That string and pulley tuning mechanism is likely the most interesting piece of technology engineering I've seen lately.

This old Pioneer SX-780 receiver is something my partner had when we initially moved in together. It's quite literally a corner piece to our living room and brings both our turntable and our wireless audio solution to life.

I recently had the top case removed to remove about a year's worth of cat hair from the inside (sorry audiophiles) and couldn't help but appreciate the refreshing simplicity of the internals. From the chunky diodes and capacitors to the colored wires jumpered from one side of the early PCB to the other, I knew I could make repairs on my own if it came to that.

The original manual!

Some technical highlights:

• Receives AM/FM
• A + B speaker outputs
• 4 RCA inputs: AUX, Tape 1, Tape 2, Phono
• 2 RCA outputs: Tape 1, Tape 2
• Loudness switch
• 15hz low frequency filter
• Headphone output