In an OT message dated 8/16/00 "John Cwiklinski/Beaverton/Contr/IBM"
<johncw@xxxxxxxxxx> writes:
<< Nah! Stick with your cameras and choo-choo's. Majority of analog
Pioneer
equipment is still running today. Besides, all the analog audio
manufacturers did the same thing (and still do), except for the very
high-end components. Pioneer "car" equipment was trash, not home audio.
>>
Just because it is still working (and much of it isn't BTW) does not
make it good. As a consumer electronic technician (since 1978 with
extensive factory training and am an ex-employee of Philips and Sony) I
can't complain about Pioneer too much, I have made a lot of money off
their crappy designs and easy-to-fix cracked solder connections in power
supplies. One thing they are clueless how to make are CD players and I
try and avoid working on them like the plague. They did make a high end
line of home audio components in the late 80s/early 90s (do they still
offer that "prestige" line?) that were not half bad (like Sony's ES
series). The other Pioneer stuff I really cringe when I see are the
older receivers and integrated amplifiers with crude double-sided PCBs
in the tone amp circuits that love to have noisy caps, open vias, and
other things that make them very difficult (and expensive) to get right.
For the most part Pioneer has made nothing but typical mid-fi junk for
many many years. Then again, the same can be said for most any mid-fi
audio component maker. Interestingly enough, many people do like their
car audio components and they seem to work and last as well as any in
their price-point. My biggest gripe is they are the one and only
manufacturer that can't be bothered to ship replacement laser pick-ups
with the grating pre-adjusted. This stems from their old Laserdisc days
of pushing every possible cost off to the servicer (including charging
authorized service centers $30.00 for a US nickle coin and an
instruction sheet...they called it a "disc warpage gauge" for
laserdiscs.). I recall one model year they removed all component
reference numbers from laserdisc player PCBs because "each one cost us
1/2 cent each to silkscreen to the board."
Bottom line is while Pioneer did make some decent mid-fi stuff...they
never really ventured into the world of high end audio. Agreed also that
it was all pretty much the same regardless of brand. I hear their
current big screen TVs are pretty good...but I don't really follow that
market much.
My long and wordy 2 cents worth of OT contribution for this week ;)
Mike Veglia
Motor Sport Visions Photography
http://www.motorsportvisions.com
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