Vintage Pioneer SX-5590 Stereo Recever (Rare Black SX-1250) - NICE / LOOK For Sale

For Sale:
Vintage Pioneer SX-5590 Stereo Recever (Rare Black SX-1250)
In good condition considering it\'s age. Shows normal use. The face is in very good condition, the rear housing shows a little rust, paint removed.
Unit works great! All original.
The only issues we see with it is that the \"Speaker A\" light does not illuminate and it is missing 1 slide-on switch head (very easily replaceable).
Last unit sold for $2,330.00 + $70 shipping! That unit was reconditioned and AMAZING!
Read below:

Pioneer SX-5590/SX-1250 Stereophonic Receiver

Description:

Back in the mid-seventies, if you wanted the most powerful receiver in the world, you had one choice - the Pioneer SX-1250. Introduced in 1976 at a retail price of $900 (over $3,600 in 2013 dollars!), 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 an escalating competition with Marantz, Sansui, and Kenwood for bragging rights as manufacturer of the world\'s most powerful receiver, Pioneer engineers spared no expense in designing an amazing piece of equipment that has become a legend among audiophiles worldwide - even to this day. In subsequent years, more powerful receivers have been constructed and marketed, but in my humble opinion, the SX-1250 outshines them all. Why?

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. Not the Pioneer SX-1250. 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,andfor the preamp circuitryandeven 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.

You canstillget 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 37-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. In the humble opinion of a guy who\'s been working on and enjoying vintage audio gear since the early \'70\'s, it\'sstillthe best.

Some background on the \"BlackSilver\" SX-1250 - the SX-5590:

Manufactured for only eight months during 1976, the SX-5590 is a very rare silver/black variation of the much more common SX-1250 referenced above. Less than 2,500 of these \"special edition\" receivers were built during this period, and they were only made available to U.S. military personnel stationed overseas through European post exchanges (a.k.a. \"PX\'s\"). The lion\'s share of these special units was distributed out of base and post exchanges in West Germany (back when there actuallywasa \"West\" Germany), though it\'s possible some of these may have found their way into Hawaii/Pacific and Norfolk PX\'s as well.

Other than the unique black-anodized aluminum faceplate, the internal circuitry of the SX-5590 is virtually identical to that of the SX-1250. The only other differences are that the SX-5590 was ALWAYS equipped with a universal 110/120/220/240VAC multi-voltage transformer, while many SX-1250s were not - and the SX-5590 ALWAYS included a 3-position FM de-emphasis switch on the back, to make it compatible with multi-national broadcast standards. Based on my internet research, the earliest confirmed serial number for an SX-5590 is WD2600094M (built in April, 1976), and the latest is WK002087M (built in November, 1976), suggesting a run of under 2,500 units, though it\'s probably closer to 2,000. My conclusion is that this particular SX-5590 (serial # WD00125M) was from one of the initial production runs back in April of 1976, and based on the serial number, was probably the 125th one off of the assembly line. One thing\'s for sure - the service member who exchanged his hard-earned military pay for this particular 65-lb. monster \"souvenir\" back in the spring of \'76 appears to have takenverygood care of it!!

Features:

• 160 watts per channel at 8 ohms,200 watts per channel into 4 ohms!
• Power In and Pre Out jacks allow unit to be used with separate preamp or power amp
• 30Hz & 8kHz tone filters for ultra clean low and high ranges
• Dual bass controls (50Hz and 100Hz) for precision low frequency control
• Dual treble controls (10kHz and 20kHz) for precision high frequency control
• Tone defeat switch for the purest, most accurate reproduction of any source material
• Threeseparate speaker outputs, any two of which may be used together
• Numerous Inputs - Phono 1, Phono 2/Mic, AUX, Tape 1, and Tape 2, and \'Adaptor loop\' (can be used as Tape 3!)
• Signal Strength & Tuning Meters for ultimate reception of AM & FM bands
• -20 dB audio muting switch - perfect when the phone rings!
• 25µS / 50µS / 75µS rear panel FM De-emphasis switch
• FM Multipath button
• FM Muting button
• Three rear accessory outlets
• And Output:160 watts per channel RMS into 8 ohms, 200 watts per channel into 4 ohms, 20 Hz to 20 KHzHarmonic Distortion:Less than 0.1% at full rated power into 8 or 4 ohms, no more than 0.05% at 80 watts/channelIntermodulation Distortion:Less than 0.1% at full rated power into 8 or 4 ohms, no more than 0.05% at 80 watts/channelFrequency Response:5 Hz to 100 kHz, + 0 dB, - 1 dBHum & Noise:100dBFM Sensitivity:1.5µVFM Capture Ratio:1.0 dBFM Harmonic Distortion Mono:Less than 0.10% @ 1kHzFM Harmonic Distortion Stereo:Less than 0.25%@ 1kHzDamping Factor at load impedance:30, 20 Hz to 20 kHz into 8 ohmsDimensions (W\" x H\" x D\"):21-7/8 x 7-3/8 x 18 -1/4Weight (Unpacked):64.3 lbs.