Member
Joined 2009
Paid Member
I bought an old Marantz receiver, you see them on eBay all the time. They look nice. Search up model '2230' on eBay for an example.
They get a good price and some models are advertized for over a grand. There seems to be some traffic in these old units. I guess there are plenty of them around.
Some folk fix them up with blue LED lights etc.
So I got one. But it sounds far from great. It's not even a nice old 70's kind of sound. It's just, bleh. The design is nothing too exciting, an old op-amp i.c. (e.g. LM391) driving some old power transistors. The preamp is probably equally dodgy. I figure I can easily improve on the unit, I just liked all those shiny controls - and that was my intention when I bought it a year ago. But would I be ruining a bit of history, do folk actually like this sound ??
They get a good price and some models are advertized for over a grand. There seems to be some traffic in these old units. I guess there are plenty of them around.
Some folk fix them up with blue LED lights etc.
So I got one. But it sounds far from great. It's not even a nice old 70's kind of sound. It's just, bleh. The design is nothing too exciting, an old op-amp i.c. (e.g. LM391) driving some old power transistors. The preamp is probably equally dodgy. I figure I can easily improve on the unit, I just liked all those shiny controls - and that was my intention when I bought it a year ago. But would I be ruining a bit of history, do folk actually like this sound ??
Last edited:
The store that sold Marantz sponsored the all night show on the commercial classical FM station in Houston, KLEF. So that alone gave it some prestige. People that bought receivers also bought bookshelf speakers in the early 70's. No highs, no lows much. AR was big in bookshelfs. I went down and heard the AR bookshelf speakers; meh! So who would know how the amp sounded? They weren't using any hard to reproduce sounds to demonstrate, either. Simon & Garfunkle was used a lot, a guitar and a voice, how hard can that be? An acoustic guitar, a tenor voice, no highs, no lows, perfect demo record.
The Klipshhorn dealer was using jazz combos on their $2000 speakers and MacIntosh amps, so a trumpet, a bass, a snare drum? How hard is that? Their line had it waay over the Marantz in specs, but who could tell what it sounded like? Marantz was a lot shinier in the age of all black Macintosh.
The college was using Dynaco ST35 in the library to audition LP's on headphones, and that was the sound I liked. Symphonies, piano pieces, waaay better sounding than fine wood consoles from RCA, Admiral, Magnevox, Curtis Matheson. A different galaxy from the record player my Mother bought with Top Value Stamps. And the ST35 were running 18 hours a day 7 days a week. So I bought dynaco, used, and never looked back.
Marantz receivers look nice with the brushed chrome. Dynaco was brown & dirty brass, pre corroded right from the factory like an old Weston meter or something. I think I remember Sansui & Kenwood receiver volume pots were *****ing out in the dorm rooms before I even graduated.
Victory of prestige marketing over guts, IMHO. Have fun with your treasure. I still haven't bought a classic MacIN, however much I admire them. I had a yen for Voice of the Theater speakers, too, put onto them by my band director. The only place you could hear those was the Long Point Cinema. You had to go to Dallas to buy one. VOT are still $$$$ used unless missing major parts.
The Klipshhorn dealer was using jazz combos on their $2000 speakers and MacIntosh amps, so a trumpet, a bass, a snare drum? How hard is that? Their line had it waay over the Marantz in specs, but who could tell what it sounded like? Marantz was a lot shinier in the age of all black Macintosh.
The college was using Dynaco ST35 in the library to audition LP's on headphones, and that was the sound I liked. Symphonies, piano pieces, waaay better sounding than fine wood consoles from RCA, Admiral, Magnevox, Curtis Matheson. A different galaxy from the record player my Mother bought with Top Value Stamps. And the ST35 were running 18 hours a day 7 days a week. So I bought dynaco, used, and never looked back.
Marantz receivers look nice with the brushed chrome. Dynaco was brown & dirty brass, pre corroded right from the factory like an old Weston meter or something. I think I remember Sansui & Kenwood receiver volume pots were *****ing out in the dorm rooms before I even graduated.
Victory of prestige marketing over guts, IMHO. Have fun with your treasure. I still haven't bought a classic MacIN, however much I admire them. I had a yen for Voice of the Theater speakers, too, put onto them by my band director. The only place you could hear those was the Long Point Cinema. You had to go to Dallas to buy one. VOT are still $$$$ used unless missing major parts.
Last edited:
What do you have? MR215/230/250? Those models are junk, as you've already discovered. Pretty, though.
I always remember these series of amplifers being in peoples garage and workshop. They were hard to kill but didn't sound great. The listed specs from HiFi Engine tell a lot about the amp. 0.5% THD sounds pretty terrible no matter what output level it's measured at.
Tuning range: FM, MW
Power output: 30 watts per channel into 8Ω (stereo)
Frequency response: 15Hz to 50kHz
Total harmonic distortion: 0.5%
Damping factor: 45
Input sensitivity: 1.8mV (MM), 180mV (line)
Signal to noise ratio: 83dB (line)
Channel separation: 35dB (line)
Speaker load impedance: 4Ω to 16Ω
Tuning range: FM, MW
Power output: 30 watts per channel into 8Ω (stereo)
Frequency response: 15Hz to 50kHz
Total harmonic distortion: 0.5%
Damping factor: 45
Input sensitivity: 1.8mV (MM), 180mV (line)
Signal to noise ratio: 83dB (line)
Channel separation: 35dB (line)
Speaker load impedance: 4Ω to 16Ω
Member
Joined 2009
Paid Member
I have a 2230 that I bought new in 1973 and have used as my shop source for the last 30 years. After 40+ years of chugging along dutifully (occasional bulb replacements aside) one channel died last year and I replaced all of the output transistors. While I would agree these were just average for SQ back in the day it's hard to fault the build quality and durability. The fact that there is now a cult following paying high prices for these now is strange though.
Hi Curious, I have three, a 1060, 2250 and a 2265B. All are pre 1975 and all still work well and sound fine. Later ones were pretty much junk as Superscope wanted profits not sound quality. I suspect that when paired with certain speakers they did not perform well back then and with some newer ones the same may occur. Mine seem to like speakers that require high current levels. YMMV. Yes the bulbs are a weak link as well as the speaker muting relay in the 2265B. Grungy contacts in it cause poor sound. Another area that is often overlooked is the various switches. Every 5-10 years or so (more frequently if not used) they need cleaning and exercise. The tape loop ones in particular. A little maintenance and the units will perform well for many years more.
Shares SM with MR230 and MR235. Looks like it's a Superscope unit.
Specs aren't all the bad for a 2nd from BOTL unit (btw, distortion is given as 0.15% @ rated power into 4 ohms and 0.08% into 8 ohms), and circuitry doesn't suggest anything overly terribad either. It's an LM391 augmented with CFP output, preamp looks to have half-decent PSRR (but also needs it since the +32V reg doesn't look like the lowest-noise job in the world, some modding potential there), reservoir caps have a decent size. Nothing that should really sound awful when in fully working order.
I can only assume that it needs a bit of TLC - cleaning switches and fuseholders, a few new electrolytics, idle current adjustment, stuff like that. It's over 30 years old and wasn't exactly high end to begin with, what do you expect?
People buy these things because they look and feel nice, not because they'd necessarily sound all that great pre-restoration. Some of 'em also require improvements past stock condition to perform up to modern standards.
But yeah, the lesser Marantz models in particular have been quite overrated for years.
Last edited:
Member
Joined 2009
Paid Member
As you hint at - perhaps 'modern' op-amp along with some 'modern' output transistors and replace the caps - that might be interesting.
I have a Marantz MR235 that needs the output transistors replaced
2- 2SD718
2- 2SB688
I cannot find these anywhere except the epay fake ones. Any help?
2- 2SD718
2- 2SB688
I cannot find these anywhere except the epay fake ones. Any help?
Member
Joined 2009
Paid Member