Marantz 2250B: worth keeping it?

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I felt in love with this Marantz: incredible look and almost perfect condition. The downside of this idillic picture is the sound quality: tons of bass but no ''presence'' or very little... for somebody that listens mostly classical music, this is not good at all. I NOW NOTHING ABOUT ELECTRONICS, so I must send it to somebody to eventually make the job for me.

Should I invest in a recap or pass it to the next owner?

Does this Marantz has exceptionnal sound once recapped?

Should I get an other Marantz product?

Tell me moore about the 2250B to help me if you wish to, your help and knowledge will be highly appreciated!
 

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I restored one of these earlier this year, both my client and I were very happy with the sound.

I used film caps in the audio signal path for best performance.
The first pic is the Phono Preamp, the second is the Tone/preamp.
The last one is of one of the power amps where I also replaced the differential amp transistors.

Tom
 

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I had one completely done by Paul Hovenga. It was sweet, I sold it to buy my Mcintosh 4100. The Mac was better in every way, except the gyro tuning. Get a 4100 and i garauntee you'll be happy. I sold my mac for a bob latino tube amp. Is the latino better than the Mac?....yes, but not as big of a difference as between the 4100 and the 2250b
 
Another vote for a restoration. There's no guarantee that you'll be pleased with the sound though but it will sound like it originally did or even better. The electrolytic caps get all goofy with age and some may be near failure, others fine and others off in value or out of spec in ESR.
 
The Marantz is worth restoring.

But that may not be the main problem at all.

What speakers are you using? There is a WORLD of difference in how an amp works with different speakers.

AND what are you feeding it (source). There are crappy CDs, lousy LPs, bad cartridges, etc..
 
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The Marantz is worth restoring.

But that may not be the main problem at all.

What speakers are you using? There is a WORLD of difference in how an amp works with different speakers.

AND what are you feeding it (source). There are crappy CDs, lousy LPs, bad cartridges, etc..

The problem is there on whatever speaker I hook it up: Main speakers are Philips 477...I own many amps and receivers and these speakers sound excellent with every one of them, same thing with the cd's and Lp's: I own about 2000 of each... But it could have been the problem!

I tried the receiver with headphones and I noticed that the sound is not the same from one ear to the other and not exactly even...
 
If the unit now has the looks but lacks the sound you like. Doing a recap might not fix this. You might want to get a Pioneer SX-1010 for the similar looks.

Or get another pair of speakers even.

On the unbalance, try moving the right/left signal with a patch cord using the back panels pre-amp out main-amp in connections. See if it moves. Might just be a tape monitor switch needing cleaning or the headphone jack.

I have recapped a 2250B with film and all new electrolytic caps and the sound pretty much stayed the same as before. Sweet!



Barney
 
I've been playing with a Marantz 1150.
One thing I've discovered is that a slight change in
Bias makes a pretty big change in sound.
Check that your bias is to spec.
Too high seems to do what you have described. Bass bloat
and poor highs. Too low, and the bass drops way off, but the highs
are there in spades. Set correctly, still a bit warm, but much more balanced.
I repeated this a couple of times just to make sure I didn't imagine it.
 
Thanks for your advices and suggestions, I'll keep the Marantz and give it a second life. I will send it to my tech by monday; is there any upgrades to be done on it?
 
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