Two of the Rarest, Most Coveted PIONEER ELITE components in one place...

I have a Pioneer Elite A-91D amplifier which I have been using since 1990, and it's been great!

 

Yup, I have one too, I dread having to even pick it up and move it. What a hulk.

 

Strange to just see this thread. I was just browsing Ebay and came across this... Pioneer Elite Hi Fi / M73 / C73 / PD75 | eBay

Doesnt say Elite on the front panels but o dont know much about these. Did they remove the Elite branding on some?

 

. Aloha
I like copper that's why I picked up today from the costums
Another great sounding amp Pioneer A-200 aka A-90 lots of copper inside kind of poor men's Pioneer exclusive and elite series
Strongly recommended
Cheers
Wally

 

I believe the A-35R stereo integrated amp had a glossy front fascia.

 

Nope. I have owned a few Pioneer Elite gear in the 80s/90s and none had the Elite branding. My A88x amp also did not have the rosewood panels (thank God).

This is in Australia so I'm not sure if it is a regional thing.

 

Before the Plasma's the Pioneer Pro series RPTV's were at the top of the heap for TV's. The Pioneer DV-o9 and 05 were the oppo's of their time. Still have my Pioneer plasma. Still hard to beat the picture.

 

These were released 2 or 3 years years before the actual Elite line was released, basically the same except for the name.

 

93 in the background though right?

 

Can't see it good enough. At any rate the older PD-91 sounded better than the newer 73 or 93 did or the 65 for that matter.

 

Pioneer doesn't use the Elite badge in Europe 'though markets some Elite products here. My Pioneer SC LX76 A/V receiver from 2012 was sold with the Elite badge in The US (I think it had a different reference number also) but it doesn't in Europe.

 

You're right - assumption in a hurry on my part

 

I have a Pioneer elite plasma Tv I bought about 10 years ago.
Still the best TV I have ever owned.

 

My first big audio buy back in my late teens



I also had an LD player that was a special Canadian model (I forget the model) it was a special edition and was an Elite inside but the casework was regular Pioneer shell for considerably less money than the Elite. For the life of me I can't remember the number. I do remember it was not a flipper model only playing one side. Unfortunately once it broke down DVD was in full swing and with only about 50 movies - it wasn't really worth buying another one. And the receiver like all receivers rely on the latest surround technology and so the Pioneer was soon obsolete. I traded it and a Boston acoustics Subwoofer in for the highly raved about Arcam Delta 290 Integrated amplifier. I should have purchased the Sugden A21a but I stupidly trusted reviews over my own ears.

 

Pioneer USA had parallel product lines, for example the CTS-800 cassette deck was the same Elite CT-91 deck only minus the faux wood side panels.

As far as all of the Elite receivers, IMO they did not deserve the Elite badge, they had the looks outside but not the guts inside.

 

Would you know what was the USA equivalent to the A-88X amp.

This was one of the best amps I have owned. I cried when it was stolen.

Pioneer A-88X - Manual - Stereo Integrated Amplifier - HiFi Engine

 

Now that's a nice rack

 

2007 is when these came out

 

O

One of these beasts is on my local cl right now very tempting

 

Aloha Rentz

Just grab him if the price is right

Cheers
Wally

 

$450 usd, looks unrestored

just noticed its a 2 month old listing...probably long gone

 

That's not entirely true - there was a regular version of the VSX 95 but the 95 did use an all copper underbelly and bigger caps (and what they referred to as premium parts). And it was the same price (at least in Canada it was the same price) as the regular version so you'd be crazy not to buy the Elite for the same price.

Let's not get too excited about the term Elite - Pioneer Elite wasn't exactly a major step up on any item versus competing brands for similar dollars. Other than Laserdiscs and their stable platter mechanisms in their CD players there was nothing else from them worth buying in retrospect. Nakamichi made much better tape machines as did others. I suppose you could make a good case for the stable platter CD players but probably only if used them as a transport. I enjoyed my 3 head CTS 709 tape deck for the money though. That thing was a great deal. Supposedly an Elite in disguise (or the same thing without the fancy side panels).

 

Totally disagree, the Pioneer Elite CT 91 or CT 93 cassette decks easily bettered Nak's best offerings in decks.

Been there, done that.

 

I'll take your word for it since I never compared the Dragon directly against the Pioneer Elites. Although at the time I began in this hobby it was always Nakamichi Dragon this and Nakamichi Dragon that. as the end all and be all of tape decks. It sounded darn good but it was one of the butt ugliest machines ever. If the CT 91 and 93 are better as you say then you get a double win because those Pioneer tape decks are gorgeous.

If I had any reason to buy a tape deck I could talk myself into buying one second hand (heck just to look at the thing on the shelf).

 

Any truly honest Nak fan (not Dragon fan, mind you) will admit ( at least in secret) the Dragon is not THE BEST sounding of the Nak line. Fancy, coveted, most expensive, but best sounding, nope. Far from it, it had poor frequency response with an embarrassingly big sag starting at about 1k and really drooping by 5k on out. That's why some folks love it, very warm sounding, but far from accurate.