Need my Pioneer quad receiver repaired. Who do I contact?

I have a Pioneer QX-4000 that needs a full servicing and restoration. I think it has a bad transistor in the matrix decoder -- the rear channels crackle and pop in SQ or QS (worse in SQ), but discrete sources sound perfect. The RIAA circuit is also noisy (slight hiss that comes and goes), and the tuner might could use an alignment.

Basically, I'd like the thing to sound like it did when it was brand-spanking new, and be reliable for another 40 years to come. Who would you recommend for such a task?

Charles.

ChopperCharles said:

I have a Pioneer QX-4000 that needs a full servicing and restoration. I think it has a bad transistor in the matrix decoder -- the rear channels crackle and pop in SQ or QS (worse in SQ), but discrete sources sound perfect. The RIAA circuit is also noisy (slight hiss that comes and goes), and the tuner might could use an alignment.

Basically, I'd like the thing to sound like it did when it was brand-spanking new, and be reliable for another 40 years to come. Who would you recommend for such a task?

Charles.

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Hello Charles Quad4ever here , I had one of those 4000's which I ended up selling in a 7 x 7 storage unit of excess audio gear I acquired over the years, had I seen your post when I still had it I would have definitely made you an excellent deal. Surprised that no one has made any recommendations on here yet to get yours back to the way you want it. Best of luck in your search!

ChopperCharles said:

I have a Pioneer QX-4000 that needs a full servicing and restoration. I think it has a bad transistor in the matrix decoder -- the rear channels crackle and pop in SQ or QS (worse in SQ), but discrete sources sound perfect. The RIAA circuit is also noisy (slight hiss that comes and goes), and the tuner might could use an alignment.

Basically, I'd like the thing to sound like it did when it was brand-spanking new, and be reliable for another 40 years to come. Who would you recommend for such a task?

Charles.

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Where abouts do you live?

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Q8 said:

Where abouts do you live?

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Is that you Q8 right back at me? I'm in here NY on Long Island, which WAS the home of Lafayette Radio Electronics my most frequent haunt back in the early days of quad, along with all the dreams I had about owning just about any of it I saw there. Along came ebay in 2001 for me and, voila!!.....the rest is history. I was finally able to own just about ANY of the quad gear I had so longingly dreamt about all those years ago.

Quad4Ever said:

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Is that you Q8 right back at me? I'm in here NY on Long Island, which WAS the home of Lafayette Radio Electronics my most frequent haunt back in the early days of quad, along with all the dreams I had about owning just about any of it I saw there. Along came ebay in 2001 for me and, voila!!.....the rest is history. I was finally able to own just about ANY of the quad gear I had so longingly dreamt about all those years ago.

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I was asking Chopper Charles because I have a good place here in ohio that he may be able to take it to if he's close enough.

Actually I double-posted this to the Audiokarma forum and found a guy there to fix it. I had to ship it to Brooklyn NY (And I'm in Durham NC), but it was worth it. This unit sounds absolutely amazing. He checked all of the caps, replaced the bad ones, aligned the tuner, fixed the FM muting circuit, calibrated the tuner dial, de-oxited the switches (I had gotten to most of them, but there were a few that were hard to reach), cleaned everything (must have sonic cleaned some of those knobs, because they're cleaner than I was ever able to get them), fixed my rear speaker connections, and a lot more.

The difference from before to after is astounding. It sounded pretty okay before I sent it out. But after, the sound stage is huge. Quad separation is much better (it's no logic unit still, but it is better than before), and the highs are so detailed now! I have another QX4000 already, and comparing them side to side, the newly repaired unit sounds so much better in all modes (especially quad modes) that even my girlfriend could tell a big difference. (And she's no audiophile).

This was my dad's receiver, so it was worth a lot to me to have it fixed and working again.... well, it didn't cost a lot. The price was extremely reasonable for a repair. A complete refurbish was still reasonable too, however. The guy that fixed it is Thomas Brander, and his email is tbrander at alvarezandmarsal.com. This guy knows his stuff. I am trying to find a way to pack up a Pioneer RT-707 so that it will survive Fedex, so he can fix it for me next!

Charles.

Quad4Ever said:

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Is that you Q8 right back at me? I'm in here NY on Long Island, which WAS the home of Lafayette Radio Electronics my most frequent haunt back in the early days of quad, along with all the dreams I had about owning just about any of it I saw there. Along came ebay in 2001 for me and, voila!!.....the rest is history. I was finally able to own just about ANY of the quad gear I had so longingly dreamt about all those years ago.

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He's in Levittown! The original housing development. We all know the Billy Joel tune!









joel

Quad4Ever said:

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Hello Charles Quad4ever here , I had one of those 4000's which I ended up selling in a 7 x 7 storage unit of excess audio gear I acquired over the years, had I seen your post when I still had it I would have definitely made you an excellent deal. Surprised that no one has made any recommendations on here yet to get yours back to the way you want it. Best of luck in your search! View attachment 13251

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wow! he said as he wiped the drool from his mouth, I though pretty girls were nice to look at! Audio-porno

leevitalone1 said:

wow! he said as he wiped the drool from his mouth, I though pretty girls were nice to look at! Audio-porno

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Hi leevitalone1, Ahhh yes, I'm definitely in THE original Levittown, NY where they knocked out about 25 Cape Cods and Ranches a day for the returning vets, of which my dear departed father was one. Billy Joel hailed from Hicksville, just a few blocks to the north of here, he lived on Meeting Lane I've been told. We also have the Long Island Medium living very close by to us in Hicksville.

Here is some more A-P to drool over. Can you imagine after using that 4400 for years without a single problem, a guy who claimed he was a DJ called me back after relieving me of the storage units entirety, and had the nerve to say it didn't work. I told him that out of all the equipment, THAT was the one piece that had the most continuous usage and to please get a checkup from the neckup. A few days passed and he called back to say he was in error about it and to please accept his apology. Let me see, a so called DJ not being able to hook up a 4400 properly? Hate to be attending one of his affairs:yikes Anyway, thought you all would like to hear about that one.:banana: