Help Cleaning up Marantz 2230

[Jim Clark]

Longish post, if you don't have time /interest just click back. It's my story and I'm gonna tell it : )

Had the weirdest experience today. Bought a Marantz 2230 off Craigslist that had been on for over a week. Only 75.00 so I figured there must be something really weird or that it was already sold and he was too lazy to update the ad which was only running to sell the other junk. As I said, I bought it. Thing is, nice enough guy but his house was just a nightmare of junk and cat stench. I mean wretched unreal bad. So bad that I passed even looking at the stacks of vinyl since I knew that smell was in those covers forever. Plus, I needed out of that house.

Course the Marantz stinks too. I'm not sure how, but it does. I'm going to take the cover off, and clean the inside the best I can. What's the best way? Blow with compressed air? A leaf blower??? (the smiley is understood here) Anyone with experience got any tips for me? The only fault I see is that it's filthy and that there is one light out. If I gotta ask I should probably pay someone to fix that, right?

Any tips or sites that feature good solid information would be awesome.

Regards,
jc

[topspeed]

I had my 2230 fixed by a friend that used to run a local stereo shop until he retired. He's an EE and builds tube amps for giggles (and profit), so he knew what he was doing. In fact, he sold the thing to my Dad decades ago when the sucker was new! The biggest pain you'll encounter is cleaning the pots. The volume pot is the most problematic (as they are with most in the 22xx series), but the lights are a pretty easy fix. After languishing in a '70's era entertainment center for years, I "borrowed" the unit and had it renovated. This included replacing the burned out lights, re-biasing, new caps, rebuilding the volume pot, and a complete cleaning. For all intensive purposes, the thing now looks and plays as new. Cost was about $150. It was easily worth it, especially considering the rebuilt volume pot. The 2230 pushes my VR1's with grace and authority and no, my dad isn't getting it back.

Nice choice, Jim. The old Marantz units have a very retro-cool appearance to them with their shiny stainless faceplates against the cool blue glow.

[Jim Clark]

thanks for the reply.

I want the cool blue lamps if that was original. What color is your lamp on your meter? I'm really liking these suckers, the other kits are scaring me off. http://cgi.ebay.com/CUSTOM-FUSE-LAMP-Marantz-Pioneer-Sansui-Proton-etc_W0QQitemZ110157167259QQihZ001QQcategoryZ50596Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Thanks,
jc

[Feanor]

Longish post, if you don't have time /interest just click back. It's my story and I'm gonna tell it : )

Had the weirdest experience today. Bought a Marantz 2230 off Craigslist that had been on for over a week. Only 75.00 so I figured there must be something really weird or that it was already sold and he was too lazy to update the ad which was only running to sell the other junk. As I said, I bought it. Thing is, nice enough guy but his house was just a nightmare of junk and cat stench. I mean wretched unreal bad. So bad that I passed even looking at the stacks of vinyl since I knew that smell was in those covers forever. Plus, I needed out of that house.

Course the Marantz stinks too. I'm not sure how, but it does. I'm going to take the cover off, and clean the inside the best I can. What's the best way? Blow with compressed air? A leaf blower??? (the smiley is understood here) Anyone with experience got any tips for me? The only fault I see is that it's filthy and that there is one light out. If I gotta ask I should probably pay someone to fix that, right?

Any tips or sites that feature good solid information would be awesome.

Regards,
jc

In general these vintage '70s amps are worth repairing. It is usually quite feasible because they are entirely discrete components or mostly so. Nevertheless it is important that the proper components be used. For example, from what I hear, not all eBay "fuse" lamps are the correct voltage nor give the right blue color. Same for other components.

If you have a good local technicial who you are confident will do a good job using correct components, get an estimate.

A can of compressed air is good for cleaning; be sure to hold the can upright, bending the nozzle extension if necessary to get some other angle.

[Jim Clark]

In general these vintage '70s amps are worth repairing. It is usually quite feasible because they are entirely discrete components or mostly so. Nevertheless it is important that the proper components be used. For example, from what I hear, not all eBay "fuse" lamps are the correct voltage nor give the right blue color. Same for other components.

If you have a good local technicial who you are confident will do a good job using correct components, get an estimate.

A can of compressed air is good for cleaning; be sure to hold the can upright, bending the nozzle extension if necessary to get some other angle.

Yeah, I'm content with this purchase. Found several threads around the net and a lot of folks that think this is a pretty special model, of course there are very few folks who admit to buying gear that flat out sucks. It will be fun to get cleaned up.

Thanks for your reply, I'm gonna grab the compressed air and deoxit over lunch today.

Regards,
jc

[topspeed]

thanks for the reply.

I want the cool blue lamps if that was original. What color is your lamp on your meter? I'm really liking these suckers, the other kits are scaring me off. http://cgi.ebay.com/CUSTOM-FUSE-LAMP-Marantz-Pioneer-Sansui-Proton-etc_W0QQitemZ110157167259QQihZ001QQcategoryZ50596Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Thanks,
jc
The meter lamp is a light blue, not the dark blue like your link (although I admit that does look pretty cool). Meh, I'm content with with original look.

Glad you're happy with your purchase. For a unit that's over 30 years old, it still sounds more musical than today's ubiquitious Jap recievers.