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Marantz wooden cases Plywood

M

M8och

New Member
Hi all only my second post so please note I am new to all this and some of my comments may seem a little daft by some of you experts.

basically think I’m going to buy a Marantz Amplifier or Receiver. With the wooden cases sometimes attached or in worse for wear. I have someone who is skilled in making a new sleeve for it. I like the look of Plywood and would like to see the front showing the different layers.

Has this been done? Has anyone else got a bespoke Marantz amp or receiver, and used something not normally associated with the norm?
 
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You can use anything you like, but if you go the plywood route I'd recommend Baltic Birch. It has a lot more layers than the plywood you'll find at the local lumber depot and it also does not have all the gaps that normal plywood has as well. With a little prep work, it also stains quite nice. It's great stuff. Anytime I do a DIY speaker I always use Baltic Birch as I dislike working with MDF and a full hardwood cabinet isn't practical.

Most Marantz repo cases are built with a plywood body and hardwood trim around the front. Some veneer over the plywood, some use a plywood that already comes with that (Walnut, Oak, etc).

On my higher end Technics receivers, I've started replacing the faux walnut particle board sides with actual 3/4" hardwood. It really gives them a high-end look and I'll probably start to do the same with my Marantz receivers (if I can ever get ahold of a WC-122 case for a pattern).
 
Marine grade plywood is what you want for that tight layered edge your looking for. MG plywood is very high quality and you pay for it.
 
Baltic Birch layers:

  • 9 mm ≈ 3/8″ (7 plies)
  • 12 mm ≈ 1/2″ (9 plies)
  • 18 mm ≈ 3/4″ (13 plies)

I don't believe Marine has quite that many, plus Baltic Birch finishes much nicer if you want something "furniture grade" looking.
 
Yup. It will be birch finish. With marine you can get whatever outer veneer you like. Black walnut,cherry,maple etc. Black walnut you can get high figured grain which looks amazing with the right finish. The edge is usually veneered although you can buy edging that looks like the layered wood in plywood.
 
Size doesn't matter but mine's 1/4" on the top, 3/4" on the sides, don't cover the vent holes! I'm sure you can find a million photos on the internet of similar projects.
 
zedex said:
Yup. It will be birch finish. With marine you can get whatever outer veneer you like. Black walnut,cherry,maple etc. Black walnut you can get high figured grain which looks amazing with the right finish. The edge is usually veneered although you can buy edging that looks like the layered wood in plywood.
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I have never seen marine plywood with the outer layer being anything other than what the rest of it is made up as (usually Larch or Douglas Fir, compared to regular plywood that typically uses a softwood pine)

Do you have a link for Marine Plywood that has such an outer layer? That'd save me time having to mess with a normal veneer on Baltic, although I could not imagine this being very cheap.
 
I used to buy it at a place called Winsor Plywood(its a woodworking specialty store) in town where they had a bunch of selections. I dont really do much cabinet work any more but i used to buy 3/4" black walnut plywood. I would sort through it and find the most figured grain i could. You could get 1 or 2 side. My last project a fdw years ago i only needed 1/3 of a sheet so i just bought 3/4 MDF and bought a roll of cherry veneer for something different.
Theres a guy on Ebay that makes what looks like great quality Marantz outer wood cases and looks like he is using black walnut plywood. This stuff is very nice to work with and the veneers are very nice. You can buy some great sheets with matched grain.
Do a search on walnut cabinet plywood.
 
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Yeah, I've seen and used all different types of plywood (walnut, oak, maple, etc.) but I thought you were referring to a type that had the Marine specific inner layer structure (plies) but with a walnut outer layer.

The Walnut stuff I've only seen with the 5-layer in 3/4" (not counting the thin outer walnut layers). It's still nice to work with though and looks good.
 
You could get either or. If i were going to have an edge that looked like the layers of good grade plywood i would just buy multi ply wood veneer edge banding .
 
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