Sunday started off like any other day

During my Saturday morning eBay search I ran across an Marantz Model 33 Pre Amplifier in its original wood cabinet. This was a surprise because I'm sure it wasn't there on Friday. Not only was it a 1 day auction but it was located in San Jose, CA. About an hour from where I live.

Fortunately I won the auction and the 33 was mine. I made arrangements to pick it up on Sunday morning. As I pulled down the street, slowly looking for the house I saw to my amazement what would have to be a great site. There was an entire garage full of vintage audio equipment and test gear. It was like an American Pickers electronics honey hole.

I met the seller, a really nice woman named Nancy who explained that she was selling off a life times collection of vintage electronics from her uncles estate. Packed into her two car garage and spilling into the driveway was only a small part of the over 300 boxes of his collection.

There was endless bits and pieces from all sorts of test equipment. There were transformers and capacitors and box upon box of components and test leads. Oscilloscopes dating back 50 years were strune upon the ground along with bench gear that only the original operator knew what it was for.

There was several Fisher tube receivers, Marantz 22xx and 23xx receivers, a variety of tube amplifiers which looked like they were pulled from maybe jukeboxes, all sorts of power supplies, both solid state and tube. This guy collected everything he could get his hands on.

 

Nancy was very overwhelmed with all of this and didn't really know what any of this stuff was. She had been selling the easy to identify items on eBay. Gone were the many Fender guitar amps, a Marantz 2238 and 2385 along with some of the oscilloscopes.

I spent about an hour trying to explain what some of this stuff was and how to sort it into groups based on age. With the amount of equipment she need to sell, it could easily take a year to sort through everything. She had about a month to get it all sorted and sold.

What I took away from this experience was not only my new Model 33 pre amplifier but a better idea of what a collection can do to future generations. What a burden we create with our stuff. When I watch American Pickers I've seen relatives who have inherited a family members collection. It is amusing when it's on TV, it's a whole different thing when you see it live in Nancy's garage.

See all of the Pictures for this pick.

An early spring audio adventure

Last Week I had been watching a Marantz Model 16 Amplifier on eBay. This particular Model 16 was being auctioned by a local seller, so there would be no shipping costs and no chance for any shipping damage. I watched right up to the end of the auction and I had my maximum price set in my mind. In the last few seconds everyone went crazy and the price almost doubled and the 16 sold for nearly $400.00, bummer.

The following morning I emailed the seller and to let him know that if the winner flaked out on the deal, he could contact me and maybe we could work something out. He thanked me and I pretty much forgot about the 16.

Monday morning the seller emailed me and said that he had a couple of other items he wanted to sell and he wanted to know if I was interested before he put them up for auction on eBay. He forwarded a picture of a Model 7T Pre Amplifier that he found on line and said his looked just like it only his had a wood case. Cool.

He shot me a price which was fair, but at the top of what a 7T would sell for and I really didn't want it that badly. I sent back a more realistic price and he agreed, wow. I made arrangements to pick it up that night in San Francisco.

While I watched the clock all day in the shop it occurrence to me, what if he actually had a Model 7 Tube Pre Amplifier? A novice could easily mistake the two models at just a glance. If it were a model 7, its value would far exceed our negotiated price and I would be obligated to let him know what he had, good Karma, you know.

We stopped off for dinner at the Hick'ry Pit in Walnut Creek on the way so we would have a better chance of missing any bridge traffic into the city. There was a Giants pre season game that night at 7:30 and traffic can get real bad on the Bay Bridge on game nights. I counted the minuets until the waitress brought the check and we hit the road. There wasn't any traffic so we made record time into San Francisco.

The seller lives in a nicely restored 1940's row house in the Excelsior District that was filled with mid-century modern and Danish furnishings. We actually got a parking space right in front of his house, no small feet in the city.

It turned out that all of the equipment he was selling belonged to his father, who had worked for Superscope in Chatsworth for years. His father recently relocated back to the Bay Area and everything in the Los Angeles home is being sold.

His father bought all of the Marantz equipment, which included the Model 16 Amplifier, 7T Pre Amplifier, and a pair of Imperial 5 Cabinet speakers with the optional wood grills back in the late 1960's. There was also a 5120 cassette player that he added in the mid 1970's. All of these items were bought using his employee discount, so I guess he couldn't resist getting the best they had to offer.

After chatting with the seller and a brief powering up of the items, we loaded everything up including the 5120 and we headed towards home.

The 7T is a near perfect as I have ever seen. Based on the amount of dust inside the wood case, this pair has been together since the beginning.

When I removed the cover there was that unmistakable smell of vintage electrons, sweet. I doubt that the cover has ever been removed since it was sealed up at the Woodside, New York factory.

I wasn't sure if the wood case was a genuine Marantz case because it's made of Walnut veneered plywood, not particle board like later cases. After doing some research and inquiring on AudioKarma it seems that early factory case were made from plywood.

The 7T sounds fantastic, not a single dirty control or switch I the entire unit. It's just sweet sounding and maybe how all of this worked out means it was meant to be paired with one of my 16's.

See all of the 7T pictures

Early Pre-Amps are great

Yesterday was a good day at the shop, I figured out how to repair a modern piece of equipment (not Marantz) that had a chip level board control problem and FedEx dropped off a package.

Inside was a really well packaged Marantz Model 33 Pre-Amplifier. I have another Model 33 that I have rebuild and I use it with a 100 wpc Model 16B Amplifier. The Model 33 was the second solid state pre-amp that Marantz designed, it came out after the 7T.

The Model 33 pairs with either a Model 16, 16B or Model 32 Amplifier. Inside you you will a well laid out unit which is easy to work on. There's a single power supply board and a matching pair of tone boards. One of the nice features of the model 33 is the separate headphone amplifier with its own headphone volume control.

See all of the Model 32 pictures

Update on Sunday, March 25, 2012 at 3:55PM by Chris

With just a little cleaning of the fader controls and switches the model 33 really came to life.  I paired it with my 1030, which I just completed a rebuild of.  The 33 gives the amplifier section of the 1030 more depth and an expanded sound stage. 

Other than a search for the missing knobs, I don't have any immediate planes for the 33. I'll just enjoy it as it is for now.

I won something really good today

I was looking through this mornings offerings on eBay and what did i see, someone selling a really nice looking Marantz 1200B Integrated Amplifier.  Not only does it look like it's in great condition but form the description I have high hopes that it is in working order.  

The seller describes it as, When you turn it on, the blue light turns on and a few seconds later you can hear a click.  They tried to listen to it, however they only got a little volume out of it.  I noticed in the picture that the pre-out  main-in jumpers are missing. Hmmmmm, I have high hopes.

I'll post pictures once it shows up.

Update on Monday, March 12, 2012 at 4:02PM by Chris

FEDEX shows the package is scheduled for delivery on Wednesday. . .

Update on Wednesday, March 14, 2012 at 9:35AM by Chris

The 1200B is on the FEDEX truck and out for delivery today!

Update on Wednesday, March 14, 2012 at 3:26PM by Chris

The Fedex delivery driver showed up with a really well packaged 1200B this morning.  The 1200B is very original and looks complete. It's very dirty, which is OK. There will be testing tonight.

See all of the 1200B pictures.

Update on Thursday, March 15, 2012 at 8:02AM by Chris

Initial testing on the 1200B went well enough last night. I brought it up on the variac and a watt meter and there weren't any signs of any serious problems. The protection relay took about 10 seconds to engage and when it did it was a very slow and seemed to struggle before it clicked over.

The current draw at idle is around 45 watts, which is about right for this model. The DC offset was -45mV on the right channel and +12mV on the left channel. Both channels were easily adjusted to +/- 2mV. The pots feel real rough but adjusted well after a few turns to loosen them up.

The pre-amp out and main-in jumpers are missing, so I used a patch cable and gave it a play. The volume is very low in the right channel and just plain low in the left channel. The controls are very dirty and stiff.

My overall impression is that this unit is just tired. I don't think it has any major problems, just a lot of little things that add up to a poorly work amp.

I sprayed all of the controls and the relay contacts with Deoxit D5 this morning and I will check back on it this afternoon.

Update on Friday, March 16, 2012 at 8:32AM by Chris

Last night I pulled the Relay and Power Supply boards out of the 1200B.  Both are in real toasty condition.  The relay board has lots of cold solder joints and one resistor leg just pulled out through the solder joint.  

There will be componet testing on these baords this week end.  Future posts on the 1200B will be on the Rebuild & Repair page.

Small things can make such a difference

Small things can make a real difference. I have a pair of Pioneer HPM100 speakers that I bought last year off eBay from a local seller. They are in good condition and I really like how they sound. When they're paired with the right preamp and amplifier they really rock.

The only thing about them that bugged me was their missing grill badges. I searched on eBay everyday for the past 9 months only to find single badges or pairs that went for outrageous prices. One pair sold for $80.00 plus shipping.

As much as I wanted the badges, I wasn't going to spend that kind of money. 2 Weeks ago I finally won an auction for a pair of badges at a reasonable $24.00 price.

Now my HPM100's are complete.