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You got tunes? In your garage? Always had, mostly crummy ghettoblaster minis, with low cost and poor sound. Well I got an offer on the ultimate 70s audio component, a Marantz receiver, a 2225 for $50. I have other vintage Marantz inside, bought in my teens, but I never had a receiver, too expensive. Now I have, and everything works after an hour of fiddling with string pulling the slider. A 2225 is one of the smallest, but I think that at 1/4 volume I can annoy the neighbors.

Makes fiddling with cars even more enjoyable

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quote:
Originally posted by No Quarter:
You got tunes? In your garage? Always had, mostly crummy ghettoblaster minis, with low cost and poor sound. Well I got an offer on the ultimate 70s audio component, a Marantz receiver, a 2225 for $50. I have other vintage Marantz inside, bought in my teens, but I never had a receiver, too expensive. Now I have, and everything works after an hour of fiddling with string pulling the slider. A 2225 is one of the smallest, but I think that at 1/4 volume I can annoy the neighbors.

Makes fiddling with cars even more enjoyable


I had a Marantz nearly Identical to that when I was in my teens. I can remember how long I had to work wheeling concrete to pay for it. I stepped up to 220 w/channel Luxman when I went to college which I still have on a shelf in waiting. It was also really "the stuff" in the day. My Father always had high power McIntosh tube amps and big Klipsch style folded horn base drivers with big old Altec drivers. He liked his base. -Very soft, especially in the low frequencies. Some still prefer them over transistor driven low ends. I think his system when well pointed could knock one of the teeny-boppers with the booming car base systems off the road!

-Good memories.

Best,
K
In the mid '70's I turned 16 and was also in "the stuff". I drove my Datsun 210 sedan over to Baileys Harbor and picked up Heathkit's biggest amp kit. Rated at 250w/ch, IIRC, it tested out at 385w/ch on the bench.

Nowadays, I'm running a pair of AB Intl. amps into two pairs of Altec 19s, with a Crown K2 amp pushing subs I built using 18" C.V. drivers from old Universal Studio Earthquake speakers. That's around 700w/ch for the living room. It'll vibrate your womb from 200 yards. Panterror might even be able to hear it in Bettendorf!

The shop also uses a Crown K2 to push 18" subs, and a couple of old receivers running as amps to run the hi-end. It was all just old parts and pieces, but it still sounds pretty good when I'm there by myself and I crank up the Dred Zeppelin.

One advantage the K2 has over most other "shop amps" is that it's fully sealed, so no dust and grime gets in it. It makes an excellent sub-amp, but works well for normal uses too.
I still have my Kenwood separates, tuner, preamp and amp powering three sets of JBL L-100's and a Marantz 6300 turntable and cassette deck. My son, the musician and sound editor, seems to have to "borrow" my L-100s for his studio on a permanent basis. His comments like "I didn't think things this old could sound so good," are typical. We must all be pretty old.
quote:
Are we all the same age?


Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional. We all own Panteras, so draw your own conclusions on that.

I was born in the 50's, but damn late. I used to feel like a pup on this board, but lately, I'm afraid maybe the crowd has gotten younger, relatively speaking. Roll Eyes

Years ago, I managed a big electronics service shop, and saw plenty of those old Marantzes (how DO you pluralize "Marantz"?). They're fine receivers. But when you've got access to pure overkill, why wouldn't you use it?

Why do we all own Panteras anyway, if not for overkill?
quote:

Originally posted by MarsRed:

... I used to feel like a pup on this board, ... when you've got access to pure overkill, why wouldn't you use it ...


on the subject of old stuff ... and overkill ...

When I had a garage the sound system was Magnepan speakers and early 1970s Phase Linear 400 amp & 4000 "QUAD" pre-amp (Quad as in quadraphonic, the first 4 channel sound format). The one with the joy-stick balance control. Anyone remember that? Old stuff right?

Inside the home my stereo system was composed of a pair of Quad ESL 57s (this pair was mfg circa 1962) which decades later morphed into my home theater with 3 Quads arrayed across one living room wall (left, center, right) below the wall mounted large screen television and a pair of vintage Rogers BBC monitors for the rear channels. Quad in this case is the name of a British manufacturer of hi-fi equipment. Older stuff (except for the television)!

Now that I'm a condo-maniac the home theater has shrunk in size (Def Tech Mythos speakers), which is new stuff I never listen to.

I retained my original pair of 1960s vintage Quads for the bed room, powered by vintage Quad tube amps. The bedroom also has a 1970s vintage phono system (Luxman turntable & Audio Quest/Jelco tone arm) which I keep around so I can show the grand kids what vinyl LP records were all about; and there's an original Magnavox FD1000-SL flagship top loading CD player (mfg in Holland circa 1983). The CD player's laser mechanism, metal chassis, and flagship electronics are very robust (and heavy), it still plays like new, and even plays home recorded CDs. The CD player was manufactured long before over-sampling, dithering, and all those gimmicks were introduced, but the sound has never been bettered ... its a keeper. I don't plan to ever give up the Quads either, their sound has satisfied me since the 1960s. I tell everyone the bedroom system is a museum display. No infra-red remotes! Elvis never sounded better.

I held onto the Phase Linear 400 amp that was in the garage too, its one great sounding transistor amp. Maybe someday I'll put together a sound system for Pantera Internationals public storage unit.

rock and roll

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Last edited by George P
I love the warm glow of the old units, it isn't all monochrome LEDs. Seeing the analog needles on the Marantz makes me want to dig out my old Philips amp, hook up the turntable, and let the kids hear the personality that the pops and clicks could add to music.

I find I can camp out in the garage a lot longer with some classic tunes going through the old receiver ... but I cheat and hook up the iPod so I'm not stuck listening to commercials between songs.

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Last edited by George P
Today a really good tune was on the radio, and I knew both my house and the nearest neighbor's house were empty. So I tuned up the volume to fill the 500 sq ft garage. At less than half volume it was as high as I could bear. And that's a 25W Marantz, their way of measuring is really conservative.

(The tune was Bad Craziness, by D-A-D, a Danish band. Initially they called themselves Disneyland After Dark, but Disney didn't want that, no no, threatened the band with all kind of legal action, and the band changed their name...)
Wow. This discussion brings back old memories. Somewhere deeply buried in my basement is a Sansui QRX-7001 Receiver like this one. I think I paid $425 for it in 1975(?) at the Torrejon AB Spain BX. Still works as far as I know. So, I may have to hunt it down to replace the old boombox I currently am using in the garage.

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