Found this one today at a charity fleamarket and 'had to' pick it up. Never saw a Pioneer amp cosmetically quite like this. This has a clutched, concentric L/R dual volume control (rather than a stereo volume control and a balance pot). Functions are absolutely basic... I am guessing 15 wpc or so. I have not tried it yet.

Anyone know the production years for this one?

Sorry the photo is not great.

Thanks!

Orion says,

PIONEER INT, SA-5200 COMPACT
Description: 2-STAGE DIRECT-COUPLED, BASS-TREBLE TONAL ADJUSTMENT
Manufacture Years: 1973 - 1975
Additional Information:
Power: 10wpc
Retail
MSRP: $140.00

I loaned my SA-5200 to a friend, he likes.

one of the finest budget amps made. . . . very nice and those 10 watts are JUMBO watts. . .

I just picked one up off ePay for a whole $5. It was local, otherwise I wouldn't have bid. The power button has obviously been replaced and the wood panels have been ABUSED! I can make a couple new panels in my dad's workshop, and hopefully with a little cleaning, this thing will run just fine.

Well, here is a better picture of the sucker. It stinks like basement, but for $5, I wasnt expecting much. I am currently soaking the dials before scrubbing 'em.

A question for y'all: How is the orange power indicator attached to the face? It is not a lamp (the lamp sits behind it). It had been held to the face with tape. Is this SOP for Pioneer on this model?

As for the power swtich, you can see it is now an up/down toggle. I have no intention of changing it back. I am guessing the original owner simply didnt have this forum or ePay to search for parts at the time! As long as it works, it is fine.

OK, I have another question. I plugged in headphones and had a listen. With no sources playing, when I turn the volume from minimum to maximum I get an increasingly loud hiss. However, the hiss gradually increases, then decreases, and then increases again as I turn from 0 to 10.

What is up with that?

Weird about the hiss, but apparently a common problem. Mine does the SAME THING! When the volume gets between 11 and 1 or so the hiss is reduced in level, then pops back up!

I've got to say though...give this amplifier a good cleaning up and hook it up to an OK pair of speakers and you have one great little rig! I was using mine with some nice Grado headphones (which it drove beautifully) and the with a set of little Kenwood CM-5ES full range speakers (a real sleeper IMHO) and it sounded great! Real nice tone, with very good fidelity...the hiss sits right behind the music and really didn't bug me too much when the music started.


Incidentally, I saw nothing in the schematic that indicated an easy fix for the hiss problem...could be just old semiconductors, old solder points, etc...heck maybe it's just the amps residual noise level? Rated oddly in the Service Manual as .13 µW at 10 W output.

JC

Well, I am glad you have the same prob! Well, not glad, but you know what I mean.

I cleaned it out, Deox/ProGold'ed it real well. There is no scratchiness from any of the controls...just the hiss. As I mentioned above, I am gonna make two new wood panels out of solid wood in my dad's little woodshop (aka spare room above his garage!). I may not keep it forever, but at least it'll look good!

Redcoates: see my question above about the power-on indicator.

It looks like the amber power indicator is glued into the front panel..there's a little extra adhesive dried on the inside of the face

BTW, check out the nice little binding post mod I posted a while back...the speaker terminals are really easy to replace on this unit, and you can buy a set of binding post-type connectors (so you can use bannanas) for like $5 and the gas to run to Radio Shack.

I am gonna check out the binding post mod...this may be a great test piece to learn on. As for the power indicator, when I picked this up it was taped w/ masking tape. When I put it back I used strong clear plastic tape - pretty bright now!!