Marantz Imperial 9's, I found the "holy grail"

especially with the mis-matched woofer.

I restored a pair and they didn't sound bad, but far from "holy grail".....
 
especially with the mis-matched woofer.

I restored a pair and they didn't sound bad, but far from "holy grail".....


Agreed..."Holy Grail" is really stretching it. I personally find it offensive.

The whole write up (tone) just seems...off key!

Q
 
OP didn't use the term Holy Grail, it's in the ad. Hence the quotes. So no one is criticizing the OP.

I've heard some great things on AK about these but I wouldn't go anywhere near 6 bills for them.
 
Do not quote as gospel but I think there were only two totl Marantz speakers that were considered worthy.The 9 and the HD880.Some Marantz enthusiasts consider these their holy grail in keeping their setup all Marantz.I couldn't see the pics so I don't know what condition but look what Marantz fans are paying for totl receivers.
 
Not sure about availability of a replacement woofer, but if you always wanted the TOTL Marantz speaker of the era, $600 is not that much.
 
Had a rough day yesterday, just had a phone conversation with a cousin who I had lost touch with,
he is paralyzed and in palliative care.
No harm no foul with my quick response.
 
My experience with Marantz, in the era of those speakers, is that speakers were the absolute weakest link in all of their lineup. Vinyl veneer, particle board, just not up to their brand name (at all). If you are really considering paying the $600, I’d appeal to you to look at other options. Always found it weird that in the era of their amazing silver hardware days (the 2X00 series receivers and others) that they would put out speakers that would immediate humble their entire lineup.

Come to think of it, Sansui, Pioneer, Kenwood and even McIntosh put out some pretty bad speakers back then too. It’s a little rare to find a great “hardware” producer that DID make decent speakers back then. It was usually a much better idea to buy from separate (speaker engineering) companies, than to get a ‘soups to nuts’ configuration from one single vendor (at least from my limited perspective).
 
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No offense taken fellas, while I am new'ish to the world of higher end vintage audio gear, I have had experience with Marantz receivers (2238B specifically). Guess I just assumed they would carry that quality along with there name to other audio categories, like speakers. Turnitup, you made a great point!

I actually was looking at car parts this guy was selling for outlandish prices, and his overall naivete comes through thick. That's when I seen these speakers, the brand name, and that price... had to ask and get the downlow on it... they do look impressive with those 8 drivers though!
 
I thought there was a replacement woofer ID'd somewhere but that may have been the blue mids that I remember.

Wonder if that woofer was used in any other Marantz speakers.
 
I have auditioned this specific pair of speakers about 5 years ago. At that time, they had all the original drivers. They sounded good, but not good enough for me.

The seller sold me my first vintage speakers when I got back into this hobby. A pair of Celestion Ditton 66s.
 
Oops! Maybe not the same guy. The one I was thinking of is west of Barrhaven.

This guy is close to the Quebec border in a small town... if they were 400 bucks cheaper I'd rebuild them for their looks alone and their impressive size.
 
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They are quite large. I think that was a deciding factor when I auditioned a pair 5 years ago. Funny that I now have Cornwalls, which are even bigger!
 
Has anyone commenting on this thread actually HEARD a pair, fully restored, set up correctly? I've had a perfect pair of these for a couple of years now and I have to say ...as a dealer (no I have no affiliation with the seller) I've had a lot of GREAT speakers come and go. My imperial 9's are not going anywhere. I run them with 15 watt tube mono blocks in a medium sized livingroom and they are stunning sounding. They dig extremely deep and do so very cleanly, the mids are smooth and non fatiguing, and the highs are good for cheesey cone tweeters.

Speakers I've had the pleasure of owning or working on and listening to extensively.
The majority of the ADS, KLH, Advent, and Boston lines, Carver amazing, Dahlquist DQ10, Dahlquist dq8, JBL 4311, 4312, L100, C70, EPI 50 all the way through 500 (still a huge fan of EPI), many epicure, AR, Magnat, RtR (the good older stuff like 100d, 600d, hpr12 etc) VMPS tower II and II SE, yamaha ns1000, ns670, all of the pioneer HPM including the 200's, Design Acoustics, many of The POLK stuff up to the SDA's, All of the Infinity Quantum line and most of the RS line, Fried, KEF ....ETC the list goes on.


I've had my imperial 9's to a few audio meets (NOT FUN to haul around....) and along with the VMPS's and carved amazings, the Imperial 9's were crowd favorites. I've owned all of the rest of the Imperial line and they are pretty ho hum compared to the early production 9's.

Why did I choose to keep my 9's over all the rest?
1) After spending extensive time with a lot of different speakers, I found I could listen to my 9's for hours on end with no listening fatigue. Yes, the tweeters so not extend much past 18khz, but neither do the beloved EPI airsprings.
2) They are VERY EFFICIENT. Anything I have tube wise will drive them to wall flexing levels on the occasion that it may be called for.
3) they truely have quite clean and flat bass down to about 20hz, -3db at about 18hz. I dislike subwoofers and have never needed one with these.

Your milage may vary. I'm not claiming them to be the world's best speakers...and everyone's tastes are different, but set up correctly they won't dissappoint. You may find those cheesey blue dyed drivers embarrassing many much 'better' speakers.


As for the OP, $600 is a lot to pay for a pair needing woofers. I can tell you that the woofers are unique to the Imperial 9 and may take some time to find. I have seen these sell for as little as $300 and as much as $1500... Nobody wants to ship them. They are quite rare so if you are looking for a set you sort of have to take what you can get.
 
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