Would you buy this Marantz 2245?

S

SharkSanwich

New Member
I found a guy on Craiglist selling a very clean looking inside and out 2245. It has the blue light upgrades. He has it listed for $380. He says he has been using it as his primary receiver for listening to records. He brings it over, we hook it up and one of the channels sounds great. But the other channel doesn't work. He seems surprised and visibly annoyed. He says "you've got to be kidding me. I hooked it up before I left and it worked fine." We fiddle with it for about 15 minutes but it doesn't work. If we press the mono button both channels work. Everything else seems to work fine, the tuner, the pretty blue lights, the high low filters, balance. Literally every knob works.

He drove 1 hour to visit me. I know he doesn't want to go home without selling it. I say "you can go get it fixed and call me or we can wheel and deal?" He says "how about $250?" What's your move?
 
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At $380 in good cosmetic condition and everything working sounds good, at $250 without a channel working not so much. If you could get it at $150 and put two into it, I think you would be fine.
 
Older equipment needs rebuilding, so you should buy it at the lowest possible price. It doesn't make much sense to pay a couple hundred bucks for something just to toss it out after a couple of years. Be careful of the good enough factor and do a total rebuild....
 
I'd keep playing with the various switches, especially Tape Monitor, to see if the channel comes back. 'Can't help you with the question of price - today's pricing on Marantz gear seems a bit out of control to me.
 
Djcoolray said:
Older equipment needs rebuilding, so you should buy it at the lowest possible price. It doesn't make much sense to pay a couple hundred bucks for something just to toss it out after a couple of years. Be careful of the good enough factor and do a total rebuild....
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From some preliminary reading it seems a full rebuild is in the $400 range. and I am willing to do that for the right unit. Is that number in the ballpark?
 
If your not sold on the Marantz and willing to shop for and want better sonics id save the coin involved and look for something tubed.your approaching Dynaco st70 money

hunter
 
Marantz prices are too high, IMO.
$250 for not working properly? Nope.
But I'm not the best person to ask. I do have a stack of Marantz, but mine was all bought not-working on the cheap and the I've (mostly) repaired myself. I did take the 250 w\meters amp to a professional for the Marantz SB updates tho.
 
Its pretty common for the volume and balance pots to get dirty on any vintage receiver and to lose volume and a channel or be very scratchy sounding . usually a good cleaning with deoxit contact cleaner will take care of it. the other controls and switches should be cleaned as well, there are many threads on here about how to do it. If that is all that is needed $250 would be a good price. If it is another issue it is a good choice for a receiver to have refurbished. The 2245 is my favorite receiver of all that i own and i have quite a few, i have said this quite a few times and i will say it again, you will need to pry my 2245 from my dying hands.
 
It's not clear in the OP.

Just a channel on phono?
Easy phono amp restore/upgrade.
Details on AK thanks to Catrafter.

Every input not working on one channel but worked when he left home?

Loose wire, solder joint, ground strap.

Worst case, preamp puked. Still fairly easy restore/upgrade.

$250?

They certainly don't seem to be getting cheaper.

The more I restore, the more I realize how critical that actually is.

Vintage is getting older everyday and the days of "works perfect every time" are ending.
 
The phono seemed to work fine. We did play with the balance and volume and it did not solve the problem. The problem was identical on the tuner.

Much like Donnie, I had no frame of reference here. I had put myself in a spot where I was curious about a vintage Marantz receiver. From a few days of reading this forum, it seemed that the 2245 was one of the more popular models. I am looking to create a vintage setup with my TT, original Advent loudspeakers and vintage amp. I already had the speakers and turntable.

I felt a little bad having him drive an hour and not buying it. I realize that is not my problem but I still felt that way. I offered him $200 and he begrudgingly accepted. The inside looked spectacular, heck, so did the outside. Someone had installed blue LED's. So someone had at least done some work on it. I have it in a shop here in Phoenix and I'll know more about it in a week. I figured the worst case is I have to spend $400 to completely restore the unit and have a fully restored 2245. I can live with that. If I'm disappointed in the sound (which by most accounts would be a surprise), I'm sure I could sell it for $500. So I took the shot. Hopefully it costs less than that.

Once it's repaired I am looking to add a black face and use it for my vinyl listening. If it outperforms the new Yamaha A-s801 amp I am using currently it will become my main amp and I can sell the Yamaha. I am mostly curious to compare new versus vintage to my own ears.
 
I had the same problem with my 2235b. I opened it up, cleaned all the pots and switches with detoxit, sprayed a little in the "pre out, amp in" jacks, and worked an rca plug in and out of the jacks. I turned the unit back on and it worked and sounded great! I'm not sure about the 2245, but with the 2235b, (if it still doesn't work) you can take a jumper from the left pre out jack and hook it to the right amp in jack, and visa-versa. This will tell you if the problem is in the pre amp or the amp section.
 
$200 is a good price for a fixer upper, if the face and knobs are in great condition having it recapped will give you a beautiful great sounding receiver for another 30-40 years, i would guess the repair wont be all that much but would still consider a recap if the price is reasonable. i havent had any receivers that i have recapped sound worse and a few have sounded a a whole lot better more punch, bass it just makes them sound like new again.
 
Chrisxo55441 said:
$200 is a good price for a fixer upper, if the face and knobs are in great condition having it recapped will give you a beautiful great sounding receiver for another 30-40 years, i would guess the repair wont be all that much but would still consider a recap if the price is reasonable. i havent had any receivers that i have recapped sound worse and a few have sounded a a whole lot better more punch, bass it just makes them sound like new again.
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I was thinking along these lines too. I will ask them and see if it has ever been re-capped. If not I may just go ahead and have it done. I want a true representative of the marantz sound. I'd hate to do my comparison with a substandard sounding receiver and decide the vintage sound isn't that great. But if they think it's been re-capped I'll just plug in and enjoy! The inside of the receiver looked to be in fantastic shape, nothing looked aged. But I'm not sure if that means it was restored or just well kept.
 
SharkSanwich said:
I was thinking along these lines too. I will ask them and see if it has ever been re-capped. If not I may just go ahead and have it done. I want a true representative of the marantz sound. I'd hate to do my comparison with a substandard sounding receiver and decide the vintage sound isn't that great. But if they think it's been re-capped I'll just plug in and enjoy! The inside of the receiver looked to be in fantastic shape, nothing looked aged. But I'm not sure if that means it was restored or just well kept.
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usually the bottoms always look like new, if the top boards arent dusty and dirty its probably been cleaned and or serviced. If a full recap is to expensive (meaning replacing the electrolytic caps only) you can do a partial. This is the order i would do -The power supply is the most important and should be done regardless and will give the most improvement (speaker relay should be replaced here as well). then the 2 amplifier boards, the 2 big filter can caps give you the punchy bass so if that sounds strong you could put those off till later. next would be the tone board and phono board (transistors should be replaced here as well) a lot of people skip the am and fm boards and those should be only done by someone who can adjust them. good luck and ejoy and let us know what the tech finds out
 
Was this Marantz originally housed in a wood cabinet? I'm surprised nobody has suggested this first, but have you checked out the screws that hold the feet to the bottom? Lots of times, when a unit is taken out of its case, the original long screws are used for the feet, and they poke into the chassis, especially the front left: take that screw out and see if you get full stereo response. It happens a lot.
 
Don't want to walk on someone else's thread. Just a couple comments. Can a 2245 really approach $500, and $400 to recap etc upgrades? I acquired this same model at a garage sale last weekend in a dirty condition. I am really surprised at market prices. Not to say I would not pay $200+ for one. Always longed for one. Sure you will enjoy it.
 
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Old Guy8 said:
Don't want to walk on someone else's thread. Just a couple comments. Can a 2245 really approach $500, and $400 to recap etc upgrades? I acquired this same model at a garage sale last weekend in a dirty condition. I am really surprised at market prices. Not to say I would not pay $200+ for one. Always longed for one. Sure you will enjoy it.
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Sure seems high to me, but I'm a cheapskate. I was first to call for a 2252B and 5020 for $50 a couple of a weekends ago. I told they guy they were worth more, but he said no big deal, just wanted to get rid of them. Up until he started getting calls offering 150-200 for the set then he called and asked if I was going to hold him to the deal (he would have honored it), I told him I'd back off and let him make some money.
 
SharkSanwich,
Please keep us updated on what you decide on how much to rebuild. And how you like the results.
A 2245 that I aquired last weekend has been on my workbench being deoxited. Lost scratchiness to the controls. Still have two bulbs out. FM has loud static. My neighbor who is a tech, says I likely need FM aligned. Going to use as is a while to hear how I like sound. May decide to rebuid like you. Good luck. These Marantz receivers have a nice look.
 
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