Now that I have my Marantz 2250B back in its proper place, I wanted to follow up on my recommendation to take your gear to Blhagstrom.
I bought this unit with stars in my eyes but I’ve felt for a while that there was something missing. I sometimes call this chasing the dragon – the never-ending sense that there is a more perfect sound. I was thinking about selling this beauty and moving on to another system. Before I threw in the towel, I thought I would make an effort to breathe new life into the Marantz by getting it refurbished by Blhagstrom.
Well, the difference is not subtle at all.
Listening for Space and Soundstage I’ve played tracks like
Road by Nick Drake that are sparse and recorded with just two mics. I can hear a clear separation between voice and guitar – not to mention textures in both that I hadn’t appreciated before. I also listened to tracks that have very little space like
Right Where it Belongs by Nine Inch Nails …and wow. That is some brilliant sound engineering and now I feel like I’m along for the ride.
Sometimes I feel like music gets busy with orchestrated chaos and details get lost. I listened to
Paranoid Android by Radiohead – particularly the second half where **** starts to quickly come at you from different directions and tracks with complex percussion, like
Iambic 9 Poetry by Squarepusher. It is refreshing to be able to track what is going on more clearly.
I also like to listen to dense and noisy music. Listening to
Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth – an album that is tattooed on my mind - was like hearing it again for the first time. All the weird harmonics and string plucking that is usually lost in the wash of sound popped out like bubbles in champagne.
Between listening to tracks like
But Not For Me – by Chet Baker and
I Surrender Dear - by Thelonious Monk, I find my receiver both softer and sharper. The pillowy trumpet and voice of Chet Baker are velvet smooth and the stabbing of the keyboard by Monk is like an airy percussive pinprick.
Except for the Nine Inch Nails and Squarepusher these observations were coming off of vinyl. the other two tracks were from Qobuz.
I am really happy with the improvement. I guess it is time to break out the Dark Side of the Moon.
Thanks, Blhagstrom!
