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Marantz Imperial 6 are GREAT Speakers!

sanford12 said:
Came to the Imperial 6 late. Having had Dahlquist DQ-12's, Altec Boleros and a few other really nice speakers before the Imperial 6. Picked my 6's up at an auction dirt cheap they were also in great condition. After getting them home delved into researching them to see what I had. The reviews for the most part are like here in this thread glowing. Hooked them up and started to listen and no they weren't recapped. I found them to be just ok but not compelling enough to go through them. With the Boleros when I got them home and tested them needing a recap they already sounded better than the restored Heresy's I was using. The Boleros showed a lot of promise so they got the recap and they were/are great speakers. Passed the Imperial 6's on quickly as they just weren't what I was looking for in a speaker. Not a knock on the 6's just not my cup of tea,
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Everyone's ears are different and it's great that we have such a variety to choose from so we can find something we are happy with. :thumbsup: :music:
 
Well I finally got around to hooking the 6’s up properly after having them sitting for a good year, and have a real good listening session.
It all started a bit disappointing with a rather flat unengaging sound but they really came to life after about 15 minutes at a moderate level. After an hour I’m sold on the things once more.
My little 35 watt Marantz PM-35 integrated hardly had to work to drive these. 1/3 on the dial was more than enough to make me turn it back down a bit (and starting to worry about the neighbors, and we live in a house;))
These are every bit as engaging as I remember them and quite comfortably next to my KEF 104/2.
 
Jens Sinding said:
Well I finally got around to hooking the 6’s up properly after having them sitting for a good year, and have a real good listening session.
It all started a bit disappointing with a rather flat unengaging sound but they really came to life after about 15 minutes at a moderate level. After an hour I’m sold on the things once more.
My little 35 watt Marantz PM-35 integrated hardly had to work to drive these. 1/3 on the dial was more than enough to make me turn it back down a bit (and starting to worry about the neighbors, and we live in a house;))
These are every bit as engaging as I remember them and quite comfortably next to my KEF 104/2.
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They are easy to drive. It kind of surprised me considering the db rating for the 6's. Even a small 5wpc tube amp I have pushed them loud enough for me.
I wouldn't mind finding another pair with nicer cabinets than the pair I have.
Try them sometime on there sides, tweeters to the inside and at ear level.
I had a pair of big Wharfedale 90's that I put the 6's on sideways on top. I really liked how they sounded that way.
 
Lavane said:
They are easy to drive. It kind of surprised me considering the db rating for the 6's. Even a small 5wpc tube amp I have pushed them loud enough for me.
I wouldn't mind finding another pair with nicer cabinets than the pair I have.
Try them sometime on there sides, tweeters to the inside and at ear level.
I had a pair of big Wharfedale 90's that I put the 6's on sideways on top. I really liked how they sounded that way.
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Someone mounted feet on these, as in glued wooden blocks on them, but I picked up another pair some time ago and just need to do the upgrade of the binding posts and capacitors. The pair with feet will serve as nice stands for a horizontal placement and I can even A/B them.
 
My mothers both got divorced from their husbands around '75 and both ended up getting pretty sweet, new hi-fi systems, with Marantz receivers & tape decks and Technics turntables. My birth mother got AR-5's and my stepmother had Marantz Imperials, either 6 or 7. It's been 40 years, but I recall both were excellent sounding. They both "upgraded" in the mid/late 80's and while their new systems may have blended better into their spaces, after we got over the marvel of how much sound their smaller bookshelf speakers made, I can't say that it was an improvement at all. I wish I'd had the foresight to grab the Imperials, but my then, I'd already had my AAFES Pioneer/Infinity gear and wasn't interested in what I thought at the time was "old junk." my bad.
 
Jens Sinding said:
Someone mounted feet on these, as in glued wooden blocks on them, but I picked up another pair some time ago and just need to do the upgrade of the binding posts and capacitors. The pair with feet will serve as nice stands for a horizontal placement and I can even A/B them.
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Let us know how they sound stacked. The top pair upside down MTM style should sound pretty good.
 
Jens Sinding said:
Picking them up Sunday:banana:
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Its sad Marantz lost money on every pair of these they sold. All due to one
"Meh" review in a stereo rag supposedly. Yet the not so great 7's sold like crazy due to slick marketing. It would be intresting to see actual reviews in stereo rags from the 70's about the Imperial 7's.
I found it odd that pair your picking up had brown cone tweeters. I wonder if the blue cones tweeters were replaced with some earlier brown cone tweeters at some point?
It won't effect the sound at all. My pair have black cone drivers in one speaker, wnd brown cones in the other. Mine had a blown woofer and a pushed in tweeter in one speaker. So I bought a pair of brown cone drivers off ebay to replace them. That was what was avaliable at the time. With the grills on it isn't noticeable.
 
Lavane said:
Its sad Marantz lost money on every pair of these they sold. All due to one
"Meh" review in a stereo rag supposedly. Yet the not so great 7's sold like crazy due to slick marketing. It would be intresting to see actual reviews in stereo rags from the 70's about the Imperial 7's.
I found it odd that pair your picking up had brown cone tweeters. I wonder if the blue cones tweeters were replaced with some earlier brown cone tweeters at some point?
It won't effect the sound at all. My pair have black cone drivers in one speaker, wnd brown cones in the other. Mine had a blown woofer and a pushed in tweeter in one speaker. So I bought a pair of brown cone drivers off ebay to replace them. That was what was avaliable at the time. With the grills on it isn't noticeable.
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All three pairs I’ve seen here have the blue woofers and yellow/brown tweeters, so I believe that they are original. It might have been an export model for European markets IMG_7341.jpeg
My last pair in pretty decent condition, but needing a good cleaning
IMG_4993.jpeg
My first pair, now playing, I’ve managed to fix up the woofers and replaced the pushed in tweeters with modern equivalents.
IMG_5197.jpeg
 
Good to see this thread still alive ..

A true classic ... and one of the very few truly balanced sounding 10" two-ways ;;;
There are lots of fine sounding 8" two-ways, but most bigger 10" drivers were muddled or muddied in the upper midrange due to cone resonances..
A lot of time and energy was spent in the design and manufacture of this unique 10" driver.

Enjoy the Music ...
 
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An acquaintance of mine sta2500 rated at 100 wpc died and was limited on cash , I had a little sta64 rated at 16 wpc that I had saved from the trash cleaned and had Dr Audio go through I gave it to him for what I had invested as a temporary set up . We hooked it up to his marrantz imperials and was totally blown away how good it sounded ! I doubt he’ll ever fix his other receiver now .
 
ernieb1536 said:
An acquaintance of mine sta2500 rated at 100 wpc died and was limited on cash , I had a little sta64 rated at 16 wpc that I had saved from the trash cleaned and had Dr Audio go through I gave it to him for what I had invested as a temporary set up . We hooked it up to his marrantz imperials and was totally blown away how good it sounded ! I doubt he’ll ever fix his other receiver now .
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The Imperials have a way with low wpc amps. They are so stupid easy to drive and have fantastic low volume bass that unless one really wants to shake the house down, not a lot more power is needed.

A few years ago @Lavane loaned me a funky little 10 wpc or so spud tube amp. I used it on my Imperials and the sound was amazing.......The thing about them, as stated over and over, is that they just sound so good in so many situations that one cant help but fall in love with them.

I got so lucky when I found mine; in 2017 or so a lady had a baby later in life and did not want her toddler messing them up. I saw them on CL, they were perfect, including the grills. Just for fun I sanded them and reoiled them with Danish oil, recapped them and had much better terminals installed......I think I offered her $60 for them. She did not really care about the money, she just wanted them to go to a good home.

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Bodyblue said:
The Imperials have a way with low wpc amps. They are so stupid easy to drive and have fantastic low volume bass that unless one really wants to shake the house down, not a lot more power is needed.

A few years ago @Lavane loaned me a funky little 10 wpc or so spud tube amp. I used it on my Imperials and the sound was amazing.......The thing about them, as stated over and over, is that they just sound so good in so many situations that one cant help but fall in love with them.

I got so lucky when I found mine; in 2017 or so a lady had a baby later in life and did not want her toddler messing them up. I saw them on CL, they were perfect, including the grills. Just for fun I sanded them and reoiled them with Danish oil, recapped them and had much better terminals installed......I think I offered her $60 for them. She did not really care about the money, she just wanted them to go to a good home.

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That amp I loaned you was only 5wpc. :biggrin: Not the lowest powered amp I have but close. I tried my little 3wpc amp with the Imperials also with good results.
Neither amp pushes the Imperials crazy loud, but loud enough.
Below is a picture of the 5wpc Spud amps, and the 3wpc amp.
 

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I picked them up today and they are every bit as nice as I thought they would be.IMG_1769.jpeg
They will have to wait a bit though as I have a major run of Beovox’s to prepare for new homes.
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Three sets of CX100 (two in black anodized aluminum and one in black enamel) one set of C40 black anodized) and one set of C75 (anodized aluminum). All of them good but the C75 actually great with the silk dome Audax tweeter.
Looking puny next to the 6G but fantastic engineering ( especially the C75).
 
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Listening to Hendrix on my Imperial 6s right now. Driving them with a restored Marantz 2240 and a Dual 604 turntable with a Pickering XV-15/Vivid Line.

Sounds amazing! There is so much to love about these speakers it's ridiculous.
 
For anyone caring, I bought the reproduction tweeters, installed, then later removed and reinstalled stock.

There was a difference with my ears back then (2012 or so?) but not sure I'd hear it today.
 
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