10. Pioneer PL-A45D Turntable 1973 With Box and Manual Like NEW!

I have an absolutely GORGEOUS PL-A45D! I bought it from a guy for 50 bucks. It had been used a little bit. I mean a little bit. I swear, this 37 year old turntable looks new. I am using it in my Pioneer Elite rack and I love it! Since Pioneer didn't make a turntable for their Elite line, no harm in using this one in the rack.
 It is a stunner! Here's a picture:

9. Pioneer SX-3700 Fluoroscan Receiver from 1980

Now this is an interesting receiver that is languishing in my closet. BEAUTIFUL blue digital tuning and meters! Total harmonic distortion was a wonderful .02%. Back in 1980/1981 this 45 watts per channel rascal cost $375, which is about $1000 in 2010 dollars. Here's a picture of my dusty back up:

8. Pioneer SX-434 Receiver From 1974

This was the bottom of the barrel for Pioneer's receiver line in 1974. This thing cost $189.00 back then, which is about $834 now. It had an underpowered 7 watts per channel. I bought it cheap and sold it cheap.
Here's a picture:

7. Pioneer SX-737 Receiver From 1974

I sold this receiver to a friend a while back. It put out 35 watts per channel with .5% total harmonic distortion. Back in 1974 this thing cost $400. In today's dollars that's about $1768.00! Nice receiver but the pots are hard to get to for cleaning. here's a pic:

6. Pioneer CT-F9191 Cassette Deck From 1974

I had two of these. I sold one on ebay for $100 and the other is in my vintage rack. In 1975 it retailed for $450.00. When you adjust $450 for inflation, the 2010 price would be $1,823.51. This is a great deck!
It still  holds up. Fantastic quality! Here's a picture of the one I sold:

5. Pioneer Elite VSX-49TX Receiver From 2002 Sold For $700

I paid $200 for it and sold it for $700 last week. This monster weighed in at 70 pounds. OH MY GOD this thing is beautiful! I HATED to sell it. You should have seen the remote. This thing was $4,200 new. It is by far and away the coolest piece of equipment I have ever come across. Lots of copper everywhere on it. Just beautiful. This one dinky picture does not do it justice at all.

4. Pioneer PL-71 Turntable From 1974

I paid $120 for it and sold it for $299 last week. This turntable is gorgeous! I really love the looks, but unfortunately it is manual and I am accustomed to automatic. I have been spoiled by My Pioneer PL-530. The PL-71 looks much nicer, but I prefer the ease of the PL-530. My ears can't tell the difference either. Back in 1974 it retailed for $300, which is about $1330.00 in 2010 dollars!

(Update, I now regret selling this as I now prefer manual tables. I should have kept it!)

3. Pioneer PL-530 Turntable From 1976

This was my first really good turntable and it's still my main one. It retailed for $250 in1976, which is around $960 in today's dollars. Direct drive and fully automatic. Unlike other direct drive turntables, this one is VERY quiet. High quality for sure. I love this turntable! I use it most days.

2. I Have a Fairchild Channel F Video Game System From 1976

The Fairchild was released in 1976 and featured a screaming fast 1.79 Mhz CPU.
Yes, that's right, I said 1.79 megahertz.
Come on, it was 1976!!!!
The guy who helped design the CPU quit Fairchild and started his own company, he called it Intel.
No, I'm not kidding.
I even have the box it came in and a one page instruction sheet!

1. Pioneer SX-780 Receiver From 1978

The SX-780 from Pioneer is my favorite receiver. There's just something about it that I love.
It has a wonderful warm sound with low distortion and lots of headroom. It was available from 1978 to 1980 for about $325 according to Silverpioneer. If you adjust $325 dollars for inflation that translates to about $1000 now.

45 watts per channel? Really? No way! It feels like MUCH more. I have been through my share of Vintage Marantz and Yamahas and I have never found a better receiver than the SX-780. It's not like "they don't build them like this anymore". THEY NEVER DID! This was it. The SX-780, 1080, 1280 and 1980 are among the best receivers EVER built. The SX-1980 IS the greatest by a landslide.

I recommend the SX-780 to anyone. I pushed 4 HPM-100's with NO problem at all. Great sound.

Pictured is my SX-780 that I use with my Apple G5, a PL-530, a CT-F9191 and a pair of HPM-100's.