Pioneer Spec 1/Spec 2 (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Bayne]

Hi guys, I know this is a home theater forum and I'm asking about home audio, but I didn't know who else to ask.

What can you guys tell me about a Pioneer Spec 1 and Spec 2 set? Its from the 70's and seems pretty solidly built. both pieces are rack mountable and HUGE. the Spec 2 is the amp, and has the VU meters on the front which go up to 500 watts.

I have an opportunity to obtain this setup. The owner bought the set new in the 70's and said they were pretty expensive back then.

Questions:

What is it worth?- condition is what I'd call mint- the amp has pushed Bose 901's for years.

How does it compare to today's standards? I won't be using it for home theater- only stereo.

Is the amp a true 500 watts a side?

Will there be a problem hooking up a DIY powered sub to it in the future?

Thanks for any help!

Jeff

 

[RayJK]

Wow, reaching way back into the memory banks for this but the Spec series were Pioneers top of the line for 6 years. The amp was 250wpc into an 8 ohm load and I think 350wpc into a 4 ohm load. It is a fairly low current design compared to modern Parasound, Adcom or B&K etc. etc. That said, it will work fine with 99% of all speakers you are likely to use. If you use a dual voice coil sub and hook up a channel to each voice coil you shouldn't have any problems unless you want live concert levels.

The preamp is OK but not a classic like the same age Marantz or McIntosh. I seem to remember that the switches were noisy but this was a long time ago.

Strangely enough these go for a pretty penny in mint condition ( I mean 9/10 with original boxes and manuals) but normally the Spec 1 can sell for $150-250 and the Spec 2 for $250-550. Sometimes they will bring more depending on the market too.

 

[DelRay]

I purchased the spec 1 and the spec 4 in 1978, new. the spec 4 is 150 watt per channel little bro of the spec 2. Yes they are big, and shiny too. I only owned them for about 5 months. They were stolen. But the short time I had with them was great. The music was crystal clear. Smooth and not in your face harsh. IMHO a good buy for 2 channel music. Especially for the price you can probably get them for. If you are using a sub, just use speaker level inputs. After 25 years, I still have the spec sheet for the spec 1. I just couldn't throw it away. So, if you need any info for that unit just let me know. I say go for it.

 

[Jeff Bayne]

thanks for the replies guys! This is actually a mint set with all the papers and everything. but thanks Delray!

It might be a couple days before a deal is made, but i'll let ya know what happens.

Does anybody else have feedback?

jeff

 

[alan halvorson]

My very first preamp was a Pioneer Spec 1 - in a way, I wished I still had it. Big and shiny with a lot of controls! If these are indeed mint and priced right, go for it. Then I'd go further and look for a Pioneer 9500 tuner (I'm not 100% certain of the model #) and one of those low-profile Pioneer reel-to-reels. There may have been a matching equalizer too, but my memory is a little fuzzy. Stick them all in a rack and you've got quite a system, and quite a conversation piece.