Another Stupid "Which Receiver Should I Keep" Question

[Gary.D.Olson]

Yes... this is a personal decision. Still, there are a number of members here of which I have tremendous respect, and it wouldn't surprise me to learn something I haven't thought of. Here's my little dilemma:

 

Early last month I bought a pristine Marantz 2330B 125wpc receiver off ebay. It's important to mention I've wanted a Marantz receiver since the early 1970's. This one was worth the wait. It's beautiful and sounds terrific. This Monday, a Luxman R-117 receiver (165wpc) in excellent condition came up on CL for $350. Many say the R-117 is the best receiver of the 1980's. I was curious enough to buy it (I paid $275). As I applied Deoxit to the pots, I could hardly believe the difference in external design between 1970's and 1980's components. They'd gone from the "works of art" of the 1970's to plain black boxes riddled with dozens of buttons and digital readouts. I gave it the night to dry out, then gave it a listen.

 

Whoa! If the 2330B's qos is a 10 (and it is to me), the Luxman's is a solid 11. It sounds so good I'm hopelessly torn between the two. So... the hard decision is this: to keep the ugly but better-sounding Luxman R-117 with remote controllability and other modern features - or - keep the beautiful, also great-sounding, highly-collectible Marantz 2330B I dreamed about for 40 years.

 

Any thoughts?

[Paul R]

Silly! Keep them BOTH of course! You are only talking beer money here mate - why agonize?

 

-Paul

[Blake]

the Marantz

[wgscott]

Keep both. Put the Marantz in front of the other one, so you can look at it while listening to the ugly box. Also, that weighted horizontal dial thingie, if memory serves, is for adjusting radio stations. So keep the Marantz for radio playback.

[esldude]

Oh, my! I was a poor college freshman in 1978. A friend a year ahead of me, an EE, won a big radio contest, and spent the money on among other things that very receiver. He had one of the rare cassette decks that would run double speed, some B.I.C. Venturi speakers and this very receiver. It was a beautiful work of art.

 

It was darn powerful for a receiver in those days. I wanted one so badly. I came close to buying a similar Marantz a couple notches lower in the line up. In the end I purchased a quality racing bicycle instead (which I still own and ride on occasion).

 

I still remember my friend hosting a dorm party where he hooked it up to power 4 Klipsch speakers in a big room. I may still have hearing damage from it.

 

I also happen to be familiar with the Luxman. You aren't wrong, it is the nicer sounding receiver. Not the work of art, but an example of efficient, effective design and superior solid state components.

 

I am with wgscott. Keep them both. Find a place for both.

 

I still have an old mono quality handmade tube unit from the 1950's. I keep it hooked to some Radio Shack LX5 speakers (these were an odd copy of a Linaeum with cast aluminum cabinets and the unique Linaeum dipolar tweeter). The LX5's aren't really efficient, but I keep a mono tube tuner feeding the mono tube amp, and run a pair in series for better efficiency. I have a digital timer on the power circuit to it all. The nice sound quality, and tube comfort are great at putting me to sleep. I hit the timer for 45 minutes, play the mono tube system set to a local public station that plays classical and before the timer cuts it off I am sound asleep. All the stuff is quality, wonderfully made, and I didn't spend much money. But it keeps them useful to me and I enjoy having them around.

 

So use the Luxman, it really sounds better. Find a place for that Marantz some way. Let it power some speakers for your patio or deck if you have one or something of that sort. Let it play background music fed from a networked computer source. Think on it a bit, and you can find a use for it. The tactile quality of it will never fail to please you. It isn't an either or question, it is a matter of you creatively finding a good use for it. Use your creativity.

[Musicophile]

... I dreamed about for 40 years.

Doesn't this say it all?

[Audio_ELF]

...I dreamed about for 40 years.

At least your dreams didn't turn out to be disappointing...

[realhifi]

Whether you like the convience of remote control should be a factor in your decision I would think. I'm with the others in reommending you keep them both. Store that gorgeous Marantz and when the itch returns to see your "dream machine" then plop it back in for a spell. Cheap thrills, as Janice would say.

[Gary.D.Olson]

Whether you like the convience of remote control should be a factor in your decision I would think. I'm with the others in reommending you keep them both. Store that gorgeous Marantz and when the itch returns to see your "dream machine" then plop it back in for a spell. Cheap thrills, as Janice would say.

 

Listening to the Marantz the first few times was a tremendous struggle against tears. I was truly in awe of it, and at the same time so angry at my own stupidity of waiting so long for something that cost hundreds-not-thousands and yet gave THAT much pleasure. What was I thinking. I wonder if my wife sensed this because she told me late last night that she would be "very" upset if I sold the Marantz OR the Luxman. In that moment, I'm reminded once again that I'm clearly more lucky than smart. I count three "keepers".

 

Thanks for your advice.

 

 

Gary

[NOMBEDES]

Keep both. Put the Marantz in front of the other one, so you can look at it while listening to the ugly box. Also, that weighted horizontal dial thingie, if memory serves, is for adjusting radio stations. So keep the Marantz for radio playback.

 

 

 

 

+1, you, Mr. wgscott, are one smart dude!

 

 

PS. What is radio?

[Gary.D.Olson]

+1, you, Mr. wgscott, are one smart dude!

 

 

PS. What is radio?

 

 

These days it's called Pandora.

[Audio_ELF]

These days it's called Pandora.

And once all the music which has been compressed to hell has been played... A few tracks remain we call hope.

[wgscott]

Doesn't AudioDoctor have one of these?

[wgscott]

Another thing you can do is upgrade some of the old electronics components and make it sound better than ever.

[Gary.D.Olson]

Another thing you can do is upgrade some of the old electronics components and make it sound better than ever.

 

Hey, I couldn't even get the volume pot clean on this beast. Were you thinking caps? This mistress is chock full of them.