Took a chance on a Marantz

[nbarber]

I was perusing an Antique mall in a VERY small town, Thorp, in Eastern Washington and amongst the usual fair one may find at these road side attractions I came across a Marantz 2226. The face plate was in good shape and it appeared complete. While not an actual score, the price was below the Marantz tax and it was actually cheaper than the Pioneer SX-1500 next to it so I took a chance because I have heard good things about Marantz's smaller receivers.

Brought it home and powered it up a DBT, everything looked alright, no smoke and the DC offset wasn't out of range so I hooked up the "Test" speakers and nothing...

A bit of cleaning and some DeoxIT and I had a faint sound coming from AUX and nothing was getting hot so I was encouraged.

I tested the other inputs and found tape monitor 1 worked perfectly so I turned my attention to the input selector switch and found the flat shaft that rotates the contacts had slid back and was no longer rotated by the selector.
A little gentle manipulation and everything is working as it should except for the lights (no surprise).

I'm waiting on a full complement of lamps from Dave and it should be a nice unit.

I have to say "they" were correct about these little Marantz units, it sounds fantastic, really clean but very warm and no fatigue after several hours of low to medium volume listening today.

Anyone else using a small Marantz please let me know about your speaker experience. I'm playing through a set of Boston VR20 Lynnfield towers. These are very capable speakers and the best I've heard for an HT floor stander but I'd be willing to bet this little receiver is better suited to an older set of AR's.

It won't complete with my 2285B for daily driver duties but it cleaned up nicely and it's hands down the best sounding low output receiver I've experienced.

 

[Uncle Fester]

Very nice!

 

[ocdecio]

4401s should pair well with it. Well I am very partial to JBLs. Nice piece!

You should consider recapping it at least. Some cap sleeves look tight. Especially the power supply, but recapping the preamp should open it up quite a bit.

 

[marcthisdate]

I own a 2225 and paired it with a set of KLH 6's. Really compliments each other nicely. If you like Jazz, I find the small Marantz's and the KLH's really just makes it sound so smooth.

 

[bobabode]

I was perusing an Antique mall in a VERY small town, Thorp, in Eastern Washington and amongst the usual fair one may find at these road side attractions I came across a Marantz 2226. The face plate was in good shape and it appeared complete. While not an actual score, the price was below the Marantz tax and it was actually cheaper than the Pioneer SX-1500 next to it so I took a chance because I have heard good things about Marantz's smaller receivers.

Brought it home and powered it up a DBT, everything looked alright, no smoke and the DC offset wasn't out of range so I hooked up the "Test" speakers and nothing...

A bit of cleaning and some DeoxIT and I had a faint sound coming from AUX and nothing was getting hot so I was encouraged.

I tested the other inputs and found tape monitor 1 worked perfectly so I turned my attention to the input selector switch and found the flat shaft that rotates the contacts had slid back and was no longer rotated by the selector.
A little gentle manipulation and everything is working as it should except for the lights (no surprise).

I'm waiting on a full complement of lamps from Dave and it should be a nice unit.

I have to say "they" were correct about these little Marantz units, it sounds fantastic, really clean but very warm and no fatigue after several hours of low to medium volume listening today.

Anyone else using a small Marantz please let me know about your speaker experience. I'm playing through a set of Boston VR20 Lynnfield towers. These are very capable speakers and the best I've heard for an HT floor stander but I'd be willing to bet this little receiver is better suited to an older set of AR's.

It won't complete with my 2285B for daily driver duties but it cleaned up nicely and it's hands down the best sounding low output receiver I've experienced.

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Nice score and save. An old beat up 2270 is how I found AK back in the oughts. Still listening to it.

 

[stereofisher]

Detail best explains low powered Marantz. First realized this back in the 70s with a 4220 I put a spark cap on its on-off switch. I delivered it back to a friend. She was a music teacher. They had bought 4 AR 4AX speakers. You actually hear the raspiness of a bow going across the strings! I was amazed how got it sounded. Picked up a Marantz 1030 a while back. Had my doubts on this. Powered a pr of Advet 380s sourced from our landfill with AR 4AX on the back. Had plenty of power. Vintage AR work really well. Got talked into selling that 1030.

Another speaker that works well are JBL Decade 26s. Use a pr on my 2270. Wanted a second pair for my shop. Have a 4415 four channel receiver there. These JBLs are getting pricey, sadly. Over $500 and up. To keep the price down I bought empty JBL cabinets with crossovers with no speakers. One hundred sixty with shipping. Had my doubts with Chinese sourced replacement speakers. Raw JBL speakers are NLA. The tweeters were knock offs and fit perfectly. Woofers took a little fanaglin to mount. The detail of the sound is really good. ARs on the back. With replacements cost of faux JBL we’re about $400.

Hope this helps. Results are very pleasing.

Eric

 

[nbarber]

Thanks stereofisher. I was really hoping to find a set of AR-3x's but it looks prices for those have put them well out of reach for this curiosity experiment. I'm glad to hear you had a good experience with AR-4x because those are a l closer to my budget and seem to come up locally more often. I am a JBL fan but for this project I'm really hoping to find a non-ported cabinet. There are a pair of LDS 400's near me that have peaked my interest but haven't reached out the seller yet.
ocdecio's comment about a recap is something I've been considering. It's been a few years since I've dived that deep but this little unit shouldn't be too terribly complicated. Time to head to Mouser I guess and start down the rabbit hole...

 

[Bone Yard]

It's always nice to make sure they can rock out, I'm partial to Klipsch Heresys or Polk 10's, my listening environments stink and these speakers don't seem to care. As an audio hunter it's nice to hear of equipment still being pulled out; the input switch is the number one reason vintage audio doesn't work, I've fixed a ton of stuff with a little cleaning and lube.

 

[nbarber]

I've fixed a ton of stuff with a little cleaning and lube.

I wish this one was that easy. After sitting for a few days the switch became very stiff and sluggish with a great deal of bleed-over between sources. I dove back in and it appears that something may have been spilled on it. I pulled the switch apart and cleaned it with naphtha and DeoxIT. Surprisingly there is almost no residue on the board, I did clean a bit off the bottom panel but really nothing on the IC. You can see the goo on the pins but the witches cleaned up nicely with a toothbrush.



Also, the original issue of the selector shaft working loose returned. It appears that a small collar that holds the main shaft to the selector rod broke, probably because of the added resistance imposed by the contaminants in the switch. As a permanent solution a I soldered a convex cover to the back of the casing that should prevent the shaft from working loose again. The switch went back in with little fuss and works as intended. Smooth operation with a nice, positive "click" as inputs are selected and no more noise or bleed-over.




The new lights from Dave are in, it looks good and sounds even better. I found a small pair of Mission MS-50's, while they don't dig very deep their clarity and detail are excellent. I may look for a small, musical sub to pair with these speakers and fill in the bottom end.



I don't really have a place to put this little receiver but it sounds so darn good I might have to find a proper stand and make it the bedroom system.

 

[Bone Yard]

Thanks for the photos! The switches can be a huge pain and yours has so many connections. The set-up looks great, two very well designed pieces of equipment, I always wonder how they will stand the test of time, will they still be cool looking in another 40 years?