I thought my grandpa's 1978 Pioneer receiver was junk until I opened it up

I always figured old stereo gear was a waste of shelf space, but my grandpa's dusty Pioneer SX-780 had been sitting in his garage in Toledo since he passed in 2011. Last month I finally cracked the case and found the issue was just a $4 fuse and some corroded contacts, nothing more. Twenty minutes with contact cleaner and it came back to life, and the FM dial pulled in a station 60 miles away clear as anything. Has anyone else had a repair turn out way cheaper than they feared?

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thomasm4119d ago

Man, that fuse story hits home. I picked up a dusty Marantz 2220B at a garage sale years ago for 15 bucks because the guy said it was dead and he just wanted it gone. Got it home, opened it up, and one of the internal fuses was blown plus the power switch contacts were nasty with oxidation. A few bucks for fuses and a can of DeOxit later, it fired right up and the sound was warm and full like nothing I'd heard before. Stuff from that era was built like a tank, so it usually takes a lot to actually kill one. Most of the time these old units just need a good cleaning and maybe a recap if you're feeling fancy. You did right by your grandpa keeping that Pioneer going.

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