Won auction for my dream: 2330DB

[reeltorock]

Well it wasn't a screaming deal, but I won my favorite Marantz early this morning (1:10am): 2330DB in wood case! It needs transistors, which I will do myself, and the relay is missing its cover so I'll replace that too. $263 for the piece and it's less than an hour from me I figure around $50 in parts to make it mint, hopefully less. I'm going to (carefully) strip and refinish the wood case too. I've been dying for a 100+wpc unit, now I have an awesome project piece to keep me busy! And it's the rare DB version too.

I wish I could have found one at a garage sale price, but hey, it's the next best thing. If I can have this thing mint for around $300 I'm happy.

EDIT: The seller got it backwards (and so did I until I looked more closely at classic-audio.com)....it's 2330BD, not DB. It isn't a Sansui

 

[Duffinator]

Cool, congratulations and be sure to post some pictures when you get your hands on it. :thmbsp:

 

[onepixel]

Very cool and congratulations! That's a great score! :thmbsp:

 

[reeltorock]

It was a pretty exciting finish to the auction...was at around $160 when I threw in a max bid of $270 with 25 seconds left, the other guy bid up to the $263 and I'm assuming either gave up or didn't have the time to put another bid down. I remember when I started eBaying in 2001 (yes I *was* of the minimum age....cough cough) and there were very few people who would snipe at the end. So much for the rarity of that style....

I'm going to pick the receiver up on Monday afternoon, on the same trip as dropping off a Denon turntable I'm selling not far from where the 2330BD is. I will take before pictures (as-is) and after I clean up the unit and get it running. I have exams coming up in school this week so I'll be pressed for audio time but I'll get it done soon...I'm sure I won't be able to resist.

I need to make some more money after this purchase....the same seller has a project 1300DC at auction that ends in a week, that would be sweet to have under the 2330BD on the shelf

 

[onepixel]

Yeah...I love the thrill of putting in that last second bid.

Keep us posted on the 2330DB and good luck on your exams!

Cheers

 

[alexkerhead]

Sweet ass deal r2r!

Holy Moly!

 

[doctorbongo]

Congrats, Reel2Rock. Dreams are a very good thing, esp. when they come true.

 

[reeltorock]

2330B service manual?

Now I just need to figure out if the 2330B service manual is good for this model, or if I need to find a 2330BD-specific one. The latter case will be pretty tough as it's such a rare model....I mainly need the model numbers of the transformers and relay, although for future repair/upgrade (i.e. offset/bias setting, re-cap) it would be very nice to have.

EDIT: After searching around, it seems that the 2330B service manual is most likely sufficient, as the only difference with the 'B' model is the addition of the voltage selector on the rear. If anyone has a PDF of this service manual that would be great!

 

[sssmokin99]

Congrats! You have a nice collection going there....
:thmbsp:

 

[jstang]

I was watching that one..... Good for you....! :thmbsp:

 

[spaceman]

Nice score, congrats! :thmbsp:

 

[reeltorock]

Picked it up

Well after a pretty treacherous drive back from Toronto in half a foot of snow on the expressway, the 2330BD is home with me. Pretty interesting experience at the seller's house, he's quite the talker, very eccentric, has dozens and dozens of pieces around his house, most in need of repair but some good ones - how about two 2600s and a 2500? He gave me the 2330BD for $240, to "cover gas."

Why I think he gave this discount is that there is engraving around the power switch. It isn't the original switch, I knew that as it was stated in the auction listing. The engraving was NOT mentioned however, and the pictures were too small to notice it. I'm going to look into making a thin brushed aluminum bezel to go around the power switch to hide the "ON OFF" engraving, probably rectangular with a hole for the switch to reflect the extruded face look.

Now begins the restoration process...no doubt a long one but it's worth it to me for this model. The seller has thousands of parts including tubes and transistors, the latter which he said he would sell me to complete the 2330BD. If I choose to brave that house of his again, I may take him up on the offer as well as a 2385 if I can get a good price.

 

[marantzfan]

Why do people do s#!t like that?? It's not like this was a cheap throw away receiver. For gods sake, at least give it a proper switch!! And that engraving job?? I want to just find the person responsible for that and slap the hell out of them!

 

[onepixel]

The faceplate other than the engraving job looks pretty good. I agree with marantzfan about wanting to slap some sense into people who do stuff like this. The woodcase while a little beat up will clean up very nicely with some elbow grease.

How is the working condition of the 2230DB? Hope there aren't anymore surprise. Good luck and keep us posted.

Cheers

 

[reeltorock]

When I was at the seller's place, I plugged it in to make sure it was functional other than the missing power transistors (which by the way if anyone knows the PN for that would be great, I can pick up new ones today) and some of the dial lit up, as well as all source indicators. The tuning strength and center tuning worked properly on FM. It's just really dusty inside, a day with vacuum, brush and swabs and I should have it tidied up. A nice thing I noticed about the power amp is that the jumper attachments at the bottom are removable connectors for service, unlike every other unit I've seen which has them soldered. So I can pull out the pin connectors and remove the whole power amp to clean up the heatsink/board and install the new transistors with the amp out of the receiver. Nice touch. I'm hoping that the wood case will turn out okay, I'm going to take time with it as it's definitely not replaceable at that price! It needs filler at the corners and in some chips, that should be stained independently of the wood to match when re-finishing, right? I've varnished over wood filler before and it's stood right out, much too bright compared to the wood.

I'll be tackling the cleanup job today, I have the faceplate off and all sections separated (plate, extrusion, glass) for a thorough cleaning. I'll then reassemble and epoxy the glass back to the extrusion for a factory appearance. I will then hunt down whoever did the engraving and beat them silly for blemishing what is an otherwise quite clean faceplate!

 

[jstang]

4400 and others have plug in power amp boards.... I am not sure I really that ... looks like they use good gold plated contacts on the connector... but I don't like 30+ year old connectors.... Always clean all of them....

jk

 

[onepixel]

I've tried wood filler and stain, it just doesn't look right. I've even painted and added texture to the wood filler with medicore results and I'm an artist.

The best results are when I've filled the cavities partially with wood filler and spliced in wood veneer. I've actually used veneer from a beat up speaker. As long as the wood matches it will be imperceptible. You might even consider completely reveneering the case.

Cheers

 

[spaceman]

I think I'd try a very small wire brush attachment, being VERY careful, to try to remove the scratching on her face. Just do a good job masking, with something strong enough, & it should be do-able. Good luck, & enjoy. :thmbsp:

 

[gearhead]

Good price to start with, good luck fixing it up.
I'ver got a 2330B, I like it.

 

[reeltorock]

Faceplate cleaned

I spent some time on the faceplate and knobs tonight, they're clean to my liking, there's a bit of that "age haze" that I went at gently with steel wool but really, apart from the engraving (which I worked on by hand with the wool a bit) the faceplate looks pretty good considering the 2330BD's past. I'll epoxy the window - polished with Meguiars PlastX - to the extrusion tomorrow and she'll be ready for the unit when it's fixed.

I will most likely re-veneer the case. The covering that's on there now is really not worth trying to restore, lots of impressions and chips. I'll strip the shellac, sand down the old veneer, fill in the chips in the structural wood and slap on the new veneer. The case should be looking good after that

One of the tone control knobs - the outer one closer to the face - has a broken center and will not be reused unless I can glue in a centre spline from a scrap knob. As well, a couple of the big 1-piece knobs are scratched too much for me. If anyone is parting out a silver-dial 'B' and has some knobs I would greatly appreciate snagging a couple!