found: Marantz 2330B (e) receiver

[dougie07]

Okay, so the other day I was down in the basement and noticed an old Marantz receiver sitting in the corner. Turns out, my brother got it from our old hockey coach a few years back. Anyways, I usually hang out around the car audio section of the polk forum, but would like to get into some home audio. I was watching Matrix Revolutions the other day on my Pioneer HT-in-a-box, which sounds pretty good...but I need more. Sure, I still live with my parents, and they don't like loud music, movies, etc. But I'm sure Polk could pursuade them otherwise :D . Well, to get straight to the point :) ...would the Polk R50 floorstanding speakers be a good match for this receiver, and a good starting point? I'm a college student, so I don't have very much money to spend, and for now would like just a basic system that sounds better than my Pioneer setup.

Another thing, what are some opinions on this Marantz receiver? The specs sheet showed 130Wrms X 2 , which sounds pretty good...but I'm not sure what some of the other specs mean. Here's a link to the specs sheet I found.

Any input or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Doug

[Airplay355]

that will be more then enough power for some r50s....you might want to check circuit cities for open box deals on the old rti line....i've seen people saying( i know that sounds weird but u know what i mean) that they have rti70s going for 99 each around them. mine were $400 each so id definitely check out the deals

[therockman]

I had an old Marantz reciever from that era. The sound is rich, warm and mellow. It is a very smooth reciever with plenty of punch. And the cool gyroscope tuning dial can't be beat.

[dougie07]

Thanks for the info, guys. Unfortunately, we don't have a Circuit City up here so I would have to order them on-line. On the store finder for Polk dealers, there were only two in Alaska. One of them is a 3 hour drive from here, but the other is only about 20 minutes from where I live. Maybe I'll go check them out.

Rock,
I'd have to agree with ya. The receiver looks awesome. I like that look a lot better than the digital displays that are used nowadays.

Thanks again.

Doug

[danger boy]

that is a awesome looking vintage piece of classic stereo gear. that shiny brushed faceplate has a very high coolness factor. i love vintage gear like that. you may want to have it cleaned before you put it into daily use. but it should last for years to come.

nice basement find.. lucky guy.

[gidrah]

Great find. Is there anything you'd wanna trade for it?

[Tour2ma]

Yup, nice old Marantz there. Folks love the ones with the tuning wheel rather than knob.

Orion lists its used retail at $375. Any 100+ wpc models command some decent bucks.

Enjoy...

[dougie07]

Well, looks like I'll be taking it in for more than just a cleaning. I hooked up some old 6x9s I used to have in my truck, and it sounded like I was only getting the mid range. There were no lows (although 6x9s aren't known for going low, they still sounded a bit higher than usual), and the voices were just dull echos that I could barely hear. The stuff that was coming out sounded great, but just didn't have the range that I would expect. Am I expecting too much, or does what's going on sound like something's not right? I'm quite the beginner, so any info helps a lot.

I should be able to hook up the audio out from my dvd player to the aux in on the reciever, right? And sound should come out of the speaker...well that doesn't work. There's two sets of aux inputs on the reciever, but neither of them works. When I connect the audio out from the dvd to the main in on the receiver, I get sound, but no volume control.

Either I've got something hooked up wrong, or something's going on (or not going on) inside. Any ideas?

gidrah,
Thanks for the offer, but I think I'm gonna hang on to it. Just the thought of the fact that there are systems out there that will completely blow away my HT-in-a-box makes me wanna go max out my credit cards. This is just one less piece I've gotta buy to be on my way to the good stuff.

Thanks for the responses everybody.

Doug

[Tour2ma]

Edit: Just noticed this in the spec sheet you linked to:
Preamp to Amplifier Jumper(s) Yes
Apparently your receiver uses external jumpers to connect its Pre-Amp and Amp sections. Without the jumpers you're only getting "bleed through" to the speakers when you use the Aux In.

When you used the "Main In" you bypassed the Pre-Amp section, thus no volume control.

Take a spare pair of RCA interconnects and connect the Receiver's left and right "Pre-Out" (or similarly marked RCA jack) to the left/ right "Main In" and you should be good to go.

Until you do the above, ignore the rest of this post. Wrote it before the light bulb in my head lit up...

==============================================

Don't understand the "main in" input terminology, but the Aux in should work. The weak sound you are getting could be many things...

I'll assume you have the proper input selected and the speaker switch to the proper position.

Next thing coming to mind is to be sure that the Tape Monitior and Mute buttons are not depressed.

Get a hold of a pair of headphones and see if you can get decent sound there. If yes, then it could be an amp problem. If no, then there still could be an amp issue, but first need to scpoe of the pre-amp (which feeds both the amp section and the headphones).

Pre-amp-wise it could be dirty switches. Are you getting any raspy noise from the speakers when you change volume, treble, etc.? Work all the buttons and knobs a few times with the unit shut down and see if you get any improvement.

[dougie07]

Well...what a difference that makes. I did what you said, with the jumpers, I think. At first, I went Pre-out to main in, then I switched to Preout to Aux in. Now I have volume control, although it is a bit touchy. A small turn of the knob = huge increase in volume, and after a certain point the volume won't increase...is this normal? The sound is quite nice, though. But I still had the dull, echoy voice afterwards. So, just to see what would happen, I turned the surround setting on my dvd player off...and guess what? I got voices. No, not them imaginary ones I get in my head sometimes, but the ones coming from the people in the movie :D . I'm guessing, the 6x9s I had hooked up were being treated as surrounds...probably because that's what I had the dvd player set to. Do ya think?

Danger Boy mentioned getting the receiver cleaned...should I take it to a shop for that? Or is cleaning something that I could do at home?

Thanks for all the help fellas. I've learned so much from visiting this forum, and am very grateful for all the help you've provided. Thanks again.

Doug

[Tour2ma]

I'm sure you want Pre-Out to Main-In... Main-In is likely designed to take the voltage the Pre can produce. I doubt the Aux In can. I think you're overloading the Aux In circuitry, thus the touchiness.

In fact in thinking about it, I'm not sure why it would even work wired Pre-Out to Aux-In, as Aux-in goes right back to the Pre-amp section. This arrangement cannot be good for the Receiver...

The cleaning db refers to is more than cosmetics. It also includes the "pots" (potentiometers such as Volume, Treble, etc.) and switches. AS well as the other most likely dusty internals.

You can do it yourself with some care. Everything you'd need can be bought here.

But you've got a valuable old Receiver there, so bear that in mind... both in deciding if you should try cleaning it and, if no, who you entrust it to.

If you don't know someone, there's a guy over at AudioKarma who is very well respected, and reasonably priced. You'd have to ship the amp, but could feel secure doing it...

Now connect the Pre-out to the Main-In... pronto...

[dougie07]

Okay, I've switched them back. Everything sounds the same, and the volume is still touchy, but no more worries of overloading...right? I don't know anybody in the electronics repair business, but I'll look around. My automotive instructor knows A LOT of people, so I'll see if he knows anybody around town that could do the cleaning and all.

Thanks for the advice.

Doug

[Tour2ma]

You are most welcome, Doug... Glad to be of help. Anymore questions, please ask.

I'm thinking the touchiness may be from the volume pot being dirty. Good luck with the search for a Tech to clean her up...

If you have a dig-camera, a before and after clean-up picture would be appreciated.

[dougie07]

I'll try to get a pic or two on its current condition tomorrow, if not, definitely before I take it in. There's a few nicks and scratches on the box, a missing button, and a small scratch on the glass over the gauges. The inside is rather dirty...looks like it's been sitting in a garage for a while. The search for a good shop starts tomorrow.:)

[dougie07]

Sorry it took so long, but here's a pic of the receiver. I pulled it out of its box, and it turns out it's not so dirty after all. It was quite dusty, so I used some compressed air and cleaned it out pretty well. I've got a picture of the inside as well, I'll try to get that one up here.

[dougie07]

Here's the insides...

[PolkThug]

Originally posted by dougie07
and the voices were just dull echos that I could barely hear.

Doug, are you trying to run a 5-channel signal into a 2 channel receiver? There's no center channel for the voices so that would explain the "dull echos" for voices.

Regards,
PolkThug

[dougie07]

That's probably what's going on. When I have my dvd player's audio setting set to surround, that's when I get the dull voices. But when I turn the surround off, I get voices out of the usual fronts, as well as the 6x9s I had hooked up, with nothing coming from the surrounds (as it should be). Is this the dvd player switching between a 5-channel and a 2-channel signal?

Thanks for the input...it's all becoming more clear with the more help I get. Like I said in an earlier post, I'm pretty new to home audio, so I'm learning with pretty much every post I read and every piece of advice I get. Thanks again.

Doug