Marantz speaker owners???

I love the look of classic Marantz speakers and have had my eye on some HD-880'S that my sister owns! (read: covet!) Unfortunately,they do noy have the original woofers and there is someting I have always wondered...are the dustcaps inverted or the originals or is this just the way they appear in photographs?
 
I recently picked up a set of Imperial 9's that someone had obviously used little and babied a lot.
They are all original except for having been refoamed, cabinets are near mint, I thought the caps for the tweeters were bad but a good cleaning of the pots for the brilliance and presence took care of that problem.
Even the original brown fabric is intact on the covers.
Stands were included.
With my 2270 they are awesome and I am hearing parts of music from 30 years ago that i didn't know was there.
Love them!
 
I just moved my Imperial 9s back into the living room, and have them hooked to a Sansui G-9000. It's a sweet setup.

I also have an almost flawless set of JBL L300s, but with a few kids running around, those stay out in the off-limits listening room.:D The Marantz compare more favorably to the JBLs than I had expected. Very smooth and pleasant to listen to speakers.
 
I love the look of classic Marantz speakers and have had my eye on some HD-880'S that my sister owns! (read: covet!) Unfortunately,they do noy have the original woofers and there is someting I have always wondered...are the dustcaps inverted or the originals or is this just the way they appear in photographs?

The dust caps are inverted on the originals.

I have owned and listened to the 880 for about 8 years and I was very happy with them until upgrading recently. They replaced a stacked quad of JBL L100. It took a long time to find the parts to restore them.

The last time I listened to them, I had the urge to get rid of all the capacitors and replace them with affordable, bypassed polys. There are a couple of lytics that should be done at the minimum. I have not got around to this.

They large tweeter is turned back one notch on the l-pad and the ports are stuffed. The port should remain closed unless you are using a VERY low power amplifier. I have amplified these with the 2325, 2275 and SM-7. They are all great, but I prefer the SM-7.
 
I had a pair of Marantz 940's with the rounded cabinets & the opening on the bottom. This was back in the early 1980's. Love at first sight. I tried really hard to like them, but alas, they sounded awful. I heard some A/D/S with punchy bass & german dome tweeters and never looked back.
 
I recently picked up a set of Imperial 9's that someone had obviously used little and babied a lot.
They are all original except for having been refoamed, cabinets are near mint, I thought the caps for the tweeters were bad but a good cleaning of the pots for the brilliance and presence took care of that problem.
Even the original brown fabric is intact on the covers.
Stands were included.
With my 2270 they are awesome and I am hearing parts of music from 30 years ago that i didn't know was there.
Love them!
Wow, great pick up, T. Imp 9's are hard to find intact. Alas, the original grills were a open cell foam, like the first gen HD's, and early 70's XX'M' series. Your grills were added later by a previous owner after original foams desintegrated.
 
I had a pair of Marantz 940's with the rounded cabinets & the opening on the bottom. This was back in the early 1980's. Love at first sight. I tried really hard to like them, but alas, they sounded awful. I heard some A/D/S with punchy bass & german dome tweeters and never looked back.
I have always looked for a pair of 940's, but these days they are not easy to find, especially intact. The HD/DS's did not mate well with certain amps/receivers, and with you saying they did not sound good makes me wonder what you were powering them with. My 920's and 880's sound fan-bloody-tastic with my SX-1980 or SX-1250, especially when I EQ'd them flat with my mic.
 
The dust caps are inverted on the originals.

I have owned and listened to the 880 for about 8 years and I was very happy with them until upgrading recently. They replaced a stacked quad of JBL L100. It took a long time to find the parts to restore them.

The last time I listened to them, I had the urge to get rid of all the capacitors and replace them with affordable, bypassed polys. There are a couple of lytics that should be done at the minimum. I have not got around to this.

They large tweeter is turned back one notch on the l-pad and the ports are stuffed. The port should remain closed unless you are using a VERY low power amplifier. I have amplified these with the 2325, 2275 and SM-7. They are all great, but I prefer the SM-7.
The HD's(first and second gen), plus DS's Xover networks were filled with poly caps originally. Those thick cardboard cylinders filled with wax are in fact hiding poly type caps inside there. Yes, there were electrolytic caps in the Xover, but only used as bypass filters between the + & - connections. I will be honest and say my 880's when I first heard them, I thought they sounded a little colored with the top end, so I raised the Xover point of the tweeters slightly, right below where the midrange rolled off it's high notes, which made them sound better to my old ears. :)
 
Big Tuna: I was using a Marantz 4240 and the 940s just replaced some technics sb-4500s. The 4500s were blown a few times. (thanks ELP)
 
Well Gum, that's your problem. the big DS940's were not designed to run with the 4240 Quad. That receiver was not even able to deliver 1/15th the max rated input power of the 940's, plus there are too many driver's which stress the outputs. Pairing 940's with a weakling quad is like trying to move a car with a lawn mower engine. It may move it, but not enough to maintain speed under load.
 
Imperial 5's

I have a pair of immaculate Imperial 5e speakers, and they sound great. I use them with a Marantz 1060, and in my small office, they make me very happy. I'm know speakers with a better high end are around. I use Cantons with my Marantz 1200. But these have a very sweet vintage sound with great midrange and clarity.
 
Wow, great pick up, T. Imp 9's are hard to find intact. Alas, the original grills were a open cell foam, like the first gen HD's, and early 70's XX'M' series. Your grills were added later by a previous owner after original foams desintegrated.

Not sure about that grill cover statement as I have an advertisement that shows them with the cloth cover, as well these covers have the fabric attached in what appears to be an untampered state with the original pull tabs, Velcro tabs and staples still in place in the original position, the hardboard backings all factory not redo's.
The name tags have a Velcro like attachment so they can be re orientated depending on how you turn the speaker.
These speakers were issued in different versions and with the speaker arrangements in the cabinets enclosed differently and different crossovers from what I can research.
I will post photos of them when I get time and figure out how.
I have had these completely apart and I will take them apart again to photo all parts for those that are interested in what a set of originals look like.
 
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Not sure about that grill cover statement as I have an advertisement that shows them with the cloth cover, as well these covers have the fabric attached in what appears to be an untampered state with the original pull tabs, Velcro tabs and staples still in place in the original position, the hardboard backings all factory not redo's.
The name tags have a Velcro like attachment so they can be re orientated depending on how you turn the speaker.
These speakers were issued in different versions and with the speaker arrangements in the cabinets enclosed differently and different crossovers from what I can research.
I will post photos of them when I get time and figure out how.
I have had these completely apart and I will take them apart again to photo all parts for those that are interested in what a set of originals look like.
Hmm, that's got me curious. Would you care to scan the ad or take a pic of it so I can see it? That would stop me from scratching my head so much, because all the literature and ads I've seen for Imperial 9's, I always see those foam grills.
 
Just got my first set of HD series speakers, and I am blown away by the sound. I picked up a set of HD-550s from a member on here with vari-q plugs and what looks like fresh foam. The sound is very pleasant off my recapped 2220b. I am actually astonished by the differenced from some of the other sets Ive listened to. I have them up on stands at the moment around ear level and damn do they sound good.

I also have my eyes on a pair of Marantz 8mkii... not much info out there, anyone think I should grab em? 15 inch woofer, etc... I dont think I have anything to really give them full power here at school, but I may have something at home that can do the trick.

So currently my school setup consists of:
Marantz 2220b
Marantz 2440
Marantz 5120
Fisher MT-6224
HD -550s up front powered by the 2220b
Cerwin Vega AT-10s in the back powered by the 2440

:music:
 
In all my years of web browsing, I have only seen one set of 8 MKII's ever come up for sale. They are pretty rare these days. An easier to find alternative would be to find a pair of the later SP 1500 or SP 1815. I had a set of SP 1500's and they sounded mighty fine. Supposedly rated down to 18Hz, but I dunno.
 
Big Tuna, I already found a set. Im making the deal and setting up a time to get them. Do you happen to have a picture of them? I'd like to see what they look like so I know what to expect when I pop the grills off. I CAN however, post a picture of the ones Im looking at picking up. Let me know what you think. :yes:

I was a little weary at first because I know the 7mkii used the woofer from the HD line, and the one I saw in the add is very different, but thinking about it, the HD line didnt have a 15 inch version, so this makes more sense, but I'd just like a little reassurance that this is correct.
 

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I have some pics of original Model 8 MKII's on my laptop, but not on the home puter. Next chance I get I will post them. The ones you show are indeed original, but one gasket looks to have been replaced, not a big deal on that, gaskets normally come with refoam kits, and get replaced when they are refoamed, if original gasket gets torn while being removed.
 
I noticed that, and assumed it was just the paper gasket. He did say the speakers have fresh foam and are ready to go. I'll be sure to hook up the ohm meter and check for rubbing and damage when I see them. I'm excited though, looks like I found a pretty rare set!
 
Marantz speakers

New to this forum but i am an avid Marantz owner.

I own 2 sets of the HD-880's and run/have run them with the following Marantz receivers:

2275
2285B
2325
2385
4400

All of my units have been totally restored by Ready Audio/ Philadelphia, PA.

I also own a set of Bose 901's and 301's.

IMO the HD-880's sound fabulous paired with the Marantz receivers from the 70's. Both of my HD-880's have been re foamed, completely original and have the vari q plugs with new foam. If you own these speakers make sure you have the original woofers. Besides keeping them original they sound much better than aftermarket woofers.

I also run an 801 omnisonic imager with all my systems. It is a sound enhancer from the early 80's that makes the music sound live and you pick up secondary instruments, back ground vocals etc a lot more clear.
 
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