Vintage Pioneer amps. What's it all about.

[The Outcast]

Been hankering after an old seventies amp for a bit of fun. I put a few bids in for a Pioneer 9500 on s..tbay and thought rather smuggly "That one will be winging it's way to be by the weekend". Imagine how gobsmacked i was when it went for £609. Yes, £609!!!!! Wtf is that about?:stalks:

[DSJR]

The models at the top of the range were effective and will now appeal to vintage knob freaks, as they were festooned with dozens of knobs and switches for all eventualities. Wattage output was more voltage based than current, but there's so much of it in these top-line amps that it rarely becomes an issue. It's amps like these that gave Naim the opportunity to rebel and introce product with no real facilities at all, despite having internal filter stages in place of conventional tone controls - part of the con that continues to this day!

P.S. Most of the lower-caste Pioneer amps I remember us stocking were pretty dire in all honesty, as were the cheaper Sony, Technics and some Yamaha amps too (from the *10 series onwards anyway). I had a Yamaha CA1000mk2 given to me, an amp I sold to the owner brand new. The power amp was fine, especially in class A, but the preamp section was awful, tone-jump engaged and all...

For £600 or so, I'd rather have a LATE Quad 44 (later op-amps and IEC mains/phono sockets) and a 606mk2, which will clearly out-perform these knob-laden Jap confections yet still offer flexibility :)

[StanleyB]

The Pioneer 8xxx and 9xxx series are highly sought after. But I prefer the Aiwa and Rotel ones in terms of sound quality.
I got a rare Aiwa AA-8700 in full working order and would like to add a Rotel to my collection. The Nikko and Onkyo ones of the same era are also worth looking out for. But the Optonica and NEC types are a lot harder to hunt down.
Mind you I do have a Pioneer 8800 in storage :D.

[walpurgis]

In heard some excellent sounds out of seventies Luxman solid state amplifiers.