@mijostyn- prices of Marantz 7 tube preamps are through the roof- I’d love to have one that was clean. Do you now regret selling it?
(I thought the "C" denoted "with cabinet," which was extra $, so I distinguish the 7 from its later transistorized counterpart by too many words-- the 7C designation was commonly used at one point to refer to the tube version of the preamp).
The original Phase Linear 700 (not the B with the rack handles and lit up face plate) was a statement piece- sort of industrial looking, but the 400 (I was slinging hi-fi as a kid) sounded better in my estimation.
One of the first true high end systems I heard was double KLH 9s with all tube Marantz gear. This was back before I had the money for any of this stuff- I was a kid.
My "mini-HQD" system with a single pair of Quads, the Decca ribbons and a small-ish powered sub (those were not as commonly available in the ’70s and early ’80s as they eventually became owing, I think, to the home theatre boom in the ’90s) was sweet sounding, but the coherence of the Quad was lost in the mixture of different types of drivers that were added top and bottom. I’d love to set up a full on HQD system but it would have to go in the main listening area- that set up is just too big for the front parlor where the Quads now reside.
(I thought the "C" denoted "with cabinet," which was extra $, so I distinguish the 7 from its later transistorized counterpart by too many words-- the 7C designation was commonly used at one point to refer to the tube version of the preamp).
The original Phase Linear 700 (not the B with the rack handles and lit up face plate) was a statement piece- sort of industrial looking, but the 400 (I was slinging hi-fi as a kid) sounded better in my estimation.
One of the first true high end systems I heard was double KLH 9s with all tube Marantz gear. This was back before I had the money for any of this stuff- I was a kid.
My "mini-HQD" system with a single pair of Quads, the Decca ribbons and a small-ish powered sub (those were not as commonly available in the ’70s and early ’80s as they eventually became owing, I think, to the home theatre boom in the ’90s) was sweet sounding, but the coherence of the Quad was lost in the mixture of different types of drivers that were added top and bottom. I’d love to set up a full on HQD system but it would have to go in the main listening area- that set up is just too big for the front parlor where the Quads now reside.