[John Stone]

On 6/13/10 4:13 PM, in article
, "Bret L"
wrote:

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.

What does "properly updated" mean? The stock 7C is decidedly sub par by
today's standards in almost any measurement of specs. It's basically the
same thing as a pair of Marantz 1's, dating back to the early 50's. It used
a crude half wave unregulated HV power supply, and was loaded with "bumble
bee" caps that are, by now, all leaky as hell. It couldn't drive even
moderately low impedance amps without considerable bass droop. The volume
control didn't track very well and had a tendency to get noisy or fail
altogether. Residual noise in the line stage was high enough to be annoying
with high sensitivity speakers. While it was reasonably well built for the
day, was nice looking, and had decent tone controls, it also had 50's style
RCA jacks which were horrible.


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.

I'd sell at a ridiculous price it to some gullible Japanese collector who
worships at the altar of 50's Marantz equipment, and then go out and buy a
modern preamp.