Marantz 4300 on the Blink!

[Beanstocks]

Don't know why I bought this, it's probably a symptom of this strange disease I've developed over the last 3 months buying any vintage item thrown my way working or not as long as the component looks decent in appearance. Yesterday I drove 90 miles to buy a Marantz 4300 and 4 CS99A Pioneer speakers for 100.00. Speakers look 9.5 and the walnut veneer is pristine. The Marantz would rate a 9.2 its walnut case almost flawless. But, as the owner lamented, lights up but no power. Also no movement in the sig strength FM meters at all. Nice blue lites though and no manuals of any type. I am a neophyte who should know better given my age, but when the owner plugged that receiver in the socket and that magic blue appeared I was helpless. So, here is my plight. I bought this for display only and should't have even bought the speaks maybe. The more I look at this baby...well you probably know the rest. How do I go about fixing this thing and deciding who to have it repaired. I can get manuals off the web but are there things I can start testing my self. There is no sound and no hum on either channel FM with the volume knob worked. Can someone give me a quick primer? Do I replace a fuse? Ron :sigh:

[onepixel]

Ron,

Get it fixed! It will please you to no ends when it gets to singing again. You got a great deal. A mint wood case alone will go for more than what you paid total.

First check if there are jumpers on the back. They are those black things bridging the pre to the main under the FM antenna. It could be as simple as that. http://www.classic-audio.com/marantz/4300.html

If those are missing use some RCA plugs and it should fire right up.

Good luck!
Carl

[marantzbe]

Ron,

Get it fixed! It will please you to no ends when it gets to singing again. You got a great deal. A mint wood case alone will go for more than what you paid total.

First check if there are jumpers on the back. They are those black things bridging the pre to the main under the FM antenna. It could be as simple as that. http://www.classic-audio.com/marantz/4300.html

If those are missing use some RCA plugs and it should fire right up.

Good luck!
Carl

As Carl says, I guess the jumpers are missing on the back of your receiver.
If you don't find any jumper, just use some rca interconnect.

Tony

[luvvinvinyl]

Mine spent some time on EchoWars' bench, and came here better than new. Certainly performed WAY above spec. If it is not simple, or at least, is more than you are willing to tackle, box it up, and send it to EW.

[Beanstocks]

Carl, Tony, and Mr. vinyl, Thanks for your quick feedback. Bought some DeOxit and cleaned those black connectors bridging the pre-mains and no response. Tried shaking the darn thing but its too big for these bones! Is there anything else a neo can check before I send it somewhere? I'm about to order the service manual from someplace in Canada may take 2-3 weeks to get to Hawaii. Old time techs are hard to find here in Honolulu and I guess that's why the old gent sold it to me for a song. Guy like Echowar can get down here and do a landslide of a business. Guy locally couldn't align my MAC 1900 but fixed my left channel(200.00) OK. Guess caps cost more in Hawaii? Don't know I'm a babe in the woods and a sucker for anything electrical showing off a muted blue or green lite. Regards, Ron

[onepixel]

eh brah,
You drive 90 mile on da island? Where you stay?!

Ron,
There is some outfit you can buy a service manual for about $10 if I remember correctly and you can download the pdf. If you do a search on AK you should find it.

My knowlegde is fairly limited so...I can only ask the most obvious stuff. Is there any kind of sound, scratchiness? Try headphones any difference? Tape monitor button pushed in? Hawaii is pretty humid. Make sure you clean all the pots really good. Especially the volume control.

I have a Marantz 4140 and that rear left channel was really a killer to clean. It's one pot but a long one for the 4 channels. You'll have to take all the knobs and the faceplate off. Buttons stay. Make sure you use crappy speakers to test. Because if it decides to scream you don't want to blow the speakers.

There are other AK members in Hawaii maybe they can point you to a good local tech.

Yeah and I'm a sucker for blue and green lights too.

Carl

[marantzbe]

Maybe a silly question, but: Is the tape switch on the front panel depressed or not?

You should also take a look at the fuse, maybe one of more are burned

Good luck

Tony

[SoCal Sam]

Great score. Your 4300 is definitely worth saving. I'm not a technician but I try to eliminate everything before I consult the Doc. Here's what I do when I get something with no sound. First, find a pair of junk speakers. I listen for the relay to engage, usually happens a few seconds after power on. Click is good. Then, try with test speakers and play with the controls. As mentioned by the members, I pay attention to the pre-main jumpers, the tape source switch, and even the speaker selector. Then, I give the controls a thorough cleaning. If no sound, I will check all of the internal plastic connectors and clean them. Best Luck!

BTW, how did you drive 90 miles on Oahu?

[Beanstocks]

:thmbsp: :thmbsp: Thanks to all for all the sugestions and I feel like most of you do on this thread...I should do whatever I can before I go see Doc. Will be trying these suggestions with my little used ARs and see what I can see. 90 miles on Oahu to see the amp and hauling everything back in '72 FJ40 and my Brittany. No way! So I go back home to get my Tahoe because it started raining you know the rest. Went over for the Marantz, ended up with receiver, 4 CS99As, and a nice teak entertainment center, 4 teak chairs. Sanford and Sons move over! Ordered a service manual from Canada and paid 23.00 should arrive in aweek or so. Thinking of getting a multi meter. Any preferred brands/sources from the members? You guys are great!

[marantzbe]

:thmbsp: :thmbsp: Thanks to all for all the sugestions and I feel like most of you do on this thread...I should do whatever I can before I go see Doc. Will be trying these suggestions with my little used ARs and see what I can see. 90 miles on Oahu to see the amp and hauling everything back in '72 FJ40 and my Brittany. No way! So I go back home to get my Tahoe because it started raining you know the rest. Went over for the Marantz, ended up with receiver, 4 CS99As, and a nice teak entertainment center, 4 teak chairs. Sanford and Sons move over! Ordered a service manual from Canada and paid 23.00 should arrive in aweek or so. Thinking of getting a multi meter. Any preferred brands/sources from the members? You guys are great!

For the multi meter get a FLUKE, a litte expensive but maybe the best mufacturer on the market

Tony

[Whitehall]

One quirk of the 4300 is the transistors in the buffer amps. They go bad with age and cause distortion that varies with warmup.

There is a guy on 'net with detailed instructions on upgrade parts - he'll send them for $10. I bought the new parts at a local parts store for $2.50 and had them installed for about $60 (anybody who can solder can do it.) I also have my suspicions about my inversion amps needed when you go to bridge mode and its 100 wpc in stereo - that's never worked well for me although the four separate channels work fine.

Get a good alignment for $75 and you'll have a great receiver. I posted some of my experiences with mine under "tuners." The tuner section is 5 gang and 8 filters so is about equal to a Marantz 125.

[mech986]

Hi Whitehall,

Could you post a link or some information about the modification/upgrade for the Maranz 4300? I've got a few that could use a little more reliability.

Thanks.

Bart

[Beanstocks]

Thanks Tony, will be pricing one soon before the service manual arrives I hope. Whitehall I've made a note of your post about the upgrades and please feel free to add any type of input as I may end up sending this off to EchoWars and yes, I will definitely make sure the FM is aligned! Incidentally, communicated with an active Ebayer selling Marantz parts here on Oahu and he thinks very highly of AK and will be sending his 2270 to EW shortly. Small world.

[SoCal Sam]

I thought SoCal had bad earthquakes but Hawaii??!!

[Whitehall]

Couldn't find the guy's link. I feel badly about passing out the instruction sheet since it is copyrighted and his legitimate property.

Let me check again tonight and if I can find the link, I PM you with directions.

BTW, how can an island with an active volcano NOT have earthquakes?

[Beanstocks]

Earthquake really disturbed my early morn listening session with Krall and Wilson! Books off the shelves and my comp monitor tilted off axis. Ran to see if my daughter was OK then ran back to see if my receivers weren't slipping off the table. Tonearm at 1 gm. was off its rest and leaning on the rubberized safety arm. Fortes moved 3-4 inches from original spot. Noticed that the one thing that had not budged even a fraction was... you guessed it...the bad boy 4300 too heavy for even a 6.6R scale quake to move. Oahu no damage most of it centered near Hawi on the Big Island 250 miles away. CNN and CNBC and all the news agencies making damage to be more severe than it was. Sells copy I guess. Thanks for inquiring and grateful no tsunamis were caused.