Marantz 4300 Quad receiver vs. non-Quad

[ColonelKurtz]

I did not have that experience with my 2220B. The sound is loud and clear to the 12 position and my ears couldn’t take it anymore after that so I didn’t go any higher with the volume.

The 2220B is the only marantz experience that I ever had. I don’t even know why I would need a higher power receiver! I have it connected to Sony ss-g5s and JBL CF120s and I could only bare the volume to the 12 position. There is no distortion, just excellent sound.

I think it was when using phono, so I’m pretty sure it is plenty enough volume for me as well, in the other functions…

 

[soundguy9]

The 4000 series are not as popular so it may not be as much worth as a recapped 2325, etc.
I really like the sound from my 2220B unit. So much so that I could not swap it out to recap the Power Supply and Phono inputs. I found a good working Yamaha M-45 this past week and found the sound really good in Class A operation. So it replaced the 2220B while I am recapping it.

Wow, I have had the exact same experience. I currently own a 2220B, 2252 and M-45 (plus a few more) units and considering a 4300 and 2245. The units that I own were all original and were never touched by a soldering iron in their lifetime.

The sound from the 2220B is just amazing. I can not say enough about how good the receiver sounds. I read from a lot of people that it is under powered but I honstley can not turn the volume past the 12 position before shattering the glass figurings in the hutch. I have 40 years of electronics experience so I decided to recap it to see how much better does it sound. It was my first try and it was a learning journey. Since I was doing the labor, I could spend a few $$$ on high qualiy nichicon caps. The sound defintely changed after a full recap of the power supply, amplifier, tone and phono boards. The unit had no distortion before the recap and still has no distortion. You can turn the volume all the way to the max and there is no distortion, amazing marantz engineering design. I can say that the highs remained very sweet sounding but the lows became more punchy. The recapping definitely helped the lower end frequencies. The mid and highs were good before and are good now.

I got the 2252 just to see what people are talking about with a higher power marantz receiver vs the 2220B. The 2252 is a very good sounding receiver. The unit was untouched. I recapped the power supply just to stay on the safe side. Again, I used all high quality nichicon caps that are end of life today. I can confirm that the sound improved. The highs became more sweet sounding which is a good improvement. The 2220B is still better sounding in the mid to high frequencies. I may continue with recapping the amp next.

Now to the M-45 in the Class A mode. I can affirm that this is the only solution (for me, today) to reproduce the warm and sweet sounds from the 2220B. The M-45 is 10Watts/Ch RMS in the Class A mode. Again the sound is very clear and highs are very smooth and lows are punchy. The problem with the Class-A operation is that the power transistors are ON all the time (vs switching on and off) and they run very hot. So in the winter time, it adds as an electric heater and the summer time you feel the warm air around the box. I have no plans to do any work on the yammy but this may change in the future.

I am eyeing a few more marantz such as the 2245 and 4300 units now. From what I read online, the 4xxx series amps have a different circuitry than the 2xxx units. The amp circuits work very differently. It was mentioned that the 2xxx amp circuit was superior but it leaves some room for debate!