rob Brandt
Active Member
And your's are blue. If you look close at the speakers for sale, you can tell they have been redone by the shine on the surrounds. Nice job, but none the less, not original.
Marantz speaker owners???
- Thread starter Zinker
- Start date
And your's are blue. If you look close at the speakers for sale, you can tell they have been redone by the shine on the surrounds. Nice job, but none the less, not original.
rob Brandt
Active Member
Here ya go--as close as you will ever get to the real thing--probably better as it's more modern foam. They paint them to match original color. I think I'm going to do this. There is at least one Marantz owner in the testimonials.
http://foamspeakergrilles.com/home
http://foamspeakergrilles.com/home
BeerLegs
Super Member
Nope. Those are original doped cloth surrounds. They look like that and never needed to be refoamed. Sorry.
BeerLegs
Super Member
I doubt Patrick Hart would post a picture of Imperial 7s with reconed incorrect cones in his article. Hey, I see plenty of examples of these gray colered woofers. Some for the Imperial 5, some for the 6, some for the 7. They are out there. You have not provide ANY proof yet that they used ONLY blue cones. And Im not talking about what you remember what you saw at only 1 store when you were 12. The pictures of the gray Imperial 6 woofers that I posted have doped cloth surrounds, just like Patrick Hart mentions in his article. Doped cloth surrounds. Thats why they are "shiny." Show me doped cloth replacements surrounds that you can use to put new surrounds on a new replacement gray cone. Good luck. The Imperial 6 woofer did NOT come with foam surrounds. If yours on your 6s are foam, then it's not original.
And as far as the grill goes, mine are early Imperial 6s, not the 6_Gs. They came with grill cloth BEFORE they switched to FOAM grills. They are ALL original. The doped cloth surrounds ARE original, no matter what you think or remember seeing when you were twelve 40 years ago at only one smalls store.
Here are a pair of early Imperial 5s with grill cloth.
http://www.classic-audio.com/marantz/imp5e.html
And as far as the grill goes, mine are early Imperial 6s, not the 6_Gs. They came with grill cloth BEFORE they switched to FOAM grills. They are ALL original. The doped cloth surrounds ARE original, no matter what you think or remember seeing when you were twelve 40 years ago at only one smalls store.
Here are a pair of early Imperial 5s with grill cloth.
http://www.classic-audio.com/marantz/imp5e.html
DJAudiophile
Active Member
There is a guy who posted in another forum who got custom grilles made for his Imperial collection. Here is the link, http://www.tapeheads.net/showthread.php?t=13033
I may go that route, but like you said they are the closest thing to the original grilles, but not quite. http://www.classic-audio.com/marantz/imp6g.html
If I go with the Imperial 6-G Speakers, I'd have to check if the tweeter and woofers are original and get the custom grilles made if they ever reply to my email..
Or go with the HD Series and get the surround replaced and the wood veneer refinished.
rob Brandt
Active Member
Both statements are moronic. the glue doesn't last forever. You don't own the speaker--so how the hell would you know what it is? As per my 9's, they were replaced per the designers recommendation. The link is posted above. The originals packed away. So yes, they are obviously still 9's and what's more, the sound truer to what the designer wanted and wasn't possible at the time. Only a slow thinker thinks it's better to make do with substandard gear when you don't have to and the designer recommends against it.
Go have another beer and try to figure out what I just said.
rob Brandt
Active Member
Same type--silk dome. much better. Just as te designer said it would be. Putz.
rob Brandt
Active Member
Beerlegs sounds like the type of guy who would use stripper on the walnut veneer and then varnish it--when it was never varnished in the first place. Wax--you use wax on them.
BeerLegs
Super Member
Right... Boy oh boy, you really got me there really bad.... Yep. I love to use stripper on walnut verneer. How did you know? I like to strip the hell out of it! Strip it cleaner than a whistle.. Good one. Once again with your words, wit and knowledge, you nailed another one down! How do you do it?...
BeerLegs
Super Member
Moronic? You changed out the tweeter. You changed the sonic signature of the speaker to be different than what the original speaker engineers designed it to sound like. Sorry, It's no longer a Imperial 9. No matter how much better you think you are at designing a Imperial 9 with a 5 minute hack job when it took months for the original engineers with a specially built room using the best test equipment to design them. It no longer sounds like what it was intended to sound like. Give me a break. You sure think highly of yourself. Sheez. Worse than calling out varnished walnut verneer that you never actually have seen, and has never been stripped. But you just know it's been done. lol. Maybe if you just say it, it must be true...
And as far as owning a pair, are you for real? Go look at post #193 of this very thread. I've owned a pair for six years now. It's obvious that you just like to make stuff up and really don't know what you're talking about.
And as far as owning a pair, are you for real? Go look at post #193 of this very thread. I've owned a pair for six years now. It's obvious that you just like to make stuff up and really don't know what you're talking about.
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rob Brandt
Active Member
Cuz you say things which are totally off base. Had you read the article I linked to you would know that the DESIGNER of the imperial 9's recommended changing out the old (crappy) phenolic ring tweeters and installing silk dome tweeters. Does that make them non imperial 9's? Hardly. Companies like AR, Altec, JBL, etc. all provided upgrade kits for their TOL speakers when they created a new design. Do people routinely upgrade their crossovers in speakers, or keep the crappy, worn out capacitors? I guess someone like you thinks it's "cooler" and more save to sit around and listen to muddy sounding speakers rather than do what the designer would have done had he been able to.
DJAudiophile
Active Member
The speakers came in today. Could you let me know if they are all have original parts? What does J-4 stand for? Also each speaker has a strange stamp on the back, do you know what it is and for? Here is a link to the same speaker that has the stamp on the back. https://edsgoodstuff.com/edscart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2606
After hearing and being impressed by a local tech's pair of Imperial 6's, I've had my eyes peeled for a nice looking pair. Took a chance with a seller with terrific feedback selling/packing/shipping vintage speakers, and they arrived as described/pictured. Disconnected my JBL L112's, hooked the Imp 6's up, and have been listening for almost a week. Wow. Like I've told my brother, they don't necessarily sound better than the :L112's, just different in a great way. Wish I had a larger listening space to set up both pairs and A/B, but no luck there -- going to have to swap out periodically... or create another system in another part of the house. 
In I think the early 1980s I bought a complete Marantz system...from Dilliards, I believe. It was a PM 500 DC Amp, matching Receiver, Turntable and two speakers with 12" woofers, mids, tweeters and large ports facing the front. It think this system was called the Gold Series, because of the golden tone of the faceplates and accessories. I later picked up another matching PM 500.
This was a great sounding system. Speakers were awesome. I had them sitting on risers about 8in tall. Sometimes when really cranking, on bass notes I could feel slight puffs of air from the ports across my living room at the time...sitting about 12 feet from the front of the speakers.
Some years later the vinyl laminate on the speakers began to get sticky. I tried everything in the book to fix that, even went online trying to find a solution. Apparently the only fix was to re-laminate the boxes. (By the way....I have recently noticed some old console stereos having that same stickiness...must be the glue they were using back then) I ended up just making new boxes from 3/4in oak faced plywood, and transferring the parts to them.
I have since gotten rid of everything but the first PM 500 amp. Would love to have the whole system back.
This was a great sounding system. Speakers were awesome. I had them sitting on risers about 8in tall. Sometimes when really cranking, on bass notes I could feel slight puffs of air from the ports across my living room at the time...sitting about 12 feet from the front of the speakers.
Some years later the vinyl laminate on the speakers began to get sticky. I tried everything in the book to fix that, even went online trying to find a solution. Apparently the only fix was to re-laminate the boxes. (By the way....I have recently noticed some old console stereos having that same stickiness...must be the glue they were using back then) I ended up just making new boxes from 3/4in oak faced plywood, and transferring the parts to them.
I have since gotten rid of everything but the first PM 500 amp. Would love to have the whole system back.
After hearing and being impressed by a local tech's pair of Imperial 6's, I've had my eyes peeled for a nice looking pair. Took a chance with a seller with terrific feedback selling/packing/shipping vintage speakers, and they arrived as described/pictured. Disconnected my JBL L112's, hooked the Imp 6's up, and have been listening for almost a week. Wow. Like I've told my brother, they don't necessarily sound better than the :L112's, just different in a great way. Wish I had a larger listening space to set up both pairs and A/B, but no luck there -- going to have to swap out periodically... or create another system in another part of the house.
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I missed this post....nice set of 6s! My 6s are hands down my favorite speaker. What I am impressed with as well is my pair of Imperial 5s. I have them in the front room now with my 1060 and the bass is just a bit less than the 6s with the same high end since they use the same tweeter.
Wish I had a larger listening space to set up both pairs and A/B, but no luck there -- going to have to swap out periodically... or create another system in another part of the house.
I had the same problem but I just finally surrendered and figured out a way to fit four systems in our small place. The front system has a Marantz HT receiver with the front HT speakers in the entertainment center. On top of the center is my two channel Marantz system which usually has a 1060/Imperial 6/6150 turntable system. I did put the Imperial 5s out just to get some time with them recently.
In the bedroom I have two more systems that are never static for long. I change out amps, receivers and speakers all the time because I enjoy so many different combos......
bikingbuddha
Well-Known Member
I don't know how rare it is but if you can find second hand speaker box of the same model, maybe you can connect your speakers to them. One time I tried getting the speakers boxes rebuilt to same measurements and they looked alright but sonically different due to materials used.
