Some of the most recognised top end, rack mounted monster gear from the late 70s, moving up to further precision and development into the Exclusive series.

Most of the Pioneer SPEC/Exclusive gear can be quite rare. The build quality and design is superior to other components they made but still quite serviceable.

Electrical

I replace all electrolytic capacitors, upgrading, where possible to a better type of capacitor such as film capacitors. Some of the SPEC series do have inherently weak components which are identified and replaced with a modern equivilent that is strong and more capable of working for long periods without fail – meaning the replacement should have a longer lifetime than the original.

All pots and switches are cleaned thoroughly and wiring is checked for metal fatigue or bad solder joints which can be common in this equipment.

In some cases, certain transistors such as the main output transistors in the SPEC-4, will need to be replaced. As the originals are no longer available however, I am able to replace these with modern equivalents which offer more reliability and peace of mind than any “original” or “new” transistors from eBay of the same part number. More often than not, these are fake and can cause massive damage to the equipment when they fail.

Some of the high end or Exclusive type units will sometimes be imports as certain lines were only readily available in Japan. The problem with this is that some may require a step-down transformer to drop the mains voltage down to 110V. In some cases, I can replace the existing transformer with one that is directly compatible with 230V UK and European mains electricity which can save on space and improve ease of use.

Cosmetic

Cosmetics are reasonably straight forward and I offer my usual deep clean and polish to any aluminium anodised surfaces and other methods of cleaning to other finishes such as the Piano Black/Urushi finish present on a lot of Exclusive or Reference level Pioneer equipment. As always, the outside and inside are cleaned thoroughly including the removal and individual cleaning of all push buttons, knobs and switches. Often on the power amplifiers such as SPEC-2 and SPEC-4, the painted casing can bubble up and start to corrode inside and out, for this I offer a service that strips back the  surfaces to good metal followed by a professional quality respray, usually in the original black.