I had a Pioneer SX1250 in 1976 I think it was. I loved it at the time. (less than $600.00 at the PX). When I came home with it, I bought an Onkyo 303 preamp from CRAZY EDDIE. I used it with the amp section of the Pioneer. I couldn't believe my ears! The 303 blew the pre amp of the Pioneer away. That was the beginning of my audio journey. I also had a Sansui 9090DB. It sounded terrible at least with my Bose 901's at the time. They were pretty though! Joe
Did the Old Receivers Sound Good?
Before the high end started, we had all these receivers and integrated amps from Pioneer, Kenwood, Sansui, Sherwood, etc., all with incredible specs. Then somehow we decided that specs didn't matter and we started moving to the more esoteric stuff from Ampzilla, Krell and whoever, but the specs were not as good. My question is - Did the old Japanese stuff with the great specs sound better? I don't remember. I'm asking because many seem to be moving back to the "specs are everything" mindset and I was thinking about all that old stuff with so many zeros to the right of the decimal point.