Guys here today just to listen to Marantz 7C and 8B.

[Blue Shadow]

Had the guys over to hear these two iconic pieces of gear we first saw a few weeks ago. Original owner, Mike brought them over but no joy a broken power tube, a poor sounding preamp. Gadget73 took em home, they are tubes units, they are right now as anyone that knows him or reads his posts would expect.

Mike had lots of questions, speaker wire, we have used 5 different kinds 3 just today on the different amps hooked up. Sound of amps, we used a McCormack for solid state, the 8B and the Lux MB3045. Sound of preamps, ARC SP-3C and this 7C. He was hearing the differences and liked his gear the best. And he left them here for the week before we go to Mark’s for more listening next weekend.

These two pieces do sound good and drive the Dahlquist DQ-10 very well. Maybe get a little strident if very loud, overdriven, but loud enough otherwise to push aside all the talk of needing 200 watts a side for these speakers. I’ll add the subs this week and make the system capable of higher volume although it is not needed.

Mike was thinking he was mostly hearing the speakers and we tried a pair of Time Window 1A and KEF Q15 for comparison. He sure does like the DQ-10s.

Fun day trying all this gear and a couple DACs and explaining streaming to Mike who bought these two pieces new.

Being stuck at home for the next 3-5 days is going to be fun cruising to tunes with these pieces here playing what I want and getting the sweet spot to myself. Well if we don’t lose power but I don’t expect to as there have been recent improvements. Power sucked 8 months ago when a light breeze caused issues.

Now to get some chili ready.

 

[Lavane]

Those two pieces of equipment were meant to be together.
Never owned them, but have heard them. I missed out on a killer deal on a model 8 some years back. I was buying a pair of speakers and the guy I bought them from was all happy that he got $100 for an old tube amp a few minutes before I arrived. I asked him if he knew what the amp was and he then told me it was a Marantz Model 8. I couldn't help myself, I popped his ballon and told him what it was really worth.

 

[Gigantic]

TFTI...

 

[Aerobat]

That 8B/7C combo sounded superb.

 

[DesertRatt]

It's interesting to physically compare the 8b-- a masterful design and certainly high end sound--to whatever high end amps hold the title today. Whereas, the 8b looks rather industrial and purposefull and utilitarian, a modern contender looks like a piece of spaceship jewelry dressed up for a low rider car show. I think Saul wisely put the money where it would have the best Sonic return-- like in Sid Smiths fabulous transformers.

 

[onemug]

Being stuck at home for the next 3-5 days is going to be fun cruising to tunes with these pieces here playing what I want and getting the sweet spot to myself.

I've had that same combo for years... listening to it this morning as a matter of fact.

While you have them and cruising, try removing the red rubber rings off the 6cg7's in front. I tried it with/without and much preferred it 'without'. 'With' seemed to strip the music of something. Only exception might be if one or both of them were too 'microphonic'. Love to hear your results if you do.

 

[Lavane]

It's interesting to physically compare the 8b-- a masterful design and certainly high end sound--to whatever high end amps hold the title today. Whereas, the 8b looks rather industrial and purposefull and utilitarian, a modern contender looks like a piece of spaceship jewelry dressed up for a low rider car show. I think Saul wisely put the money where it would have the best Sonic return-- like in Sid Smiths fabulous transformers.

Back then a lot of the tube power amps weren't really meant to be seen I guess. The Marantz model 9 amplifiers however were.

 

[Blue Shadow]

tube power amps weren't really meant to be seen I guess

The eagle-eyed on ak will see the top of the tube cover for the 8B under the table, barely seen. Doesn’t make it ready for prime time but covers the industrial look and might prevent a burn.

 

[Lavane]

The eagle-eyed on ak will see the top of the tube cover for the 8B under the table, barely seen. Doesn’t make it ready for prime time but covers the industrial look and might prevent a burn.

I only use a cage on one of my amps just because its too ugly without it.
I would rather have better cooling without them. I just can't get passed the ugliness of that one amp, so on goes the cover.
If a child happens to touch a hot tube, it probably won't happen again.

 

[Blue Shadow]

I would rather have better cooling without them

I don’t think I’d get better cooling without and the Lux amps look good both ways.

 

[DesertRatt]

Nowadaze, amps have most of the cost wrapped up in "chassis jewelry" and exotic mill-work. I think the new D'agostino amp has 42 pounds of copper billet heat sinks, and other baubles. Not that it is bad or wrong, but it sure as heck drives up the price.

 

[gadget73]

This particular amp is in pretty good shape but the cover's paint has seen better days. Easy enough to refresh but its cold and winter doesn't lend itself to paint work so I settled for giving it a bath in the kitchen sink. The amp and preamp both cleaned up well with some McGuire's cleaner wax. Knobs on the preamp also got a dip in the ultrasonic to get the crud out of the notches. Preamp case got rubbed down with some Old English since it was a bit dry looking, and I fixed a split in the wood where one of the faceplate screws goes in so it all holds securely. At some point the transformer cover on the power amp had been removed and re-installed backwards, and with mixed hardware so I fixed that too.

None of that affects functionality of course but no point in going to the bother of making it all work right and not do a little cosmetic work as well.

While it was here I ran it for a while and honestly I thought the 8b sounded better with my Moscode preamp. The 7c I thought was just a little bit on the dull side up top. Tubes are what came in it, some new production JJ for the gain stages and I don't remember what old production for the cathode follower. Possibly switching those old tubes to the first spot would improve things but I didn't try it.

curiously I thought the 7c was a better pairing with my Pilot 260 than the Moscode is.

 

[Aerobat]

I've had that same combo for years... listening to it this morning as a matter of fact.

While you have them and cruising, try removing the red rubber rings off the 6cg7's in front. I tried it with/without and much preferred it 'without'. 'With' seemed to strip the music of something. Only exception might be if one or both of them were too 'microphonic'. Love to hear your results if you do.

I tried tube dampers and it filled the house with a hot plastic smell, shouldn't have gotten the Chinese ones from eBay.

I only use a cage on one of my amps just because its too ugly without it.
I would rather have better cooling without them. I just can't get passed the ugliness of that one amp, so on goes the cover.
If a child happens to touch a hot tube, it probably won't happen again.

A kid could also touch a hot incandescent light bulb, same thing. I like to keep the tube gear naked.

 

[Lavane]

I tried tube dampers and it filled the house with a hot plastic smell, shouldn't have gotten the Chinese ones from eBay.

A kid could also touch a hot incandescent light bulb, same thing. I like to keep the tube gear naked.

Same here. You can't see a power tube red plating with the cage on.

 

[damacman]

It's interesting to physically compare the 8b-- a masterful design and certainly high end sound--to whatever high end amps hold the title today. Whereas, the 8b looks rather industrial and purposefull and utilitarian, a modern contender looks like a piece of spaceship jewelry dressed up for a low rider car show. I think Saul wisely put the money where it would have the best Sonic return-- like in Sid Smiths fabulous transformers.

QFT ... to date, the Marantz 7 ranks as one of the finest preamps I've yet had the pleasure of owning.

 

[Aerobat]

Maybe we'll do a shootout between the Marantz 7 and a Pass BA-3.

 

[HennieTalja]

Is the Audio Research SP-3 a good match for the Marantz 8B? I'm a little concerned that the SP-3's gain might be too high.

 

[Blue Shadow]

Is the Audio Research SP-3 a good match for the Marantz 8B?

We tried this and it was fine. Most of the time was with the 7C as it was a single switch to turn on the system.

I sure hope Michael has them hooked up now. He took them home, waited for his son to help get the amp into the house and then contacted me a couple weeks later asking about speaker wire hook up. We got his wire ready to connect, he was concerned about phase, doing both channels the same.

 

[egellings]

Had the guys over to hear these two iconic pieces of gear we first saw a few weeks ago. Original owner, Mike brought them over but no joy a broken power tube, a poor sounding preamp. Gadget73 took em home, they are tubes units, they are right now as anyone that knows him or reads his posts would expect.

Mike had lots of questions, speaker wire, we have used 5 different kinds 3 just today on the different amps hooked up. Sound of amps, we used a McCormack for solid state, the 8B and the Lux MB3045. Sound of preamps, ARC SP-3C and this 7C. He was hearing the differences and liked his gear the best. And he left them here for the week before we go to Mark’s for more listening next weekend.

These two pieces do sound good and drive the Dahlquist DQ-10 very well. Maybe get a little strident if very loud, overdriven, but loud enough otherwise to push aside all the talk of needing 200 watts a side for these speakers. I’ll add the subs this week and make the system capable of higher volume although it is not needed.

Mike was thinking he was mostly hearing the speakers and we tried a pair of Time Window 1A and KEF Q15 for comparison. He sure does like the DQ-10s.

Fun day trying all this gear and a couple DACs and explaining streaming to Mike who bought these two pieces new.

Being stuck at home for the next 3-5 days is going to be fun cruising to tunes with these pieces here playing what I want and getting the sweet spot to myself. Well if we don’t lose power but I don’t expect to as there have been recent improvements. Power sucked 8 months ago when a light breeze caused issues. "The most venerable Mr. B"

Now to get some chili ready.
View attachment 3683828

 

[HennieTalja]

We tried this and it was fine. Most of the time was with the 7C as it was a single switch to turn on the system.

I sure hope Michael has them hooked up now. He took them home, waited for his son to help get the amp into the house and then contacted me a couple weeks later asking about speaker wire hook up. We got his wire ready to connect, he was concerned about phase, doing both channels the same.

I'm just about to pull the trigger on a Marantz 8B. I'm 99% decided.