Marantz Face Plate colors - Champagne & Gold

[Bone Yard]

We've talked about the gold over the years, I'm guessing they bought x-amount of plates for different production runs and QC wasn't like today, and they didn't really care because it would be really hard to see what color was being shipped to another country. I do remember TV commercials around 78 talking about the "gold standard" of Marantz, I used to think they were all gold.

I also collect their boomboxes going into the early 80's, they had some of the only ones with a metal face and most, if not all, are gold. The Marantz CH-53 Mini System is gold, while it's UNIX (by Marantz of Japan) is silver. A lot of the plastic Marantz Boomboxes got away from one color after 1982 except for the monster Marantz Boomboxes.

We might be splitting hairs but is the faceplate engraved or stamped?

 

[MarantzRefrb]

I'm assuming you're asking me about the 2230 I posted originally(?) If so, that 2230 is bright gold and not engraved, it has a serial number soon after 5,000. I was fooled by it on the eBay auction, didn't know bright gold existed, just saw it was 5,4xx. Though the gold plates might be rarer than the champagne - (need more data on this).

The champagne pink-gold (rose-gold) engraved units were the first 5,000 units made of each of these models: 1030, 1060, 2215, 2230, 2245, and 2270. These are the only ones known to me, and were all made in the year 1971. They have gold colored chassis, and white/gray Elna capacitors with orange mesh wire sleeves on the longer cap leads.

The early consoles like my 1200 non-B, were engraved, but a light gold, not champagne, and not bright gold like the 22XX series after the serial number 5,000.

I am exceedingly happy to be proved wrong on any of this, or to have the record corrected once and for all in this matter, if anyone has more factual data or proof otherwise, it took me quite a while to determine what little I've added here, and I just want to get to the bottom of the mystery.

Also, I only have firsthand proof of the US models, and a limited sample size at that, I'm curious to know how the champagne-engraved plates worked internationally, with their serial numbers, or variations of.

 

[dgunnr]

On the 2270's, late in the engraved production run near 5,000 silver engraved units did use a very heavy brushed finish. One of the first 2270's engraved units i ever owned had this finish. At the time i was not researching this so I don't know what the serial number was. However, i can vouch Marantz did make a heavy, rougher finish for the engraved units. Marantz stopped the engraved units but kept this heavy brush finish after 5,000 and i'm going to say in the 13-20K range it continued This brushed finish gave the face plate a darker look than the normal silver fronts you see in the 2270 in the mid later numbers. I can't speak about any other units except the 2270 but they probably all correlate to some degree. So what your referring to as "bright gold" is a different finish that reflects the light in a darker way than usual but it is a Silver finish not gold. A post with 4 photographs in this thread you can use as a reference.

 

[DINHOOLIANI]

1030 serial number 2270, nice! I wonder if it has the all white Elna capacitors in there, still.


Yes, that's right, White ELNA capacitors, still original.
Another thing I noticed on this 2270 is a label pasted inside the cover, where there are some notes. On the SILVER model I didn't see this on the lid, only on the CHAMPAGNE. I don't know if this label is currently exclusive to the ENGRAVED FACEPLATE models only.

 

[MarantzRefrb]

On the 2270's, late in the engraved production run near 5,000 silver engraved units did use a very heavy brushed finish. One of the first 2270's engraved units i ever owned had this finish. At the time i was not researching this so I don't know what the serial number was. However, i can vouch Marantz did make a heavy, rougher finish for the engraved units. Marantz stopped the engraved units but kept this heavy brush finish after 5,000 and i'm going to say in the 13-20K range it continued This brushed finish gave the face plate a darker look than the normal silver fronts you see in the 2270 in the mid later numbers. I can't speak about any other units except the 2270 but they probably all correlate to some degree. So what your referring to as "bright gold" is a different finish that reflects the light in a darker way than usual but it is a Silver finish not gold. A post with 4 photographs in this thread you can use as a reference.

The 2230 in the lower left corner in this picture, looks bright gold in person, not dark silver - it does have the rougher brushed finish to it though. If Champagne appears to be copper, and Silver is silver, this 2230 is Gold:

Yes, that's right, White ELNA capacitors, still original.
Another thing I noticed on this 2270 is a label pasted inside the cover, where there are some notes. On the SILVER model I didn't see this on the lid, only on the CHAMPAGNE. I don't know if this label is currently exclusive to the ENGRAVED FACEPLATE models only.

I've not seen a label on the underside of any Marantz heat shields, pretty interesting, your 2270 must be in great condition overall to have that label on it still.

 

[Kabuff]

SN 1197