Marantz: Made in USA vs Japan

SWL3600

SWL3600

Super Member
Looking at all my mid-70's Marantz gear most say made in Sun Valley, CA.

Two of the units say made in Japan. From what little I've read, the units made in Japan were simply assembled there. The parts and design were American.

I originally assumed that Marantz units labeled made in Japan were assembled using cheaper parts. Was this the case at some point? Besides non-American labor, what is the major downside to early to mid 70's units made in Japan instead of the U.S.?

Thanks!
 
Most '70s unit were designed in the US and made in Japan with Japanese parts.
I believe the only exception is model 19 where the components and boards, chassis, ...were made in the US and final assembly was done in Japan.

robin
 
I know the 1200 integrated was made in the U.S. But the majority of 70's units (at least the 22xx series) were designed in U.S. and made in Japan and had very good build quality.
 
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I have 2 19's... Both say made in USA on the back. I did a quick search and every one I found says the same. That's not to say they did not make some in Japan, I think they did.
 
I have a 19 - assembled in Japan.
seems they are the best ones, because it was the last production with the latest updates. - but I don't have any facts to substantiate that.

En general, I think the US made units have a much higher build quality (type PCBs, wires, even the screws, chassis,knobs, ...) than the JPN made units - are they more reliable ? - don't have any facts to say.
 
For the most part, the Japanese-built units are superior. Judging from the layout and design, I have my doubts about the Japanese units (1971-on) being designed in the US.

To clarify, the styling may well have been designed in the US, but the circuit topology and chassis layout is almost certainly Japanese.
 
Made in Japan for electronics is a good thing.

The whole "cheap Japanese junk" thing is mostly a myth.

I find working on American made stuff much more difficult and find the build quality to be less than the good Japanese made stuff. McIntosh may be the exception.

The old US Marantz and Bose gear is a bitch to work on.
Tight pin holes, delicate traces, weird parts and mountings.
The other US stuff is just as bad.

I would not look down on Japanese made gear.
I find it to be as good as it gets.
 
MIJ or MIA...pick your myth. IMO, they are both great.

fwiw, the earliest 19's said "fifty RMS fifty" on the front, later ones said "Custom Calibrated". They also rose in price from 1000 to 1200.

I have a 19 with a serial # close to 1500, says Made in America.
 
blhagstrom said:
Made in Japan for electronics is a good thing.

The whole "cheap Japanese junk" thing is mostly a myth.

I find working on American made stuff much more difficult and find the build quality to be less than the good Japanese made stuff. McIntosh may be the exception.

The old US Marantz and Bose gear is a bitch to work on.
Tight pin holes, delicate traces, weird parts and mountings.
The other US stuff is just as bad.

I would not look down on Japanese made gear.
I find it to be as good as it gets.
Click to expand...
That is my opinion too... the Japanese products were more modular and built with service and repair in mind, at least back 'then'... and I loved the Japanese service manuals... they provided excellent circuit description, like a text book on practical electronics for the circuit of interest and the function of each component in the overall design.... even provided some humor for the way certain phrases and words were translated from Japanese to English. On the other hand, perhaps, it could be said that the American products had a certain amount of over head in the design... caps would have a certain percent of overrating for the application, like voltage ratings.. that sort of thing. A cap in a Japanese product in a circuit having 35 volts across it would be rated quite near 35 volts, if not exactly 35 volts.... not drawing any conclusions here about performance or reliability, just my observation.
 
While I love my US made units, finding replacement component info for them is extremely difficult.
 
Interesting views.... mine is that US made units are much better.
JPN made circuits are often more complex than required to compensate for lower quality components,


an ex Marantz engineer, told me that US made gear (beyond marantz) was better or over engineered because a lot of the designers had military backgrounds, and were trained to design/maintain military equipment where reliability, ... is key.
When they moved to civilian live into audio design, they applied the same quality standards
 
tranguru said:
Interesting views.... mine is that US made units are much better.
JPN made circuits are often more complex than required to compensate for lower quality components,


an ex Marantz engineer, told me that US made gear (beyond marantz) was better or over engineered because a lot of the designers had military backgrounds, and were trained to design/maintain military equipment where reliability, ... is key.
When they moved to civilian live into audio design, they applied the same quality standards
Click to expand...

Non-techs who have never really worked on this stuff are about the only ones I ever hear claim that US/Western audio gear is better built, or more reliable, or easier to work on. After you spend 10 years or so working on this stuff, one realizes that a lot of US/Euro "high end" audio gear is junk. Poorly engineered, "over engineered" (that's for sure, and not in a good way), no or poor service docs, unobtainium parts.

Loudspeakers, of course, are a different story for the most part.
 
This is all pretty interesting and thanks for all the input. I'll continue to enjoy my Marantz gear regardless of where it was made.
 
At least the US made Marantz gear had fairly decent service documentation, but you have to pay attention to the revisions.
 
As an BSEE with 35 years in the field of high end electronics.... Having owned Marantz from both US and Japan.... Having built solid state and tube units...from kits and from my own scratch built designs....

The USA units rock from the 60s & early 70s... 500, 7t , 20, 10, 7c, 18, 19, tube units.... On and on.....

Vast majority of the Japenese units have compromises made to reduce manufacturing costs that affect sonics... You will never find wire wrapping in a US unit.... You always find heavier gauge wire in the PS of the US units.... On and on....

I will take a point to point wired 7t over any cardboard PC board based Japanese unit any day......

When u go throw out your Japanese units, I will be waiting in the trash can..... So don't think I am ignoring them.... Very few receivers can better an early 2270.... Hint look at the PC boards, wiring and number of film caps used in those early serial number 2270s....
 
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All 2270s were made in Japan. And 2275s were considerably better receivers.
The old Marantz tube amps are a whole other story. Most of us will never see one in person, let alone afford one. May as well talk about the greatness of original McIntosh MI-350s or Mc-3500s.
 
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