Imperial Six's
I would have to say I have perhaps the most well traveled, Marantz's out there, let me first start. I came upoun these Marantz's and the appreciation of them in such an extraordinary way that I could not pass up posting on this thread, Let me begin a little over ten years ago and in a differant chapter of my life at the beginiing of a six month uncle sam sponsered cruise. At 20 some years old, music had a significant importance on my life and I was getting ready to embark on my first deployment and the one thing in my head was that I needed tunes- well It so happened that I was stationed at whidbey island naval air station and I would be detatching with the airwing on board the USS John F. Kennedey homeported out of Mayport, Florida- well here in lies the problem how was I to get tunes as far across the US as I could go in a straight line- my youth imparted me with the niavity to bring my own tunes. So I had a mission and my prayers were answereed when my old lady stopped buy a pawn sshop on the way home from work shortly before our departure with the words "there's some neat old speakers you might want to look at" and $75 dollars later as well as a kenwood KR-5030 I was set. My dreams would be realized and I would have the time of my life-or so I thought untill Uncle Sam infromed me that I was at the bottom of the scale-which ment so was the room afforded me luggage wise, in a flight across country. And unless I wanted 1 change of clothes for six months those Marantz's would take up entirely to much room in my seabag, so I had choices to make and with the wisdom of youth I decided that I would dissemble said speakers and buy some wood in Jacksonville(near Mayport) and build me some baddass speakers, so I broke down those 20 year old speakers and removed the woofer/mids-highs/and x-over assmbeley along with all the in cabinet wirring and I carefully bubble wrapped everything up an stowed them away in a misc. gear box with newf ound motivation. When I found out that we were too be delayed 2 weeks for Hurricane Floyd I thought nothing of it other than to spend some extra time with the wifey. and so after a short hiatus I loaded on to that DC-9 and hit every fuel station on the way in an all day flight and I landed in mayport only to come to the realazation that there were no hardware store closer than a $75 dollar cab ride away-OK no big deal a little less beer later but well worth it once I got my system up and running and so when I arrived at the hardware store I was full of gusto untill I learned an important lesson, hurricanes do far more damage in the south than they ever do in the pac-northwest and for the 2 week vacation I got, every Tom, Dick and Harry had been in and bought up every last scrap of usable plywood/particle board in every last lumber store in the area- bummer, but being young and knowing I was going to do something and I was on a mission I scoured that store and then I seen them like an idol on a pedastel- 3 sheets of 3/4" particle board- only one problem the reason they hadn't been bought for window insurance-the were perfectly cut table top rounds- 36"s in diameter and every other aspect perfect- and only three of them(must have been somebody with round windows) and much to the ire of the cabdriver I was set and another $75 dollars later I was back on board trying to remember what geometry was beacouse I spent 2 days figuring out how to build cubes from circles- not to mention they for some reason don't use a lot of wood screws on board a steel hulled ship full of aluminum airplanes, so my next task was a method of fastening and borrowing from my naval aviation trainning I bent some high dollar aluminum brackets to go around the corners of the boxes and I was just able to get enough 1" sheet metal screws to do the trick of holding these boxes together and as for sealant I was lucky enough to find a spare roll of two sided tacky tape and a roll of synthetic batting for fill, once assembled I began my appreciation for Marantz beacouse those speakers entertained a shop full of men for 6 months all the way to the Persian gulf and back with every variety of music immaginable, and maybe turned down everyonce in a great while but certainly never turned off, and those puupies were loud enough to get us quite a few lectures from several khaki's throughout the course of our deployment. and when when we got back within 50 miles of the US coast I promptly dissembled those speakers repackaged them in the same bubble wrap and took the boxes and deep 6'd them over the side, and they then made another long flight back across the country abused to who knows what degree and when I arrived home I got out my screw driver and with the original screws remounted them back where they belonged, and now ten or so years later and with a my much higher appreciation for vintage quality they now reside in my living room, living the easy life behind a modern pioneer surround sound reciever doing mostly movie duty-but occasionally I'll feel the need again and those underappreciated tweed covers will come off and something a little louder, a little more exciting will emminate from inside those cabinets and they will re-live the glory they were allways meant for.
The Sound of Marantz
is the compelling warmth of a Stradivarius.
It is a dancing flute, a haughty bassoon
and the plaintive call of a lone French horn.
The Sound of Marantz is the sound of beauty,
and Marantz equipment is designed to bring it to you
the subtlejoy of its delight.
Wonderful adventures in sound await you
when you discover that the Sound of Marantz
is the sound of music at its very best
