Purchased an old Marantz amp with issues

[Squishman]

Holy buckets man. I was kidding. No regrets. You are the one with the speaker connector issues, not me!
This might be better rez:
Edit: yeah, that is better.

 

[PENG]

Holy buckets man. I was kidding. No regrets. You are the one with the speaker connector issues, not me!
This might be better rez:
Edit: yeah, that is better.

I thought my 45 years old SM-7 is old, yours even older! I had to clean the volume pots too, the noise will return though if you let it idle for too long. It will be fine if you use it often enough.

 

[Eppie]

I always start units like that up on the Variac.

Few people have a variac though. Dim bulb tester is the poor man's variac. Just change the bulb wattage.

 

[Eppie]

Changing components with modern parts will not change the sound unless the old components are way out of spec. Just like today, parts had tolerances of 10% or 5%. Only rarely do you see 1% tolerance where it is critical.

The concern with older capacitors is that they start to leak DC current. Capacitors are only supposed to pass AC. DC leakage can lead to damage of other components. That's more of a concern with tube gear, because leaking DC onto the grid of a tube will burn out the tube. If the caps reduce in value with age, that could potentially affect the sound of the amp, and not in a positive way. You can measure for DC voltage at the speaker terminals with a digital multi-meter but if there is DC on the output you will often hear a pop in the speakers when the amp is turned on.

If you find that the amp runs cool at low volumes and there is no noticeable hum then you should be ok to enjoy it for what it is.

 

[Squishman]

You can measure for DC voltage at the speaker terminals with a digital multi-meter but if there is DC on the output you will often hear a pop in the speakers when the amp is turned on.

If you find that the amp runs cool at low volumes and there is no noticeable hum then you should be ok to enjoy it for what it is.

That's good info. I'll keep an eye on that.

 

[highfigh]

Most likely that is just a legend.

Nice component.

Older equipment specs often showed 20-20KHz ±3dB for the power band, but some, like this one, shows ±1dB. They didn't always do much more than 20KHz and are often described as 'warm-sounding', whereas, a lot of newer receivers are referred to as 'thin', bright', etc. I have always thought that the Fischer receiver I use on my bench sounded 'warm', although I haven't tested its response and compared it to anything else. I'll do that when my Sony receiver comes back from service but I know that one was rated for wider frequency response with similar tolerance and I wouldn't refer to it as 'warm' but it's not overly bright, either.

 

[Swerd]

I'd guess that Marantz 1060 is more like 50 years old. Your photos of the front & back panels, plus the wooden case, looked so familiar to my Marantz 2230 that I had to look things up.

I bought my 2230 sometime in late 1972. It's an AM/FM stereo receiver with 30 Watts per channel. The best I can tell, the Marantz 1060 is essentially the same preamp & amp as my 2230, without the radio receiver. It was made from 1971-76, similar to my receiver. Both models are 30 Wpc, and the front & rear panels look like they have a lot of parts in common. My receiver, still in use, is a decent quality, mid-grade, audio product. It often is confused with older higher quality Marantz products. But Marantz was a different company by the early 1970s.

Saul Marantz, the original owner of the name had made very high quality and high priced amps from starting in 1952. Collectors value them now, and they sell for high prices. Superscope Inc. bought the company name from the originator in 1964. The Superscope products were meant for a different market, mid-priced audio, meant to compete with Sansui, Pioneer, Kenwood, and other Japanese products. They were designed in the USA, but were made in Japan. They may share the name Marantz with original company, but they shouldn't be confused with the Marantz products of the 1950s and early 1960s.

Some of prices I saw for restored 1060s were shockingly high. I hope you didn't pay that much for yours.

My 2230 receiver suffers from similar problems as your integrated amp, noisy volume and tone controls. They are easily cleaned with DeOxit, using some proper care, like you seemed to do.

The wood case was originally finished with a simple stain & varnish. It should be easily cleaned with very fine (0000) steel wool (or equivalent Scotch Bright Pad) and a simple organic solvent based wood finish cleaner, such as Howard's Restor-A-Finish. (There are other brands.) Get the untinted finish restorer.

Restor-A-Finish | Howard Products

Antique restoration and fine furniture care products. Full line of the highest quality polishes, waxes, and restorers available. "Restore It - Don't Strip It!" Since 1969

www.howardproducts.com

 

[highfigh]

Still, not the best.

Why, lack of surface area making contact? How much do you want? It's not high current, after all.

 

[highfigh]

I'd guess that Marantz 1060 is more like 50 years old. Your photos of the front & back panels, plus the wooden case, looked so familiar to my Marantz 2230 that I had to look things up.

I bought my 2230 sometime in late 1972. It's an AM/FM stereo receiver with 30 Watts per channel. The best I can tell, the Marantz 1060 is essentially the same preamp & amp as my 2230, without the radio receiver. It was made from 1971-76, similar to my receiver. Both models are 30 Wpc, and the front & rear panels look like they have a lot of parts in common. My receiver, still in use, is a decent quality, mid-grade, audio product. It often is confused with older higher quality Marantz products. But Marantz was a different company by the early 1970s.

Saul Marantz, the original owner of the name had made very high quality and high priced amps from starting in 1952. Collectors value them now, and they sell for high prices. Superscope Inc. bought the company name from the originator in 1964. The Superscope products were meant for a different market, mid-priced audio, meant to compete with Sansui, Pioneer, Kenwood, and other Japanese products. They were designed in the USA, but were made in Japan. They may share the name Marantz with original company, but they shouldn't be confused with the Marantz products of the 1950s and early 1960s.

Some of prices I saw for restored 1060s were shockingly high. I hope you didn't pay that much for yours.

My 2230 receiver suffers from similar problems as your integrated amp, noisy volume and tone controls. They are easily cleaned with DeOxit, using some proper care, like you seemed to do.

The wood case was originally finished with a simple stain & varnish. It should be easily cleaned with very fine (0000) steel wool and a simple solvent based wood finish cleaner, such as Howard's Restor-A-Finish. (There are other brands.) Get the untinted finish restorer.

Restor-A-Finish | Howard Products

Antique restoration and fine furniture care products. Full line of the highest quality polishes, waxes, and restorers available. "Restore It - Don't Strip It!" Since 1969

www.howardproducts.com

I gave up on steel wool a long time ago- sheds too much metal and it can discolor. I use ScotchBrite-



The miter joints on the case of my Fisher need to be cleaned up and re-glued. Once that's done, I'll strip it and refinish with something, not sure what I'll use. I might French Polish it, like I did for a customer who has a Mac AM/FM tuner and small power amp.

 

[highfigh]

This one hasn't been restored. From what I hear, as far as the best sounding vintage amps, Sansui and Marantz are among the best or the best. Would you not compromise that sound with aftermarket parts? I don't have that kind of a discerning ear I don't think. But I'd always wonder if it was up to snuff unless it was done by a professional with authentic parts.

If it doesn't sound bad, doesn't hum or crackle- it doesn't need new parts.

 

[highfigh]

Changing components with modern parts will not change the sound unless the old components are way out of spec. Just like today, parts had tolerances of 10% or 5%. Only rarely do you see 1% tolerance where it is critical.

The concern with older capacitors is that they start to leak DC current. Capacitors are only supposed to pass AC. DC leakage can lead to damage of other components. That's more of a concern with tube gear, because leaking DC onto the grid of a tube will burn out the tube. If the caps reduce in value with age, that could potentially affect the sound of the amp, and not in a positive way. You can measure for DC voltage at the speaker terminals with a digital multi-meter but if there is DC on the output you will often hear a pop in the speakers when the amp is turned on.

If you find that the amp runs cool at low volumes and there is no noticeable hum then you should be ok to enjoy it for what it is.

That DC offset measurement only shows DC at the output, though. Coupling caps could be bad and cause problems, but not as bad as the Sansui Direct Coupled stuff which burned up like a leaf fire. Bad coupling caps usually cause non-catastrophic problems, which is good.

I recently replaced some caps in my Fender amp- it wasn't the first time and I have all kinds of diagrams & schematics, but I forgot to install the coupling cap for Input 1. No sound from that, but Input 2 worked fine. Last week, I looked again and saw that the cap was missing. I thought "Look at the big brain on you!".

 

[Squishman]

In hindsight, my post title is incorrect. Seems to lack issues at this point! I'll be giddy about this one for a while. It'll eventually go in my two-channel room which I use as sort of a den/exersize room.

 

[Squishman]

I'd guess that Marantz 1060 is more like 50 years old. Your photos of the front & back panels, plus the wooden case, looked so familiar to my Marantz 2230 that I had to look things up.

I bought my 2230 sometime in late 1972. It's an AM/FM stereo receiver with 30 Watts per channel. The best I can tell, the Marantz 1060 is essentially the same preamp & amp as my 2230, without the radio receiver. It was made from 1971-76, similar to my receiver. Both models are 30 Wpc, and the front & rear panels look like they have a lot of parts in common. My receiver, still in use, is a decent quality, mid-grade, audio product. It often is confused with older higher quality Marantz products. But Marantz was a different company by the early 1970s.

Saul Marantz, the original owner of the name had made very high quality and high priced amps from starting in 1952. Collectors value them now, and they sell for high prices. Superscope Inc. bought the company name from the originator in 1964. The Superscope products were meant for a different market, mid-priced audio, meant to compete with Sansui, Pioneer, Kenwood, and other Japanese products. They were designed in the USA, but were made in Japan. They may share the name Marantz with original company, but they shouldn't be confused with the Marantz products of the 1950s and early 1960s.

Some of prices I saw for restored 1060s were shockingly high. I hope you didn't pay that much for yours.

My 2230 receiver suffers from similar problems as your integrated amp, noisy volume and tone controls. They are easily cleaned with DeOxit, using some proper care, like you seemed to do.

The wood case was originally finished with a simple stain & varnish. It should be easily cleaned with very fine (0000) steel wool (or equivalent Scotch Bright Pad) and a simple organic solvent based wood finish cleaner, such as Howard's Restor-A-Finish. (There are other brands.) Get the untinted finish restorer.

Restor-A-Finish | Howard Products

Antique restoration and fine furniture care products. Full line of the highest quality polishes, waxes, and restorers available. "Restore It - Don't Strip It!" Since 1969

www.howardproducts.com

Great stuff man. Thx! I will tell you what I paid. $250. Which turned out to be an incredible deal. After cleaning it up all afternoon yesterday, I knew that to be the case.

 

[Squishman]

Since I am not an audio tech, I am wondering about something. I did not even plug it in until speakers were attached (that will be my practice, especially with this amp. I understand that is a good practice, btw). But connecting the speakers , there were slight pops in the speakers as the wire touched the connectors. Not alarming, but noticeable. What is that? Totally normal? Then plugging it in and powering up after the speakers were hooked up.

 

[lovinthehd]

The always have speakers connected thing is a tube amp thing....some amps do make popping sounds, but that was also when it was unplugged?

 

[lovinthehd]

Why, lack of surface area making contact? How much do you want? It's not high current, after all.

I've just found them to give up over time somewhat....

 

[Squishman]

The always have speakers connected thing is a tube amp thing....some amps do make popping sounds, but that was also when it was unplugged?

Yes. Unplugged. I just tried it again, having things disconnected and unplugged since last night. "popping" was not accurate. It sounded more like static noise for a fraction of a second. Then touching the wires a second time and no noise at all. Probably normal.

 

[M Code]

The Marantz 1060 integrated amplifier was big seller, far exceeding Marantz's expectations. As posted previously, pre-amp and power sections are lifted from the 2230. The 1060 was released in 1973, making it >50 years old, I recall it was the best selling Marantz amplifiers of all-time especially in Europe. Very simple layout, but had a couple of nice features such as the mid-range control and pre-amp outputs, making it very popular just as a preamplifier. After 50 years, controls and especially the push switches should be kleened..

Just my $0.02....

 

[highfigh]

I've just found them to give up over time somewhat....

You mean, the springs relax and don't hold the wire as well? I have seen that. I have also seen the plastic on these and binding posts of various types crumble. I prefer metal posts with some kind of polarity indication to a plastic part that can break and springs that can lose their tension. Not a big fan of screws, either.

Picky, aren't I?

 

[highfigh]

Since I am not an audio tech, I am wondering about something. I did not even plug it in until speakers were attached (that will be my practice, especially with this amp. I understand that is a good practice, btw). But connecting the speakers , there were slight pops in the speakers as the wire touched the connectors. Not alarming, but noticeable. What is that? Totally normal? Then plugging it in and powering up after the speakers were hooked up.

So, the amp was off when the wires touched the terminals? Don't worry about it. You may have seen recommendations to use a small battery when identifying speaker wires in homes that have distributed audio, right? If you do that with your speakers (only touch the battery to the wires briefly), touching the + and - wires will produce a similar click or small pop because the capacitors have been charged. The click/pop is the cap discharging and will only happen once.

Amplifier output is low impedance and it's close enough to a dead short that the caps will discharge when the power is off.