Marantz 2330b price question.

oldrocker

Watching an auction for one of these. Has the European plug on it. Appears to be in decent visual looking condition. Bid is $778.00 which seems high to me given the fact that it can't be powered on to verify anything.Thoughts on price appreciated.

Nightfall

Derp.

Nightfall

Whoops I was looking at 2230B's. Doh! Guess that isn't a high price after all. Most of them sold are for parts/broken.

Here's a working one that sold for $1k

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Marantz-2330b-/151566533841?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item234a11c4d1

...and one for $1,200

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Marantz-2330B-Stereo-Receiver-Amp-Fully-Serviced-Restored-130-Watts-a-side-/281545050823?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item418d648ac7

oldrocker

Tks NF, I looked on a vintage receiver page and the prices were much lower estimates. Guess I'll have too keep looking or pull that trigger at the end of the auction or just realize the Marantz soft blue glow is not in the cards...

Nightfall

They seem like crazy prices to me. For that much money you could get something newer, more reliable, and probably better.

I blame the hipsters for the insane silver face gear prices.

TNHNDYMAN

I recently sold my 2226B for $200 in great working order and all original lights still working. The ebay prices are crazy.

BDT

awful lot of money....you can get better sound for less.

sucks2beme

yup. I have some vintage gear here- won't pay those prices for it.
The trend started with perfect restored gear. Now everyone on CL
and ebay thinks i'ts all worth that much. Keep you're eyes open
and one will appear. Comb through estate sales and you'll find one.

leftwinger57

I totally agree. Now everyone who posts a listing either remembers what they originally paid for an item and forgets like cars off the show room floor devalues the instant it hits the street or w/ C/L everyone jumps over to E-Bay for comp prices. Big problem is except for the informed they have no idea of condition of surrounds, furniture or x-overs in speakers and caps and resistors in receivers. My 2nd tier Nikko 6065 @34watts does a great job for mid '70s receiver.One was going for $75 for months and never moved,finally he lowered it to $45 which it's worth.

George Grand

It is all ridiculously overpriced. One born every minute.

mhardy6647

my favorite artist's impression of a Superscope-era Marantz by mhardy6647, on Flickr

Folks are beguiled by the Rococo cosmetics of the 22xx (and 22xxB) Marantzes... but as far as I am concerned they just don't sound very good. They were relatively unpopular when new compared to other massmarket Japanese brands (largely, I suspect, because they tended to be a bit more expensive) -- which is part of the reason that they (especially the more powerful ones).

I mean, do you really need that many knobs, buttons, switches, and slide
controls? I think not (but, as always -- whadda I know?).

2600 by mhardy6647, on Flickr

(yeah, yeah, it's a 2600 -- actually a little simpler than the 2330B, if memory serves :-P It illustrates the point, though, methinks)

If you want a good sounding Marantz, my advice: get a Marantz 8B stereo power amplifier. It is a dandy piece of hardware -- one of my all-time favorite storebought amplifiers.

sucks2beme

I see stuff on local CL so overpriced it's insane.
I paid less for my ARC amp than most 40-80 watt Marantz stuff goes for
in any condition other than dead and delivered to "PFB" via UPS.
I've seen dead and beat up stuff go for 200 smackers.
My mint Sansui au-999 was $200, and that was at the top of
what I'd ever pay for anything vintage. I miss the $5-20 buys
of 10 years ago for Marantz stuff. And the other stuff isn't
far behind it. Go for more modern gear and let the crazies
chase the "magic" old stuff.

tonyb

I hear ya man, my local craigslist has an AU999 and the dude wants 500 for it. HUH ??
No frickin' way, but someone will pay it I guess.

oldrocker

Yea that price is way more than I want to go. But to each there own.
However, I have learned from this place that sometimes it takes a while for that sweet deal to happen and on that, yes someday I will own one of those blue glowing super sweet monsters...

tonyb

this one isn't too bad...
http://chicago.craigslist.org/sox/ele/4908569131.html

George Grand

tonyb wrote: »

this one isn't too bad...
http://chicago.craigslist.org/sox/ele/4908569131.html

Yes it is. It's a lousy 20wpc for $200. You can't do much worse than that. But revel in the old-time rating system of 20wpc = 80wpc.

mhardy6647

I sold the one I had (which was a dump find) which was in very good shape and worked well, except for a broken shaft on the speaker selector switch, for $50 some time back (yes, eyes wide open) -- a fair price, relative to what it really is, I'd say.

You can get a lot more, and - more to the point - a better sounding, receiver in every respect for that kind of moolah (at least relative to my tastes).

oldrocker

I agree with all. I hate to admit it, but the look of those Marantz are what drives me the most to find one. I do like the buttons, slides all that stuff along with wanting something that sounds warm and inviting.

On another note, I was warned about the rabbit hole but no one told me harvey the rabbit who occupies this hole, can also cast spells on a person....

tonyb

George Grand wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

this one isn't too bad...
http://chicago.craigslist.org/sox/ele/4908569131.html

Yes it is. It's a lousy 20wpc for $200. You can't do much worse than that. But revel in the old-time rating system of 20wpc = 80wpc.

I don't revel in it George, but to drive bookies to decent levels you don't need much more. You hardly see any vintage Marantz in the sub 200 buck range anymore, which is why I posted it.

Would I pay it ? No...but many vintage horders would.

leftwinger57

Here's the site I was referring to in my previous post Oak Tree Audio. To me their prices seem really high and for some reason advertise the more items they have sold. The page is on speakers but if you go to receivers you'll see what they have and then what they sold. C/L in Jersey is devoid of the good sale for the last couple of years. I'll still cruise it but I 'd rather do the garage sale thing and ask do you have any hidden goodies that you have no idea what it is. Absolutely no afiliation w/ OTA

http://www.oaktreevintage.com/Stereo_Speakers.htm

tonyb

Yeah, they are overpriced, but a few things to note. One, they are a business, thus they need to turn a profit. Two....they are selling fully restored receivers, big difference right there. Three....including a warranty comes with a price too.

Even a fully restored Sansui 9090 should go for less than 1000 bucks. They are asking 1500, ridiculous in my book. I wouldn't even dream of looking at vintage stuff from a dealer unless I had the bucks to shell out for fully restored stuff....at overpriced prices yet.

gudnoyez

Here's a craigslist vintage gear hoarder who's had all he can stand and he can't stand no more of the price and description of what vintage gear should be. He is so fed up with it he posted this on today's CL.
https://quadcities.craigslist.org/ele/4915040004.html

He uses Marantz as an example. To funny!

hochpt21

Lol that is funny.

sucks2beme

70's stuff has gone through the roof. And, yes, a lot of guys are hoping the 80's stuff
can go that way. Nakamichi and Luxman seemed to be pretty good well into the
80's but those are exceptions. Thats when NAD, Rotel, Carver and others stepped
up to fill the void. I've had some vintage stuff run through here, only a couple pieces are going to stay. At some point I'm going to get around to recapping them.

Nightfall

sucks2beme wrote: »

I've had some vintage stuff run through here, only a couple pieces are going to stay.

What has run through and what is staying? Just curious.

aprazer402

As I work out of the office a lot, I have stopped at many garage and estate sales. Items at estate and tag sales are usually priced by the companies holding them and these guys usually are pretty good with knowledge of values. The items of high demand typically go out the door right away on day one at close to their value. The other stuff that does not move on day one or two (usually Thurs. & Fri.) will get marked down to move out on Sat. The thrift shops in the past ten or so years seem to have tripled in numbers, probably partially due to the economy and maybe more immigration. But I see people buying items in the thirfts and then look on CL and see some of the same items up for sale there the next day. Many of these are items are in the $10-30 range! There must be a large section of the population that are trying to make this into a second income source, maybe some are succeeding? When I set up an Ebay account in 1999 there were individuals with transactions numbering in the 5000's+ at that time. Most small auction companies used Ebay early on too, both as a reference and to market their items to reach a wider market and potentially result in a higher sale price than they could achieve locally. Now the corporate world is all over Ebay (not necessarily evil). I'm not trying to draw any conclusions, make any inferences or say good or bad, just some observations. I do agree that prices for vintage hi-fi items are very high, maybe near their peak. What is needed are more superior quality NEW hi-fi products at "competitive" prices, so a hi-fi buyer will chose the NEW instead of "vintage" (vintage not "recently used", say 1-3 years old, this is a viable separate market segment by itself). I think there has been a good effort by a few manufacturers in recent years to market these types of hi-fi products. It seems this forum does a very good job searching them out. Many however are not heavily marketed, except on-line. Other items have also gone up in a similar manner; guns, toys, muscle cars and many other collectibles. Personal property of this nature goes up and down. This is mentioned at almost every interview on Antiques Roadshow. All lot of what's happening with the Baby Boomer generation, and has and will happen to other generations, when many of us wanted it, we couldn't afford it, so we bought it much later, because we always wanted one. Once the majority of us baby-boomers are little older we won't be still searching out that 64 Mustang or the 70's Marantz, we'll probably be looking for a good price for hearing aid batteries. So sorry for the length. Have a good evening.

ken brydson

I should sell my 2252B and put my kids through college....

Polkie2009

ken brydson wrote: »

I should sell my 2252B and put my kids through college....

LOL! Next thing you know, someone going to bring one into Rick's pawn shop on Pawn Stars.

oldrocker

It's sold. Almost $800.00. No way I'd spend that coin on it.

msg

oldrocker wrote: »

It's sold. Almost $800.00. No way I'd spend that coin on it.

man, don't sweat it. everyone's eaten up with these old vintage receivers these days, and like everyone's saying, the prices are getting silly, and a lot of it's junk you're gonna need to throw some money at. I've just dealt with some of this myself, and had to take a step back because it was getting ridiculous and was frustrating me a bit.

that 2330b looks to be a really nice unit, but these old receivers typically need some attention and service as I understand it, and personally, I don't necessarily trust all the guys selling them who've hosed them down with Deoxit or started replacing stuff, and then thinking they can get a premium-premium. that actually devalues it for me, a lot of these guys being no more than shade-tree mechanic types who read someone somewhere on a forum mention Deoxit. personally I prefer my stuff unmodified and in OE packaging if at all possible, and I'll pay a little extra for that and have it checked out/fixed myself. some of the Marantz stuff - in particular - has gotten WAY out of control. some of these auctions are like feeding frenzies.

anyway, you're not alone in the frustration/obsession of trying to find a nice piece to satisfy your curiosity.

have you thought about getting a lower end model to see if you like the sound first? maybe don't worry about power yet? - less than ideal, but many of these Marantz units have preouts and you can get them pretty affordably, and use with an amp? prob still have to be patient and shop it a bit, but definitely less than $800. this may let you see whether it's something you even want to pursue before having to go all in on something and paying more than it's worth and then struggling to get your money back later. won't be a perfect audition, but it should be close.

I originally thought I wanted a 2270/2245/2230, but simply couldn't get near them - none nearby, and all the "affordable" ones seemed beat up, and I wasn't really willing to go that route. I happened across a nice 2252b less than 2hrs away, and made a Saturday morning of it. while at the time thought I'd use it just to see if I liked the Marantz sound (though supposedly a little brighter than the 2270/45/30), it's actually grown on me and I prefer the silver/blue presentation over the black/blue. it's all original and prob needs to be checked out, but it satisfied the curiosity. Then, after a while I realized, eh, it's neato and all, but I still prefer my modern stuff for my main listening, though I do enjoy the 2252b for the atmosphere it provides, and I use it for some quieter, chill Saturday Night Fish Fry'ish jazz programs on the local public radio. that's more what it's about for me, at least - smooth sound and the atmosphere.

sucks2beme

I miss getting stuff like this for $5