I had some experience with Pioneer receivers back in the early 1970s and found them to be rather hard and bright, not even in comparison to other highly regarded SS receivers. The Marantz receivers never sounded bright to me but rather warm and musical. By the late 1970s, Yamaha and Sherwood produced low wattage (16 to 35 watt) receivers that can still top those all in one receivers sound today. Yet, the higher the wattage, the worst/less musical those receivers sounded (and I tried dozens of them). My favorites are the Sherwood 7100 and Yamaha CR620. I still use the CR620 for my video setups and they can easily musically power big Legacy Focus speakers. I would definitely give the Pioneer 100 hours or more to break in the news parts, especially the caps. There could be a myriad of other reasons why it sounds bright and not related to the receiver.
My stereo receiver is a little too bright. Can a cable help me out?
I just had my vintage Pioneer SX-1050 refurbished. I had a severe case of sticker shock when presented with the bill - oops!! Which unfortunately pretty much forces me to use it.
I will say It is sounding very powerful which is no big surprise because there is a lot of horsepower under the hood. But the audio impression is that it’s also a little too bright. The only way I know to tame brightness is with the right interconnects. But I’m not experienced in that area. Recommendations would be most welcome.
It’s probably important to know how I am using the Pioneer SX-1050. It is responsible for all audio in my TV system. My choice of music is almost exclusively opera and classical.
I send the HDMI signal from my four sources ( TV-DVR, OPPO DVD, ROKU streamer and Pioneer Elite Laser Disc Player ) to my AVR, an ARCAM SR-250, and I send the respective analog audio signals to the Pioneer. I am into opera and classical music and I didn’t think my ARCAM AVR sounded as good as I wanted it to, even though it’s ideally suited to my needs, a two-channel product touted for its exceptional audio. The audio is good but definitely not great. Prior to deciding to refurbish it I had paired the Pioneer with a Musical Fidelity A3cr Preamp, using the Pioneer just as an amplifier, and I was getting very good audio that way. But one of the goals of the refurbishment project was to feature the Pioneer and eliminate the musical influence of the Musical Fidelity preamp. And now, after spending so much, I wanted to hear how my now very expensive Pioneer sounded, so I pulled the Musical Fidelity Pre and attached my sources directly to the Pioneer. Currently all the interconnects are Blue Jeans Cable. Obviously I can’t spend huge amounts replacing cables for all four sources, so the DVD is priority.
I will say It is sounding very powerful which is no big surprise because there is a lot of horsepower under the hood. But the audio impression is that it’s also a little too bright. The only way I know to tame brightness is with the right interconnects. But I’m not experienced in that area. Recommendations would be most welcome.
It’s probably important to know how I am using the Pioneer SX-1050. It is responsible for all audio in my TV system. My choice of music is almost exclusively opera and classical.
I send the HDMI signal from my four sources ( TV-DVR, OPPO DVD, ROKU streamer and Pioneer Elite Laser Disc Player ) to my AVR, an ARCAM SR-250, and I send the respective analog audio signals to the Pioneer. I am into opera and classical music and I didn’t think my ARCAM AVR sounded as good as I wanted it to, even though it’s ideally suited to my needs, a two-channel product touted for its exceptional audio. The audio is good but definitely not great. Prior to deciding to refurbish it I had paired the Pioneer with a Musical Fidelity A3cr Preamp, using the Pioneer just as an amplifier, and I was getting very good audio that way. But one of the goals of the refurbishment project was to feature the Pioneer and eliminate the musical influence of the Musical Fidelity preamp. And now, after spending so much, I wanted to hear how my now very expensive Pioneer sounded, so I pulled the Musical Fidelity Pre and attached my sources directly to the Pioneer. Currently all the interconnects are Blue Jeans Cable. Obviously I can’t spend huge amounts replacing cables for all four sources, so the DVD is priority.
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- 75 posts total
- 75 posts total