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Flouroscan? Beauty? Reliability?

thedelihaus

thedelihaus

Nocturnal transmissions
Is that the correct name for the cool blue lighting on certain Pioneer products?

I'm very taken by the beauty of this series of Pioneers. I find the build quality to be excellent, but was wondering if there's a concern of failure in regards to the flouroscan, and what life expectancy flouroscan has. What is it exactly- flourescent bulbs, neon, pixie dust? Is it repairable? Are the parts available?

Oh, and if you have pics of your flouroscan gear lit up in dim light, please post 'em. I find the beauty of vintage hi-fi gear (or new gear of quality build) when all lit up to be breathtaking. I'm sure you agree.

I've got my eye on one piece- an rg-2 dynamic range expander.

Thanks,
Paul
 
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Yes, I also like the fluroscans very much!
Today I run a small SA-510 in my main system for listening TV.
The SX-D7000 on the attached picture is out of order for the moment due to a blown output, but it has 2 nice displays :D
Regarding ageing I havent recognized so far any problems. You need to clean the display and the front filter to get a sharp diplay. The flurocent stuff may loos some brightness over the years, but as long as you have no A-B comparison, who cares.
 
Well, i have a sx-3900 i have had since new , dec 1979. and the blue lights are original. and work well to this day..... :yes:

Chris :thmbsp:
 
thedelihaus said:
..... I'm very taken by the beauty of this series of Pioneers. I find the build quality to be excellent, but was wondering if there's a concern of failure in regards to the flouroscan, and what life expectancy flouroscan has. What is it exactly- flourescent bulbs, neon, pixie dust? Is it repairable? Are the parts available?
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Flouroscan is just Pioneer's name for a Vacuum Fluorescent Display (VFD).
They are the same as the displays commonly found on VCRs etc. In my experience they are reliable, but I've found that the displays on VCRs (which are generally on all the time) go a bit dim with age.
Are they repairable? - No. :no:
Are the parts available? - I doubt it very much, think you'd need a donor unit.

- Richard B.
 
My experience is that they are quite reliable. I have seen drivers fail, but not the displays themselves, and driver failures appear to be rare.

Rich P
 
I've got an SX-3700 that I really enjoy, I have it hooked up to my sound card on my PC, and play CD's and Mp3's through it. I've found it to be very reliable, and the flouroscan display looks cool on the shelf above my monitor, very easy to read. Speakers of the moment are Klipsch KG2's, turned upside down on my top shelf to put the tweets closer to my ear level. Sounds great at low volume (When the wife is home!) but cranks up nice as well.
 
I have about 20 pieces that use this display, the only issue so far is one of my CT-F950's right channel display just drops signal. It plays the tape fine, the display is intermittent. As Rich pointed out, I suspect the driver, not the display itself.
 
agger said:
You need to clean the display and the front filter to get a sharp diplay...
Click to expand...


Correct! This procedure is very important...and I enjoy doing it whenever I get to clean a Pioneer component with fluoroscan :banana:
 
A bit unrelated, but what about the trim piece around the display? I recently got an SA-9800 and the chrome coating is rubbed off around display trim. I was surprised to see that this was plastic. Is this common or did someone clean it a bit too frequently? I was thinking of painting it, or looking into something to restore it - it looks pretty bad as-is.

The diplay is cool - and the log power scale means the meters are always moving, even at very low listening levels - the real bonus of this display in my opinion!
 
All my Fluroscan displays work well, but one SA-7800, where the display is not so shiny as my other SA-7800. I had one SA-8800, the right display was not working. The display itself was o.k. but a driver-chip is lazy. :sigh:

ssx9504en.jpg


ssx10500zj.jpg
 
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No, in my Avantar just the SX-D7000 and SA-7800 have Fluroscan displays. All the rest are "normal" blue Pioneer Displays :D


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packrat said:
A bit unrelated, but what about the trim piece around the display? I recently got an SA-9800 and the chrome coating is rubbed off around display trim. I was surprised to see that this was plastic. Is this common or did someone clean it a bit too frequently? I was thinking of painting it, or looking into something to restore it - it looks pretty bad as-is.

...
Click to expand...

I was also dissapointed to find out it was made from plastic and had the same problem as you once, I covered it with some self adhesive aluminium foil tape similar to this one --->http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=-12361&&source=14&doy=search

Its a bit tricky because the tape easily bend and you get ugly marks on it, I had to redo it several times before I got satisfied with the result. The new surface is very sensitive because the Aluminum tape is kinda soft and you can easily get new scratches in it, but it looks great when its done, and Hey its real Aluminium :D
 
I hope to get the new belts on my Flouroscan CT-F615 this weekend, and have four Flouroscan amps and a RG-2. I need to take some updated photos of my blue meter gear soon -- Foe
 
I need new belts for my CT-F650.

My CT-F1250 needs a full mechanical/electronic restoration, cosmetically it's absolutely perfect. I was shocked when I pulled her out of the package.

The CT-F1250 is what started my craze for Fluroscan equipment. I first saw one 6 years ago and ever since then I have been searching high and low for anything I could find with the same or similar looks. I still want an RT-909, SA-9800 and SX-D7000. I wish Pioneer was still making Fluroscan stuff when CD's came around, a Fluroscan CDP would've been awesome.
 
PioneerGuy85 said:
I need new belts for my CT-F650.

My CT-F1250 needs a full mechanical/electronic restoration, cosmetically it's absolutely perfect. I was shocked when I pulled her out of the package.

The CT-F1250 is what started my craze for Fluroscan equipment. I first saw one 6 years ago and ever since then I have been searching high and low for anything I could find with the same or similar looks. I still want an RT-909, SA-9800 and SX-D7000. I wish Pioneer was still making Fluroscan stuff when CD's came around, a Fluroscan CDP would've been awesome.
Click to expand...
While the SX-D7000 is attractive (I'm looking for one myself), I believe you will be happier with a nice SA/TX-x800 combo, the 9800 being the TOTL for that line. The SX-D7000 is a bit on the late side, and if you look inside, you will see what I mean. Still very nice, but the recommended combo really would be nicer.

Sorry for my kibbitz. I just couldn't help myself.

Rich P
 
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