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Marantz Audio Test and Repair Recommendation in Southern California

S

Stoddrob

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
Hello Everyone. This is my first post…so take pity on me but be kind!

I have a Marantz 140 Power Amp, a 250 Power Amp, and a 3200 Preamplifier. The 140 and 3200 were in excellent cosmetic condition…but they required service due to failed capacitors (The 3200 was possibly NOS…in its original boxes with original paperwork…and required the most work! It isn’t good for gear to be stored for many years as you probably know. The 250 is operating good but I will probably put it up for sale. I’m mostly interested in getting the 140 and 3200 perfect — I bought these matched units back in 1974 as my first Hi-Fi sound system (The components I have are not my original 1974 Marantz equipment — my current units were purchased over the past ten years)

Anyway…I took my components to George Meyer AV in Los Angeles. They are a McIntosh Authorized Service Center…and I thought they would be good. The first time I went to them in 2020 they seemed nice and efficient…they service all three units…but then all three pieces of equipment started to have issues after a couple years. I went back to them…and they diagnosed yet more failed caps and changed yet more capacitors and changed me a bunch on each unit yet again. WTF…why didn’t they just completely recap the units so I wouldn’t have to come back?

Then I got home and the 3200 had a humming noise that didn’t start until the power was on for several minutes. The humming did not get louder by increasing volume…and it wasn’t a separate component ground fault. The problem was in the left channel of the 140 power amp that I just had serviced! I noticed a noise when the relay kicked on that I hadn’t heard before (They always make a noise when they click-in). And it made me think “that doesn’t sound good!). So maybe that’s the issue. So now what? Drive 7 hours back and forth to LA to Geporge Meyer AV and leave it there for eight more week? I really don’t want to take it back to them. They are a nightmare for me now.

In the meantime, I still get some scratchy noise in the high frequency of my JBL 120ti speakers and some brand new speakers I just bought (Tyler Acoustics —the crossover was designed by Danny Richie at GR-Research) And I think its related to the Marantz 3200 — which is better now after servicing…but I somehow feel something was missed. George Meyer AV is a freaking factory….they have four or five techs there — and they rush through thousands of repairs each month. There is equipment everywhere! Hundreds of components. And the owner is a bit of an eccentric jerk — he talks a lot of crap but they don’t execute well. How would I know or not if the equipment is 100% or not?

They long and short is I am looking for someone or a shop in Southern California (I live in the mountains near Palm Spring/Temecula and about 50 miles from Riverside and 100 miles to LA) that one of you might recommend. It would be best to find someone one of you might know who works on gear as a hobby (someone with a scope and other test equipment) who might be willing to have me come by and test the components...and who could do some repair as necessary. This isn’t a complete rebuild situation. This equipment is in nice condition and I would say they have been mostly recapped (I would not say they are 100% recapped…but most all electrolytic capacitors have been replaced for sure). But I feel they just need a serious person give them a serious testing to ensure they are performing properly and to spec.

I want to listen to music…but I don’t have the equipment nor experience to work on this gear myself. I already have too much money invested in this vintage Marantz equipment…and I’m determined to overcome. Maybe someone can refer me to someone or some shop?

Sorry this is so long. I appreciate any help to find a good tech to help me finally get these units functioning as they should.
 
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Stoddrob said:
why didn’t they just completely recap the units so I wouldn’t have to come back?
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sadly, that's how some people roll. they get you to come back in for mo money. i personally never want to see the same unit on my bench for any reason so i suggest to just recap it now and get it out of the way but i am also not running a brick n mortar.

i still can not see the value in unhappy customers coming back even if it is bringing in more money. i'd rather have thrilled customers bringing me different units and telling their friends about good experiences.

hope you find a member on here that will take care of you.
 
Some techs don't like to do recap jobs, lots of time and maybe some customer complaints because of price. If you asked to get them working, they might have done that and stopped instead of doing a full recap. Not doing a full rebuild will result in the same issues showing up soon.

A local Marantz rebuilder here will not do anything except his complete refresh, 200 parts or so in a big receiver. Caps, smaller transistors that get noisy, diodes, trim pots, relays all get replaced. Not going to be that many pieces in a preamp or power amp needing replacement but it will be a good number in the preamp, I expect.

You might see if Northridge Electronics in Simi Valley, I know, no closer than George AV but... Ask them if they do recaps or refresh to make a unit good for the next 20+ years. Anything less is asking for more work to be done in short order. Someone that does this work will know most of the newer parts that have already been replaced and probably not replace them again.
 
Blue Shadow said:
Some techs don't like to do recap jobs, lots of time and maybe some customer complaints because of price. If you asked to get them working, they might have done that and stopped instead of doing a full recap. Not doing a full rebuild will result in the same issues showing up soon.

A local Marantz rebuilder here will not do anything except his complete refresh, 200 parts or so in a big receiver. Caps, smaller transistors that get noisy, diodes, trim pots, relays all get replaced. Not going to be that many pieces in a preamp or power amp needing replacement but it will be a good number in the preamp, I expect.

You might see if Northridge Electronics in Simi Valley, I know, no closer than George AV but... Ask them if they do recaps or refresh to make a unit good for the next 20+ years. Anything less is asking for more work to be done in short order. Someone that does this work will know most of the newer parts that have already been replaced and probably not replace them again.
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Thank you…I’ll contact them. I think you are right…go through the whole unit but identify parts that have already been replaced.
 
It seems like a good tech should return the old replaced components so you know what was changed. (Without even being asked ahead of time.) Also, I recommend taking a bunch of pictures inside and out before dropping off gear for repair. (Heck, I take pictures before I start work on my own things.)
 
Jalousie said:
It seems like a good tech should return the old replaced components so you know what was changed. (Without even being asked ahead of time.) Also, I recommend taking a bunch of pictures inside and out before dropping off gear for repair. (Heck, I take pictures before I start work on my own things.)
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They did the first time they serviced the units in Jan 2020…this last service (last week) they provided nothing except a receipt with parts they charged…but nothing definitive as to which board.
 
Stoddrob said:
I wouldn’t recommend George Meyer AV! But if you go to the McIntosh website they have a list of Authorized Service Centers there.
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That's unfortunate that you personally had a bad experience with George Meyer. There are a few here who had good experiences with his work.
Others you can check out are HiFi Haven in Whittier, California and Mike Zuccaro at Audiocraftsman.
 
eiraved said:
That's unfortunate that you personally had a bad experience with George Meyer. There are a few here who had good experiences with his work.
Others you can check out are HiFi Haven in Whittier, California and Mike Zuccaro at Audiocraftsman.
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Thank you for the ”Welcome” and the referrals. I took a Marantz 250 to Mike Zuccaro in 2019 (he works from his home 5 minutes from where I used to live in San Diego) and he had it for a month or two and never did anything…and he didn’t impress me as someone you would want to send your equipment to…it was all kind of bizarre…he just gave the equipment back to me as if he wasn’t that interested in repairing it in the first place. Strange.
 
Jalousie said:
Going by his member profile Fred hasn't posted since August 2019, but it looks like he lurks.
Last seen: Today at 2:06 PM
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That’s after I wrote to him and left him a message with a link to this post…but I never heard from him.
 
Stoddrob said:
Thank you for the ”Welcome” and the referrals. I took a Marantz 250 to Mike Zuccaro in 2019 (he works from his home 5 minutes from where I used to live in San Diego) and he had it for a month or two and never did anything…and he didn’t impress me as someone you would want to send your equipment to…it was all kind of bizarre…he just gave the equipment back to me as if he wasn’t that interested in repairing it in the first place. Strange
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