Wanted: Pioneer A-91D amplifier

[vintagesteve]

Wanted: Pioneer A-91D amplifier. Please PM if you can help. Thanks!

[meBob]

There's one on fleabay (but not cheap):

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Reference...kAAOSwQaFaz1OJ

[vintagesteve]

There's one on fleabay (but not cheap):

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Reference...kAAOSwQaFaz1OJ

Thanks, I'm aware of Ebay but for various reasons I don't buy units from overseas. Plus that asking price is plain silly.

[meBob]

The A-91D looks like a serious piece of kit, I have a Sony 770ES that is of the same period and might have been considered a competitor to it at the time.

The Sony is built like a battleship, but the A-91D has the looks of aircraft carrier.

How does it sound? Have you heard one before?

[vintagesteve]

Hi Bob, no I haven't heard one. I'm a collector of vintage hifi, mainly receivers as it happens, but I also collect tuners. I have the matching Pioneer tuner to the A-91D and was thinking of pairing them up. But I'm sure it will be a nice amp. Yes, other people have commented on the similar Sony stuff at that time, wasn't it also called the Elite series? as in 'ES'? That glossy, somewhat ostentatious piano lacquer finish with gold trim certainly isn't all the rage now, but I like it! As far as I know (there may be others), Pioneer, Onkyo and Sony all had similar offerings with those glossy 'wooden' end cheeks and high end 'Elite' specs. Late 80s stuff. Some weird and wonderful ideas about vibration minimalisation mind. All good fun for a vintage enthusiast like me though!

[meBob]

Yes, by the looks of things they put stuff out there at the top end with wooden sides and plenty of lacquer, they made a decent effort with their kit and if you look at what you get for £2K now it just doesn't come close build wise.

This is the kind of kit that really floats my boat though:
http://www.sansui-vintage.com/articl...?articles_id=1

I think the Sony 'ES' meant esprit, but I might be wrong (not entirely sure).

[Lawrence001]

I've heard elevated standard but there was some debate on this here a while ago. I found a web page from someone who seemed knowledgeable but can't recall what it said.

Sent from my BLN-L21 using Tapatalk

[vintagesteve]

You've heard "elevated standard"? A version of "ES" I presume? We need to see manufacturer's actual usage and definition of these terms to be conclusive. I always took it to mean Elite Series. Will stand corrected on sight of manufacturer's ad.

[meBob]

This might explain things or confuse them?

http://www.thevintageknob.org/sony-ES.html

[vintagesteve]

This might explain things or confuse them?

http://www.thevintageknob.org/sony-ES.html

It's more timeline, general info rather than the definition of ES. Tbh, I'm not too fussed what it means, but I like the kit!