REDUCED - Pioneer Elite M90, C90, DV45a DVD/CD

Buy now or best offer. Need the space so consolidating to one media/audio room and no one else in the house is an audiophile :( If you like crisp, super clear music these are your babies. These need to go together... You choose shipping method and pay or have someone pick up. They are not currently hooked up but were thoroughly tested a couple years ago when part of the power supply was replaced. Used very seldom last 10 years. Pair these with 2-5 great speakers and you really have almost perfect sound at far less than you would pay today for new equipment. The only issue is the little plastic cover, couple inches long, hangs at a bit of an angle...
Pioneer Elite /  M-90 Elite Reference Stereo Power Amplifier / C-90 Stereo Control Amplifier ( Pre-amp). RMS power handling of 200 watts per channel, this Pioneer amplifier makes sure that you experience a power-packed performance. This stereo amplifier has a frequency response ranging from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, enabling you to listen to a range of sounds. Thanks to the signal-to-noise ratio of 125 dB, this Pioneer amplifier reproduces even the minutest of musical detail. Additionally, the Pioneer M-91 consists of a CD direct, with a volume control, enabling you to connect it directly to a CD player without using a preamplifier.  This from HiFi Classic site: "The C-90 remote-controlled preamplifier is one of Pioneer's Elite series of hi-fi components, which also includes a tuner, amplifiers, cassette decks, and speakers. As their name implies, the Elite components are relatively free of the compromises and economic constraints typical of most consumer audio products.

For example, the chassis and all the screws used in the C-90 are copper-plated. In addition to its electrical benefits, such as reduced stray-signal coupling and noise, the copper plating is said to help damp unwanted mechanical vibrations. Similarly, the large volume-control knob is made of solid aluminum to reduce vibrations of the control shaft caused by sound waves in the listening room, and the entire amplifier is supported on polycarbonate isolating feet. All signal switching is done by relays controlled by DC switches on the front panel.

The C-90 is not only an audio control center, it is designed to control and modify video signals as well. It can select incoming signals from five video sources and channel the video and audio outputs for recording on up to three external units. It has adjustable video-enhancing circuits to sharpen image contours, improve detail, and reduce visible video noise. The video and audio control functions of the preamplifier are essentially separate, so that the video recording or playback can be from a different source than the accompanying audio program.

The wireless remote control of the C-90 is actually a system control that can control most of the functions of a compatible Pioneer AM/FM tuner, TV set, turntable, CD player, VCR, or cassette deck. The remote adjusts volume through a small motor attached to the preamplifier's volume-control potentiometer, thus avoiding the distortion and limited dynamic range typical of the voltage-controlled amplifiers that are often used for that purpose.

Most unusual for a preamplifier, the C-90 has three separate power supplies (including their power transformers). Two are for the left and right channels, and the third operates the video circuits, relays, and display panel. This feature serves to reduce intermodulation between the left and right channels as well as to prevent any video signals from interfering with the audio program.

Normally, the large volume knob is the only rotary control visible on the front panel of the C-90. Pushbuttons select the audio signal source (CD, phono, or tuner) or the monitor playback from either of two tape decks. Another row of buttons is used to select the video input from a videodisc player, three VCR's (one of them connected through front-panel jacks), and a TV tuner. Small red lights on the video buttons show which is supplying an audio signal, and green lights indicate the video source when the two sources are different. A small brass button sequentially selects the various video sources. A similar button is the audio muting control, which reduces the level by 20 dB.

A silver-colored strip across the black panel of the C-90, below the input-selector buttons, contains colored lights that show the full status of the unit's audio and video controls at all times. The lights are very small (perhaps Vi6 inch in diameter) and are visible only at close range.

The lower part of the panel swings down to reveal a number of less-often-used controls, including the bass and treble tone controls, the balance control, and the three video enhancement controls, all operated by small knobs. Pushbutton switches bypass the tone controls and activate the subsonic and high-cut filters. A tape-copy switch allows copying in either direction between two audio decks, and another switch selects either mono or stereo operation.

Also behind the swing-down panel is a switch to select the operating conditions for the type of phono cartridge used: moving-magnet (mm) or moving-coil (mc) with termination resistances of either 3 or 40 ohms. A hybrid step-up transformer is used for MC cartridge playback, and its lower resistance and capacitance compared with conventional step-up transformers are said to provide improved frequency response.

The Pioneer C-90 is a fairly large preamplifier, measuring 18 inches wide, 16 inches deep, and 5 inches high. It is equipped with wood side panels in a glossy, dark finish. The phono and CD input jacks and the audio output jacks are gold plated. In addition to the various audio and video input, output, monitor, and control jacks, the rear apron contains three AC outlets, two of them switched.

Lab Tests

The clipping level of the C-90's audio outputs (terminated in the El A standard load of 10,000 ohms in parallel with 1,000 picofarads capacitance) was 11 volts, comfortably exceeding the rated 8 volts.

Since the rated output was at least four times as high as any power amplifier will require in order to develop its rated output, the conservative design of the C-90 preamplifier was apparent from the beginning of our measurements.

The distortion specification of the C-90 is 0.002 percent, and at most usable output levels and frequencies, that was about what we measured. At 1,000 Hz, the distortion was 0.003 percent or less for outputs from 0.3 to 4.5 volts, rising to a mere 0.0063 percent at 10 volts. At 2 volts output (a more reasonable maximum value for any preamplifier), the distortion was 0.001 percent at 20 Hz, rising smoothly to 0.0016 percent at 1,000 Hz and 0.003 percent at 20,000 Hz.

The RIAA phono equalization was one of the most accurate we have ever measured (comparable to the tolerances of the pre-equalization network we use for this measurement). It was flat within +0.1, - 0.2 dB from 20 to 20,000 Hz. The frequency response of the preamplifier was comparably flat, and the response with its high filter engaged was 3 dB down at 11,500 Hz. The subsonic filter dropped the response by only 0.5 dB at 20 Hz (it is rated to have a 6-dB-per-octave slope below 7 Hz).

The bass tone control had an unusual boost response, peaking at about 100 Hz with a 9-dB rise and falling off to the midrange level at 27 Hz (the full boost actually reduced the output below 27 Hz). In its full-cut mode, the control reduced the output to -12 dB at 50 Hz. The high-frequency tone-control curves were hinged at about 3,500 Hz. We did not test the video characteristics of the C-90.

Comments

Like some other audio components we have seen recently, the Pioneer C-90 is offered as a "digital-compatible" product. In this case, unlike most, that is a perfectly accurate description of the component's performance.

For one thing, the C-90's frequency response (including the RIAA equalization accuracy) is as flat as that of the finest CD players, and better than most. For another, its signal-to-noise ratio is considerably better (especially when referred to 2 volts output) than that of any CD player, to say nothing of the CD's themselves. By our standards, that makes the Pioneer C-90 the true peer of any digital sound source- the only preamplifier we have tested that can make that claim.

To be fair, we must point out that while this performance on the test bench is a technical achievement of considerable magnitude, it doesn't necessarily mean that the C-90 will sound any better than other top-quality preamplifiers. I think it is safe to say, however, that the C-90 at least ranks with the best in the field.

The C-90 has all the other virtues-great flexibility, attractive styling, solid construction, etc.- and none of the common faults of audio components. You won't hear a click or thump from it when power is switched on or off or when you switch inputs. You won't find any crosstalk signals from unused inputs (such as the tuner when you are listening to a low-output MC cartridge), even at maximum volume settings. We "looked" down about 130 dB without finding a trace of crosstalk! In fact, at maximum volume you will not hear any sound from the speakers when an mm cartridge is connected, and only a faint hiss (within inches of the speaker) in the case of an MC cartridge. That is nearly unique performance in our experience."