A Closer Look At The Marantz HD-88 They Need More Respect!

I found a pair of the Marantz HD-88 speakers a few months back. I refurbished them a bit and I showed them off to you guys in a thread.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=80499&highlight=HD-88

The speaker must be fairly rare because there were not too many that said they had a pair or knew about them. Most people were more familiar with the HD-880's which were a newer version of the 88's. I think they compare very closely.

I have only recently finished making a new pair of grill frames and covers for my 88's and have just moved them inside the living room for a serious listen. These are very large and heavy speakers! They stand some 41.5 inches tall and are 16 inches wide and 12 inches deep! My guess is that they weigh about 50 lbs. each. The 88's were considerably larger than the next speaker in the line.

Well, size must matter because these are some serious speakers! The bass response is astounding! It is good tight bass if the Vari Q plug is in place. I haven't tried them with the plug out yet. I had never seen much info on the speaker until I did a recent search and info on the Vintage Knob site showed up.

http://www.thevintageknob.org/MARANTZ/HD88/HD88.html

Note: Click on the little Specs knob to see the specifications.

The power handling claim and the frequency response plus at minus 3 db. is very impressive. The 0.05% distortion down to 35 Hz. is impressive too! The thing is they sound as good as the specs would have you believe!

I am sure there must not have been many pairs of the 88's sold but they should demand more respect than they are getting in my opinion. They have a nice walnut veneer finish on all sides. The terminals are on the bottom. There's a 12 inch woofer, a nice dome midrange, and 2 tweeters one of which is a super tweeter.

I used to sell the HPM line of Pioneers and the 88's would have to be close to the HPM 100's. They may be more accurate and less boomy in fact. They are less JBL like than the HPM 100's. Some may like that and some may not. One things for sure....with the 90 db efficiency rating and up to 300 watts input you can make them rock! The added bonus is that they are a beautiful speaker and they are Marantz. That adds a little to the impact when you have them hooked to a nice Marantz receiver or amp. I have mine hooked to a 2252B. Good Stuff! :thmbsp: Best! Franksta

I'd love to have a pair of those!
I have a pair of HD-770s, and I like 'em a lot.
If it's not too much of a PITA, could you post a pic of what a Vari-Q is supposed to look like?
I have a pair minus foam, and I'd like to fix them so I can use them.

I sort of like the idea that these speakers are below the radar. Last week I got a pair of 770s. They were being used as basement side tables, resulting in some light scratching on the top, but are otherwise in great shape. They do need refoaming, and hadn't been run in a decade. I got them for $10 because no one (including me! :nono: ) could figure out if they were worth anything. I hooked them up when I got home and they sound fine as they are. I'll be interested to see what they can do once I refoam them and put a little more power to them.

Congrats on the 88's - beautiful, great sounding and RARE! :0

Marantz did make some nice sounding speaker systems!
I have a pair of DS-900, with the parquet top, and they are the largest 10-inch speaker system I've seen. They also have the Vari-Q vent plug.

gearhead said:

I'd love to have a pair of those!
I have a pair of HD-770s, and I like 'em a lot.
If it's not too much of a PITA, could you post a pic of what a Vari-Q is supposed to look like?
I have a pair minus foam, and I'd like to fix them so I can use them.

Click to expand...

I tried to find a picture with a pair of the original Vari-Q plugs but no luck. Maybe someone else can come up with one.

My 88's had the remanants of some but they were mostly dust! I like to improvise so I made my own. The knobs and rods that go through the plugs were still there and intact so I used them. I assume they were original I'm not sure. At one time on some models there was a metallic disc with Marantz Vari-Q written on it in front of the foam plug for dress up. I don't know if that's the way the 88's originated or not.

I measured the hole and cut out 2 pieces of foam from those 2-3 inch slabs of foam you see computer items packed in. I cut them in circles a bit bigger than the measurements. I then nipped away at the edges with the scissors until they were nearly smooth and the size I needed. I compressed the foam and shaped it smooth over a piece of sandpaper! I used 2 pieces of foam to make it as deep as the threaded rod that goes between the knobs at either end of the plugs. I sprayed the plug that shows with a little black paint and..... TA-DA.... they looked great and worked fine. I hope the pictures kind of explain it better than me!

I wish I knew if these came with the disc. Maybe someone can say or has a picture of some. Best, Franksta

Vintage phone also huh? Your addicted to vintage :>)

Hi Franksta! I second your opinion on the HD 88, I have a pair of HD 880's that I plan to restore soon.... They were my dad's and I was with him when he bought them in 1979! Lot's of sentimental value and they do sound great! I have A/B'd them with my HPM-100's and I like the 880's better. Deeper, more accurate bass, and very smooth sounding mids and highs. I will detail a resto when I get to them....too many projects right now!

BTW - Great job on your resto.....they look great!

Wow! Another great find..........................

Glad to see another great pair of HD88's are being scooped up at a steal of a price! If only I were that lucky, heheheh!

I have HD66 & HD77's both still with original foam grills :yes:

Included is a scan from my brochure from the HD88 page, enjoy!

Franksta said:

I tried to find a picture with a pair of the original Vari-Q plugs but no luck. Maybe someone else can come up with one.

My 88's had the remanants of some but they were mostly dust! I like to improvise so I made my own. The knobs and rods that go through the plugs were still there and intact so I used them. I assume they were original I'm not sure. At one time on some models there was a metallic disc with Marantz Vari-Q written on it in front of the foam plug for dress up. I don't know if that's the way the 88's originated or not.

I measured the hole and cut out 2 pieces of foam from those 2-3 inch slabs of foam you see computer items packed in. I cut them in circles a bit bigger than the measurements. I then nipped away at the edges with the scissors until they were nearly smooth and the size I needed. I compressed the foam and shaped it smooth over a piece of sandpaper! I used 2 pieces of foam to make it as deep as the threaded rod that goes between the knobs at either end of the plugs. I sprayed the plug that shows with a little black paint and..... TA-DA.... they looked great and worked fine. I hope the pictures kind of explain it better than me!

I wish I knew if these came with the disc. Maybe someone can say or has a picture of some. Best, Franksta

Click to expand...

Hi Franksta, didn't mean to awaken an old thread, but I stumbled on it during a search Anyways, the plug retainers for the HDXX series were just the threaded rod with two black rings. The fancy aluminum scripted plates were only on the HDXXX, M and DS series. I love my HD66's and HD77's, especialy since they still have the foam grills intact. Yours look really sweet! Very impressive refinishing work! Now you need to find yourself a pair of original woofers, unless they are the original reconed baskets. I am on the lookout for an original pair of HD88's that are still intact, but my hope is wearing thin.

Hello! I actually put my 88's on sale on Ebay not too long after this original post. loved them but I just had so much stuff and they were rather large and when I wanted to rotate something else in to listen to they were heavy and hard to store. I actually haven't regretted selling them like I thought I would even though they were one of the best sounding speakers I ever had.

I listed mine on Ebay. The bidding had gotten up to around $500 when a couple of people questioned if the woofers were original. I got real curious so I pulled one out. They were made in CHINA! Amazingly enough they still sounded great! I thought about it later that it should have been obvious that the woofers weren't original but they just fit and looked so good. Not really bad at all! However, I couldn't sell them as listed so I pulled the auction and ended up selling them locally for $300. I didn't have to ship them and the guy that bought them didn't care that the woofers weren't original because they sounded so good.

The 88's are one of the rarest speakers around. If you can find a pair with original woofers and those foam grill covers it would be a major find and one great speaker! Best! Franksta

Funny, I bought two pair of HD-88s and a pair of HD 77s locally within a few months of each other, all original. I gave one pair of 88s to friend of mine for what I had into them, still have the other pair and the 77s. Excellent speakers, IMO.
The original woofers used in the 77s and 88s are quite beefy, and are very similar to, and manufactured by the same company (Rola), as the woofers used in many McIntosh speakers of the 70s.

Nice!

Had the HD880's for almost 6 months and liked the sound generally. IMO, there were just too many drivers for a coherent sound no matter how I jiggled the controls. Ended up with an electrostatic Quad and Altec horn system which is not to say the Marantz's never lived up to their JBL aspirations but at the time I liked my Jubals(L-65) a lot better having more depth and wider soundstage. Just my own opinion based on aging 62 year old ear drums.

tarior said:

Funny, I bought two pair of HD-88s and a pair of HD 77s locally within a few months of each other, all original. I gave one pair of 88s to friend of mine for what I had into them, still have the other pair and the 77s. Excellent speakers, IMO.
The original woofers used in the 77s and 88s are quite beefy, and are very similar to, and manufactured by the same company (Rola), as the woofers used in many McIntosh speakers of the 70s.

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whoa, Tarior! Even with the foam grills still intact??? you know now you have got me curious. I have GOT to see some pics. you have no pics to support your claim.

I wanna see, as I'm sure other AKers do too.

One pair of 88s, the pair I just sold, have grilles that were home-made by the PO. The other set has wood frame, cloth covered grilles that must be factory, or else built by someone who is extremely skilled. There is a thread with pics on that second pair around here somewhere. My 77s have homebuilt (not by me) cloth covered grilles that look decent.

the differences between the two digit and three digit woofers were negligible at best. the two digit cones were extremely flimsy, while the three digits were more robust and had less roll off, despite having a smaller magnet and voice coil. The stiffer, lighter cone makes up for that. Thats why they went with a smaller voice coil and magnet. For anyone who likes heavy bass, then yeah, go for the beefy two digit ones. For those who want more accurate bass, go for the three digit ones

I was just doing a search in Google for these speakers. I bought a brand new set in 1975. I used them for years. I had to redo the foam surrounds on the woofers and I've rebuilt the crossovers and refinished the speakers.

Was going to give them to the daughter but she's of the opinion they are too big so I gave them to my son who is in the process of moving.

They are in my garage in the original boxes.... plastic bags. I still have all the literature that came with them.

It was fun coming across this thread.


side note.... I had the original HD-66's as well and my son still has them.

downhill said:

I was just doing a search in Google for these speakers. I bought a brand new set in 1975. I used them for years. I had to redo the foam surrounds on the woofers and I've rebuilt the crossovers and refinished the speakers.

Was going to give them to the daughter but she's of the opinion they are too big so I gave them to my son who is in the process of moving.

They are in my garage in the original boxes.... plastic bags. I still have all the literature that came with them.

It was fun coming across this thread.


side note.... I had the original HD-66's as well and my son still has them.

Click to expand...

Oh man would that be a sight if ou could post some pics of your 88's. Do they still have the original open cell sculpted foam grills? If they do, I have just got to see a picture. there are no pictures anywhere on the worldwide web of a intact pair of 88's with original foam grills. Please show us, pretty please? :yes: