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Hadley 621 VS Marantz 7 preamplifier Any experience?

B

biscuithead

Me likes the eargasm retroplasm...
I have a Vintage stereo super seller about 20mi away from me. He calls every now and again, I have a want list with him. On my want list is an extremely poor cosmetic condition Marantz 7 (I was hoping to get one to just repair and try) .
He has a Hadley 621 that he swears is a SS upgrade of the 7T ...
Does anyone out there in AK land have any experience with this Hadley pre ?
 
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Are you looking for a 7 C or 7 T. I do not think that the T is worth fixing, although it is a beautifully made piece. I have owned both the C and the T and remember it was their first transistor. It had a fairly high noise floor, by my standards. I had heard that the 621 was quite good but I never got my ears on one, sorry.
 
The 621 is a groundbreaking piece. Very smooth sounding.
It reminded me of Conrad Johnson's first preamp, the PV1.
It did have that "Hi-Fi" crispness in the midrange that let me know I was listening to a very good recording.
The Marantz 7, on the other hand, gives you the illusion real music performed in real space. No hint of electronic enhancements of any kind on the best recordings.

I feel your pain about finding a Marantz 7 for a low price. Even cosmetically challenged examples go for a pretty penny. The one I am restoring right now came from a humid Florida environment. And it still cost me around 3K. Insane!
 
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Freddymac2 said:
Are you looking for a 7 C or 7 T. I do not think that the T is worth fixing, although it is a beautifully made piece. I have owned both the C and the T and remember it was their first transistor. It had a fairly high noise floor, by my standards. I had heard that the 621 was quite good but I never got my ears on one, sorry.
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Of course I would prefer a 7C to fall in my lap over a 7T... but the Hadley is suppose to be a 7T with pixie dust sprinkled on it...
The guy who wants to sell it to me wants half of what a 7c cost but promises that it is all that + chocolate... he is a seller.
 
crooner said:
The 621 is a groundbreaking piece. Very smooth sounding.
It reminded me of Conrad Johnson's first preamp, the PV1.
It did have that "Hi-Fi" crispness in the midrange that let me know I was listening to a very good recording.
The Marantz 7, on the other hand, gives you the illusion real music performed in real space. No hint of electronic enhancements of any kind on the best recordings.

I feel your pain about finding a Marantz 7 for a low price. Even cosmetically challenged examples go for a pretty penny. The one I am restoring right now came from a humid Florida environment. And it still cost me around 3K. Insane!
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Man I so want to try this Hadley with my 8b... but after looking at 2014 sales on audiogon, well my guy wants 3X the price of what one sold for 2 years ago... half the price of a 7c.
I dig the obscure... but I desire the authentic...ahh! decisions!
 
The one on the 'bay with the plexiglass top is really pretty. It is the later version with newer transistors (silicon?) and the stepped attenuator for volume. May be worth to haggle a bit to get a better deal on it.
 
crooner said:
The one on the 'bay with the plexiglass top is really pretty. It is the later version with newer transistors (silicon?) and the stepped attenuator for volume. May be worth to haggle a bit to get a better deal on it.
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Am I off my rocker to think that half his asking price is a more accurate value... ?
 
biscuithead said:
Am I off my rocker to think that half his asking price is a more accurate value... ?
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Yep. I would think so. And then you can resell later and recoup your money when you find that elusive Marantz 7. At his asking price you would have trouble getting all your money back!
 
The cosmetics are ok but I think it originally had a misspelling in the title, which probably didn't help selling it. Apparently it has an issue in the phono section as well. Otherwise $500 ain't bad...
 
crooner said:
The cosmetics are ok but I think it originally had a misspelling in the title, which probably didn't help selling it. Apparently it has an issue in the phono section as well. Otherwise $500 ain't bad...
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I can't find it on the bay... are you sure it is still there?
Edit: -found it... Thanks guys!
 
Twas sniped in the last 5 seconds... was more than I wanted to pay. Hopefully the new owner loves it! Maybe I will contact my local guy again....
 
So, hi all. I am the lucky buyer of the afore mentioned Hadley preamp. I discovered this thread while searching for additional info about Hadley's after the purchase. I had first learned of these components a year or two ago while just trolling Ebay for interesting audio equipment. I am a Marantz collector and listener, and someone listed a Hadley with references to Marantz, which then showed up in my search. Hooked. But what ever reason did not buy until now. And I am still in search of links to info about this brand of audio gear. The seller said this is a later version of the 621, having a plexiglass top. Another very notable difference not mentioned in the eBay listing is the fact that the lettering on the faceplate is red, as opposed the the black in every other 621 picture that I have seen on the web. On the one hand, ti sounds plausible and cool. On the other hand, it seems possible that it might be a individual piece constructed as a demo unit or a series on such units. Does anyone know of a source which confirms either is true? Is it just a bit of lore? Any thoughts out there? Btw, I got a reasonably good buy on my offer.
 
The early Hadley 621 is a step above the 7T. I have never heard of, or seen, red lettering or a plastic top to a Hadley, and I have seen quite a few, so I would view this claim with a skeptical eye.
 
biscuithead said:
anyone out there in AK land have any experience with this Hadley pre ?
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I am experienced. I had a Hadley 621. I'd never heard of it. I bought it for the knobs, because it was only $20. The knobs were great! I was going to use them on something else.

Then, when I got it home, I looked inside. My eyes popped out! This was a very serious piece of gear!

All hand-wired point-to-point. The resistor-ladder attenuator was fabulous — even better, it had a separate switch that let you set the volume level halfway between any of the fixed-steps in the attenuator, in effect doubling the number of steps, giving twice as much control over the sound level. And the transistors had little gold-plated legs that plugged into little ceramic bases, like baby tubes, so you could swap 'em out when better transistors came along. Looked really cute.

The sound was warm and pleasant, but to my ears fuzzy, vague imaging, lacked drive, punch and dynamics, with limited frequency extremes... didn't care for it much. Sold it for a crazy high price way out of proportion to its quality.

Legend has it, Hadley was Sony's first US distributor (or California distributor; he was based in LA) and made his own preamps because he didn't think much of Sony's. Maybe urban legend... but it was told to me by a tech who said he knew Hadley.
 
My Hadley 621 was my first preamp. I bought it in 1970 or so. I still have it. I can see why someone would put a plexiglas top on the 621. It is a beautifully made mil-spec piece of gear. Some people say it sounds very tube-like. And didn't Dawson Hadley go on to be the chief designer at Marantz?
 
I had the Hadley preamp and it was stellar while I had it driving a McIntosh Mc2100..Beautiful layout, very smooth yet detailed.
 
Mine, at least, has germanium transistors. There is a lot of talk in vintage electronics circles that germanium sounds smoother and less harsh than the early silicon transistors. But if I remember correctly, the fact that it used germanium devices, was the argument the dealer used to explain how he could discount such a fine piece of gear so much.
 
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