Technics SA-1000 1970s - Silver/Wood

Correct pictures added - any questions, just let us know.

The beast! Many consider this unit to be the "winner" of the hi-fi stereo wars of the 70s.

This came to us with a couple simple issues and we did the VERY laborious task of giving it some proper service. Which was probably 20 hours simply due to the complexity of assembly and being careful with everything. Amazingly all the transistors and main driving electronics components were all good. It's got new caps throughout with the exception of the main filter caps, which could be done, but were working well and not currently available in that somewhat particular format. The unit also required some decent contact cleaning - the trickiest bit there is the input selector. It is very hard to access but we did manage to get everything to eventually pass through all the channels cleanly. However, the big caveat here is that it make take a little more/regular service down the line. Or simply throwing the selector back and forth a bit. Another oddity while we're on the subject - some of the toggles will overthrow and need a nudge to make good contact. Really just a component quirk, nothing wrong with them per se. And lastly, a sort of odd design choice where the EQ is direct into the power amp, which I'm sure there was some hi-fi reason, but it makes it prone to the occasional pop when switching some aspects.

Meters work well but could probably use a fine tuning if you're so inclined. The protection works and we don't think it ever suffered any electrical issue beyond caps and contacts. We used all high grade Nichicon, Kemet or Panasonic, audio grade where applicable and tested all the functionality across all the switching and inputs. So generally, it's great. HUGE sound, super clear, all the low end you'd want. There's a reason people go all out for these - incredible design and all the power you'd even need. That said, I would still expect a bit or regular service unless you want to go deep and swap pots/switches/inputs. I wouldn't recommend that because it's great as is - but just to be aware you may have future fiddly issues simply due to the components and age.

I'll include a little demo video that shows some of what I'm referring to. Generally in our testing, any intermittency is gone with a bit of jiggling and then it's rock solid and just pumps. I would honestly characterize it as excellent restored condition - but I don't want people to be disappointed with the remaining foibles, so I'm trying to be as clear as possible about everything. I was personally tempted to keep it but I don't have a listening room that would do it justice and we have several others in the series that are also great, just less powerful. Any questions, just let me know.

Best, Morgen @ Avion