Look Inside This Pioneer Tube Receiver! 

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I loved Pioneer equipment, all I have left of my old Pioneer equipment is the PL50 turntable I purchased in Vietnam. I used to have a Hitach AM/FM/Cassette recorder/player combo but some prick stole it when I went home for the birth of my son in 71. Best damn radio I ever had.

Why would any one want to put a thumbs down on this guy. He is so good at what he does and he is willing to explain what he is doing to whatever level of expertise you are trained or knowledge you at. I have never seen a video I have not liked or gained knowledge from. Keep it up.

One more of Mr Carlson's video to enjoy and learn. I hope one day, Mr. Carlson take on a The Fisher 80T hi fi preamp and AM/FM tuner and also a The Fisher 80T amp. I've got both from the person who restored and aligned them. He made a great job. But it's never too much to know more about your favorite equipment.

I bought my 1st stereo system in late '70's at a chain. Wanted to hear the best from my phono collection.. Pioneer. This receiver is incredible.

A special thing about Mr. Carlson's Lab, almost everything I have watched, except for your inventions and other test equipment, are older than me. I'm not young. I enjoy seeing how you transform a rats nest of wires and components into a nice logical layout. My very earliest years, I do recall my father working on a TV with tubes, and taking several tubes to Thrifty's to test and buy a replacement or two, but that's about it. These radios "belong" to our grandparents. They are fascinating and it's good to know they can still be serviced. I would like to see an evolution of electronics, documentary/special, where you cover the design and components of the earliest radios to modern times. What technology will likely last the longest?

After watching one of your extended play videos wherein you repaired an amp, I was excited to watch this video. Fascinating suff. All receiver, not face time. All receiver, not snowflake sound effects. Not a made for tv reality show. I love high end receivers. There's nothing better than super loud music with no distortion. Audiophile vs Van Halen. My ears are still ringing.

Mr Carlson you are positioned to answer this question better than most electronic engineers: simply speaking , “ how are they (receivers) all different from each other”? What does one brand use in its design that other brands do not? Could also be asked “wherein does the quality lie”?

I am an old guy , it is wonderful to listen to you. Just don’t have the drive to learn electronics. But sure a great sense of curiously

What a huge amount of effort that went into designing and building this unit. Magnificent.

Mrs Carlsons lab your vintage pioneer tube receiver from the 1960s is awesome my friend 😅😅😅

I love this reciver, those caps often go dry ,become dried sludge and the Japanese stuff from the 60's are so well roll crimped that they dont leak very often. Very well made stuff. Please restore this tuner,Don't cast it to pile .I was so happy at the end to hear it will be saved.

Used to have one of these....love the magic eye gimmick ;) restoring a pair of Marantz monoblock amps found in Dad's garage while clearing it out for sale tubes light up so far ;)

Perfect viewing while we are all in self-quarantine.

Way back in the 60s I used to repair a lot of PA amplifiers, many of which used EL84 tubes (6BQ5) in class B push-pull. Those wax capacitors were terrible as you say and when they leaked onto the control grids of these tubes it would often write off the mains transformer as well. There was a problem with the tubes themselves though. Most were Mullard, a usually good make, but the EL84s used mica separators for the electrodes and the mica would gradually break down and cause the same problems as the capacitors, but in this case caused a leak between the screen grid and the control. The solution, after a great deal of experimentation, was to replace the Mullards with a Japanese make, Pinnacle, which used ceramic separators. I have no clue who actually made Pinnacles (maybe someone here can enlighten me!). Solved that problem completely!

Oh boy a Pioneer SM-B201! It's in fantastic shape! Very worthy of a rebuild by Paul Carlson! In early days of stereo a radio station would send a signal to both an AM and FM frequency using two separate towers. One channel was on AM and the other was on FM hence you would get a stereophonic effect. This was expensive for them to do this and was a very short lived idea. I love anything with "magic eye" tubes BTW!!! Look up Fisher 800-B to see a the competitions version of this kind of receiver The Fisher 800-B had 22 tubes to do what the Pioneer did. But it also supported true multiplex stereo FM of today!

Very nice Pioneer receiver. Pioneer has always been one of my favorite electronics brands over the years. The best "bang-for-the-buck" there is IMHO. I previously owned many Pioneer car stereo systems, and I still have 2 Pioneer surround sound receivers (and speakers) , as well as a Pioneer turntable. I have never had a Pioneer product fail....ever. Yes, there are more expensive "designer" electronics brands, and even better sounding systems, but for the price Pioneer cannot be beat.

I wanted to say how much I enjoy watching your videos. I appreciate the way you explain things, share your knowledge and experience working with different components over the years. I studied electronics back in my college days and have spent almost 40 years in the IT business. Thank you.

Mr Carlson your vintage pioneer shortwave tub receiver from 1960 is cool

I still don't know we love receivers this much!!? 😊 Thanks Paul for this share!

Paul, stay safe, stay healthy and whatever happens, keep breathing!

My brother in law had one of these SM-Q140s purchased around 1967 (it was a showroom demo), with a deep blue enamel in place of the black. With a set of Rectalinear lll Highboy speakers it sounded fantastic. I now have those speakers and they are used every day with my Kenwood KR-A5520 receiver. I had to replace the output transistors & main audio power supply filter capacitors for the Kenwood. I ordered the filter capacitors from China. I needed only two so I ordered four of the filter capacitors, as usual. One of the four "new" capacitors was an open circuit, which is why I "over order" from Chinese suppliers.

Interesting. I have a H. H. Scott AM-FM stereo tuner that is similar to this receiver. It has the separate AM and FM tuners for simulcast stereo, but it is also decodes FM multiplex for true FM stereo. This tuner hit the market just as FM multiplex was coming into use, H. H. Scott being one of the pioneers in this technology. H. H. Scott also sold standalone FM multiplex decoders for use with older FM tuners.

Just want to thank you for being there with these videos while so many of us are stuck at home. You are really fulfilling our electronics geek needs.with all you know about electronics I'm surprised you're not Dr. Carlson at this point!

That is one gorgeous receiver... great find!

In the era just before stereo MPX FM, (late 1950's) these dual turner systems were popular. My mother did "traffic" at a small am/fm station and said one of the DJ's would come in on saturday morning and do a "stereo" show. This was accomplished by feeding the output of a stereo phono preamp to the am mono console and the fm mono console. This must have been very difficult and one channel was very low fi. Stereo was clearly a novelty then.

What an absolute gem. Looking forward to this restoration.

I have a Pioneer/Allied SM-G204 that is similar to that one .Mine has been restored and i love it. Sits right beside My SX-1980 . Love the old pioneers

9:03 "Now a lot of audio guys swear by these oil-filled capacitors; I swear at them."...Paul, I needed that laugh, thank you. I have an eclectic multiplicity of RU-vid channels, but I really enjoy your electronic archaeology videos. I can't wait to see these restored.

I’m still patiently waiting to see the restoration on this one!!!😊😊😊 Gonna be AWESOME!!!

First, Sir, even though I only understand about 5% of what you do, I still so enjoy watching your extraordinary teaching manner. Second, as a mechanic who has restored many different machines, I am always thrilled when I can find an unmolested original condition machine. I expect you are too.

Who gives this a thumbs down ? ? Thanks for the video Mr Carlson

That's an awesome receiver Paul. I work on a lot of audio equipment and I think that is the earliest Pioneer stereo reciever that I've seen. Very cool. Thanks for sharing it!

Capacitors, as the age become leaky... Guess I'm an old capacitor...

Always thumbs up for you Mr Carlson....your knowledge of tube circuits are second to none....

Hi, Paul. This radio was probably made just before the FCC approved FM stereo. Many receivers and tuners of the era had a separate a.m. and separate f.m. tuner. Left channel will be on the a.m., right channel would be on the FM or vice versa. And as you suppose, one of the a.m. tuners would be wider-band and the other tuner would be in narrower or standard bandwidth. Cool find!

Hey Paul thanks for these videos

That is the coolest receiver I have ever seen. In great condition cosmetically as well. nice job Mr. Carlson as usual.

What a lovely receiver.

I love your videos on electronics repairs. How about a video on saving faulty or acting -up routers.

What a cool looking radio! We have some old pioneer receivers from the 80's, but none this old or rare for sure! Can't wait to see this restoration!

Omg. When I was a child my uncles friend had this exact receiver as well as a bunch of hi-fi audio stuff from the mid- late 60's in his living room. Thank You for posting this Mr. Carlson.

Excellent content. It's particularly good to see stuff like this on RU-vid right now.

I find this an exciting project. This is certainly a unique receiver that needs restoration. So purely analog.

I love vintage radios. And I'm new to your Channel. Now, I will say that my knowledge of electronics and radio repair, could be fit on the head of a pin, and still have room left over. Nevertheless, I love watching this channel and I love your videos. And I always learn something new. Learning what transistors, capacitors, and reflectors are etc. I know your doing your video's for those "in the know". But don't forget us newbie's too. And try to explain the function of these components are. Keep the video's coming Mr. Carlson.

Looking forward to when you get cracking with this one. I have an SM-R150, which is the same age and is just the amplifier part. There are a lot of paper-in-oil capacitors, so waiting to see your strategy with those.

You were the inspiration for me to get back into electronics (from my youth) and built my own lab. It has just snowballed from there. What a fantastic hobby.

The engineering that went into this is amazing!

Just amazing. Those tuning eyes wow they were the best. I'm glad this thing is in the right hands.

As busy as that unit is, your camera angle of it would make a neat shop poster.

Great looking device, thanks for the video!

It is a pleasure to watch your videos as I seem to learn something new each time regardless of the content. I suspect that you field this question quite often but it would be a great addition to your commentary if you could offer a story as to how you come to possess some of this equipment. Frankly, it wouldn't matter if it was the truth or fiction as such stories would simply add a touch of magic to the fabled aura of the Carlson Lab.

I repaired one of these a while back (not exactly the same model, but the same concept). It was a first for me and probably the only one available in the whole of Portugal :) The idea was to achieve pseudo-stereo by transmitting on FM and on AM simultaneously. There were apparently about 100 stations in the US that used this for a while. The video is here, if you‘re interested. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XnJ-QkIMWhA.html

Yes, dear friend: just some few seconds before you tell about, at six and half minutes of this video, I've also realized that those audio impedance transformers have different sizes, and too thought that it could cause any proportional difference of the amplitudes between left and right channels - but, as it's of course, it doesn't happen! Pioneer wouldn't never make a unbalanced stereo device, sure!

Excellent project 👏👏

This is awesome. I found this exact receiver at an antique store a couple of years ago. Very little information out there. It didn't sound the best but everything worked well and it looks like new. I listened to it for a couple of days haven't powered it on since. I'm anxious to see the restoration and to hear your opinion of the sound when you get it sorted.

Just love listening to his commentary and knowledge. Every video is a learning experience.

Mr Carlson your pioneer tube reciver is cool

My father was a HAM an loved stereo systems, Reel to Reel, and my childhood was filled with this awesome electronics, I remember too the smell of this components and fenol boards, solder etc.. Lovely memories.

My father had one of these in the 60's. I still have the manual, in which I found the schematic which I have emailed to you (sales@creativedesigncomponents.com) for your information. Thank you for your video. It was a blast of a trip back in time for me.

The stuff you find is just amazing!!! Thanks for sharing!!!

Amazing how beautiful designs were back then. Love these videos. So calming and relaxing.

Big thumbs up. Cool radio. Thanks for the project. The video is appreciated.

Thanks, Paul! Super cool old receiver! I look forward to the restoration video.

Mr Carlsons lab you are good at restoring vintage shortwave receivers and alignment of vintage shortwave receivers with ssb my friend 😅😅😅

WOW!!!! That’s one I just cannot wait to see the restoration vid for! VERY COOL!

Paul: These preview videos are very interesting and I look forward to seeing these projects get restored, thanks for sharing these older projects. Although these were for sale in my younger days, and I have come to cherish my original pioneer pieces as well as radio shack test equipment.

Funny story, I had an old tube tuner in college in the early 80s, one night I found this (FM) station doing "experimental music hour" (really bizarre electronic stuff), then reggae hour and then jazz... cool station. Turns out it was only like 8 blocks away (not even sure it was legal, could've been students doing a pirate station). Other people in my dorm thought it was cool too, but none of them couldn't tune it in well on their fancy digital tuners, only my late-60s vintage tube tuner could pick it up clear as day (with a 5' piece of wire off the back literally hanging to the floor as an antenna).

I mean... I’ve seen your leakage detector before in your other videos, but it would’ve been awesome to see what the forecast was on the one that did pass. Mainly just re-show is all “new and old” how it works. That and I love how you explain things. Keep up the great work, stay well and have yourself a great day. And thank you so much for your content.

Great video. Thank you and hope you and your family stay safe!

What a nostalgic receiver.... ! Continue with the restoration, please 🙏 (Can be a 22 hours clip, if you want... we have a lot of "confined" time... 😂🤣😂 in this locked down season.... ) 👋😀

Very nice RX.......must look for one

Love the dual Eye Tubes, thanks for sharing...Vic

Never have seen a Japanese valve set like this before, thank you for showing!

Nice to see a video from someone with a really good camera and microphone. Plus good lighting,

thanks for sharing your expertise.

Looking forward to next time thank you Mr Carlson for recent video 60's were awesome.

Despite that those old oil caps are leaky today, it's clear that this receiver was made to last. Also I wish to remark the elegance of that front panel. The designers kept the symmetry in mind just like the rinascimento fiorentino.

Thank you for the excellent educational content during this time of isolation.

Man you are such a TEASE!!! I had just picked up some chinese and sat down to chow with Mr. Carlson and a really Pioneer dual receiver resto! 18 minutes? Really? Now the chinese is gone and my appetite for this resto is thoroughly wetted! When are you going to do the resto? We really really need this. Hopefully sooner than later, LOL. Seriously tho, thanks for all you do. I will sit on my hands until you get to it.

I love the look of symmetry on this set it's beautiful!

I rewound many of those tuning dials back in the day. Pay very close attention to how it is wound before taking it apart!

Excited to see the restoration on this!

I have a friend who owns a Fisher tuner from 1958 similar to this one.Separate FM and AM tuners.Awesome sensitivity in both tuners.Still works but FM is Mono.However, came from factory with a connection in the rear of the chassis to add a Mutiplex FM Stereo tuner in development still at that time.

Gorgeous , kids these days miss out on the "family hi-fi " experience .

an awesome find...an original beauty

What a absolutely beautiful and well made piece of equipment, I have owned vintage equipment most of my life but I have never seen this receiver made by Pioneer. Thanks for sharing.

All precision, wire wound resisters. Very impressive.

What a beautiful piece of kit. Looking forward to seeing its resurrection!

Great project...very interesting and love your style...Thanks

Considering the high entertainment value (!!!) of your restorations... GO FOR IT!

Before multiplex stereo came out around 1961, the only way you could get broadcast stereo was via similcast. Some stations broadcast on two AM stations--one for left channel and one for right, or one station channel would broadcast on FM, the other on AM. To get it to work you had to run both tuners at the same time. The separation would have sounded incredible! Thanks for making another great video!

Excuse the PUN, "AN EYE CATCHER." A real nice unit fella. Keep up the great work.

i love this channel. and i show all your videos. I still have 2 tube radios that I still have to repair. and only through this channel do I dare to compare. this is usually very easy to do. Greetings from Germany 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

Well done Mr. Carlson, those 2 green power tubes remind me of that 1938 Radio you did. Suzuki use to Mfg. Capacitors, guess they wanted to be like Yamaha. Very much like that capacitor tester.

its about time paul. weve been stuck in our houses for weeks man. lol

God ! Could you imagine Mr Carlson refurbishing your precious receiver?

Gosh oh gee look at this beauty. How I would love this in my set up

Really looking forward to the restoration of this unit! :D

Thank you for all these videos while I'm stuck inside with everything going on right now