EBay bargain

[karma1967]

its the stuff they put in the water

[JohnNB]

I've got a Pioneer SA-01 (circa 1973). Had it since new. It's a beautiful amp. Powerful for 30w per channel, and built like a tank. I've had it repaired after it developed crackles. The engineer said he'd never seen an amp with that much dust inside! So your SA-7800 may be a gem.

[Beobloke]

I think you mean with Amstrad the sound goes first... what's Fluoroscan?

It’s the name given to the fab blue power meters.

[Jac Hawk]

I've got a Pioneer SA-01 (circa 1973). Had it since new. It's a beautiful amp. Powerful for 30w per channel, and built like a tank. I've had it repaired after it developed crackles. The engineer said he'd never seen an amp with that much dust inside! So your SA-7800 may be a gem.

Indeed, i've yet to read a bad review, however i'm always a little sceptical about reviews written by owners, no one wants to admit they've bought a lemon keeps rattling around my head. that being said they command a high value on ebay with one recently selling at a smidge under £600.

I went on vinyl engine a week or so ago and all the documentation for them is there, including the Pioneer catalogue from 1979-80 showing this in the top of the range group of Pioneer integrated amps at that time, it's bigger brothers the 8800 and the 9800 having increasingly more power as well as more inputs, a MC phono stage and a few more tonal adjustments, but fundamentally are the same.

As i've said it's with Alan (Firebottle) at the moment getting the once over, it's more than likely going to need a recap, the switches cleaned and maybe the trim pots replaced, but it is a thing of beauty and since it doesn't owe me anything i don't mind spending a few quid to get it back performing at its best, with any luck there's nothing majorly wrong with it and anything it does need is easy enough to get a hold of. i know Alan is busy at the moment and to be honest i'm not in any major rush to get it back, however i'd like to think if it isn't beyond repair than it could get an outing at the next NEBO.

[mik_rik]

Coincidence Mike,I was thinking of hauling along my Pioneer SX 1250 for a run out at the next NEBO (if I can get the bugger out of the house)

[Jac Hawk]

So a bit of an update. I've finished the arm rewire and given the turntable a service, I don't like the arm earthed through the cartridge cabling so i've ran a separate wire and mounted one of the cable block screws upside down so i can terminate the earth, given the arm a good clean and mounted the Dynavector 10x5, now some photos.

[IMG]IMG_0241 by mike davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]IMG_0242 by mike davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]IMG_0240 by mike davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]IMG_0239 by mike davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]96341FED-86C1-46AE-ACD4-1D14FF48F303 by mike davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

[Pigmy Pony]

Looking good Mike, but will that cabling affect the free movement of the tonearm? When does the t/t get its maiden voyage, or have you already tried it?

[Jac Hawk]

Looking good Mike, but will that cabling affect the free movement of the tonearm? When does the t/t get its maiden voyage, or have you already tried it?

I was worried about that too Steve, but as it happens it doesn't affect the movement at all, to be honest they should have had the cable coming out of the top of the arm rather than the side it would have meant that the cable moves even less i don't know why they didn't, but everything is working as it should the earth cable i've put in is working dead silent so happy days.

I've given it a little run it would be rude not to, obviously the new cable will need a few hours to settle in but my 1st impression was that the Dynavector 10x5 has never sounded as good, it's not as refined a sound as i get from the TD125 with the Art9, but it's very punchy with loads of bass, on some recordings i can possibly see this being a bit over the top, but on LP's that are bass light, The Clash London Calling, Blondie Parallel Lines, for example it adds depth, basically makes them listenable

[Jac Hawk]

So a bit of an update, the rewired Mission 774 is singing sweetly and mounted on the Thorens TD160 Super it came on. the deck itself was in really good condition and only needed a good clean and a new armboard as the original was too thin and allowed the arm mounting screws to protrude and stop the suspension working properly, you see this a lot and you'd think people would realise the issue and get it sorted, all i did was order a thicker than normal armboard from The Vinyl Source 5mm rather than 3mm and that was it sorted. i fitted a Dynavector 10x5 and the sound from this combo is a bit more laid back and a bit more bassy than my other decks, i'm not saying it's better, it's different and makes those LP's that are a bit thin sounding much better.

So the free amp which had one channel quieter than the other, i sent it off to Alan Kendal aka Firebottle and asked him to basically sort it. That was over a month ago now, i wasn't worried if there was a load of repairs as i got the amp for free and they sell on ebay for £600 upwards. So i called Alan at the beginning of the week just for a bit of an update, i was expecting it to need a recap minimum and all the switched cleaned as a minimum, as it turned out it didn't need anymore than a good clean, which just goes to show the build quality of these battleship amps from the late 70's and early 80's.

i picked the amp up on Friday, Alan has done a great job removing the fur coat from the insides and cleaning the front panel and switches, like most amps of this era it has spring type speaker terminals and i'll be replacing them in the following week with more modern terminals that will take banana plugs. So how does it sound, one word wonderful, i mean really wonderful, I sat for about 3 hours today, it was fed from the TD16 super mentioned above via an EAT E-Glo Petit, played through Kralk Audio TDB12's the delivery was relaxed, this amp doesn't make your tweeters shout at you and allows you to listen at high volume for extended periods without becoming fatigued, i was quite surprised how well this amp played with the TDB12's as they tend to prefer valves, so overall for a freebee i'm chuffed to bits, to be honest if i'd paid £600 or £700 for it i'd be thinking what a bargain honestly it's that good.

I'll be taking it to the next NEBO if anyone is curious, but for now a picture of it playing this afternoon.

[IMG]IMG_0529 by mike davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]IMG_05299 by mike davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

[Macca]

wonderful - ready for another 40 years of action.

They didn't make stuff to be thrown out after a few years back then, it was built to outlive the owner. And possibly his children too.