Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Pioneer SX-1280, 185WPC from 1978.
My most powerful receiver in the collection next to the Sansui G-9000 and Pioneer SX-1250.
These silver monsters continue to appear on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Mercari, garage sales, sides of roads, and damp basements. How many hundreds of thousands of these were actually made and how many exist today?
They fetch such high prices but really are not rare. Two more popped up in the Chicagoland area over the last week.
What the commonality? Overengineered spec, very repairable, great looking, sonically excellent when functioning well, and quite expensive!
I don’t usually talk prices as regional/venues can vary and we all have our thrills of the chase, successes, and failures. Ultimately, the story behind it all is most interesting since each has had an interesting life of its own.
I bought this SX-1280 locally on Facebook Marketplace about three months ago with a pair of Realistic Mach Ones. Got them all at an excellent price well below market value, but the older gentleman who was from the military and wanted them to go to a collector, which I am.
Upon using the 1280 during the first couple hours of burning it in, the right channel blew out and took the whole unit out of service. And I was quite surprised given its condition. And it has the semi-unobtanium NEC outputs if one wishes to keep original.
For a unit like this and with my low cost investment, I would rather go to a professional than to do trial and error so I took it to Stereo Rehab in Chicago. driver board collapsed and caused all four outputs to short in the right channel.
So two weeks later I got it back after a Stereo Rehab repair and restoration using original outputs from a donor amp (likely a Phase Linear which uses these same outputs — and many of them in a single vintage unit, which have a higher and better use in receivers like the Pioneer 980, 1080, 1280 and 1980)
Here It is, I took it out for use over the weekend and it’s working great!
Hope everyone’s getting ready for the holidays and perhaps some time off!
Pioneer SX-1280, 185WPC from 1978.
My most powerful receiver in the collection next to the Sansui G-9000 and Pioneer SX-1250.
These silver monsters continue to appear on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Mercari, garage sales, sides of roads, and damp basements. How many hundreds of thousands of these were actually made and how many exist today?
They fetch such high prices but really are not rare. Two more popped up in the Chicagoland area over the last week.
What the commonality? Overengineered spec, very repairable, great looking, sonically excellent when functioning well, and quite expensive!
I don’t usually talk prices as regional/venues can vary and we all have our thrills of the chase, successes, and failures. Ultimately, the story behind it all is most interesting since each has had an interesting life of its own.
I bought this SX-1280 locally on Facebook Marketplace about three months ago with a pair of Realistic Mach Ones. Got them all at an excellent price well below market value, but the older gentleman who was from the military and wanted them to go to a collector, which I am.
Upon using the 1280 during the first couple hours of burning it in, the right channel blew out and took the whole unit out of service. And I was quite surprised given its condition. And it has the semi-unobtanium NEC outputs if one wishes to keep original.
For a unit like this and with my low cost investment, I would rather go to a professional than to do trial and error so I took it to Stereo Rehab in Chicago. driver board collapsed and caused all four outputs to short in the right channel.
So two weeks later I got it back after a Stereo Rehab repair and restoration using original outputs from a donor amp (likely a Phase Linear which uses these same outputs — and many of them in a single vintage unit, which have a higher and better use in receivers like the Pioneer 980, 1080, 1280 and 1980)
Here It is, I took it out for use over the weekend and it’s working great!
Hope everyone’s getting ready for the holidays and perhaps some time off!
