Nasty Marantz all-star

cwh

33
For your pleasure (or disgust); a nasty 2238b.

I picked this up six months ago and so it's sat, sealed in plastic on top off the pile. Space opened up in my shop so I decided to unwrap and have a go.

My best guess is this belonged to a giant loose bladdered chain smoking cat who enjoyed sitting on the receiver while entering flavor country.

I grabbed the dim bulb, hepa vac, modified wet/dry, nitrile gloves and got to work. I'll dry vacuum then wet clean and vac the remaining. If this gets components replaced I'll probably just tear it all down and re-clean everything individually.

-It's missing the input selector knob, preamp jumpers and it really stinks of urine and tobacco.
-Powered on it comes out of protect.
-I should've worn a respirator while opening up the case.
-Corrosive glue? Urine's even worse.

More shaky phone pics after the cleaning.
IMG_2270.JPG IMG_2275.JPG IMG_2276.JPG IMG_2272.JPG IMG_2273.JPG IMG_2271.JPG
 
Ha why not? Plugged in some test speakers and jumpers from another receiver. FM on both channels.
 
By "hosed down" ... do you literally mean taking it outside and spraying it down with the garden hose? Some would frown on that, but hey ... we does what we gots to do, eh. Long as you let it drip out and bake in the sun for a while after, you should be golden. Just be careful with meters, controls, and faceplates as those tend to be a bit more sensitive to that sort of thing. I use a stiff plastic shield to protect those from direct spray.

* That baking in the sun bit can do wonders for the smell too.

PS ... looks like that old time is gonna turn out all right with a few more pounds of TLC ...
 
:eek: Wow that was bad !
Great job cleaning it up !
Smells can be really a pain in the nose ! you never know if a unit will be "living room acceptable" smell-wise....
 
At least there is no rust, looks pretty good!

Tom
There's a bit on edges of internal frame.
By "hosed down" ... do you literally mean taking it outside and spraying it down with the garden hose?
I found the pressure washer was too aggressive so...kidding. My method which might get frowns as well is spritzing or dipping flux brush into solution, agitating, then sucking up with wet/dry vacuum fitted with small diameter hose.
 
-It's missing the input selector knob, preamp jumpers and it really stinks of urine and tobacco.

I thought these were internally jumpered like my 2252b
 
I would just leave it in the sun for a week. That'll kill a lot of the smell.

I actually just picked up a 2238 (no B) that looks like it was in a wet basement for a while, and has rust all over the guts, and is missing the top, bottom, almost all the knobs. No phono, no radio, but Aux works fine. Couldn't believe it.
 
-It's missing the input selector knob, preamp jumpers and it really stinks of urine and tobacco.

I thought these were internally jumpered like my 2252b
You're right. My job is safe at the dept. of redundancy dept.

Still smells like a rats arse though.
 
Driveway, Windex, paintbrush, water hose. I've done it and it worked fine without any damage I can tell. Baking in the sun or hot garage is a must. I'll bet you won't get that smell out without it. Just minimize the spray to meters and dial. It's also a great time for a thorough flush of the pots and switches with Deoxit followed by a compressed air flushing/drying. Great job on the cosmetic cleaning! :thumbsup:
 
I'm surprised the dial string is still attached really, figured the pee would have ate it like acid. It's lookin great already after your initial cleaning but dang I can't recall ever seeing a reciever in such poor pitiful shape. Looks like it was sitting next to a dryer vent......
 
Thanks for the comments and yeah I agree sun is key to de-funking.

The Bay Area fog has been in full effect so it only got a few good hours yesterday. Once it came out I gave the case and bottom a good scrub with Krud Kutter and let them soak up the rays. Knocked the smell down a notch however I reached my limit while working over receiver last night so I tried something a little more caustic. I slipped it in a garbage bag and sprayed some Ozium. https://www.amazon.com/Ozium-Saniti...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=9HZ1N0G9ATQGFPAXDKK1 I use this stuff on vehicle interiors and it works pretty well to deodorize but it can have negative interactions with surfaces. I sprayed as little as I could and gave it 5 mins in there. Definitely helped!

With some breathing room I got into playing with it. The quick power-up yesterday morning showed promise so went a step further and feed in some tunes.

Promising
-L/R channels idle around 0/2mv. I didn't check any other voltages just DC at speaker terminals.
-Got source input and control on both sides. The volume and balance required the obvious course of D5 to function properly.
Less promising
-Distortion when volume is turned up. It's subtle and varies with recording. After messing with all controls I'm feeling like another component is faulty.
 
I once bought a Pioneer power amp that STUNK of poop. I tried everything but no luck. Even sitting in the garage I could smell it from inside the house. Luckily I nicknamed it the ear bleeder and was happy to sell it off.

Maybe I should have just use a burnt match or a can of Glade before listening to it???
 
Back
Top Bottom