[ARC5] Way OT -- SX-28

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On Tue, Aug 3, 2021 at 8:12 PM MICHAEL BITTNER <mmab at cox.net> wrote:

<snip>

 Of course those are asking prices and we don't what they will sell for if
> at all. i see one presently has 17 lookers and I'm one of em. Mike W6MAB
>

Precisely. If you use the Advanced feature next to the Search function and
search for completed/sold items only, you'll see that all of the SX-28s
sold recently have sold for *under* $500. Only one sold over $400, the rest
under and most under $300. Searching under Completed items shows that the
high priced examples have been listed numerous times without sale. I
suspect someone decides to list one for a crazy amount to test the waters
(or, in many cases, because they're clueless) and others then jump in,
resulting in several 'extraordinarily priced' sets.

As the owner of a later SX-28A I can say that it is one of my favorite
receivers - definitely top 10 and probably top 5 - due to a number of
things. As others have mentioned, for it's time it was overall a really
nice receiver. Not the best by any means, I'd agree that the early Super
Pros (SP-10, -100, -200) take that honor followed closely by the HRO. Like
the Super Pro, the SX-28 shares a wonderful 'shove-yank' audio output
feature that, combined with a decent speaker, can fill a room or even a
home with audio of excellent fidelity. This from a 1930s design, long
before 'Hi-Fi' became a thing. It also offers all the mod-cons of the day
including weighted flywheel tuning, bandspread, and a large, easy to read
meter.

But again to echo Richard, the SX-28 is, in the opinion of many, easily the
best looking receiver of the day, maybe ever. The Art Deco influence,
overall dimensions, and excellent symmetry all work together perfectly.
Those steering wheel tuning knobs don't hurt, either. Sure, it has its
shortcoming, but overall it worked/works pretty well for when it was
designed and for what. I do think that the AR-88 story has gotten mixed in
somewhere, because SX-28s are not at all rare or even scarce. At one time I
knew production figures but want to say something like 20-40K were made.
Some were sold here prior to WWII and many 28As were sold after. In fact,
the military-tagged examples (GRR-2?) are harder to find. IMO a clean,
complete, restored or unmolested working example is a $500 radio all day.
If you have to fix it or (gulp) re-cap it, the price drops.

I've always thought that the later SX-115 bears a striking resemblance
dimensionally to the SX-28. The cube look along with the two large knobs
and so on.

A point of interest: many(most?) FCC models utilized only single-ended
audio output, apparently as a cost cutting measure.

As to the SX-88, well....clearly driven by the limited numbers/collector
market. Apparently the performance didn't match the price tag, or they
certainly would've sold more.
They are waaaay down from their $10K high water mark some years back. Have
seen $2K offerings languish for months without selling and know of several
selling in recent years for 'mere hundreds'.

~ Todd,  KA1KAQ/4
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