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Which Marantz Receiver should I get?

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Coleman5000

New Member
I would like to piece together a vintage stereo system. I don’t know much about them, but I’m learning. There’s two Marantz receivers on marketplace I’m interested in, a 4270 and a 2235B. I was hoping someone could give me some advice on the best one. I don’t have speakers yet but will get them. I do have a Lenco L-85 turntable. And I recently picked up a subwoofer that was leftover at an estate sale (can’t remember the brand name and I’m out of town, but it looked nice). Can someone steer me in the right direction?
 
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Yikes
Tough choice --
I own a 4270 but it hasn't seen the light of day for years -- be aware all these old Marantz may or DO need some work.

Lenco L-85 is no slouch treat yourself well --

I like the 2270 -- or the 2230 as preferred my many, of course I started with a 2245.

Speakers -- I would say Advent's -- but they are way long in the tooth these days --
Others will chime in for certain...

West Coast Sound, or East Coast sound -- it used to be a thing --

Of course JBL would really put the icing on the cake --L100's 43xx series - but you WILL piss off the neighbors ...

No matter your journey -- my very best to you and be sure to let us know with pics !

Celadon
 
^ Now there is a great answer for you !
Of course ADS ---

I owned the little baby ADS that were sold with the Nakamichi 250 maybe... long ago I saved a month or so to buy them lil guys.
People could not believe the sound out of those.

Nice looking setup indeed !

Looks like you are going to get plenty of recommends -- and that Marantz is mighty pretty too!

Of course I am of the High SPL group.

I bought my McIntosh amp from a guy that had ADS 720 maybe ? and auditioned it through them.

I especially like their tweeters -- replacements I dunno ...

Just depends..
On what you like, or what you need. :)
 
Personally I would pass on the 4270 unless your into quad.
The 2235B should do you just fine as long as it's in good working order.
As for speakers,.if you can find them, the Marantz Imperial 6's wkuld.be a good match I think. I really like mine. I even used them with various Marantz separates I've had over the years. They're connected to one of my tube amps right now. ADS speakers are nice too. Large Advents are nice if they've been restored.
 
@Lavane
Really good point -- didn't think of that.

And does the 4270 have the quad adapter.
If that is of importance --
I think there were 2 adapter versions, one was more in demand than the other, (they live in a compartment on the bottom if I remember correct). I have neither --- might be I am using the wrong wording here but I think it is an SQ adapter...

I would agree about the 4270, though and particularly the PS board.

I wasn't much of a quad person, but remember a guy that had a big fat receiver -- Sansui Quad maybe and 4 bose 901's -- (not a fan particularly) but it was an amazing sound around the room... yes the 901's had the eq unit/s...

Large Advents indeed -- fried egg tweeters and redone woofers--- dunno what the xovers were --
My first real speakers -- Walnut cabs, $220 the pair, circa 1975 ish.

BTW the Marantz 2245 was $372 out the door, wooden cabinet was $40 additional... ahem...

Guess I will wait to find out what the OP decides :)
 
Coleman5000 said:
I would like to piece together a vintage stereo system. I don’t know much about them, but I’m learning. There’s two Marantz receivers on marketplace I’m interested in, a 4270 and a 2235B. I was hoping someone could give me some advice on the best one. I don’t have speakers yet but will get them. I do have a Lenco L-85 turntable. And I recently picked up a subwoofer that was leftover at an estate sale (can’t remember the brand name and I’m out of town, but it looked nice). Can someone steer me in the right direction?
Click to expand...

Between the two models that you listed, I would personally take the 2235b. It is a simpler machine than the 4270 and it is powerful enough to drive a wide range of speakers to very high volumes, if that's your thing.

Marantz receivers are a pretty safe bet for resale, too. If you bought whichever one you wanted and didn't like it for some reason, you could very likely sell it and get your money back.
 
Coleman5000 said:
I would like to piece together a vintage stereo system. I don’t know much about them, but I’m learning. There’s two Marantz receivers on marketplace I’m interested in, a 4270 and a 2235B. I was hoping someone could give me some advice on the best one. I don’t have speakers yet but will get them. I do have a Lenco L-85 turntable. And I recently picked up a subwoofer that was leftover at an estate sale (can’t remember the brand name and I’m out of town, but it looked nice). Can someone steer me in the right direction?
Click to expand...

you may want to get the speakers first. Once you know how easy or tough of a load they are to drive, then you can figure out which amp or receiver would work the best. You may want to consider sticking with the 2 channel Marantz if that is the direction you are going.
 
Nice recievers, I'd take a flashlight and look under the grill and see which one has the most dust bunnies on the boards. 15 years ago I almost pulled the trigger on that quad, a local auction had it for $50 bones and going slightly up but I thought it was too much at the time. Quad recievers used to go for 1/2, or more, of traditional models for a long time and didn't seem to get the same respect.

If both were the same price and working, I'd pop on the quad, mostly because it's much cooler looking, the 2235B is kind of a plain jane for a Marantz. I wouldn't do it for a traditional quad set-up unless you're willing to spend time finding the music and other equipment you'll need for proper sonics.

Good luck with your choice.
 
I had a 2275 and still have a 2252B (doesn't see much use). The 2270 had a lot of updates done to it over its production run to fix small issues, the newer 2275 incorporated all of these into a better package that had no issues. I loved mine but I prefer separates and so it was just sitting around gathering dust so I let it go. (very pretty in a good wood case with a black face plate)
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Marantz quad units are low power and have a lot of quad features such that a lot of stereo features are not there. The 2235 is low power and doesn't have a lot of features because it is a low end model. If you are going to do stereo, get the 2235 and pay a lot less than you would for the 4270. If the two are going for the same price, either the 2235 is marked up, the 4270 is marked down, or there is something very wrong with the 4270 that you are not being told. Either unit will do about the same in stereo, one because you have a bunch of back channel stuff you're not using, and the other because it's all it's got.

You will want to have these demoed and shown they are fully functional. If seller balks, the price needs to be low. There should be a Marantz SQA card in the bottom of the 4270 that needs to be there and work. If it doesn't, then price drops. If the seller doesn't have an SQ record to demo, then assume it doesn't work. There is a lot more to go wrong on the 4270.

All functions should be demoed to work. If they don't, or seller won't, price drops.

Most people on facebook marketplace are flakes.

All old equipment needs rebuild at some point. Do some price research on what restored units are going for. If there is not several hundred dollars between the price of the unrestored units you are considering, and what people are selling restored units for, you will be under water. 500 for the 4270 and 300 for the 2235 are good prices for unrestored units. If your guys want double that, I hope you get kissed along with your screwing.
 
Coleman5000 said:
I would like to piece together a vintage stereo system. I don’t know much about them, but I’m learning.
Click to expand...
when I was 14, my friend got a Marantz receiver for Christmas, it was the coolest thing but I could only get a hand-me-down tube amp.

Four years later, when I was stationed overseas, I bought the biggest Marantz receiver in the PX, a 2330B, 120 watts per channel, along with Pioneer HPM 100 speakers. That system was loud and proud.

Fast forward 44 years, I no longer have the Marantz and don't miss it at all. I prefer the gear that is not so "desirable" but every bit as good as Marantz
 
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Get the 2235B. Nice sounding, nice looking, and easy to work on.

I had a 4270 here recently that needed new relays. Not so much fun. They packed a bunch of stuff in a little package with 4270.

Rob
 
One thing that was mentioned was getting speakers first. What ever receiver you decide on, you need speakers the reciever can easily drive.
The 2235B is rated for 35 watts per channel. So speaker sensitivity is kind of important here. The more sensitive the better. That's why one of the speakers I suggested trying to find were the Marantz Imperial 6's.
They're rated at 93db at one watt/one meter. I have a Marantz 1060 integrated amp I restored several years ago rated for 30 watts per channel.
That amp pushes those speakers very well. Even one of my tube amps I built rated for 5.5 watts per channel sounds nice with them.
So I would look for speakers rated at 91db or better. That 1060 did well with my ADS speakers and a couple pairs of Polk's rated for 91db. I also.have other speakers rated from 85db to 89db that caused the 1060 and a few other lower powered amps I own struggle a bit for higher volume.
The size of the room can come into play as well. I've found in a small room like a 9'×9' room I have my bench and 5 small lower watt systems setup in sound good with the less efficient speakers I have due to it being more like near field listening with the speakers setup on shelving right next to both sides of my bench. But in a larger room, those amps struggle with those same speakers trying to fill the larger room with sound.
 
Lavane said:
So I would look for speakers rated at 91db or better. That 1060 did well with my ADS speakers and a couple pairs of Polk's rated for 91db. I also.have other speakers rated from 85db to 89db that caused the 1060 and a few other lower powered amps I own struggle a bit for higher volume.
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This is a valid point to consider especially if you have a large room, or if you enjoy playing the music noticeably loud. Both Klipsch and JBL speakers in my collection are more sensitive than my ADS, but they are also ported and get boomy in my room. My 2238B has no problem driving either set of ADS speakers louder than I can stand, the 570's are 88db and the 780's are also rated at 88db but I think they are actually about 86db. My room is 11.5' x 14.0', and it's pretty much sound proof and dead.
 
I will add, the 2225B has pre-out and main-in jacks. So later if you decide you need more power you can pull the jumpers on the back of the reciever and add ia power amp of your choise. You would still have all the functions on the receiver, but with a more powerful amplifier.
 
Having a little experience with Marantz units.

Will tell you first when choosing any unit. Condition condition condition, how well does it look sorta stuff.
Second any quad has a lot going on crammed under the hood. Very heavy also.

The 4270 will run in stereo with decent power yet again will run hotter and more parts to fail.

The 2235B is a much simpler and complex unit to service. Mated to the speakers will matter more then the 4270. You would many consider a ported or passive design speaker. Or incorporate a powered sub woofer into the system.

One of my sons used and lived a 2238 with a pair of Advent A100's and Polk 10B's for years. There was a Klipsch 12" powered sub in there also.
This system was plenty powerful in his living room.
 
I have a 2270 and as much as I like it (I'll never get rid of the thing!), they seem to go for so much these days, that I feel that you could almost surely get more for your money. A less powerful, somewhat less iconic model will be cheaper and will be OK as long as you pair it with speakers that are fairly efficient. I like the flexibility though to mess around with a variety of different speakers and to be less locked into ones that need less power.... but with vintage Marantz, you really pay for that.

Whatever you get, make sure that it's either been serviced recently, or budget in the cost of service. Even if everything seems to be working OK, having it serviced and checked out will mean that it's sounding as good as possible, and that can make a big difference.
 
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