Pioneer SX-1050: worth repairing?

I agree with Tpreaves. It really comes down to how attached you are sentimentally to the unit. Back in the late 70's I lusted after this line but, being a college student, couldn't afford one. I've moved on since then but still have fond memories of that time. That said, I believe that your Virgos will respond well to better amplification. Most of the receivers from that era used lots of negative feedback to get their "watts per channel" figures up where they could compete with their rivals and ended up sounding crappy in the process (by today's standards).

Another way of looking at it is to see what this unit is selling for on the used market - sort of "if I decide to sell it later, will I recoup my investment." You might also want to talk with member Ezekial. I notice that he's got an SX-980 for sale that he's upgraded to the max. He also mods tuners so he might be a good source of information here.

I think I would spend the money on a better preamp/amp combination or one of the newer integrateds. You'll have to spend more than $350 but those speakers are good enough to show the benefits of better equipment FAR up the food chain.

Dick

In my opinion, that Beast is worth every dime of the $350 to repair....just one thought...it might also be worth the money to buy a used laptop and get the radio signal digital. Almost every station has an internet feed, and the sound will be much improved.

I think the money would be well spent for this classic piece of art and sound.

Do you trust the shop who gave you the quote, or was this a manufacturer? Long ago I had one channel go out on my Rotel Power amp. I paid a local shop $20 to diagnose the problem. They told me that all the output transistors were blown and the repair would be $220 (only paid $400 years before). I called Rotel and they actually refered me to one of their techs. He said it sounded unusual and maybe I should send it to them. They charged me $75 parts and labor, not one transistor on the repair invoice.
That shop had a bunch of used stuff out front for sale. People decided it wasn't worth the repair and just left them there. I think I know why.

I would probably get fixed because it would be hard to replace it for the price. But I would send it to someone who specializes in rebuilding vintage equipment and have it completely gone though and have any parts likely to break replaced.

A reputable shop will usually, on an older piece such as this, elect to include a complete re-cap when doing this sort of work. I had a Pioneer sx-2500 with a blown channel, and when I took it in for repair the tech said that a complete replacement of all electrolytic capacitors was advised and it would run about $300. This included a year warranty.
New caps shoould be good for ten years plus, so if you like the 1050 and can justify amortizing the expense over ten years it's really pretty cheap. Selling it with a blown channel is pretty hard to do unless someone really wants it for parts.