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In Reply to: Any Idea Why This Marantz 7C . . . posted by FlaCharlie on March 9, 2007 at 05:34:45:
I had more than one 7C back when $150 was a lot to pay for one. The 7T is transistor of course and well made like the 7C. My only gripe back then was I felt the 7T's phono section was a bit noisy and "polite" sounding compared to the 7C. I wish now I'd bought all the many 7C's we took in on trade when I worked at Musicraft and stored them somewhere until about now :)
Follow Ups:
Hi, Dave:Don't you wish you had that time machine? I've actually had folks GIVE me Model 7's in the past! You could have heard me shouting "THANKS!" across several states when that happened!
Didn't the 7-T utilize germanium transistors?
Not good sounding. I wonder how many people have ever bothered updating those older units to any advantage?
I've also owned and sold a few 7-T's, never much appreciating them at all.
A clean, updated and working Model 7 does sound a bit euphoric, but compared with one in original shape (though stratospherically more valuable these days), the earlier unit will not exhibit such low harmonic distortion on paper as a unit which was been fully updated and restored.
Would you drive a vintage vehicle around on its original vintage oil?
When they were in production (the 7T) I owned 1 with a McIntosh C24 and a Mattes along with a Hadley. Of the group, the Mattes showed the others up as works in progress needing significant improvement. The Marantz was in 2nd position but it could not hold up a candle to a 7 nor any of the Mc tube amps. At that time even a new PAS3x was better but b/c of the design and component quality a stock 3x today I'd bet today would only best a 7T if the 7T needed major work.The 7T unbeknownst to Marantz lovers at the time proved to be their best preamp design for several generations and for some it was not bettered until the Esotec units came out.
Thans, Brian!No doubt that the "7-T" probably outsold most contemporary quality pramps at the time and set the stage for later versions.
I have often heard from former audio store owners how many former Model 7 tube preamp owners were falling over one another to trade in their tube preamps for the newer (and supposedly better) transistorized Model 7-T. You know, Marantz held back a long time before taking that leap into the world of solid-state. This is why for a while, the company was still advertising the newer 7-T along with the all tube 8-B.
Then, they lost their shirt on production cost overruns for the 10-B!
I always thought it would be fun to take a 7T and gut it and build something nice into the case (like a TUBE circuit) and for a while I looked for a cheap on to do that to but seems now they are getting big bucks for what they are so that idea is shelved....Yes it had germanium transistors...
Thanks, Dave:Ever see a Hadley preamplifier?
Same deal!
Yes I repaired one for a friend years ago. C&M Labs and Acoustec had similar models also...
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