[wotts]

That is one sharp unit!

 
Quote:

As a result of lurking around this thread, I recently picked up this unit off craigslist.
 
~snip~
 
The Marantz drives my lcd2 and dx1000 very very well. I'm having a great time with it!!!!!

 

 

[claybum]

The Marantz definitely has my attention. My usual headphone rigs are a WA 6 maxxed or Schiit Lyr  driven by a Emotiva erc 1 cdp. My computer rig consists of a Headroom ultra desktop amp/dac with desktop power supply. The Marantz seems to drive my phones with more authority. The soundstage on my dx 1000 has really expanded and I hear details in the midrange I never heard before. Tons of bass presence also. The Headroom is probably more refined, but the Marantz really rocks hard. I hope to be happy with it for some time to come and look forward to hearing it with a better source.

 

[sling5s]

It's amazing how good these old vintage receivers sound as headphone amps, many times better or superior than many dedicated headphone amps (that are among the best). 
 
Quote:

The Marantz definitely has my attention. My usual headphone rigs are a WA 6 maxxed or Schiit Lyr  driven by a Emotiva erc 1 cdp. My computer rig consists of a Headroom ultra desktop amp/dac with desktop power supply. The Marantz seems to drive my phones with more authority. The soundstage on my dx 1000 has really expanded and I hear details in the midrange I never heard before. Tons of bass presence also. The Headroom is probably more refined, but the Marantz really rocks hard. I hope to be happy with it for some time to come and look forward to hearing it with a better source.

 

 

[claybum]

It certainly has me thinking about the money I've spent on headphone gear. I purchased the Marantz for $450. The seller has been posting vintage gear on craigslist for a while. I almost went for a sx 950 a couple months ago. I believe he wanted $280 for that unit. He simply cleans the controls, puts in new lamps and a new power cord and charges a fair price.
Quote:

It's amazing how good these old vintage receivers sound as headphone amps, many times better or superior than many dedicated headphone amps (that are among the best). 
 


 

 

 

[Dissonant]

Just snagged a deal for a little under $270 for a Marantz PM17 MKi in moderate comestic condition and fully working, in Champagne Gold. Not sure if I am paying fairly for it; can anyone advise me on the used price of this integrated on the market? Will post pictures after I collect it in the next couple of days.

 

[cifani090]

Quote:

As a result of lurking around this thread, I recently picked up this unit off craigslist.
 
The Marantz drives my lcd2 and dx1000 very very well. I'm having a great time with it!!!!!

Congrats, very nice unit. Do you plan on sanding down the wood and re-staining it?
 
Quote:

Marantz's definitely have a very unique sound. Whether that's a good thing or bad thing is in the eye of the beholder or should I say listener.

x2, but im stubborn and only want the black units

 
Quote:

Originally Posted by claybum /img/forum/go_quote.gif

It certainly has me thinking about the money I've spent on headphone gear. I purchased the Marantz for $450. The seller has been posting vintage gear on craigslist for a while. I almost went for a sx 950 a couple months ago. I believe he wanted $280 for that unit. He simply cleans the controls, puts in new lamps and a new power cord and charges a fair price.

You did good, with the wood case you'll be find when/if you decide to sell.
 
Quote:

Just snagged a deal for a little under $270 for a Marantz PM17 MKi in moderate comestic condition and fully working, in Champagne Gold. Not sure if I am paying fairly for it; can anyone advise me on the used price of this integrated on the market? Will post pictures after I collect it in the next couple of days.

Nice little unit! Im not sure what they go for, as there have been no sale of one on my side of da bay. The unit did retail for $1400! But at 60 watts, and the others going for around $500 with 70 watts, id expect in the $400 range, but im not sure.
 

 

[jc9394]

Quote:

As a result of lurking around this thread, I recently picked up this unit off craigslist.

 

 
The Marantz drives my lcd2 and dx1000 very very well. I'm having a great time with it!!!!!

 
 
Nice, I always missed out on the higher model but I'm still very happy with the 2265B I got couple weeks ago.  Agreed on it driving the LCD-2 very well.  To be honest, it certainly the best amp I heard under a $1000 driving LCD-2 and HD800.
 
 

 

[claybum]

Quote:

 
 
Nice, I always missed out on the higher model but I'm still very happy with the 2265B I got couple weeks ago.  Agreed on it driving the LCD-2 very well.  To be honest, it certainly the best amp I heard under a $1000 driving LCD-2 and HD800.
 
 

Glad you are enjoying you 2265b. I bet any of the mid tier to high end 1970's Pioneer and Marantz receivers sound great.

 
Quote:

Congrats, very nice unit. Do you plan on sanding down the wood and re-staining it?
 

 
 

I think I will let it stay as is. There is definitely some wear and tear but I find it charming for now.
 

 

[Skylab]

Unless there are deep gouges I would not sand and restain - just get some 0000 steel wool, smooth things out a little, and then use Old English Scratch Remover.  That will usually make it look great.

 

[claybum]

Thanks for the tip Skylab!

 

[RexAeterna]

Yes, with the -20db button. There was a little hiss with the pioneer, but only very little. With the kenwood, they were dead quiet. In fact it was more quiet than the headphone out of 5.5g ipod video. They had just a little hiss with that. But like I said previously, with the kenwood, they were dead quiet, and sounded excellent.

what kenwood? i have the kenwood kr-720 i use actually as a dedicated headamp off the speaker outputs. has amazing clean sound and very quiet background. very fast slew rate as well so no amount of detail is missed.

 

[Wharfrat]

@ claybum: sent you a PM about sanding and sealants...I felt had to cuz it was so off-thread. 
 
@ Skylab: I agree the Marantz and Pioneer receivers sound different, though not to the extent I gather you perceived/stated....both are close in resolution, neutrality (the Marantz a bit more holistically real in terms of instrumental textures...if that makes any sense.  People call it "warmth", I gather), and boogie-factor.  But with the AKG 702 and AD2000, both pretty sensitive cans, the differences were noticeable (no, I did not use the -20 db mute so take that into consideration in assessing my hearing abilities or lack thereof!).  The Pioneer just had a bigger soundstage and more "air" between instruments, compared to the Marantz, the latter almost akin to listening in a small, smoky,dark jazz dive and having the notes sticking to my clothes, almost tangible.  If it was a power rock ballad playing, the Pioneer would make it sound like it was played in an arena and with the Marantz, in a theatre.
 
I also noted voices more clearly on the Pioneer and a bit more in the mix on the Marantz.  I have since then put the Marantz in my speaker rig and the Dunlavys really are happy....no point in listening to the Pioneer and Marantz, side-by-side, as they sound alot alike than dissimilar.  the HK730 and the Pioneer, well that's a real change of pace twixt the two.  I like the much more smooth volume play on the Marantz and HK. Sometimes the volume difference between each attenuated level on the Pioneer makes it hard to zone in on an ideal sound level for many recordings, except for the Hi-rez or well miked ones.  Nils Lofgren's "Almost Acoustic" CD is one of those where the Pioneer really shines.  Lately, I have been paying more attention to the recording quality of source material now that my equipment quality is high enough to be taken out of the equation as a "negative" influence....it just is more transparent to the source compared to the two tube amps I have.  
 
Have been eyeing the Fisher myself, but read somewhere that its output level is too low for an aging pair of ears as mine.  How would you
Fisher owners compare the Fisher HP power output compared to the SX-1250? (I know Rob thinks its a notch or two below the 1250 in some respects, but not sure which)....i have heard Woo amps and haven't been as goosed as I was with the Lyr, if that helps you frame your response....
 
@Moodryn: See that you have the new Marantz SA8004.  Its on my short list as I used to have a SA8001, which I loved and sold as part of my house sale a few years ago, 92" DLP projection home theatre set up with PSB T5s and all .  But the latest audiophile-grade Oppo BDP-95 is the same price and has far more features so it might snag my money outta my pocketses...
 
@Ardegee: You mentioned having had a Scott to listen with...is it the same model 222 unit we talked about many pages ago?  What did you do to get it up to performance level?   Makes me wonder if I should send mine in for a restore by MapleTree....
 
 

 

[Skylab]

WharfRat I basically agree with what you are saying about Pioneer vs Marantz. With regard to Fisher, my KX-100 is very warm and tubey.  Works well with the HE-6, but not a good combo for cans like the LCD-2 or JVC DX-1000.

 

[jc9394]

What speakers is recommend for the Marantz?  I'm currently hook up my Revel to it but wants to move the Marantz to bedroom and looking for a bookshelf.  Not looking for really expensive one.  Anyone tried to connect the LCD-2 to the speaker post?  Any benefit of doing it?

 

[moodyrn]

Quote:

what kenwood? i have the kenwood kr-720 i use actually as a dedicated headamp off the speaker outputs. has amazing clean sound and very quiet background. very fast slew rate as well so no amount of detail is missed.

KR-9600, I really miss it. It was just too big to use just as a headphone amp after I got rid of the speakers I was using it on. I looking into getting a 9100 to replace it until the marantz fell in my lap.

 
Quote:

 
 

@Moodryn: See that you have the new Marantz SA8004.  Its on my short list as I used to have a SA8001, which I loved and sold as part of my house sale a few years ago, 92" DLP projection home theatre set up with PSB T5s and all .  But the latest audiophile-grade Oppo BDP-95 is the same price and has far more features so it might snag my money outta my pocketses...
 

I absolutely love it. It's one of the best investments I ever made. I directly compared it to another headfiers bryston 2000.00 dac(one of the best I've listened to), and we both agreed that it was 90% of what the bryston was. But he was using the halide bridge as a transport and I was only using an ipod. With sacd they were pretty much identical to my ears, maybe a little more air and extension with the marantz when compared to files on a computer played through the bryston. But strickly as a dac, it was close to the bryston, but of course the bryston still had the edge.

 
Quote:

WharfRat I basically agree with what you are saying about Pioneer vs Marantz. With regard to Fisher, my KX-100 is very warm and tubey.  Works well with the HE-6, but not a good combo for cans like the LCD-2 or JVC DX-1000.

X2 to on the impressions of the marantz sound vs pioneer sound. I would say the kenwood is the sweet spot. The pioneer mates better with darker sounding, or lush sounding cans. The marantz sounds better with neutral or slightly bright sounding cans. They both still sounds excellent with anthing though. The kenwood is just slightly warm, so it mates well with pretty much everything. And unlike other warm amps or receivers, it doesn't the highs at the very top.  I had no problem with anything I plugged into it, and everything sounded excellent.
 
As far as the fisher goes, it's both better than all of the vintage ss gear I've tried or owned and, not as good. Let me explain, the fisher like Skylab says is a very warm, very lush and romantic sounding tube amp. With cans that's already lush, it can be too much of a good thing, But with the right headphone and speaker pairing, the sound is beyond excellent, and down rite addictive. I modded my headphone out to be much more powerful than stock, and it can drive anything short of an he-6(use speaker taps for those). But like Skylab, I really like it with the he-6, and my T70s. Heck even my d7000. But the d7000 don't sound anything like stock. The cups are upgraded with lawton's sheoak cups, and I done partial diymarkl mods. So they now sound very neutral with just a touch of lushness, so not too lush for the fisher.