marantz 20 review

radioactive

tube gear fanatic
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i recently purchased a marantz 20 and found out that it was reviewed in the december 1969 issue of audio.if anyone has a copy of this review that they could post i would appreciate it very much.

also are there any marantz 20 owners here on ak?i would love to hear some opinions on this tuner before mine arrives.all i know is that i seemed to have got it for a good price and that its not as sensitive as the 20b was.other than that theres not too much info that i could find on the net.

chris
 
If working correctly, your in for a treat. A great sounding tuner.

X
 
thanks for the input punker.i was wondering since the sensitivity isnt up to the 20b standards can this be rectified through some mods?also have you worked on any 20's and what have people done as far as mods go to them?have you also been able to compare its sound quality say to the sansui tu9900.

chris
 
radioactive said:
thanks for the input punker.i was wondering since the sensitivity isnt up to the 20b standards can this be rectified through some mods?also have you worked on any 20's and what have people done as far as mods go to them?have you also been able to compare its sound quality say to the sansui tu9900.

chris

A good quality external antenna preamp should allow the 20 to become just as sensitive as the 20B.

Lefty
 
Punker X said:
If working correctly, your in for a treat. A great sounding tuner.

X
Some, myself included, prefer it to a 10B: I think it sounds slightly better and it's more reliable. YMMV, of course. :cool:
 
Try it without the amp first. The 20 is 1 h*llof a tuner and 1 of the bestter units due to the passive front end. Liked it batter than the 20b by far. Both tuners are the same except the front end.
 
thanks for the input brian.i will probally try it without the amplifier first.the stations i listen too anyways are nearby and my outside discone antenna has no problem picking them up in stereo.even the low powered college station is'nt too much f a problem as both the mx110 and sansui tu9900 pick it up with ease.i can hardly wait for its arrival.since you have the mr78 how would you compare the sound quaulity to it?i know the 78 probally smokes it in the dxing abilities but i'm more interested in how it sounded.
chris
 
I don't have a 78 but have the 77 that I find to have a better sound. I think the 77 is better soundwise than the 20b but the 20 is better than the 77. At the time I was looking for the 77, the 20 and the Fisher TFM1000 were also in the running but all the 20s around sor sale or available form Marantz were the 20b and the 77 was a tab better. The 20b is aboout on par with the 78 soundwise in terms of distance from the 77 though the 78 and 20b do not have the same sound. On a scale, the 20 to 77 had a sound advantage in favor of the 20 at about the same distance as the 78 to the 77. NONE of these are losers by any standard and I am talking about very minor differences in the advantages soundwise when these all were new. The 1 with the largest difference and the favorite actually was the TFM1000 but, they self-destructed every 6 months. I wish Fisher had gotten the reliability up there.

Today, I am not sure what the comparison result would show due to the change in station broadcast quality and the age of all of the units. I suspect that any unit not having been gone through will not meet original spec today and any unit that has been repaired or gone through will not have the same sound as when my testing was done since parts quality and sound associated with differeing parts could be sufficient enough to affect the unit. It is the 1 reason why there are those today who do not hear the differences between the 78 and 77 that was so evident when both were in production.

The biggest problem with the 20 series, like all of the Marantz o'scope units is finding a replacement for the scope and the fact ot the high voltage circuits in the tuner. Finding replacement scope tubes is difficult and getting very costly. It real advantage is if you have an antenna with a rotator and to see the quality of what in coming into the tuner. Way ahead of even a 3 meter setup (signal strength, center channel and multipath indicator) and for those guys who love bouncing meters or blue lights, way cooler.

The 20 will easly match and beat the 110 for pulling power. Never had a 20 up against my 110 Z series. When you get things up and running could you give us some comparitive feedback, please.
 
hi brian ,

thanks for the comparison review against the mr77.i will definately be doing a comparision with the mx110 once the tuner arrives and let you know the outcome.

chris
 
:banana: well the tuner arrived today while i was at work.asides form the case needing some work the tuner is in immaculate condition.theres not a scratch to be found on it anywhere.i just hooked it up not to long ago.i'll be giving it a good listen to this weekend when i have some time.pics and a new thread to follow shortly.
 
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