I stumbled on a pair of all original HD77's complete with the original foam grills and everything! Even original boxes! I paid through the nose for them, but I don't care. I've waited and wanted a pair of them for a VERY long time, and they are not easy to find like this. :D

Once I get them, I will post some pics....

:lurk:

Couple pics of the HD77's :D

Real purty! Nice score. I've always wanted to find a pair of well-kept Imperial 6s. Best kept secret in bookshelf speakers.

Intact foam grilles. Amazing. I couldn't even pick up the pieces of my 8-G's grilles that were inside the cabinets - they turned to dust when touched.

Marantzaholic, I have plenty of speakers now, but I'd love to find a cheap pair of Imp 6s, too.

Marantzaholic, I have plenty of speakers now, but I'd love to find a cheap pair of Imp 6s, too.


I have a set of Imp (G) 6's that a guy at my work sold to me for $20.00 a few years ago..... I like them for that vintage sound. :thmbsp:

http://beemerpat.smugmug.com/photos/538818909_oJUW3-L-2.jpg

damn those look primo!

Things o' beauty! Always nice when you get your heart's desire. You may now die... oh... and will them to me. Thanks.

Excellent Big Tuna! Is this why you sold your Kenny's? I am sorry I have dropped out of touch - got my family in town now.

What is the magic foam grill solution those were treated with to survive all these years? I have never seen a set of Marantz grills from that era that hadn't lost to entropy and turned to dust molecules. Very nice!

Well Charlie, how do they sound? Give us your impressions of them?

Oh and some pics of them running on the SX-1980? :D

well guys, thanks for all your comments. I just got the HD77's today and man! are they a time capsule of pure 1976 Marantz history!! Wow!! grills are incredibly intact, and even the vari-Q plugs are NOT deteriorated and neither are the woofer surrounds! these look like they have been cocooned for nearly three and a half decades! surrounds are not degraded, dark or rotted ineven the slightest way, absolutely incredible. One thing I am simply amazed too about them is the "High Definition Series" badges on the grills above the Marantz badges, whoa! never seen those before and the brochure doesn't even show them! I did get them home today and gave them a listen. one midrange does not work, but I think its just the L-pad maybe. One super tweeter did not work, but came alive when I fiddled with the L-pad. I attempted removal of the mid and the connectors have been removed and wires soldered to driver terminals, very strange, hmmmm. While listening at a low volume level, sudddenly the receiver went into protection mode and shut off...........yikes!

Anyways, they are work in progress :)

I attempted removal of the mid and the connectors have been removed and wires soldered to driver terminals, very strange, hmmmm.

For some reason Marantz loved to solder their speaker internal wiring. My Imp 8s are the same way.

Nice speakers Charlie! They look great!

Just get those little problems fixed and see why your receiver went into protection and everything will be a-okay.

Couple pics of the HD77's :D

holy cow, one of my ooder brothers had these growing up, I wouldn't be shocked if didn't still have them.

ok, here's another one of the drivers, close up, look at the freshness of the foams, will ya! And these have not been touched or redone, period...

Whoops! pic here, heheh!

Someone used the foam grilles with double-sided sticky tape?

Someone used the foam grilles with double-sided sticky tape? No those are magnetic strips to hold the grills in place via metal strip attached to grill backs. Marantz just glued those in place and after 30+ years they tend to come undone. Some of the strips are missing from them. My HD66's have all the strips intact. I need to find a better way of attaching the magnetic strips so they will stay put :)

Well folks, these HD77's are going to need some Big Tuna Surgery :( One woofer popped on me yesterday during only a 30 Watt Bass note, gosh......... I checked the foam surrounds closer and upon visual during me moving the cone side to side gently, I could see the foam crushing/collapsing and coil hits gap, yikes! They are gonna need new surrounds, so I will be doing that soon :D I find it strange that they show no signs of deterioration after 30 odd years but this little simple thing I overlooked became an issue. They will be ready for action when I'm done with 'em! Also one midrange is blown, which leaves me waiting for one to show up on that auction place for me to grab. :D

Does anyone know if this stuff is still available? What have others used in place of it. I suppose it would be easy enough to use masonite and cloth and velcro but I love that old Marantz sculpted foam. (I think some other mfg's used that too in my era 70's)

Amazing how well those foam grilles have survived. :yikes: They must have been well-protected from sunlight, ozone, etc... for all those years. Still, I might expect them to deteriorate from internal, inherent chemical processes, given how readily most of the ones I've seen crumble into dust. You "scored" something RARE there, for condition alone ... let alone sound quality and overall condition! Congratulations! :thmbsp:

Does anyone know if this stuff is still available? What have others used in place of it. I suppose it would be easy enough to use masonite and cloth and velcro but I love that old Marantz sculpted foam. (I think some other mfg's used that too in my era 70's) Nope, not available anymore :( I am currently in the process with Foam Trends to see about having some HD66 & HD77 reproduction ones made. If I am successful, I will surely let you know. They may want a small fortune to reproduce just a few, but if the demand is there, it may be worth it to them (and me) to reproduce them like they are doing with the JBL-L100's.

Here are a few pics of my recently finnished Imperial 6's. Paid more for the marantz emblems off ebay than I did for the 6's. Will have the 6's along with a set of original large advents, sansui as-300 and pioneer cs-77 side by side driven by a sansui eight for a listening test.