BigBogner
Member
I want to preface by saying thank you for welcoming to the AK community. As a long-time musician and music enthusiast, I have finally been making the transition to full-on (budget) audiophile in the past few months, with a lot of help from this forum.
In my recent hunts, I’ve been pretty lucky as it seems a lot of people are trying to sell of their old gear right now. I stumbled upon a fully operational Pioneer SX-780 earlier this year for $100, and an SX-880 (with a non-functional FM channel and a speaker spring clip missing on the B channel) for $200 a few weeks after. So, I felt that I was pretty comfortable on the receiver front and decided to focus on the purchase of a vintage TT to compliment the rest of my 70’s era equipment - an Akai GXC-725D Cassette deck and 3000D RTR.
Lo-and-behold my searching paid off this weekend when I found a Marantz 2230 in the wood case, paired with a Marantz 6200 TT for $100... although it was a 30min drive. They were also including a B-I-C Beam Box Model FM 8 (really cool directional antenna) and a pair of AKG K240’s with the headphone stand. As you can imagine I drove my ass out there as fast as possible and scooped up the goods after a quick demo.
I’m very impressed by the condition, nearly pristine. A few bumps and a scratch here or there on the plinth/wood case, but no caked on dust, nothing to be scraped off. According to the seller, it was her dad’s, who had upgraded. Not sure if he didn’t know the worth, or just didn’t really care, but either way, I’m happy to receive an upgrade out of his.
As of right now the Marantz has replaced my SX-880 downstairs as my main rig. It looks exceptional and sounds even better, regardless of having half the power of the Pioneer. I am considering a switch back to the 880 however, as it has an extra tape input for my RTR (I use the AUX channel for streaming via Alexa). That would mean the Marantz being my bedroom/office receiver. The idea of putting it in my secondary rig hurts a little, but I’m trying to weigh the convenience to sound right now... the Marantz may very well end up staying and I’ll just suck it up and do some rewiring when I listen to reel tapes.
As for the 6200, it sounded nice off the bat, but after adjusting the speed, switching the cartridge from the ATN91 to my trusty Ortofon Red, and adjusting the tone arm, this baby sings. I’m also completely enamored with the functionality as I’ve never had a fully automatic TT before. Coming from a Pro-Ject Debut Carbon I feel like I’m living in the lap of luxury. The other night while I was cooking I told my girlfriend to pick out a record, and instead of coming over to put it on myself, I could just tell her to put it on and “hit play”. Now she’s becoming more and more interested in my set-up herself. I may have created another audiophile.
As for speakers, I’m pushing a pair of JBL P30’s which were made in Denmark? If anyone has more info on the JBL-Denmark dynamic, please let me know. I can’t seem to find more info. I’m also running an Era Acoustics Design 5 - 8” downfiring sub. I’m getting warm, rich tones. Deep, controlled, tight bass, and clear reigned in highs that are not sharp in the least, but rather rounded, smooth, palatable.
I plan on replacing the belt, and cleaning up all the pots on both machines. Any other general maintenance that would be recommended with these units?
Thanks for reading!
Written on mobile, please excuse any typos or formatting errors.
