Feel bad driving my SX-850 with my I pod I do have a Manual for the sx_850 and a pioneer LT_1011 reel to reel I can fax it to you
Bought new in 78 for $429
Using Bose Acustmic 7 speakers
I found out years ago to turn the knobs fron full left to full right to keep the pots clean Other then that I have no problems My twenty four year old calls it a hoopti But he is still eats meals out of a paper bag..

Craftsmenship, musical sound quality, tone controls.

The SX- **50 series is the best that Pioneer has ever offered at any time. Find one... Buy it!

What else does anyone need to reproduce music in their home?

Like the other reviewer.... makes you listen all day.

Pre remote days makes me get up to "crank it up" for the good parts.... nothing I would trade for post remote equipment.

I don't understand why they refuse to build like this anymore. Sure it would have to reflect in today's $$$. Instead they cram techno junk at us that is built to sound like the junk it is. Manufactures it seems, are driving the enthusiast to either settle being a casual listener with sound we really don't appreciate, or drive us broke becoming an audiophile who's willing to spend $1000's or 10's of $1000's. Equipment like the SX-850 fits a need for the middle guy who loves great, room filling sound with musical clarity and depth, without a re-mortgage.

Because of that there is a generation who don't understand how you can get so much great sound out of 65 watts per channel. They have been taught loud without musical. I like to see their reaction when our gen brings them into it. My son, in his twenties, has learned. Because of the craftsmenship and detail to reproducing music, he now listens with appreciation to music he would never have paid attention to, as I have for years.

You can tell when you look at the beauty of design, minimal use of plastic, this is serious mass and weight. There's more inside than a few chip amps connected to what amounts to an am-fm pocket radio. Just lift one these boxes of crafted components.

My receiver is showing it's age and soon it will need re-capped. For now, I am using it as a preamp to feed a Carver A-500X 250wpc amp and it sounds absolutely WOW! Agreeing with another reviewer here, I can't get much done when I flip the switch on.... I'll sit and listen all day long. By the end of the day, and the volume knob has now found it's way to 2/3 of it's travel, I found my ZEN and life is good again. I'll get my work done tomorrow.

Similar Products Used:

Carver Receiver 2000 (good sound, but not the Pioneer)
Carver Model 6200 (this was actually a nice receiver for post remote)
Vintage Realistic (late 70's)
Project One (mid 70's)

Quality built, as all the 50 series were. Large Capacitors in power supply. Twice as big as Kenwood and 1.5 times bigger than marantz. Sound is the real srength. I am very impressed. Sounds like a 125 watt stereo instead of 65.

Only weakness is that it is approching 30 years old. May need volume control etc. cleaned with deox, lps contact cleaner, even wd-40 will work. Lights may burn out. Have to special order.

Wow. This has got to be the best sounding 65 watt receiver I have ever heard. The sonic purity is awesome. I have a SX-750 as well but the SX-850 sounds even better. Pioneer leaves Kenwood and Marantz in the dust with this one. I can't believe it is only 65 watts. It blows away my SX-1010 100 watt(which may have just been too old and tired) Sounds better than my SX-939 (75 watt) which sounds pretty darn good. I thought my Kenwood KR-6600 (60 watt) sounded good until I got this SX-850. I am running my sx-850 on pioneer hpm-100 speakers that I bought new in 1977. The tuner works perfect, the crossovers are a nice feature, the controls are quality. I did have to clean one switch and the volume control. All the lights still work. I can't imagine needing more power, but the avid enthusiast that I am I just bought a Kenwood KR-9600 (160 watt) on ebay. Haven't got it yet. I will let you all know how it sounds later. I am using this receiver for right and left channels with a dvd home theater player. Sounds better than the IMAX. Buy a sx-850,sx-950,sx-1050,or sx-1250. You will love em.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer sx-750, sx-3700(not really in the same class),sx-1010,sx-939,Kenwood KR-6600 and soon to have a Kenwood KR-9600.

built to last; lots of power; looks;

will make you listen music all day long

I bought SX-850 for 120$ from a guy that kept it in a basement. Although he uses Threshold NS10/400-A, that is no excuse to dump a beauty like SX-850 in a basement. I was amazed by the way it works after 27 years (made in 1976), but when I opened it I saw the reason to that. It is built like a tank with a huge transformer and two massive 17000uF capacitors placed on the left side. I replaced two bulbs and gave a new finish to the wooden case and that was it. I use it with a pair of KEF speakers (bass B139; mid B110a ; tweeter T27;) and the sound is brilliant. And to the owners of a tiny 300wpc desktop speakers all I can say is that Im more than satisfied with my 65wpc that blow my windows out. It has good THD value of 0.1% (distortion less than 0.3% cant be registered by human ear).But the way it looks is what separates this unit (and the whole silver series) from others. You can always find something more powerfull and more expensive but you dont need anything better for home use than SX-850. (tipp: good amplifier with great speakers will always give better result than great amplifier with good speakers. so if you have money to waste, waste it on the speakers)

65wpc of underrated minimal output. Take your new 120wpc A/V reciever and chuck it in the dumpster. High filter & low switches. Selectable crosover points for bass/treble adjustments. Preamp in and out. (very handy with a good quality DTS/dolby digital pre-amp)

Nadda one.

Pioneer SX-850. 65wpc @ 8ohms. 85wpc @ 4ohms. This reciever is grade A beef. It gets mighty loud (if you want it to). Musical instruments with great detail and purity. I use this unit with a pair of Pioneer CS-77A speakers. The tone, and the response of those speakers and the SX-850 is great. Clearity, and precision all day long. Without doubt, this is a system I will hang onto as long as I live.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer SX-3700

pure power,,at 85 rms,,,new rxv1 yamaha shuts down way before sx 850 even gets started

imagine ,,a new retro series of recivers,,from all the top names,,but adding a/v,,that only thing get me to turn away from my 25 year old

its all been said,,just adding my 2 cents worth,,, why have we come to this i dont know,,maybee the cost cutting accountants ,,but hear is one of the most perfect examples of they dont make them like that any more.....the materials the build quality,,the sound,,,all there,,,all things have a golden age,,the zenith of development and style ,,the peak,,for audio,that was 25 years ago

Similar Products Used:

all of them ,,been doing this too long

I bought my sx-850 from my best friend Sal when he was trying to raise the cash for an Italian Racing bike. We were still both in High School;late '70's.During the last 25 years maintance has cost me a whopping ten cents to replace a fuse.I've gone through at least 3 sets of speakers,2 turntables, a cd player, a laser vision player(Which played Cd's.)and it still sounds and works great.I thought I was upgrading when I bought a SONY Dolby pro-logic receiver with all the bells and whistles. I was wrong. The 850 with it's modest 65 wpc drove the speakers better then the SONY's 100 per! A friend of mine opened a bar. I gave him the 850 on a'permenent'loan basis. I would get it back if when when he bought a new system.Well after five years of having Rum and cokes spilled on it I got it back. You know what, it still works great!

Durability Clean, rich sound

I bought this unit in 1977 or 1978 when I was in the military. I think it was from a place called "Warehouse Sound" somewhere on the East Coast. My roommate bought an SX750. We each bought two HPM100 speakers, for a total of four. We ran the four HPMs off of my SX850 in our dorm room. At low volumes or high, it sounded great. I still have my 850 and the HPM100s, which continue to play brilliantly. The SX850 has been in the shop twice for the same intermittent power interruption that another reviewer experienced. At the time it was in the shop, probably 1999, the technician said "they don't make them like this anymore," and I happily paid him to fix it. All the lights still work. The switches and dials can get a little scratchy if you don't regularly move them. However, this is minor compared to the continued value I have gotten from this unit. It has survived several moves; I still have the schematics and original documentation. It's that kind of unit: a member of the family. I agree that the sound is clean and well balanced. Whether you are listening to Bach or Zappa, the SX850 continues to prove why I believe this was the best audio purchase I ever made. If you find one, buy it.

Lots of headroom for its rated output

none

I bought this new in 1976. It has been driving a pair of Dynaco A25''s that I bought new in 1975 ever since. It''s been in the shop once for an intermittent power cutout problem. You cannot buy this kind of quality brand new for any where near $350 today. Something of this quality would probably be well over $1000. Not bad for 25 year old equipment that was used frequently. When this was my main stereo I would frequently get comments on how good my system sounded, especially considering the size of the speakers. They were a good match. Here''s some specs on it. Total Harmonic Distortion per channel 65 watts at 8 ohms no more than 0.1% 33 watts at 8 ohms no more than 0.05% 85 watts at 4 ohms no more than 0.1%

Similar Products Used:

A Kenwood reciever that my roomate bought in 1975 it was either 50 or 70 watts. I don''t remember the model number.

look real nice, power, value

none

I purchased my 850 on ebay on 2-15-01 for $150. It was to replace an SX-450. I figured that it would just be louder than the 450 but it sounds so much better too. And it does crank. It can go wickedly loud. I use it to power 4 EPI 100's and I keep waiting for the neighbors to pay me a visit with their shotguns. The analog tuner is weighted nicely and it glides very smoothly. I can't wait to get a 1250 but they cost a lot. If you can get one of these for under $200 that is a real deal. By the way, the 50 series is better made the the 80 or 38 series. If you have a 950 or up real cheap(that would be under $150) please e-mail me.

Similar Products Used:

none