Marantz Imperial 5 Speakers

[ChrisMarantz]

Last night I went to pick up a model 7T preamp from a local seller. While I was there he showed me a picture of what looked like a pair of Imperial 5 speakers with wood grills. He had a picture of the grills and of the controls on the back of the cabinets. I am 99% certain they are Imperial 5's

The speakers are located in the Los Angeles area. If anyone is interested in them, send me a PM and I'll pass along his information

The speakers look like this image I found on line

 

[bktheking]

Are they any good? Anytime I've posted leads on imperials of any kind i'm told they are junk.

 

[walkandtalk]

Imperial 5's are a small 2-way bookshelf speaker, and they are pretty good. Imperial 6's have a very enthusiastic following...

That looks like an Imperial 8.

 

[ChrisMarantz]

I don't know much about the beyond the images he showed me. According to what I saw on Audio Classics they seem to be Imperial 5's

His father worked for Superscope in Chatsworth for years and bought all sorts of Marantz equipment over the years.

 

[walkandtalk]

Seems to be two different kinds of Imperial 5's...

 

[Wolverine]

IIRC there were Imperial 5G's and 5B's. Primary difference was they have different grills. I had a pair of Imperial 5B's and they were okay. 8 or 10 inch woofer with a CTS tweeter. The Imperial 9 was the one from that line that has the best reputation.

 

[BeerLegs]

I think my Imperial 6's sound better than my NLA.

 

[walkandtalk]

IIRC there were Imperial 5G's and 5B's. Primary difference was they have different grills. I had a pair of Imperial 5B's and they were okay. 8 or 10 inch woofer with a CTS tweeter. The Imperial 9 was the one from that line that has the best reputation.

According to the website he linked to, there's the small Imperial 5 (with an 8") and an earlier much larger speaker with the same designation but an entirely different complement of drivers.

I own Imperial 5's and Imperial 6's (which have a 3" CTS tweet and a 10") The 6's get daily use.

 

[Big Tuna]

Sweet, the first iteration of the Imperial Series from Early 70's are getting pretty scarce these days. Nice Grab!

 

[tommarantz]

My dad has a set of Imperial 9s with a 2270 and they blow the roof off. Incredible speakers, if you have the room for them. :yes:

 

[Tucker99]

I have the Imperial 8 and think they are OK ... well, I think they are better than Marantz speakers get credit for. At present they serve as centers for my TV surround system tho.

 

[Jim Brinkman]

Looking for an owners manual for my old imperial 5's that still sound great with my 2230. I've found another manual but they are not the same imperial 5's I have. Stupid question (I'm just one who enjoys listening) but I need to understand when I would need to use the frequency level switch.
View attachment 890915

 

[Jim Brinkman]

Looking for an owners manual for my Imperial 5 speakers. They still sound great 40+ years down the road along with my 2230. I found a manual on line for what was said to be the Imoerial 5's but it is a completely different speaker than the ones I have.
I'm not tech savvy and among other things I cannot recall the purpose of the frequency switch and when/why I would use it.
Any feedback / direction would be appreciated

 

[Lavane]

There are a few other Imperials's ive seen that seem to have different offerings. Like 3's. From what I could tell, maybe some were not sold in the US, maybe mostly Japan and while having the same product number, there were differences. And the difderent ones all had that added on footing.