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Magical Marantz 22## receivers

Why is it generally accepted that caps in a vintage speaker crossover should be replaced but some how these mid-fi (at best) 70’s vintage receivers seem to get better (and more expensive) with no maintenance. I would love to see someone bench test one of these beauties with the “tube like” sound.
ripkeith
kosst_amojan
2,095 posts
 
They do NOT get better as those ancient caps age. Not by a long shot. I've recapped all of the old Marantz units I've got. The tantalum caps on those like to pop like firecrackers and take out tuners. Electrolytics go leaky and push bias out of spec, leak DC onto signal paths, and eventually destroy transistors and resistors. I don't know why people think these old things sound so dreamy operating way out of spec and sounding nothing like they were designed to. Beyond all that, the glue Pioneer and Sansui used decomposes and eats the braces off the boards and the legs of the components. And no, they don't measure well. And if that's not enough, they usually have excessive DC on the outputs that does no favors for your speakers. 
michaelgreenaudio's avatar
michaelgreenaudio
643 posts
 

I love the sound of the old goodies, just received another 3 of them this week. You have to know which ones are the special sounding ones. And yes they get much better with age. I don’t like the sound of anything complicated and I mechanically tune all of my components after I get them. I think I have had one with a bad cap but that was it.

When I look to make a purchase, if it says recapped I keep my distance. The sound of older solid state parts (with a good design) sound very much like tubes, in some cases even better. I bring in several different models during a years time to find the ones that really perform.

Last year and this year I’m putting these head to head up against HEA’s best and well lets just say a lot of my newer HEA has been up on Audiomart, and I hope to get more of it sold this year. I bet I took about a $60,000.00 bath last year on the amps and DACs I bought. Some horrible sounding stuff, and on Stereophile’s recommended list too.

Michael Green

www.michaelgreenaudio.net

kosst_amojan
2,095 posts
 
You don't like the sound of anything complicated, but you like the sound of those very complicated 70's units? Ok. 
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