Hi guys.
Being your typical male, I blindly believed I could recap/service my newly acquired Marantz 2325, (which sounded fantastic when it arrived.)
After a few brief inquires into servicing, (costs etc) I felt I could do the job myself, and brought a rebuild kit from IRebuildMarantz.com.
I had some minor soldering skills, but had never taken on a task involving circuit boards. But: How hard could it be, right?
I followed the step-by-step instruction on IRebuild's website, and to be honest, the recapping was not that difficult, nor was Deoxing the pots and replacing the old lamps with LED's (Note: Use Warm-whites, not the bright blue disco-lamps that seem to be the trend, its just to intense, in my opinion.)
However, inexperience started to factor when I incorrectly reverse-polled the large power filter caps. When I attempted to fire the Beast up, it just looked back at me.
In a panic, I emailed Randy at IRebuildMarantz.com, and in a 10 email exchange, he basically held my hand through the whole diagnostic process. End result: Problem fixed, no damage, working receiver.
My confidence once again at an all-time high, I threw myself back into the project and accidentally shorted the power supply board when attempting to adjust the bias: Once again, I contacted Randy, and suspecting I had fried something on the board, I decided to pull the P800 board out and send it to him.
He received it and over the weekend, replaced all the caps and the transistor I had shorted. Given my amateur soldering skills, I had also lifted a trace or two on the board which he also repaired.
He put it in the mail and changed me $14 (for parts). $14. Apparently the guy likes helping out idiots like me. Thanks Randy and IRebuildMarantz.com. Above and beyond.