Restoring a Pioneer SX 424 (Lamps, Caps, Transistors)

I had two Pioneer SX 424s to restore so I thought I would do the first one then film the second one to show my process. This one had a damaged wood case and the controls were all very crackly. I fully cleaned and tested the unit including cleaning most of the crackly controls. I then replaced all of the capacitors in the receiver except for the ones on the tuner board. After that I replaced the known bad transistors in the receiver including the ones in the phono stage amplifier. I also replaced the dial lights and the stereo indicator bulb with LEDs for nice bright illumination. I polished up the knobs and faceplate and it ended up looking so nice!
This is one of the more budget friendly receivers that you can buy to get into vintage HiFi and it is not super hard to work on so it makes a great first receiver as well as a great first restoration project if you've got some basic skill and knowledge.

I can't stress enough though, working on electronics is dangerous and you can easily hurt yourself or damage the equipment if you don't know what you are doing so please make sure you're competent around electronics before attempting your first repair.

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:31 Disclaimer & first diagnosis
02:38 Removing the faceplate and knobs
04:43 Changing dial lights + tuning meter
09:09 Dusting + cleaning and lubricating the in/outs on the back panel
14:07 Cleaning the tuning capacitor
14:28 First test after cleaning
16:38 Dial face reassembly
16:55 Cleaning the main PCB
17:48 Lifting the main PCB
20:03 Replacing coupling capacitors and emitter resistors
26:20 Replacing the main filter capacitors
29:58 Power supply capacitors
32:50 Pre amp + main amp capacitors
34:06 Phono amp capacitors
36:20 Lifting the main PCB higher
37:30 Phono transistors
37:59 Main amp transistors
38:10 Cleaning controls + Reassembly
40:07 Post work test
40:35 Replacing the stereo indicator bulb
43:28 Polishing the knobs & faceplate
46:12 Installing the faceplate & knobs
47:48 Explaining Bias & offset adjustment
48:12 Wood case repair
48:44 Closing Sentiments

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My name is Matt. I live in Washington State and create content around vintage stereos and other audio equipment. I approach the hobby from the standpoint of appreciating the aesthetic as well as having a system that is enjoyable to listen to my favorite music on. I'm not generally spending time worrying about having the right cables or how good the speakers sound beyond a certain point. So long as the music sounds good enough to dance to, I'm happy. If you have a receiver that you would like serviced, drop a comment and we could talk about service costs.

IG and Tik Tok are @TheDealyDeal