[WarriorAnt]

Quote:

It's a vintage, although it's probably not going to be considered a classic vintage.
 
The major American and Japanese brands frantically escalated in power and build through the 70s before imploding in the 80s, while NAD steadily chugged along for the same period making well-built, modestly-scaled equipment. So in the 80s, while the quality of the majors began spiraling downwards, NAD looked increasingly better by comparison even though they hadn't really changed a whole lot qualitatively. Most NAD equipment of that period is respected even if most models fly under the radar.
 
The best way to tell is your ears, of course. If it sounds good, it's good.

Well this particular NAD does sound excellent.          The gear from the 70's though has that "look" to them and the units have that larger size that makes them stand out almost making the sound secondary for me.  The Marantz look is really nice and the 2215B sounds so smooth with headphones.  The Yamaha I have not listened to yet, it has a more utilitarian look to it then the Marantz but it still has that big receiver air about it.  I new to the vintage collection thing, the bug hit me out of the blue just last week so I don't really know if people are collecting for looks and size or more for sound.  I imagine both but even if a receiver from the 70's doesn't sound that great they still look so sweet.  

 

[sluker]

WarriorAnt
Are you using your LCD-2's with the Marantz? Is anyone else (other than skylab)? Please share your impressions.
I find that both the Sansui AU 717 and the Toshiba 7100 pair really well with the LCD's. Especially the Toshiba. The limited reviews i read of it implied that it was lacking in bass, but I don't hear that at all. The ability to boost the bass on the LCD-2's and especially the HE5-LE's has been one of the best things so far. What I can't believe is how open and detailed this $100/30+ year old amp is with the orthos. If I would have discovered this combination sooner I am not sure I would have looked any further. 
For now my LF339 and the D7000's are gathering dust.
Plus, I am still trying to find a good sample of a Pioneer SX 12XX/1980 although the 1980's seem a bit pricey when they come up. There is one on CL locally for $1,500.

 

[Dan S]

Hello vintage fans!
 
As WarriorAnt says, the bug just struck me last week myself. I picked up a Pioneer sx-650 and sx-780 last week. The guy who sold me the 780 was really nice, showed me the other vintage stuff he was restoring, and emailed me the service manual after I bought the 780.
 
I've been listening to both, mostly with my HD-650s, and marveling at how much better they sound than with my newish NAD integrated and preamp. I can now see what people mean by the HD-650 veil -- it's been lifted, and man do these phones sing! So much more high quality treble than I'm used to, better resolution, so musical and still nicely warm.
 
I'm running into a problem with the sx-650, though. After listening to it for about 15 minutes, the right headphone started getting fuzzy. So I shut it off, afraid of ruining my HD-650s. I turned it on again, trying it with my Grado SR-60s, and the same thing happened -- it sounded great at first, and then got fuzzy, maybe sooner this time.
 
When I bought the sx-650, the guy said that there was some arcing or something with the power switch, so he disabled it, and so the unit's always on if it's plugged in. Are these two things this maybe related? Yikes, I just dipped a toe into this vintage thing, and I think I'm going to have to get into repairing these things, too. Do you guys repair your own gear? How did you get started? How do you troubleshoot what's wrong?
 
Sorry to pepper you guys with repair questions on my first post to this thread! Any help is appreciated! 

 
In the meantime, I'm trying to read the whole thread......

 

[WarriorAnt]

Quote:

WarriorAnt
Are you using your LCD-2's with the Marantz? Is anyone else (other than skylab)? Please share your impressions.
I find that both the Sansui AU 717 and the Toshiba 7100 pair really well with the LCD's. Especially the Toshiba. The limited reviews i read of it implied that it was lacking in bass, but I don't hear that at all. The ability to boost the bass on the LCD-2's and especially the HE5-LE's has been one of the best things so far. What I can't believe is how open and detailed this $100/30+ year old amp is with the orthos. If I would have discovered this combination sooner I am not sure I would have looked any further. 
For now my LF339 and the D7000's are gathering dust.
Plus, I am still trying to find a good sample of a Pioneer SX 12XX/1980 although the 1980's seem a bit pricey when they come up. There is one on CL locally for $1,500.

I tried the LCD with the Marantz but it just wasn't happening.  I did try my daughters Audio Technica ATH AD700's and her Grado 80i's and they were much better suited.  We were both amazed by how nice that old receiver sounded. Very enjoyable. It's what sold me on vintage gear right there.  I'm wondering if the sound of the 2215B is a glimpse into the house sound of the higher powered Marantz receivers of the 70's.  If so the higher models must sound pretty smooth and seductive indeed.  If there is a Marantz model that is THE model of that era can someone tell me I want to find it.  I can feel the receiver karma coming my way. 
 
 

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

I can only give you guidelines based on my three models, and what I hear from each.  All of mine have been serviced and re-capped, which makes a difference.
 
Pioneer SX-1250/1980 - the most neutral and transparent, not bright but in no way warm or tubey.  Powerful, bold sound.  Like a high-end vodka.
 
Sansui 9090/9090DB - just a touch warm, and less transparent than the 1250, but very good nonetheless.  Like a nice gin.
 
Marantz 2275 - the lushest of all three, but still remarkably transparent.  This is the one to get if you want a SS receiver that sounds a little more like a tube amp than a SS receiver.  Like a nice single-malt scotch.

Don't forget I called dibs on the 2275.  

 

 

[WarriorAnt]

Quote:

Don't forget I called dibs on the 2275.  

 

Marantz 2275 I feel one moving towards me on the Euclidian plane right now...
 
 

 

[MrQ]

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[Skylab]

A low power Marantz like the 2215 probably doesn't have enough juice from the headphone out for the LCD-2.  The 2275 works in that mode because it's 75 wpc into 8 ohms still produces enough power into the LCD-2 even via the headphone out which almost surely has a padding resistor.  I'm not sure a 2215 would have enough power left via the headphone out.
 
To illustrate what I mean, a receiver with 15 wpc into 8 ohms will deliver 2.4W into 50 ohms - via the speaker outs.  But assuming a 150 ohm resistor in the headphone out (a pretty common value), then the power to the headphone out is 600 mW. 
 
OTOH, the 75 wpc receiver is delivering 3 W vis the headphone out!
 
And my SX-1980 is delivering more than 10 watts to the headphone out at 50 ohms - more than enough to send even the HE-6 into submission

 

[Frank I]

Rob is correct. The HE6 did not work out of the headphone out on the 2220B Marantz which was 20W amp. It worked well out of the Pioneer SX650 headout and that is 35W receiver. It sounded best out of the speaker taps on rthe SX980 65W receiver. I have been very happy with my Pioneer SX650 and is my SS amp of choice . It also sound  great driving the Omega Monitors very clean and has plenty of detail. The nice thing it is discrete. Hopefully it serves me well for a few years.

 

[WarriorAnt]

I got a line on a  local Marantz 2238, and a local Technics SA-400,  Marantz 4240, yamaha cr-1040.  NIKKO 501. Marantz 2440 Quad adapter.    I really like the look of the NIKKO 501 but haven't heard back yet.

 

[Maverickmonk]

I have a dumb question: has anyone replaced the resistor to the headphone out with a lower resistance resistor to increase the output wattage? Or would that cause an impedance matching issue?

 

[WarriorAnt]

Quote:

I have a dumb question: has anyone replaced the resistor to the headphone out with a lower resistance resistor to increase the output wattage? Or would that cause an impedance matching issue?

I was wondering the same thing.
 

 

[scottiebabie]

Quote:

I have a dumb question: has anyone replaced the resistor to the headphone out with a lower resistance resistor to increase the output wattage? Or would that cause an impedance matching issue?

not sure if theres any major impedance mismatch issues but for sure lowering the stepdown resistors will increase gain & ensure one lose volume headroom. unless one have a serious inefficient set of headphones (ala hifiman orthos, K1ks & such), i wouldnt bother with it personally. now upgrading the 30+yr olds antiques to better quality boutique resistors would be another matter.
 
FWIW, the stepdown resistors can range from 150-680ohms depending on vintage, make & model. if output wattage is the objective, i'd go with a speaker tap pigtail adapter instead.

 

[ardgedee]

Upthread a couple months ago, somebody mentioned dropping the resistance in the headphone circuit while refurbing an old tube integrated.
 
I'll second Scott, though: Unless you're having a hard time getting decent volume or sound quality through the headphone jack with the stock circuit, it's not worth fiddling with. (If it continues to bug you and you feel ambitious, you could try replacing the stock circuit with a switched high/low resistor circuit, and see how that sounds.)

 

[moodyrn]

You might be referring to me, but mine was already serviced and brought up to spec when I bought it. I replaced the 330ohm resistors in my fisher integrated to 165ohm so that I could drive the he-5s I had at the time. But with mine being a tc tube amp, I was still able to drive low impedance cans without any hum or hiss. The only thing that had a little hum was my 16ohm iems. Everything above 20ohm was still dead quiet. I don't know if I would try that with solid state amps because then you could run into impedance mismatch issues. Now that I don't own those anymore I don't have the need for lower value resistors because it drove everything else pretty well and even with the 165ohm resistors, it still couldn't do anything with my current he-6. But ymmv.