Phono preamps in Marantz gear

[Garrard201]

Hey everyone: I understand that many Marantz tuners and recievers share the same tuner circuits. How about phono preamps? Which recievers/preamps have the best phono preamp? Did Marantz ever make a standalone phono preamp?

 

[ATGS5000II]

No stand alones were made, AFIK. Marantz phono peamps were good.

Al

 

[Fred Longworth]

Many Marantz phono preamps from the 2230/2245/2270 era use 2SC458 transistors in their phono preamp (one on each side.) This has turned out to be the highest failure, small-signal, low-noise transistor in the entire history of consumer audio.

Replace with 2SC2240. Then set the on-card pots for maximum dynamic range on a midrange signal (e.g. 700Hz).

Note that the 2SC458 has a pinout from left to right of base-collector-emitter, whereas the 2SC2240 is pinned out emitter-collector-base.

Fred Longworth