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Vintage Stereo Advice

M

mahnu

New Member
I recently inherited vintage Marantz equipment and I am in fear of simply plugging it in. The PO was the original owner and had not used the system in over 10 years. The equipment list follows. Is there anything I need to consider before turning these on. Like speakers, do they need to be recapped? Are there internal fans to these? Should I open them and vaccum any dust in the chassis?

Marantz 250 amp
Marantz model 120 tuner
Marantz 3300 pre amp
 
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mahnu said:
I recently inherited vintage Marantz equipment and I am in fear of simply plugging it in. The PO was the original owner and had not used the system in over 10 years. The equipment list follows. Is there anything I need to consider before turning these on. Like speakers, do they need to be recapped? Are there internal fans to these? Should I open them and vaccum any dust in the chassis?

Marantz 250 amp
Marantz model 120 tuner
Marantz 3300 pre amp
Click to expand...


Don't plug them in until you build a dim bulb tester, it will save you from letting the magic smoke out doing further damage if there is any.
Start here others with knowledge will chime in soon.
Good luck

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...ial-please-feel-free-to-copy-and-post.875584/
 
mahnu said:
I recently inherited vintage Marantz equipment and I am in fear of simply plugging it in. The PO was the original owner and had not used the system in over 10 years. The equipment list follows. Is there anything I need to consider before turning these on. Like speakers, do they need to be recapped? Are there internal fans to these? Should I open them and vaccum any dust in the chassis?

Marantz 250 amp
Marantz model 120 tuner
Marantz 3300 pre amp
Click to expand...


I would be inclined to open them up to (gently) clean out any accumulated dust, and look for obvious signs of damage (burned components / wires) or bulging capacitors.
 
Open them up and blow out the dust. Maybe clean and lube the potentiometers like volume, balance and tone controls. You can also do the switches...

I know a dim bulb tester is a good idea but I am the guy who would probably just roll the dice and plug them in. Sorry... Orwell84's advice is good advice. I have just never used a dim bulb tester. And yeah, he even included a link on how to build one. It's definitely a good idea. Preventative medecine.
 
Take the whole set to your local shop, if your lucky enough to have one. should be no more than 75 per unit if no repairs are needed.

Going out on a limb here but, chances are you aren't up for a dim bulb tester build right now.

I'm a longtime buyer of gear and unless its tubed, I normally plug in and always use a crappy speaker to test with. If I get thru that on to further testing.

Let us know , we can walk you thru and welcome to AK:banana::needpics:
 
All excellent models. Shouldn’t be anything unexpected with them. But the idea of first testing them with thrift store speakers known to work properly is not a bad idea.

I personally own a 3300 pre amp, 250M power amp and 125 tuner
 
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