Marantz 2230

[smith79]

Just got this guy for $287 with original owners manual and schematic which are like new.  The registration is filled out inside the manual by the original owner.  He purchased it at Fidelity Sound Systems April 28 1973 for $297 (what's that about $2000 in today's dollars?) and there is a Shreveport Louisiana address.  It came to me from South Carolina where the guy I bought it from said it was his personal system.

I pulled the covers off to do an inspection before putting power to it.  It's in excellent condition and seems unmolested other than maybe 1 resistor was replaced for the lights.

I'm going to give it a quick cleaning and hook it up to my DLK 1 1/2s that I'm just about finished restoring.  I'll probably recap it and update a few transistors after I power it up and test it for a while.

[Gilbertsta]

I wish I knew more about that stuff. Electronics is my weakness. Hope it works well for you!

[smith79]

Thanks Gilberts, just start learning!  So much fun!  There is enough info on youtube and places like audio karma to get you started (and hooked)

I hooked it up to the dim bulb tester and put the power to it.  It powered up normally, the bulb flashed on then went dim (this is a good thing if you don't know what that is) and so I let it run for a little while connected to the tester just to make sure nothing was getting hot or smokey LOL.  Everything was fine so I connected speakers and turned the outputs on, again no problems after running for a little while.

It sounds really good but all the pots, switches, rca's, etc need a good cleaning (as I expected).  I'll probably go ahead and replace all the electrolytic caps and it should be a sweet set-up for the bedroom.

I don't know if you can tell in this picture or not but the bulb is dimly lit here:

[smith79]

I connected a crappy di-pole antenna and even in the basement I was able to tune in a few FM stations in stereo.  You got to love the Marantz blue lights

[Burd]

That is a bad ass receiver.   

[b_hill_86]

That thing is cool.

[smith79]

I found a good set of plans to make the wood case
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/marantz-wc-22-construction-plans.728593/

I don't know if I'm going to take the time to do that or just buy one but I definitely want the wood case for it.  They look so much better

[Burd]

There was one at the Record shop on Woodward.  I almost bought it. 
You could make Moparmat make you the walnut case.

[BONES]

That’s fabulous. 

I was a Pioneer guy back in the day.  Still have it & it still sounds great.

[smith79]

Nice,  I'm going to get a Pioneer next.  They had some amazing receivers and turntables in the 70's.  The last one I did was an 80's Kenwood basic C2 preamp and M1 power amp and they sound amazing with plenty of power.

I got this Marantz all cleaned up and de-oxidized yesterday and it sounds amazing.  I dont think I'm going to do much more to it.  The Aux input does sound flat compared to the Tape In and other inputs so I might just recap that and the power supply.  But the plan for this is a turntable so I'm not too concerned about it right now.

[rkellerjr]

Way cool, brings back memories for sure.

[smith79]

It looks like prices are coming way down on these old receivers since a few weeks ago.  Time to watch for some deals

https://www.ebay.com/b/Vintage-Stereo-Receivers/50596/bn_320080


https://www.ebay.com/b/Vintage-Audio-Video-Electronics/175740/bn_1650121

[smith79]

Nice,  I'm going to get a Pioneer next.  They had some amazing receivers and turntables in the 70's.  The last one I did was an 80's Kenwood basic C2 preamp and M1 power amp and they sound amazing with plenty of power.

I got this Marantz all cleaned up and de-oxidized yesterday and it sounds amazing.  I dont think I'm going to do much more to it.  The Aux input does sound flat compared to the Tape In and other inputs so I might just recap that and the power supply.  But the plan for this is a turntable so I'm not too concerned about it right now.

After listening for a while, I ended up recapping the whole thing and replacing a lot of the transistors. I probably had about $120 in parts but it made a big difference and I'm glad I did it.