Silver Vs. Blue

[Nirky]

I had a silver-face Marantz a couple of years ago, the model escapes me but it was a late-70's unit I think, 2255b or 2265b possibly, still classic and before Marantz changed and made less expensive units.

I was happy with the mid and highs but bass was somewhat lacking, and I sold it on Ebay for a nice profit if I remember correctly.

So my question is, is there any difference in sound between the newer silver faced units like the one I had and the older dark blue plastic face style of the early-mid 70's? I don't need a receiver to put out a lot of watts as my speakers are efficient, only am concerned with the sonics. Any opinions would be much appreciated!

 

[Gigapod]

There is no reason why a blue-faced Marantz would have a different low-frequency response compared to a silver-faced one, but as mentionned by jstang, electrolytics grow old and have to be replaced.
Some electrolytic capacitors are used as coupling capacitors between the various stages in a Marantz to block DC. These are in fact high-pass filters that cumulatively will degrade the low-frequency response of the receiver, specially if their values drift out of spec.
And finally the big PS filter capacitors will determine the low-frequency response at high power levels, so replacing them with modern good quality equivalent units will also tend to improve LF response.

 

[Nirky]

This is good info to know! Is the recap you describe a thing I can do myself? I'm handy with a soldering iron and have both patience and good dexterity, can I be talked through something like this, should I get another Marantz (I'm looking now)?

 

[jstang]

I'm handy with a soldering iron and have both patience and good dexterity, can I be talked through something like this, should I get another Marantz (I'm looking now)?

A service manual with a schematic would be the best thing to have next to you. But patience and dexterity are the keys, along with being able to read a schematic.... you basically are just replacing like for like... or if you want you can try upgrading to a better type if you have the room.... I am new on the site, but there are lot of great posts on the affect of capacitors on sound quality.... at over 70 electrolytics and tantalums in my 4400 that I replaced....upgrading would have cost a ton more then just a replacement. But just replacing all the tantalum and electrolylic with a good quality new electrolylic will make a big difference.

I was surprised with how many tantalums were in the 4400. I don't remember seeing any at all in the 2270.... My people regard tantalums as being the worst for audio applications...

Should you get another Marantz....? Sure.... get two....


johnk

 

[Gigapod]

This is good info to know! Is the recap you describe a thing I can do myself? I'm handy with a soldering iron and have both patience and good dexterity, can I be talked through something like this, should I get another Marantz (I'm looking now)?

Hi Nirky,
You may want to check my Recap HOWTO here:
http://gigapod.free.fr/re-cap.html

Yes, you can do the re-cap job yourself. :yes:

 

[Gigapod]

...
I was surprised with how many tantalums were in the 4400. I don't remember seeing any at all in the 2270.... My people regard tantalums as being the worst for audio applications...

johnk

Hi John,
Tantalum caps are OK if used correctly i.e. don't put them in the signal path. For decoupling they are great since they save space, last forever and have very low ESR.

Why were they used in the 4400 and not in the 2270? Probably because they are a **lot** more expen$ive compared to good old 'lytics (5 x the cost? Something like that). I think the 4400 used to cost about twice as much as the 2270 back in the late 70's, so of course that gave Marantz engineers some leeway to try different components.

Back in the 70's tantalum caps were only available at low voltage ratings i.e. below 20V. Both electrolytic and tantalum capacitor technology have evolved since then, you'll find tantalum caps are very common in miniature applications nowadays (e.g. mobile phones, mp3 players, etc).