Quote:
Originally Posted by Bret L
A properly updated Marantz 7C is at least the equal of any commercially available pre today, with the exception of its phono stage being good really only with a few carts.
How would you bring the 7C into the twenty first century? I have my
own ideas but those actually interested in audio, if any, may share
their ideas first.
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I have a Marantz 7 - and it sounds wonderful.
Stock, it is a very musical, sweet sounding preamp, and combined with tube amps from Marantz, Mac, etc; and speakers like vintage Klipsch, Altec, JBL, you'll have a very seductive but not entirely accurate sounding system. That is what Asian audiophiles enjoy and why they pay the big bucks, and if you ever had the pleasure of listening to such a system, you would understand why.
But mine is anything but stock.
First, Larry Smith of PAC installed solid state power supply regulation.
I then proceeded to POOGE it (Audio Amateur 1/81), and installed Teflon bypass caps. Carbon comp resistors were replaced with carefully matched carbon films. And the output caps, too small for lo-z solid state amps (or in my case, a modded Rane electronic crossover) are now 4.7 mF.
This modification was actually recommended by Saul Marantz in a letter to Absolute Sound. He said, " If used to drive input of 100K Ohms or less, there is a loss of low bass due to the .22 mF output coupling cap. This can be increased by adding 1 mF mylars in parallel..."