Can you imagine going direct from the TX-9800 to the... F-9 ?
Even by way of the transitional TX-D1000 ?
Not really.
But in retrospect this was a very bold move from Pioneer who seemingly thought very highly of its regular customers : the latter would be happy to pay almost the same price for something three times less present than what they had perhaps bought only a year before !
Do read the FM-Tuner Info review of the F-9 for all about this bold unit and its followers.