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Nad 7400 or marantz 2270

J

johnp66

Member
Hi I have the chance to buy a marantz 2270 receiver but in order to do that I have to sell my nad 7400 & with the Marantz being 150 miles away from me I can't really listen to it, should I keep my NAD or sell it and buy the marantz?
 
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Many won't agree but a NAD 7400 is a far superior receiver in technical performance. It was built to be NAD's best when that meant a lot. It has 20 years newer technology and design.
 
For listening with my eyes closed I would probably keep the NAD. For listening with my eyes open - well, that's another story. For me, NAD doesn't have enough on Marantz in the sound department to compensate for what it misses in the looks.

Another problem is that you know the NAD and I assume it works fine. When you buy vintage, Marantz included, there's often issues to address, sometimes it takes weeks to fix the bugs. Out of 12 Marantzes from the 70s that I've bought over the last 5 years, half went straight to tech, in 3 cases repairs took few weeks, in 2 cases I had to get another tech because the first one couldn't get rid of all bugs. They are always fixable, but it takes time. Just bear in mind that if the NAD is your only amp and you sell it first, you might end up with no amp for a while.
 
I would keep the NAD. Too far and not enough of an upgrade ...
NAD is not bad at all...
For less than the cost of gas, u can have a gear delivered. 30 miles is the max I would drive for a mid-fi old item...
 
I think the OP meant the Marantz would be shipped (hence he would not be able to listen before buying).
That said, I did once drive ~100 miles to pick up a Marantz. But it was a cosmetically pristine Model 4400.
 
The Marantz will look much better.
The NAD will probably sound much better.

I don't have first hand experience, but I've heard that the 2270 is not one of the best sounding Marantz models. This may be incorrect, but is what I've heard. And yes, it's at the age where it may not be plug and play and may require a fair amount of refurbishment to work nicely and be reliable.
 
Being the owner of four NADs and a Marantz 2325, sound wise I love the NAD. Yes, the Marantz looks a whole lot better, and sounds great, but for some reason I just can't get enough of the NAD sound. What is it about the Marantz that you are looking for versus the NAD? Do you have another amp available to play while this one is being shipped, or, are you going to pick it up personally?

Mike47
 
I'd go with the 2270. Sound-wise, there won't be much between them, but the Marantz will always hold it's value, and look good doing it. For me, at least in my experience, NAD build quality has always been iffy; the ones I've owned have suffered from odd breakdowns that I attribute to cheap design. I stopped buying them, no matter how good the price was. YMMV, but I'll bet that once the Marantz is electrically sound, it'll long outlast the NAD.
 
Hmm, I'm not sure who says 2270 isn't a good sounding Marantz, but mine sounds great with vintage KEF and JBL. I'm a NAD fan also.
 
The NAD will win in dynamic range, low distortion, low noise, flexibility, parametric eq, very quiet MC phono preamp etc. The Marantz has desirable vintage styling and good sound as well. It is much older and will need service. In terms of value, if you pay the going rate for a 2270, perhaps north of $600, I believe the price won't go much higher and may decline in the long term. The NAD was considered a good value in 88 at $1000. They sell for $200 - $300 today. The price is somewhat stable and has no premium for nostalgia.
 
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