Best vintage Marantz receivers?

There were two series of the Marantz 22XX receivers.

There were the receivers with the dark dial face made during the early 70's and those with the silver dial face made during the late 70's. Most of these later series Marantz receivers had a "B" designation, i.e.: 2216B.

Each model was tuned to sound a bit different. The 2230 has a very tube like sound, as do the Marantz "baby" receivers ... the 2215, 2216, 2216B, and 2220. The XX designation stands for wpc output into 8 ohms across the entire frequency for a period of 60 minutes. The 2270 was a bit different as it produced 70 wpc into 8 phms and only 45 or so into 4 ohms (you would expect it to be different).

The higher wattage receivers ... 2285, 2300, and 2325 are very much in demand. The 2250 and 2265 are nice ones to start out with.

I own the 2216B and 2240. Excellent tuners, warm beefy sounding amplifiers. They sound pretty good with CD players. As for speakers, I had the best success with acoustic suspension models like NHT SB2's and AR 302's and less so with rear ported models.

Regards, Rich

The 2270 seems to be a classic. Came out in 1971, last made in 1975.

Back in the the late 70s I bought a new Marantz 2265B receiver. Though it said Marantz, it was made by Superscope. Still a nice receiver though.
I do not know for sure if the 2270 was made before marantz sold out to Superscope.

If you are thinking about picking one up and you are buying site unseen ask lots of questions. Finding one near mint will be tough. For one in really good shape you will pay dearly.

classic audio
Marantz
Marantz 2270
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If you're an FM fan, the Model 18 and 19 had their top tuners inside them with the really cool ocilloscope. Only 40 and 50 wpc if that will do. I also like the 22xx series.

To add to Jea's response ...

The pre-1978 Marantz models are the most desireable. Saul Marantz had sold his company back in the late 60's to Superscope. Superscope was a very benign owner and did not look to muck around with Marantz' original designs.

In 1980, Superscope sold Marantz to Phillips and things were never quite the same afterwards. This is very similar to when Acoustic Research was sold to Teledyne and Fisher was sold to the same conglomerate that made cheap mass market electronics under the names of Emerson (another old time US radio brand that had been sold) and Sanyo. Fisher went from beautiful work like the 400 and 500 receivers to the rather poor performing Studio Standard line.

It was a very bad time for the American stereo business, as most of the American manufacturers had to move production overseas (it was cheaper) and eventually had to sell out altogether, as the Japanese manufacturers (Sansui, Pioneer, SONY, Panasonic/Technics, Kenwood, Onkyo, JVC, etc.) took over.

Regards, Rich

Here's a link to the Classic Marantz site:

http://www.classic-audio.com/marantz/mindex.html

I have owned several of the vintage Marantz receivers. I currently have a 2330 and love it. One of the most sought after units is the 2325. It is supposed to have the best FM receiver of the lot. It's hard to go wrong with an old Marantz.