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Re: A real cheap way to so how good/bad that Marantz 7 is

First off let me say I enjoyed your post. I too am a vintage tube fan but also don't care for the overdone controls on vintage preamps.

Here is a quick, cheap, and easy way to see what if anything you are missing with your old preamp. Build a resistive passive preamp. All you need is some RCA jacks and a volume pot. Radio Shack sells a 100K stereo pot made by Alps for the volume control that is under 5 bucks and rather good for the money. That, a case of some sort, and a few jacks are all that is needed. You will need a phono stage for vinyl though. But one can play CD's right away through the passive unit. At higher volumes they are quite good but not near as good at lower volumes. Consider it a cheap experiment to gauge your present preamp. You may find you like all the tone controls you now have. Or you may find that the 20 buck passive is far better. Depending on results you can decide on a future course.

A transformer based passive combined with a stand alone phono stage is likely to yeild the best sound for the least money. But if you like tone controls then go with a full featured active preamp. Although again I might encourage you to look at a stand alone phono stage as a good one makes a world of difference.

Your preamp is a good investment and can certainly be restored with better quality passive parts and simply doing that alone may be all you need and want. One could consider some small changes such as including the cathode follower in the feedback loop and/or perhaps trying a 12AT7 or 12AU7 tube in that location. But I wouldn't modify it much as it has too much value as is.

Don't fall for too much hype. Your preamp is a good one. If it has been pleasing to you for decades there is no reason why it should not continue to please you with some simple TLC and a few replacements parts at most.

Russ


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  • Re: A real cheap way to so how good/bad that Marantz 7 is - Russ57 06:05:44 12/26/03 (1)


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