought those 3 three items. If I had the money I would have bought a lot more of the 70's silver faced stuff but I'm not sure it would be so easy to sell in the US at 100 volts? Those days are pretty much gone now but one can find some cool stuff on taobao.

[@RUfromthe40s]

this are incredible good ,if in perfect condition

[@insolentstickleback3266]

Beautiful, slowly working at a Pioneer stack. I have an RT-707 and a pair of CT-F900 so far.

[@SkyFiAudio]

We have an RT-707 we're actually going to begin restoring soon. Fantastic deck along with the CT-F900.

[@insolentstickleback3266]

@@SkyFiAudio I really enjoy seeing all the fantastic gear you folks have, thanks for the channel, I appreciate the effort to keep it up, Best Regards from Oregon.

[@alengacrossplanet]

Great content.. but the audio is too slow on my phone..

[@RUfromthe40s]

@@SkyFiAudio but how many times better the reel deck sounds compared to the cassette one ,i think it´s not comparable ,the CT-F900 is the one with a extra window or meter for the dynamic bias?

[@rafaelcaribbeanaudio3067]

16:16 Fernando, this is a DIN connector for rec in/out very popular in Europe en 70s

[@RUfromthe40s]

those mission speakers you have behind when hearing them for the first time i was amzed by it´s sound, they still sell them but only ordered

[@lesliecarter205]

i have pioneer CS-605 Speakers and VSA-805S amp . and i connect my tv via headphones socket to my amp . i don't watch TV so my laptop runs to my TV. I've been happy with it for 20 years now. blu-ray i play once a month maybe if there is a new film .like a bond. maybe upgrade next year when i retire . thank you

[@janetmcdonaldhalter7776]

I have the Bose 901 hooked up with my spec 1 and 2. Bought in 1975 in DC

[@steveodian6008]

Like you said funny how things have changed over the years. I recently upgraded to PS Audio preamp and monoblocks. Total of only one knob on all three pieces. It is multi functional however. No tone controls or tape monitor loops. Far cry from the old days😄

[@SkyFiAudio]

Im beginning to see tape looks make it back into preamps. Fingers crossed.

[@Finn-McCool]

2:50 Spec-1 3:52 Exactly 😏

[@eliasgirmachew5522]

I love your show Elias good Job I would like to stop your place thank you 😎

[@SkyFiAudio]

Thank you Elias for watching! And your comments keep us motivated. Actually seeing these videos is almost like being here according to many lucky locals. Thanks!

[@rupe53]

I have a Spec1 and Spec2. Wish I could get the pre-amp working. BTW, I bought both at a charity tent sale for $20 each.... not working at the time, but in pristine condition. I am going to take one more stab at that Spec1 preamp before farming it out for repair. BTW, in the video he's got the Spec numbers reversed. 1 is the preamp and 2 is the amp.

[@AudioElectronicsChicago]

wow, I would love to put my hands on the specs

[@Zickcermacity]

Equivalent stereo components from the 1990s forward are sooooo dumbed down compared to this! Thanks for sharing an example of when stereo equipment was reallly great!

[@inputerase]

Not true, audio from early 90s was very good, like the highest Sony ES serie or other good brands. The thing is; don’t look at cheap stuff from the 90’s or 80’s! In the 70’s cheap audio stuff was also made like in the 80’s or 90’s, but that stuff doesn’t exist anymore! From the late 90’s audio became 100% digital and lightweight. Not always bad by the way! 📼💽💿

[@SkyFiAudio]

Most welcome and thank you for watching! Keeps us motivated.

[@Zickcermacity]

@@inputerase On even a higher end 1995ish receiver, you won't find quite the quantity of adjustments and settings that you would on something circa 1977. Whether something is in the realm of digital or analog matters not to me.

[@RUfromthe40s]

@@inputerase that´s why i sold my entire top end system from sony ES and sold it easilly after 4 years of owning it ,the amp was really good ,the cd player also while it worked for a brief moment ,nothing else. With the money i bought again a pioneer system URUSHI that only the selectors and knobs aren´t that good but not as good as the 70´s equipments i have

[@RUfromthe40s]

@@inputerase not always but most of the time, in the 80´s the DAT proved that digital was good but the compact disc no matter the player one buys sounds all very bad ,this talking about analog instruments when bands use them crossed with digital efects they do sound good ,i have thousands of cd´s but more thousands of records(vinyl)

[@rajoconnor]

I have a spec 2 that is about to go through a restoration. Hopefully I can find the matching spec 1

[@EddieJazzFan]

Do you guys send all of your cassette decks for sale out for restoration, or do you restore some decks in-house, like the NAK Dragons & CR7As?

[@SkyFiAudio]

We primarily restore each and every deck in-house - except for a select few that are super super involved where we might lack the time. And we are 100% up-front and clear in every listing on where and how it was restored. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@GammonMaster-PcP]

I have the system Curious about what the cost would be to refurbish, even though it plays well

[@Manuel-km9nq]

I have 2 rack of spec system but I need some help with hook up. Don't know how to do rca cables

[@lexlarkin]

At 3:15, there is a picture of what appears to be a picture of your crippled right hand with brace. What happened to it?

[@SkyFiAudio]

Overuse, have no thumb joints left in both hands. Putting off surgery for now. Thanks for asking.

[@lexlarkin]

@@SkyFiAudio And thank you for the response.

[@BC-ni3sk]

I was stationed in Japan in 1974 and 1975 which truly was the golden age of hifi. The hifi products were truly a buy in Japan as the yen was 400 to the dollar compared to today at 90 to the dollar today. As a young man I really didn't grasp the period I was in however I did buy a few systems and boy when I first arrived on base to walk around in the barracks and seeing the equipment the guys had was eye popping!! Sansui, Pioneer, Teac and many others the companies were on their games and producing some very, very good products.

[@FOH3663]

I'm a touch younger than you, but you're absolutely right. In the mid to late 70's, s much of the hifi gear you'd encounter in private hands, was sourced via the those stationed in Japan (and elsewhere) overseas. Nice gear... expensive if purchased here in the states... this influx of hq gear at accessible prices bolstered the hifi hobby for many. A individual's system was vital, your record collection was everything. First thing one would do after being invited over,... is check out their records. Pre home computing, we listened to more music... we dedicated a lot more time and money to audio systems. Coolest part; essentially everyone had a system... regardless how modest, we all listened to music in the home. 8 tracks played their role too... and they were portable.

[@BC-ni3sk]

@@FOH3663 I agree with everything you've said. I made $300 a month in the Air Force. I easily could buy gear over in Japan with what I made, no sweat. I bought a top of the line Pioneer receiver for around $300. The prices were so good that we had heard that equipment in Japan in U.S. dollars for what we paid was about a 1/3rd of Stateside. The Japanese companies were pushing better and better quality gear and the service if needed was insane. Once I needed my top load Teac deck worked on and reps. from the company came to the barracks and picked it up thanking me for buying it and said, "in one week we will be back, same time here with the deck repaired". Well almost to the minute they were, again thanking me for buying Teac. I had the top of the line Teac reel to reel as well and other gear. I probably should have held onto a lot of it.

[@BC-ni3sk]

@@FOH3663 I missed one important thing. Japanese companies had gotten a hold of American recordings or perhaps masters and recut the records using at least 180 gram vinyl. The stuff we had was garbage, all warped etc. This of course with warping was due to vinyl being to thin and perhaps poor quality. Well the Japanese companies did one better, thick, thick vinyl yielding records that were perfectly flat. The jackets were excellent with both Japanese writing and American on the covers or at least a removable sleeve of paper which could easily be slipped off in Japanese. The records were more expensive but well worth it as the quality was so good. Also on our tuners we could pick up very high quality radio broadcasts of music. The Japanese were high on doing everything well, very well. d

[@RUfromthe40s]

@@BC-ni3sk i´m portuguese and remenber catalogs seeing next to clothes hi-fi gear at very atractive prices and one being portuguese couldn´t buy nothing in the american market but there are always friends that can buy you a componet but still dificult and not allowed, this in Azores or Açores

[@Sergio_wolfgang88]

I had this exact set up, I can't believe I sold it for 1000 dollars

[@RUfromthe40s]

neither do i ,i still have mine but took the components from the rack to display them in the horizontal with a piece of furniture in wood re-inforced by metal underneath ,i have a fan to put it against the spec-2 ,in the summer i open it to have more air

[@Madjed2024]

Always love to see videos on vintage equipment Nice video and very informative I do have several vintage pieces that could benefit from a knowledgeable technician I live in NewEngland Can your technician help? Thanks much

[@SkyFiAudio]

Hi there and thanks for watching #1 and #2 for commenting. It keeps us going and making more videos. We have several places listed in New England on our website that offer repairs. Check out the Restorations and Repairs section of our site for full details. Sorry we don't offer repairs to the public just not enough time!

[@Foxrock321]

The only thing missing is the Pioneer PL530 Direct Drive fully automatic turntable with S arm and removable head shell..

[@RUfromthe40s]

i have one, also have the 43 ,the 540(79 ,made in cast iron, the plinth) and the PLC series 20(personalized)

[@hahaahah7214]

All those things they mentioned in the brochure about the SPEC-2 is just basic stuff that amplifiers usually have. I bet ya that small pocket radio your granny bought has a Darlington amplifier stage too

[@RUfromthe40s]

my grandmother had a 60´s DUAL system with great sound ,the cartridge was shure when to trade it for a diamond stylus this explained in the DUAL catalogue how to make the change but even recentelly i saw her turntable for sale for a crazy amount of money and sold fast, i still have her system ,i never sold notrhing i bought since i started to have interest in music

[@2014_karina]

My dream. Want to buy

[@RUfromthe40s]

70´s speakers were the best ,i had the hpm-100 and JBL-(don´t remenber the reference )and some altec lasing,the jbl some ofered me lot of money for them and a pair of celestion ditton from the 70 catalog that were my prefered ones ,this was and his a beast of a system ,i have the TT PL-630 with it but horizontal layout don´t like the rack system that much, my house as roofs like in old churches the sound propagation is perfect but with this i almost never used the equalizer and had the deck with three windows for the dynamic bias calibration

[@rgarid62]

😎👍

[@asplmn]

I would love to hear your thoughts on the Pioneer Exclusive series... placed a tier above their SPEC series.

[@SkyFiAudio]

Glad you mentioned this! We have *yet* to come across a pair to give our full thoughts after a thorough review here in our shop.

[@Watcher4111]

Spec 1 and spec 2 is based on exclusive c3/m3 circuits. So Spec May be a bit lower than exclusive but its definitely great stuff

[@RUfromthe40s]

@@Watcher4111 the exclusive was a bit old ,the spec-2 and 4 are more evolved allthough the exclusive if in good condition it sounds perfect ,and fans directed to the power amplifier or where i live it burns, now it´s the first day above 41 degrees , lets see how i´m going to enter in my black car in less than one hour, i´m at the office, at home i almost never conect my computer just at my office ,but my work is basically to make digital signatures and on paper with ink signatures i´m retired at 13 years, this is my family business ,makes me more active and less old

[@markeaton2003]

THAT IS A GREAT RACK.

[@RUfromthe40s]

whrere´she?

[@RUfromthe40s]

the only diference from the system i have since 76 his that i took the equalizer because i never used it and adedd a older component that was biiger than the models that came next, a dinamyc expander with only two vu meters and two knobs ,one for the efect and other for the volume output ,this if memory doesn´t fail me ,and the turntable in a ealier coment i wrotte a wrong model it was really a PLC-580 with personalized arm and avery good needle mc type , the dinamyc expender is good when hearing old Jazz recordings ,one can improve it´s sound , with good sounding sorces it doesn´t do nothing for the improvement of sound because all have already good sound, mainly for old recordings. My father gave this system to me after 3 years this because he spend a lot of money on a revox /studer system who only in the 80´s he bought a cassette deck and a compact disc player with the same desing ,kind of a smi-professional system , the speakers were huge and very good sounding ,the only componet that is from Studer their professional brand

[@entiller]

It's interesting that you aren't restoring the cassette player yourselves. Why is that?

[@SkyFiAudio]

its just too time consuming for us. Restoration requires replacement of over 60 caps.

[@bertroost1675]

I have an Almarro 318A 6c33c amplifier that I never use, I'd love to trade it for something.

[@SkyFiAudio]

You can visit the Sell or Trade your gear section of our website to send it in for consideration if you'd like. Thanks for checking out our video either way and commenting. Keep us motivated to do more.

[@bertroost1675]

Why would 120 volts need an outside transformer?

[@SkyFiAudio]

They would not. All pieces are configured to 110. 220V would need some conversion.

[@bertroost1675]

@@SkyFiAudio Yes, I thought in your video you said it would need a conversion. That confused me.

[@parttime9070]

This friend had that system back in the 80's, I think his had more components.. I believe his son still has it here in Hawaii.. Had to laugh at the time, he was using it with horrible speakers..

[@SkyFiAudio]

I have the matching flip clock that I forgot to feature. Also there is an active crossover that matched the look and feel.

[@parttime9070]

@@SkyFiAudio The system was parched out the PX on Okinawa..

[@BrianBilliot]

I have the same rack for sale, but they don’t work

[@hahaahah7214]

Pioneer was all look and build quality, their performance usually ranked in the middle ground except their reel to reels. I would absolutely say that kenwood is far better than pioneer

[@RUfromthe40s]

i have both brands and kenwood didn´t had the power of the pioneers but still very good ,have a lot of kenwood components ,even in the 90´s they had superior quality compared to shamefull SONY, people think Sony it´s good but they spent all their money in publicity making their products very atractive but low time of life ,since the 70´s

[@paulrogers7067]

Looked great but hardly audiophile quality.tape deck was average as well as amp