|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
68.104.193.12
I believe these were Marantz's first solid state amp.
Has anyone here heard them. The only exposure to early SS was my Marantz 18. A robust power house of sound. Grainy as were most early transistors but robust as hell.
Any one had one or rebuilt one? Sounds like something that could be fun.
I really REALLY wish I didn't sell my Marantz 250. One of the low points in my audio days of frustration where I sold every thing off and went new. That was a combination of a good move and an expensive move/lesson
Follow Ups:
airtime,
at one time, I owned every solid state amp from Marantz in that era, including the 500, 510M, 250, 250M, 240, 32, 16, 15, 16b, etc.
By far the 15, 16, and 16b were the best sounding of the bunch even in stock form. With some parts upgrades, those amps can really sing.
best
John
Funny but I am seriously looking at the 15.
Don't get me wrong the others are wonderful. But I'm up to my eyeballs in cutting edge wonderful stereos that honestly are light years ahead of ANY of these. What I am looking for is a vintage piece with the "classic" vintage sound.
Hmmm - sounds nice
I own and use a Model 15 Amplifier. I can compare it to other amps I own including Dynaco ST70 & Mark IIIs and Conrad Johnson MV75A1. The best sounding overall is the pooged ST70 followed closely by the Model 15. Marantz captured the "tube sound" in the Model 15 with a nice punchy bass. I love it including the little green power lamps per channel.
Dan
Haven't listened to them in quite some time. I remembered them as rather warm sounding.
This is the third time I'm typing this so I'm shortening it down.
My heart is in vintage and especially in Marantz vintage. So ending my audio daze with a fine vintage Marantz would be nice.
The 15 has an interesting bulb resistance circuit and some of the parts are no longer available. Making restoration difficult!
The 250 or 250M that I am interested in having one day I always felt it captures the pinnacle of the 70's sound.
Being not many people rebuild these things the job falls on my shoulders. One I really don't want any more out side of just recapping the piece.
charels
One of these days we should talk on the phone.
Sometimes a man wants what he wants and that is all there is to it (so go get a 250). I wouldn't advise the model 15. The parts that aren't made anymore can be subbed without problems. It is well built and sounds nice. I just didn't recall it being "special" although it was neat/cool. Honestly it was only the Marantz tube stuff that I found special. In that 70's era I liked the sansui 9090DB bettter than any of the 22XX/23XX models. However that dolby board is a nightmare to repair.....but you can run it as a straight power amp.
If I had it all to do over I'd forget the brand name on the face plate and look at the name behind the circuit. In no particular order (and I'm sure I'm missing many) I'd look into stuff engineered by some of the following.
Avery Fisher, David Hafler, Bob Carver, Dan D'Agostino, John Curl, William Zane Johnson, Hiroyasu Kondo, Dennis Had, Peter Walker, Gordon Gow, Nelson Pass, Stewart Hegeman, Sid Smith, Sidney Corderman, Jim Bongiorno, Tim de Paravicini, Vladimir Lamm.
Wonderful amp. Plenty of jump factor. In one of my less memorable moments, I sold it.
The United States is a collection of laws, badly written and randomly enforced.-Frank Zappa
I had the 250 in the late seventies and early eighties, a friend had the close cousin to the 15, the 16. Both were good but the 16 was better. Both blew away the McIntosh MC 2505 and MC2105 at the time.
None would hold a candle to modern SS amps, but were very good, maybe the best SS amps at the time. The early Marantz amps were really well designed and way above most of their time.
None would hold a candle to modern SS amps, but were very good, maybe the best SS amps at the time.
There is one amp of that vintage, however, that arguably would still be considered competitive today - the Threshold 800A circa '75. I was working part time at a shop in Atlanta that sold Dayton-Wright electrostats. At the time, the D-W rep (Dan D'Agostino!) had recommended a Dunlap-Clarke amp to handle their rather unforgiving load. It was reliable and didn't wince at the reactive load, but wasn't spectacular sounding. Then Julian got an 800A with its triple Darlington outputs!
It was far better sounding and a groundbreaking amp in many respects. It introduced the later much copied concept of sliding class A bias that reduced its power consumption and heat output. It was also the first child of a stellar engineer who continues to innovate today with his products at Pass Labs and First Watt. At the close of the 70s, he introduced the Stasis series used by Telarc records for their cutter . I enjoyed a Stasis 3 for nearly thirty years driving Acoustats.
Nelson Pass' Threshold 800A
I think Mike Samra has one in his collection.
I think if I go the Marantz route again I would go for the 250 or 250M. I agree that newer amps have come a long way. And I also agree that the 250 did sound better than the Mac's which I did have both models.
The reason why I have a soft spot in my heart for the 250 is because I always felt that amp hit the pinnacle of capturing that 70s sound. It captured the 70's at it's best.
I really felt that was what was missing from my collection. A rock solid example of 70's solid state sound.
You can probably find a 240 for less cost. I'm with you,
they sound great.
Is coming up on about 8 years from the last time Soundsmith serviced it.
Perhaps its time for another check up.
Mated to a 3600 preamp, and now I'm going back to FM the 125 tuner is in the shop now.
Factory wood cases adorn all.
I had the 3600. And the 3800,3300,3850 (or was it the 3650?) and even a few of the Esotec line products.
Hate to admit it I liked the 3300 out of the entire bunch. The 3650 aka the PM-9 was a frigging nightmare of wiring harness and connections.
I've also had the 125 tuner as well as the 104,112,115 I think. Funny but my favorite tuner was if I remembered the 104 and the 115. Again if I remember.
I never had my hands on the 300dc or 510m. they were getting too pricey at the time and I was fading out of the buying end. However I really did like the humble 170DC.
Receivers - well had a few as well.
charles
I was very leery of using them since I got them condition unknown and since they were so early solid state I didn't want to fire them up and have...actual fire. Especially after I read (this webpage linked below). Two things you have to note about them is one: there is no on/off switch so if the amp is plugged into a live outlet it will be on. And two, there are two lamps which are the size of automotive taillight bulbs and have bayonet mounts like automotive lamps do. Those lamps are part of the circuit, so if they are burned out or not making good contact in the socket it will affect the amp. I did actually try one of the two amps I had, and it did work. I didn't push it and I don't really remember how it sounded but it did seem like it had plenty of power. I never tried the other one I had. I figured for me it would be best to not play around and either fix them up correctly or just sell them and move on. So I sold them.
Good luck.
--Matt
"When you think everything is someone else's fault, you will suffer a lot."
--Dalai Lama
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: