Durable, high quality. Powerful. Nice, warm sound.

Bulky.

This review is actually for the SX-1010, a model from 1974. It gets 100 watts RMS. It's a gentle giant. It plays classical and folk music really nice, with warm, smooth sound, but can also rattle the windowpanes if need be. This thing is really better in every way than what I could afford to buy new.
The sound is great- it can make even pathetic cheap speakers sound good. There's very little static- you can hear a little tiny hum if you turn it up 60% with nothing playing, but thats enough amplification to cause ear damage.
Just subjectively, this sucker sounds more powerful than the new cheaper 100 watt amps on sale.
I also like the 70's styling- rosewood case, with aluminum control panel.
These things really were well made, especially compared to what they sell these days (although to be fair, I am comparing $200 cheap stuff to a receiver that originally cost $700- prob. about $2500 in todays money). My folks have a much smaller version of this one, an SX-434, and that one has withstood horrible abuse for 30 years without a needing repair once. The one thing I worry about, though, is how hard it is to get parts for this antique, if it ever does break down.
The only other weakness is that its very heavy- about 60.lb. Also, you don't have a remote, or presets with the radio, or any number of modern conveniences. Hooking up a CD player is fine, though, and its good if you have a phono since unlike newer receivers it's set up for that.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer SX-434, late 80's Mitsubishi, cheapish Technics

Incredible build quality, extreme clarity, sufficient power for anything, quality, quality, did I mention quality?

Nothing, really. The holes for the speaker wires are a little small.

This comment is for the SX-1050, the earlier version of the SX-1080. I have this receiver powering a pair of 40-year-old Acoustic Research AR-3's. There are only a few stereos I've heard that sound better. I was skeptical buying this receiver initially. I wasn't a pioneer fan; everything I had used of theirs previously was cheap, mass-produced junk. I did get the SX-1050 from a gentleman on ebay who restores older equipment like this, so it is in new working condition. The AR-3's are inefficient and need plenty of power to make them sound good, at least 100W. The other Sansuis and Marantzes that I had tried with them sounded muddy at times. This pioneer makes them sound like gold. The clarity is absolutely amazing. The separation and distinction between the instruments makes you notice and listen to each one in turn. Drums sound amazingly crisp, voices are very life-like. The AR speakers were designed for accuracy, and when coupled with this SX-1050 with its insanely huge power supply, huge capacitors and other quality (and heavy) parts, they are a match made in heaven. I could go on and on about how impressed I am with this one, but suffice it to say that I am re-evaluating my position on Pioneer components from the '70s. Soon I am going to buy a reconditioned Marantz 2385 and try it out against the SX-1050 here on some other AR speakers, but I think it will have a hard time matching this clarity and precision. I've got other receivers mentioned above driving Sansui G-7500Xs, Klipsch Cornwalls and KG-s, Marantz speakers and I haven't been able to get any of them to sound this good. And right now I'm using a crappy old Sony CDP-211 CD player on the SX-1050! The only knock I could find with this beautiful piece of engineering, is that the sound is not quite as warm as Marantz sound. This is a minor point, like finding a color flaw in the background of the Mona Lisa. The point still stands that this receiver is amazing and sounds very, very good of its own.

Similar Products Used:

Sansui G-7500 and G-5500, Marantz 2226B and 2285B; new Yamaha, Pioneer, Sony and Kenwood crap. Eico and Knight tube amps.

Power, Power and more Power! Great Looking Silver Face.
Just a beautiful receiver, a work of art! Did I mention 120 watts of clean under-rated power!

NONE!

I bought my first SX-1080 in 1979, while I was stationed in Germany. I always thought highly of Pioneer equipment. I'm a Pioneer junkie but in the early ninties I decided to buy a Kenwood A/V receiver and make the transistion toward the coming Home Theatre revolution. I gave my first SX-1080 to a very good friend to use, I didn't have the heart to sell it!!! Well about nine months or so ago, I stumbled onto EBAY and I saw a SX-850 for sale and I just fell in love again with the silver faced vintage look so I decided to bid on it and was lucky enough to win it. I received the SX-850 and hooked it up and the difference between the two was staggering!!!! After all these years of listening to that black plastic, under powered, over-rated, piece of #$@*, I felt like a stupid idiot and decided to go back and start from scratch. I have since purchased a Pioneer SX-1080, 2 Pioneer CT-F9191 Cassette Decks, a pair of JBL L166 speakers and just recently a pair of Pioneer HPM 100 speakers and I just love it!!! The sound is staggering and I don't ever want to look at Home Theatre again!!!
I would like to buy an SX-1280 or an SX-1250 somewhere down the road. PIONEER SX RECEIVERS just kick butt!!!! I wish Pioneer would make a limited run of these receivers again.
That would be heaven....build it and it will sell!!!!
I won't get fooled again!!!!!!

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer SX-850, Kenwood A/V

Awe-inspiring power. Exceptional Sound quality at every frequency.

I think it's kind of ugly - some people probably think its really sharp-looking because it's of really high quality materials. But I think today's stuff looks better. And the BIGGEST WEAKNESS is that there's NO REMOTE! This was from before remote controls! Other than that, you could maybe say that it's too heavy - it weighs so much it's hard to move around. I don't think of that as a weakness, though.

Truly incredible power - almost scary! I'm afraid of blowing speakers every time I crank it more than half-way. By today's standards, the construction is of fantastic quality. The amp (120 WPC RMS @ 8 Ohms) is clean with powerful, punchy bass and brilliant highs. I don't even know what 'soundstage' means, but I can tell you that the sound quality from this receiver (combined with my also-vintage HPM-100's and 5 year-old Infinity SM-150's) is the best I've ever heard on anyone's home stereo. I'm SO in love with this old stereo that I had to upgrade to an SX-1250 (which I haven't gotten yet - will review it when I get it). If it's better than the SX-1050, I'll be deaf in a few years. The controls work really smoothly - the tuner dial is weirdly heavy and unnaturally smooth. FM reception is awesome. It's a powerhouse that will shake your bones and drown you in high-quality sound. It's like the muscle cars from way back - it's not fair that they don't make stuff like this any more...

Similar Products Used:

Various Onkyo & Harmon Kardon receivers. I used to be an Onkyo freak, but since I found this old Vintage Pioneer receiver, I have to say it beats the crap out of everything out today (except maybe some of the high-end, super-expensive stuff that I don't know anything about and woudln't probably pay the price for anyway).

POWER, POWER, POWER, POWER. Clarity. Oh, and it is very stylish

Heavy, not even a corded remote like my Beta player

A beautiful sight to behold and a better piece of equipment to hear. Extremely powerful, and very heavy. I love this big brute and use it primarily for stereo listening, but it does a decent job handling TV football games on the weekend..... I have had a slight problem with one channel crackiling, but that just requires some contact cleaner. Overall, this is what they should still be producing today, although most Pioneer equipment has impressed me with value over the years. I'm turning into a Pioneer junkie!

Similar Products Used:

Old sony, and even older H/K

Quality construction, superior performance, good looks.

power supply voltage regulators run too hot. Some parts no longer available.

This huge, heavy, fine performing Pioneer receiver was outstanding in it's own day, and puts to shame the black plastic junk on today's market. Pioneer pulled out all the stops when they designed and built these receivers,with a level of component and power supply quality that was unprecedented in it's time, and is now completely absent in reasonably priced home audio equipment. It's FM performance will run circles around any receiver presently made. Their like will not be seen again, and that is shameful.

Similar Products Used:

Various older receivers,such as Kenwood and NAD, etc.