Oh No! My Marantz Died!

[ernstinen]

My baby that I've been using for years, a vintage Marantz preamp/power amp died today! Que Lastima!I definitely lost the left channel, and it's been going in and out for a couple months. But it's always been a perfect match for my Yamaha NS10-Ms, being about 55 watts/channel. I thought I was lost. Lost, I say! Well, I started thinking about what was wrong. I was HOPING it was the power amp section, 'cause it's the preamp that is so cool. So I pulled my Peavey 60/60 stereo tube power amp out of my guitar rack. After hooking up a preamp cable from the Marantz to the Peavey, I realized I needed to MAKE some speaker cables. And man, I'm so terrible with a soldering iron. I found two mono 1/4" plugs in a box, and spent almost 2 hours trying to rig up some cables. Geez, do I SUCK at stuff like that! It's real embarassing, and I yelled in anger more than once. BUT, once I got the cables all connected up --- TAA DAA! --- I was right. It was the power amp in the Marantz. Yay!Having a tube power amp is pretty cool. As long as I don't turn the inputs up too loud, it sounds very sweet.I'm gonna use it as long as the Peavey doesn't blow up. Hah!Ern

[ibanez468]

It's always good to have backup equipment & alternate solutions to unexpected & potentially growing problems. Just like my hard drive took a crap in my Tascam CD-RW700 cd recorder. I hate that it happened, and I have yet ta' get it to the shop for repairs, but I can still record to my Tascam 2488, so I still get ta' keep the ball rollin' without losing anything. To me that's what's most important, that you don't get stifled just because a piece of equipment conked out on ya'. That's why I almost never get rid of or sell anything. Never know when ya' might need it again, or temporarily have ta' replace another piece of equipment.I-468

[ernstinen]

Jun 17, 2008, 6:00pm, ibanez468 wrote:It's always good to have backup equipment & alternate solutions to unexpected & potentially growing problems. Just like my hard drive took a crap in my Tascam CD-RW700 cd recorder. I hate that it happened, and I have yet ta' get it to the shop for repairs, but I can still record to my Tascam 2488, so I still get ta' keep the ball rollin' without losing anything. To me that's what's most important, that you don't get stifled just because a piece of equipment conked out on ya'. I-468Yea, Ibanez, I have a Kenwood receiver on the shelf that I was going to use, but I just HAVE to use my Marantz. It's just always been the best amp I've ever heard, and it has to be 30+ years old! Now I'll have to use my old Ampeg guitar amp with my Soldano preamp to do guitar tracks, but ya gotta do what'cha gotta go. PLUS, I just got my ol' Fender Deluxe Reverb out of the shop, and the tremolo sounds like a million bucks. Have to re-think some of my guitar sounds, but I like experimenting ---Ern

[nickbatzdorf]

Which one - 2270?Either way, I'd have it fixed, Ern. Those things are highly sought after.

[ernstinen]

Jun 17, 2008, 7:52pm, nickbatzdorf wrote:Which one - 2270?Either way, I'd have it fixed, Ern. Those things are highly sought after.Hey Nick, me ol' buckaroo,Nope, it's a 2252. But it's been my friend since Kalamazoo, and that's a long time ago! Never had a problem with it.Any ideas where to get it fixed in the Valley!?Thanx,Ern

[nickbatzdorf]

2252 is after my disastrously short-lived days as a stereo salesman (first job out of high school - taught me what I didn't want to do with my life!). But I don't know anymore. MusicTek in North Hollywood doesn't seem to be there anymore, so I'd be inclined to call Advanced Musical Electronics in West LA: http://www.advancedmusical.com/They're on Venice just west of La Cienega - a little bit of a drive for you, but not the end of the world. Or maybe they have a suggestion for someone more local. Ruth is the person to talk to, if she's there - she's very nice.

[ernstinen]

Jun 18, 2008, 8:53am, nickbatzdorf wrote:2252 is after my disastrously short-lived days as a stereo salesman (first job out of high school - taught me what I didn't want to do with my life!). But I don't know anymore. MusicTek in North Hollywood doesn't seem to be there anymore, so I'd be inclined to call Advanced Musical Electronics in West LA: http://www.advancedmusical.com/They're on Venice just west of La Cienega - a little bit of a drive for you, but not the end of the world. Or maybe they have a suggestion for someone more local. Ruth is the person to talk to, if she's there - she's very nice.Yup, I've been to Advanced. Took my Digi002 there 3 times to have the power supply replaced! It was always free (even out of warranty), 'cause Digidesign knew they were lemons. The people there were always real nice and got the job done ASAP.Muchas Gracias, Nick!Ern

[devin]

My good man...a moment of silence is certainly in order upon hearing of your loss. I will pull all the faders to zero in tribute.Actually...sounds like you had several moments of silence...that's what caused the post!. Here's hoping to a speedy return to stereo goodness....and that tube substitute should cover you in the meantime (keeping the volume a little lower to keep things KINDA linear, I guess!).I have a pair of almost-as-vintage Nikko Alpha 230's in the rack Ern...knock on wood...still going strong.