Vintage Boxed! Pioneer SX-1250 Stereo Receiver / Amp / Tuner SX1250 Ultra Rare
VINTAGE PIONEER SX-1250 STEREO RECEIVER. Back in the mid-seventies, if you wanted the most powerful receiver in the world, you had one choice - the Pioneer SX-1250. , the SX-1250 at 160 watts per channel was the second generation "monster receiver" offered by Pioneer, successor to the 110 watt per channel SX1010 first offered in 1974. In subsequent years, more powerful receivers have been constructed and marketed, but in my humble opinion, the SX-1250 outshines them all. It has one of the most robust power supplies ever incorporated into any receiver. The SX-1250 employs a huge dual secondary toroidal power transformer flanked by four massive, soup-can-sized filter capacitors to supply vast reserves of raw, ripple-free current. You need these current reserves to reproduce those bone-jarring musical peaks with perfect clarity, but having those huge filter caps also eliminates all traces of power supply hum and noise so during those subtle quiet passages, all you'll hear is the music. It utilizes some of the best electronic shielding used in any vintage receiver. It's extremely difficult to keep a powerful receiver quiet. There's a lot of circuitry packed into that cabinet, all doing different things, not to mention powerful magnetic fields generated by the massive power transformer. Add to that, interference generated by electrical equipment and appliances in your house, and the typical receiver will pass some static, maybe some hum, maybe some spurious radio signals into the background when you're trying to listen to a quiet passage on a CD. Both of the super-noise-sensitive tuner circuit boards are built with metal boxes shielding them on all sides. Same for the tone control circuitry, and for the preamp circuitry and even the switching boards.
In fact, when you pop the cover on this masterpiece, virtually all you see is metal. Literally no expense has been spared to ensure you have the cleanest, quietest backdrop to your musical experience. The best thing about the vintage Pioneers is that you can still get all the parts! Most folks don't think about this, but if you want your investment to last, you want to make sure that it's built with the fewest obsolete parts as possible. This isn't always easy when it comes to vintage 38-year-old audio equipment.
Believe it or not, the Pioneer SX-1250 contains no parts that can't still be obtained new, or at least be replaced with new cross-referenced parts today. Well, okay, maybe the big power transformer would be tough to find, but I've never ever heard of a Pioneer toroidal power transformer going'south', nor have I heard of anyone else who has.
This unit uses no unobtainable dual-section filter caps, no obsolete RET, VFET, or flat-pack output devices, nor any "unobtanium" proprietary tuner ICs used in many subsequent monster receivers. The bottom line is simply that the Pioneer SX-1250 represents arguably the best value in a high-power vintage receiver today, bar none. Back in'76, The Pioneer corporation engineered and built what was then, simply the finest receiver in the world. Cosmetically, after taking everything into consideration, this unit is in fantastic condition - All imperfections are quite minor and require close inspection to even notice. The walnut-veneered cabinet: Very nice, - a few small marks but nothing major, The front walnut faceplate strips are excellent. All of the original factory stickers are still in place. The faceplate and chassis: Very, very nice. The top-facing edge of the metal faceplate on these receivers is usually pretty badly scratched up, but not on this one - it's almost perfect (see pics). There is no corrosion anywhere on this unit - even the interior sparkles with mint-sheen. To top it off, the original box is also included, !