Pioneer SX-1280 Part 1 - Intro

[@wmalden]

I had an SX 980 back in the 1980’s. When I had to downsize my stereo system, I gave it to a friend. It still had the original box. Wish I had it now!

[@AUTISTICLYCAN]

Dude you are awesome. I have a Pioneer SX-1280 in my collection. I also have a Pioneer SX-1980. Collecting these things is like Pokémon for me I gotta have em all! Well at least the ones I love. Anyways I had my Pioneer SX-1280 recapped and refurbished. The actual Pioneer SX1280 receiver in good condition cost me $1,800.00. The new cabinet cost me $500.00, The collection of new caps and electronics cost me $800 including the 4 huge filter caps. The power board and other circuit board upgrades cost me $500.00 and the labor to install all this stuff professionally with a 6 month guaranty was $2,500 and I got rates reserved for frequent customers. So it cost me over $6,100 total in 2022 to do what you show. I say keep it!

[@isoguy.]

What an amazing amp, really looking forward to the solder and chat vids. I've learned so much wisdom and technical skills from your vids. You truly are the Bob Ross of electronics. Thanks for your time and effort in producing these vids.

[@craigm.9070]

Looking forward to this series, especially the PS board mods/updates. As always Tony, thank you for your time

[@mikesradiorepair]

Did a full restoration on a 1250 a few months ago. Think it was the 5th one I have done. I believe I have only ever done two of the 1280's. These they are by no means a quick job. To do them right takes time, a lot of time. I replace all the relay's, zener diodes and a upgrade a pretty large percentage of the transistors (excluding final output transistors unless bad). The SN, THD and THD+N measurements on this class Pioneer stereo once restored never disappoint. Happy New Year!

[@tonep3168]

Tony, I love your videos. Please stop listening to people telling you what to do. You do you, and make the videos YOU want to make. They sell caviar in the supermarkets, but not every customer buys it! Have a great 2024!

[@jaybats7865]

Nice one Tony….looking forward to this series. You’re the best!

[@mikecampbell5856]

Congrats on finding an awesome receiver! I am looking forward to this project. You're right, the unit's appearance is so important. I recently re-lamped and re-vellumed a Marantz 2220b that my son had given me. Then I bought a reproduction face plate from Vintage Hi Fi Audio and it enhanced my enjoyment immensely. It's one scratched selector knob away from being a museum piece. LOL

[@jimpalmer1969]

Tony, thanks for doing this series. I like your solder and chat videos, you give a lot of background in your thinking of why you make the decisions you make. Also, the short videos format is a great idea.

[@ohmbug10]

Ahhhhhh, yeeeeessss! You just made me look forward to the new year.

[@willievivanco1]

happy new year tony looking forward to this project,and keep your solder and chat as you like i you know what i love your stories while you work so its great 👍

[@WECB640]

Very nice receiver Tony. I believe we sold this model (or something eerily similar) that was rebranded as "Realistic" when I worked at the shack. This one should clean up nicely. I hope you'll do some tests on the FM and AM sections. I recall the FM sounding exceptionally good....that is before the "loudness wars" began. (Thank you Bob Orban). 73 & Happy New Year

[@drdyna]

Bring on the solder 'n chat videos! Those are the best! Let the naysayers drag the seek bar if they don't like it!

[@g.fortin3228]

Love it Tony. I know it's the little ( or middle) brother but the face is prettier than the 1980, which to be isn't symmetrical above the tuning dial. Looking forward to the series and learning along with how this rolls. Happy New Year !

[@kenf8563]

Looking forward to your next videos on this 1280, I have the 1250 for about 15 years now and when I first got it the volume pot was dirty. I was able to separate the square pot segments just enough to spray some contact cleaner in it. Never had any issues with it since. About 5 years ago I did a full re-cap on it to include the tantalums caps, replaced all the bulbs with LED’s and adjusted all the voltages as per specs. Thanks for sharing and Happy New Year.

[@springersound1844]

Keep em coming - awesome.

[@cremvustila]

I for one am looking forward for this series! 👍 A Happy New Year, Tony! 🍾

[@nelsoningalsbe8262]

Can't wait for the posts

[@mikedrz]

I like the format of shorter videos and more solder and chats. Happy you are gonna try that. The really long videos discourage us non retired folk from clicking on the videos sometimes. Happy new year btw!

[@RickMahoney2013]

Can’t wait to see the final outcome.

[@TheTarrMan]

I have a SX-1250 and it's a gem. I'd say keep it.

[@bobmulhiemer7564]

Thank you Tony !

[@RCampbell-y4b]

Have a sx-880 bought new in 1979.

[@Poppinwheeeeellllllieeeeez]

I prefer the long videos. I usually fall asleep and restart and fall asleep again. 3 evening with Tony. Trevor over on Trevor's Bench channel puts me to sleep every Friday.

[@exenx2995]

You should steer clear of Trevers Bench his repairs are atrocious to sat the least he uses counterfeit very low quality Chinese rebranded caps and just look at what he replaced the filter caps with on the Rotel Rx-802 video with non high ripple Chinese junk standard caps not rated anything close to the surges required- just Unbelievable! He powered a Realistic STA-2100 up at full volume and didn't understand why the relays were charred from arcing, he actually thought it was dust under the relay cap. I could go on and on with this guy but sadly these people who bring him their units to repair have no electronic knowledge and really don't understand how piss poor he work is. Eventually I'm going to make videos to expose these clowns to protect peoples investments and gear from these clowns. Thankfully we have guys like Tony who are the real deal.

[@michaelpelley2815]

Me too - takes about 3 evening to get through a one hour video.

[@michaelpelley2815]

Solder and chats are nice 🙂

[@gbowne1]

Love the nice 2240 :)

[@NovaluxStereophonic]

I am not sure if the PA81 is actually showing accurate DC offset in the RMS V mode. My hunch is that it’s showing residual noise and adjusting the DC offset trimmers would result in little/no movement of the meters. The DCV setting on the external input definitely shows DC offset with a red LED coming on when the voltage goes negative.

[@CrispyCircuits]

I like the shorter videos, as many as needed. I take some medications that sometimes make me sleepy, so short is better for me since if I nod off, I can just watch it again and study it better. Have a great New Year! Solder and chat is not a problem for me.

[@davidhollfelder9940]

Tony. Will you do a separate video on the CL-90/NTC time delay relay bypass circuit? (Maybe with PCBWay shared project/gerber file?).

[@HungLe-wg8od]

Âm ly pioneer SX 1280 đã bán chưa,giao lưu bằng tiếng Việt đi shop

[@SinnerSince1962]

You’re making a mistake putting anything but walnut back for those faceplate blocks, especially if you intend to sell it.

[@richardadelberg8961]

How’s the top of faceplate? I find them with scratches and not able to fix them

[@AxelWerner]

Hi Tony. Just wanted you to let you know and say THANK YOU! Keep on doing what you are doing. Highly appreciated. However if you notice viewing numbers and # comments go down, this is because of KZbin harming the content creators (and thus themselfs) again, by fighting us, the viewers, who are fed up with all their advertising and spying crap. Just wanted to let you know, you are still watched, but mostly on ways and places, where youtube is unwilling to admit to you. so better dont give 2 shits about your forged YT stats . YT chose to make war with us viewers. And they will get what they ask for.

[@richardadelberg8961]

Similar design but 80 series can’t get correct outputs where 50’s can be had. Ps I have every parts and board s,for 1250’s

[@josephlalock8378]

you can use modern outputs for the 1280 and 1980 with a few mods.

[@richardadelberg8961]

@@josephlalock8378 with modding heat sinks and Chinese junk that blows out in 6 month. CORRECT OUTPUTS

[@xraytonyb]

Sanken, Toshiba and the NJW series all make electronically compatible replacements, but you have to modify the heatsink or make a mounting bracket to use them. They are also getting tricky to find sometimes, but you can still get them. They work great and perform just as well, if not better, than the originals. The Sankens are LAPT process transistors and have a higher Ft than the originals. The others also have similar or higher Ft as the originals.

[@jaghifi]

very nice love my 1280, I replaced the power supply with modern replacement. recapped everything, changed some transistors and put in new trimmer pots for offset and bias

[@josephlalock8378]

1280s are just too big and bulky. i restored(electronically) 2 last summer (and 2 1080s) they are pretty miserable to move around. all future repairs will be 50lbs or less.

[@FOXBODYCENTRAL]

Wrong

[@jdmccorful]

Looks like a fun ride! Thanks.