03-20-2008 ATTENTION:  Effective today, there will be no further sales of the 4th Edition of the Pioneer Spec Bible. We have no further stock of them except perhaps a half dozen slightly defective ones that we will sell at a discount (info at the bottom of this note). We knew this day would eventually come, but until now, did not know when.

We have decided to finalize and publish the 5th Edition of the Spec Bible. Researcher-in-Chief and our partner in crime, David Swaffer, has sporadically, but continuously worked on further development since the 4th Edition was first published in January 2005. Our target date to finalize the research, nail down the content, proofing, etc. is April 27th to honor Dave's wife's birthday. He has promised her that this will end his further research and that he will return to being a full-time husband.

This 5th Edition is the single most comprehensive compilation of specifications, related data and tidbits of information regarding Pioneer HiFi equipment sold from 1970-1985 that is available anywhere at any cost. MANY thousands of dollars plus thousands of hours of research has gone into this project. A very substantial amount of time has been invested between 4th and 5th editions.

At least initially, we intend to publish in the same physical format as previous versions. In that format, the 5th Edition will be about about 400 pages which will be 100+ pages larger than the 4th Edition. There will be an increase in price to reflect this but we have not yet made a final decision. The new size also presents some shipping problems that we didn't have before. We shipped previous versions of the Spec Bibles in flat-rate USA ($5.00) or International ($11.00) Priority document mailers with a cardboard stiffener. This has worked well, BUT... about 300 pages is the maximum size that will fit. With the new size, we will have to decide whether to ship them as parcels (boxes), or in some envelope style mailers with internal protection. Regardless, shipping is going to increase. We have not investigated the possibility of media mail as we do not like delayed /slower delivery formats.

Besides the year-by-year, flipbook, landscape style as before, we ALSO intend to completely reformat the data so that none is repeated on various pages and make it available as a separate product. This will likely be formatted with numerous foldout style pages. We estimate this "might" reduce the total overall size by 40%-50%. Depending on various factors, the price may be half the price of the nearly 400 page version. We may also make various sections of the 5th Edition available separately for those who have a more narrowly focused interest. For instance, a receivers only book. A speakers only book. A turntables only book, etc. at much lower cost. The reformatting of the entire bible will be a tremendous amount of work and we are not sure when that will be completed.

The 4th Edition was very comprehensive regarding most models known in the USA. We have discovered information which has proven availability or discontinuance of various models that were a few weeks or months different than previously believed. This has led to changes in the introduced/discontinued years for various models. Extensive and laborious proofreading has resulted in many minor changes in wording and designations of various things so that consistency and accuracy is much improved throughout. We have added numerous models and many, many models from the domestic Japan market and various European countries and other parts of the world. Hundreds of additional footnotes have been added. We have added a large amount of Systems information. Other additions and changes will be explained later when the new Spec Bible pages are published here.

In total, there are now more than 2400 Pioneer models  (instead of 1600) that were sold in 1970-1985 with complete specifications data plus more than 200 additional models with less than complete data for a total of about 2700 models. As before, the Bible is LOADED with additional information beyond just specs, such as systems, country versions, various cosmetic differences, options, etc.

If anybody wishes to pre-order the 5th Edition in it's full year-by-year formatted style as previous versions, the rest of this is for you. You can see what they will look like by checking the pictures further down this page which shows an older and much smaller version.

Note: there has never been enough sales of these to warrant having the bibles produced by a commercial printing company which would substantially reduce printing costs if done in quantities of thousands at a time. This means we produce them ourselves using similar methods that we use to produce our manuals. Because making these has almost always involved glitches of various kinds, our overall cost to produce them in (relatively) small quantities has been quite high over the years and various editions. In truth, the overall gross sales we have derived since the 1st Edition in April 2003 has been substantially less than probably any of you reading this would ever imagine. At previous sales rates, a net profit above all development costs might not be realized for many years.

Pre-publication Orders

As a result of the note info just above, the new full year-by-year formatted version 5th Edition pricing will likely be $50.00 - $60.00 plus shipping. If anyone wants to pre-order, you may do so at these rates. This offer WILL BE REMOVED during the last week of April.

Remember, these are too large for flat-rate document mailers.

Preorders have now been discontinued as stated above.

The above shipping rates are estimates but we will not charge you more. The exact we amount we pay (shown on your package) may be more or less than we charged you.

We have about a half dozen 4th Edition Spec Bibles that we will offer here at discounted prices because they have some defect and possible one that has no defects. Details added as soon as possible.

EVERYTHING below this paragraph is completely out of date. All pages on this site regarding the Pioneer Spec Bible will be replaced with completely accurate and updated information no later than the release date of the 5th Edition.

Pioneer 1970-1985 Audio Equipment Specifications Bible - 2nd Edition
StereoManuals.com presents our encyclopedic reference for Pioneer Classic Audio gear.
Table of Contents Manuals & Stuff For Sale All Reproduction Manuals & Literature For Sale (Our normal business) Factory Original Manuals Factory Original Manuals Other Stuff For Sale (When Available) Other Stuff For Sale Bargain Basement Rick's Audio Gear For Sale Pioneer Spec Bible Full Size Cover Picture Spec Bible Detail of Contents Spec Bible Pictures Previous Customer Comments How To Purchase Spec Bible	Huge amount of content. Why buy anything else? At $39.95 this is a terrific bargain!   Click for Full Size The One and Only Pioneer Spec Bible Second Edition (Revised & Expanded)   158 pages, 215 new models, 22 new pages, new Full Index, new Speaker Drivers section.     Click here to Buy It Now!   Do you love Classic Pioneer audio gear? You have never seen anything like our PIONEER SPEC BIBLE because nothing like it has existed prior to its first edition printing in April 2003. It is difficult to explain in words the vast amount of data and depth of detail that is included in this book. You might think you could easily find the same information on the internet. You would be wrong. One can search the internet and find a lot of information. There are loads of internet sites, audio groups, etc. that are disseminating inaccurate information and data about classic Pioneer models. This is simply because a research project of this scope has never been done before. We expect that various sources of information on the internet will be corrected and updated over time as the information in our Spec Bible becomes disseminated. It is the result of a project that entailed many hours, almost every day and extended over approximately a nine month period for the 1st Edition with "A LOT" of time and and "A LOT" more money spent to produce the 2nd Edition. The information resources were our huge Pioneer Library of service manuals, user (owners, operating, instruction) manuals, sales brochures, etc. plus searching the internet, old audio magazines, eBay auctions, and all over the world where we could source accurate information and verify it. Exhaustive, comparative, and meticulous research efforts have produced *The Definitive Resource* for information regarding the vintage Pioneer audio equipment we all love.

Front Cover	Just part of 1976 Receivers (160k)	Terminology & Charts

83 of those pesky Country (Version) Codes	Not a little pamphlet