1978 Marantz Design Series 920 Restoration

I just wanted to put this out there since I am new here. To show my hard work restoring a pair of neglected vintage speakers. These have quite possibly the most beautiful Veneer work I have ever seen. They did not have the original woofers when I found them. luckily, I found some off that website :ihih: I also like how the base has an opening and the aluminum hardware is mounted on the baffle. Anyone else collect vintage Marantz gear or have a pair of HD/DS/M series vintage speakers?

I once owned a pair of Marantz speakers but I dont know what model they where but they kicked butt(distorted butt at times but still). They look very nice.

I have a Marantz 2325 receiver and 6300 turntable. In the past, I've had other Marantz integrated amps...the 1040 and the 1090, tuners...the 104 and 2100, and turntables...6100 and 6200. I think I'd like a 2500 receiver, just for grins someday...or one of the early models made in NY.

Nice restoration job.They look great!

I don't think Marantz speakers ever had much of a following (compared to their electronics) so one doesn't see them often around these days.

How do they sound?

Charlie04SiR:
For information about vintage gear especially speakers you might want to ask over at audiokarma.org Although they claim they're not just about vintage gear they are mostly about vintage gear. They have guys with lots of experience refurbishing vintage speakers. There are a bunch of people over there who are in love with Pioneer HPM-100's and all kinds of Cerwin Vega's. They're speakers that have an allure that totally escapes me.:confused5:

The Pioneer's to my ears do sound a little better than CV's, just a little!:D

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Originally Posted by JoeE SP9

Charlie04SiR:
For information about vintage gear especially speakers you might want to ask over at audiokarma.org Although they claim they're not just about vintage gear they are mostly about vintage gear. They have guys with lots of experience refurbishing vintage speakers. There are a bunch of people over there who are in love with Pioneer HPM-100's and all kinds of Cerwin Vega's. They're speakers that have an allure that totally escapes me.:confused5:

The Pioneer's to my ears do sound a little better than CV's, just a little!:D

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Hi Joe, thanks for the input. I have visited "That" website you mentioned above, before. Nothing of my interest there. My Cerwin Vegas are completely different animals than all the other ones. I modded the crossovers to soften the harshness of the mids & tweets. Basically I changed the crossover points to suit my hearing, which is much more sensitive than the average audio enthusiast. HPM's are one speaker I tend to avoid, except for a few rare ones. All of my Marantz speakers I have also tweaked a bit to get them "tuned" to my hearing. You should hear my Kenwood Model Sevens, oh boy do those sound unreal! :D

You should hear my ESL's. They sound real! Once a pizza delivery guy asked me me who the band was jammin' in my house. When told it was my stereo his response was "Really, who have you got jammin' in there?". That's so real it really is unreal.

BTW: Those Marantz's look very nice.

Thanks Joe, for the comment. I finished the 920's now and heres a pic of them both. I have a pair of Pioneer HPM-500's(one of only a few HPM's I like) that I will be working on next, so look for a new thread soon :D

Charlie

I just had my 920's in the room for a demo the other day! They sound amazing hooked up to my SX-1980! Very clear, smooth & detailed. I must say from what I've heard about other reviews of 920's, It has got to be operator error, IMO! Operator error being that whoever had these speakers powered them with cheap low powered amps and cranked them to the point of clipping, which is really sad. These things when hooked up to big power really, REALLY come alive with FULL sound that rivals that of a live garage band! Absolutely amazing!

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Originally Posted by D.G.

I once owned a pair of Marantz speakers but I dont know what model they where but they kicked butt(distorted butt at times but still). They look very nice.

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Thanks for the compliment. I am curious about your saying your speakers distorted. The amplifier is the source of the distortion in most cases, not the speaker, unless the speaker itself has an issue with the Xover, L-pads, the cabinet, or a driver. The distortion from the speaker itself is a completely different type of distortion than the distortion coming from a clipping amplifier. Many people do not know the difference.