What's the deal with old, cheap marantz receivers?

I am in complete agreement with Doug. There is no room at my house for ANY standard-sized equipments that weigh under 20 lbs.

 

Thanks coopmv,

Generally it's the power supply that has all the weight. I realize that there have been schemes to lower the weight and still deliver current, but generally there is no free lunch. Developing 100 watts from an amp at 1k is pretty easy for a weak supply, but to get it across the full audio spectrum with both channels fully driven takes a lot of current. Throw loads under 8 ohms in to the equation and things get worse for a weak supply.

IMO, the power supply is the amplifier. All the channel boards really do is turn the power supply on and off fast enough to make sound come out of the speakers.

 

Do they last? I wonder if this is true...........

http://www.classic-audio.com/marantz/mfire.html

 

Hi,

Yes, they were made to last 25 years or more in normal service. Try that with your new cheapo receiver from the discount house.

 

I know Crown used to run an ad like that regarding their DC-300A.

A bit hard to believe, but surely it is possible. I'd be more likely to believe surviving the fire than a huge drop. A drop would seem likely to damage the circuit board.

Btw, I had a Marantz Model 500 amplifier back in 1974. It was absolutely wonderful sounding but it started on fire. Apparently many of the Model 500's started on fire. Now you never see or hear of them. They must have all burned up.

 

Doug: In addition to the power supply, we need to look at the chassis construction as well IMHO. My Rega Planet 2000 is about 15 lbs while my Anthem CD1, a tube-based HDCD player is just under 30 lbs. How many CD/DVD players, particularly the Chinese-made ones from recent years, are as sturdy and well-built?

 

I remember that ad well, it made the same impression that the floating Volkswagen ad made, very effective.

 

It used to be just about everything was made out of metal. Now ony the higher end gear seems to be.

 

Marantz 500

.

 

Yowzer! Sold for $1200 retail when it came out. 250 watts per channel!!! No wonder they were smokin'

 

I just thought the sound was lo-fi. No EQ by-pass switches. Those Mid, Bass and Treble controls only made them sound worse.

But what really puzzles me is that when I brought in my highly regarded Rotel 1412 integrated amp to be serviced into this shop selling about a dozen low-to-mid power Marantz receivers, the technician got all snooty, saying he had no idea how even to proceed with a repair on an amplifier so large, even though I had a Rotel Technical Manager give me ALL the service manuals, electrical schematics and trouble-shooting guides. This amp has a very simple circuit design with huger dual transformers and power supplies.the last time I had it fixed, just one resistor or cap had to be replaced. The technician then told me he neither had the time nor the desire to work on it. On his bench were some more of these mid- to late-'70's Marantz receivers, which of all the mediocre equipment I've had, the Marantz 2220 sounded the worst. i've had crappy car stereos that sounded better. In fact,THAT was why I got into hi-end car audio in 1980 (a/d/s Powerplate100, a/d/s 300i speakers, Nak tape deck); if i were going to spend money on stereo equipment,I'd rather have it in my car.

There's a strange thing about stereo shops. One of the least appealing thing about hi-fi shops is the staff's "attitude". Some shops, to which I feel I have been a loyal customer, feel like your going over to a friend's house to listen to his/her new stereo gear. Those shops don't pressure you to buy and actually take the time to educate or let you listen in peace..

But these other ones, like I formerly mentioned, act as specious, pompous authorities. When you go to those types of places, they ridicule your equipment and act as if only their brands are "true" audiophile-quality.

 

I owned a vintage 70's Marantz receiver and an integrated amplifier. I think 2270 and 1030 were the model numbers. I did think they were well made and sounded great. I now use modest Yamaha AV receivers and think they are much better. Whether or not they will last as long is another question since I used the Marantz stereo until the late 80's or early 90's. Their good reputation was well deserved but I have no interest in using that equipment now.

Chris

 

Hi there, everyone - just signed up here. I was poking around online for info on the Marantz 2215B and came across this forum.

Last year I found a filthy old 2215B out on the sidewalk. I couldn't resist the temptation to take it inside to see if it worked at all. It was really noisy and most of the lamps were burned out, but it functioned. I opened it up and cleaned things as best as I could and I've been using it ever since! I replaced the lamps and one of them has already burned out again, but it's not that big a deal.

One thing that I noticed was that CDs sounded absolutely horrible - gross distortion. So I rigged up a volume control in between the CD player and the Aux input and lowered the volume until the distortion was gone. Sounds great! My guess is that units from that era were simply not designed for high output sources like CD players.

The phono stage and tuner are wonderful.

I've been thinking about having the unit fully serviced (it's still a bit noisy), but I'm not sure whether it would be worth the expense.

 

great story golfchance
where would we be without the serindipitous find
found my 2238 at a thrift shop(15$)
it runs my Ar3a's beautifully
power, clean sound, head room to die for
I generally hate vague audiophile vernacular but
it just sounds so musical and the lack of any "listening fatgue" makes for hours of listening pleasure

 

Exactly! Since putting this system together (turntable is my late grandfather's old Garrard Lab 80 MkII), I can hardly pry myself out of my room because I just want to keep listening. Haven't felt that way in many years, even with more expensive equipment.

 

Never had that problem with my many Marantz units.

 

That seems strange, my experience with the vintage receivers I own has been almost the opposite. They sound great with CD's but none of them have enough power to drive my speakers when I use the phono section and they sound washed out.

 

Heh, so much for that theory! I guess I just wanted there to be nothing wrong with mine.

 

Clean up those contacts!

You can improve the noisy switches and pots fairly easily and cheaply. Obtain some VM&P Naphtha solvent, about $5.00 a quart at Home Depot. Enough to clean 972 Marantz receivers. Pull the front panel and metal covers off, and drip some drops of solvent into the control contacts of switches, both rotary and push types. And also to the rotary pots cans and get the fluid into the cans, and quickly start rotating the shafts and switches and push in and out the other switches many times, perhaps 100 times in full rotation while they are still wet. It will evaporate in a few minutes. You should find after this procedure that you will have more reliable non-interrupted contacts and clean sound and lower control noise, perhaps totally silent.. Give it a shot. Good luck, Rolf.

Oh, and I love the 22XX series of Marantz receivers. For all the reasons others have said. I have refurbished almost 10 of them now, and all are being enjoyed by their new owners. Happy listening.

 

Take one listen to a nicely restored and properly aligned 10B and you will quickly understand why certain tuners/receivers go for big bucks.

 

Actually it's a good theory because I have the same problem with my 2270. Phone stage sounds great but the CDs all distorted.

 

When Marantz was one of the kings of the hill way back, they put together
beautiful sounding audio equipment at a time when solid state was really
not that enjoyable to listen to. Yes there were some good brands making solid state like Kenwood, Pioneer and Sansui, but the Marantz was also one of those brands that offered great sound along with some fine quality engineering.

 

Let us not forget the 42xx and 44xx series for quadraphonic purposes, but also switchable for double power in stereo.

 

Don Lindich, who writes a Q&A column on audio printed in newspapers nationwide is a fan of the PE series of receivers and amps from NAD made in the 1980s.