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Calling All "Vintage" Integrated/Receiver Owners
May 15, 2013 at 10:33 AM Post #7,216 of 19,143
In what price range?  Pioneer SX-950 or 980 are great with planars and often sell for $250-350 in good condition.
 
May 15, 2013 at 10:38 AM Post #7,217 of 19,143
Quote:
argybargy said:
I had the 2230 before trading it for a mint Sansui Eight. Lcd2.2 and HE500 sound great. Not slow at all.
Both of these headphones should have about 2 watts available from the headphone out for the best SQ and head room. I'm guessing that including the dropping resistor, the hedaphone out of the 2230 is pushing around 2 watts max for these 2 phones. The impedance of my he500 was 46 ohms and similar for the lcd. In short, give it a try! I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. BTW my 2230 was fully recapped.
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Thanks for the feedback. Were you able to try out the HE-500 and LCD-2 directly with that amp when you had, as I see you sold them.
 
May 15, 2013 at 10:48 AM Post #7,218 of 19,143
Quote:
zoom25 said:
 
Nice to know, just in case I can't get the 2230s. Any other suggestions for back up that typically come up and sound good with planars?
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If you want the Marantz sound and don't require a tuner try their comparable integrated amplifiers e.g. 1030 / 1050 / 1060.
1. They should perform better than the comparable receiver.
2. They sell for less than the comparable receiver
3. The small Marantz integrated amps have a narrow 14.5" faceplate - so they have a smaller footprint than the receivers
4. Cheaper to recap or repair.
5. BUT, you DON'T get the cool lights, meters or gyro knob!
 
Unless you listen to the radio, consider vintage integrated amps.
I use a Pioneer SA-7100 and it sounds great. 
 

 
May 15, 2013 at 12:41 PM Post #7,219 of 19,143
Quote:
zoom25 said:
 
Nice to know, just in case I can't get the 2230s. Any other suggestions for back up that typically come up and sound good with planars?
Click to expand...


I honestly think any vintage has the same 'full blown' high output speaker jack.  I suggest you do what I did - take your portable setup  with RCA cables to the store and hook up to the receiver/amp, and listen to your headphones.  I blew the pawn shops mind when I did it! 
 
May 15, 2013 at 1:19 PM Post #7,220 of 19,143
Quote:
oregonian said:
I believe it's the same for all.  My Kenwoods sound amazing out of the headphone jack.  I don't even have speakers hooked up to them...............yes, plural, as I now have two clones. 
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Those 5700's look nice. I miss bass and treble controls!
 
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by parbaked /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
If you want the Marantz sound and don't require a tuner
Click to expand...

 
When I had my old Kenwood integrated online, I wandered in to a pawn shop and bought a really nice Sansui tuner for $40. Cosmetically 7/10 but functionally perfect and it sounded great.
 
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oregonian /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
I honestly think any vintage has the same 'full blown' high output speaker jack.  I suggest you do what I did - take your portable setup  with RCA cables to the store and hook up to the receiver/amp, and listen to your headphones.  I blew the pawn shops mind when I did it! 
Click to expand...

 
That sounds like a fun plan!
 
May 15, 2013 at 2:13 PM Post #7,221 of 19,143
Quote:
skylab said:
In what price range?  Pioneer SX-950 or 980 are great with planars and often sell for $250-350 in good condition.
Click to expand...

 
I was trying to look for stuff around $200. Although I've been seeing some products that range in their prices crazily from $100-$300.
 
May 15, 2013 at 2:17 PM Post #7,222 of 19,143
Quote:
oregonian said:
I honestly think any vintage has the same 'full blown' high output speaker jack.  I suggest you do what I did - take your portable setup  with RCA cables to the store and hook up to the receiver/amp, and listen to your headphones.  I blew the pawn shops mind when I did it! 
Click to expand...

 
Ya I think I'll take my planars along with rca cables and iPod/Sansa Fuze or something.
 
May 15, 2013 at 2:26 PM Post #7,223 of 19,143
Quote:
parbaked said:
If you want the Marantz sound and don't require a tuner try their comparable integrated amplifiers e.g. 1030 / 1050 / 1060.
1. They should perform better than the comparable receiver.
2. They sell for less than the comparable receiver
3. The small Marantz integrated amps have a narrow 14.5" faceplate - so they have a smaller footprint than the receivers
4. Cheaper to recap or repair.
5. BUT, you DON'T get the cool lights, meters or gyro knob!
 
Unless you listen to the radio, consider vintage integrated amps.
I use a Pioneer SA-7100 and it sounds great. 
 
Click to expand...

 
Thanks for the tip. I checked online and I see a 1050 going for around $350...which cost a lot more than the 2230 I was looking at.
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Although I see a 1070 for around $160. Is that a decent model and/or a good deal.
 
Regarding, tuner. I really don't care too much about it. It's nice to have but it but not a concern. Sound first for me.
 
May 15, 2013 at 3:01 PM Post #7,224 of 19,143
Quote:
zoom25 said:
 
Thanks for the tip. I checked online and I see a 1050 going for around $350...which cost a lot more than the 2230 I was looking at.
blink.gif

 
Although I see a 1070 for around $160. Is that a decent model and/or a good deal.
 
Regarding, tuner. I really don't care too much about it. It's nice to have but it but not a concern. Sound first for me.
Click to expand...


I chose to NOT have a tuner considering I haven't listened to FM in probably 5+ years and have no intention of ever doing so.  Why would I with Pandora, Spotify, MOG and iPods/iPhones filled with music? 
 
May 15, 2013 at 3:45 PM Post #7,225 of 19,143
Looks like I might have a deal going for the Marantz 1070. The 2230 guy never responded back. Also the 1070 is costing me less. Any light to shed on the 1060 vs 1070?
 
May 15, 2013 at 4:02 PM Post #7,226 of 19,143
Quote:
oregonian said:
I chose to NOT have a tuner considering I haven't listened to FM in probably 5+ years and have no intention of ever doing so.  Why would I with Pandora, Spotify, MOG and iPods/iPhones filled with music? 
Click to expand...

 
I am not sure that streaming audio quality would match that of a TOL off air FM tuner - especially one having the www.fmtunerinfo.com mods done to it.   My own listening tells me that good old FM is still better - IMHO.
 
May 15, 2013 at 4:09 PM Post #7,228 of 19,143
FM radio WITH A GOOD ANTENNA sounds much better than highly compressed streamed music, for sure. You need at LEAST 256k bit rate to come even close.

But if you just have a piece of old wire serving as an antenna, you won't get what FM is capable of. And of course, some stations sound better than others, and if you don't live in a major metro, choices and reception both may be limited.

Here in Chicago our major classic rock station The Drive sounds generally very good, plays great music, and has long stretches in the morning with no commercials, so I play that at work off my Marantz 2285 quite often.
 
May 15, 2013 at 4:44 PM Post #7,229 of 19,143
zoom25 said:
Thanks for the feedback. Were you able to try out the HE-500 and LCD-2 directly with that amp when you had, as I see you sold them.
Click to expand...


Yes, I used the 2230 with both the lcd2.2 and he500 for months. Both sounded fabulous; a tossup as to which was better.
 
May 15, 2013 at 4:55 PM Post #7,230 of 19,143
Since we're talking recapping, I think it's worth mentioning that having a proper desoldering iron will save you a lot of time and potential headaches. The plastic solder suckers don't last long and are marginally effective.

A Hakko 808 costs about $180 and is a huge improvement in usefulness.

I find desoldering and removing old caps and resistors to be the most tedious and time consuming part of the restoration process. Old PCBs can also be fragile, burn easily and have copper traces that lift with just a little nudge. Getting in and out quickly with a Hakko desoldering iron literally saves me hours over the course of a project. The job also looks neater.
 
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