Hi, I've owned plenty of Marantz gear over the years, and in fact at one time, could've called myself a Marantz Collector. Owned about 9-10 recievers over the years. Some of the better ones I've had, were a mint 2265, and a mint 2285B Black Face Euro version, which can be seen on Ben Blish's Vintage Marantz site. Both of these had good sound.
Others such as a 2238B, two 2330B's, a 4400 I was not too impressed with, and I'm not so sure about Marantz's longevity. A few of them I had problems with. $300 for a Marantz 2238 is awful high IMO. This was a very common model, still is easily gotten, not really considered to be highly sought after, and I myself owned a mint one I bought a few years back for $100. Not a mark on it anywhere.
Models (Recievers+Tuners) with the CRT (Cathod Ray Tube) are very cool, but this feature was something that could easily break, and finding a new CRT now would be close to impossible. My bought new $1200 4400 top of the line quad reciever had one, and the CRT blew two months into ownership.
Of course, I realize most of these are pushing between 28-35 years old, and any equipment in this age range can last another 15 years, or it could blow tomorrow.
I won't argue the fact that Marantz had some of the prettiest gear back then, but I generally liked Sansui gear better for thier sound versus Marantz. Recievers like the Sansui 8080, 8080DB, 9090, and 9090BD are very nice, and recievers such as the Sansui 7000, 7070, Seven, Eight, and Eight Deluxe can usually be had for a song.
Tandberg also made some nice gear, but here too, my experiences have been this equipment can be problematic, and quirky.
Naturally, buying sight unseen can be a crap shoot. My best recommendation if buying from say a place like ebay, buy from a seller who has a great track record, sells lots of audio equipment, and will personally guarantee you won't be recieving a DOA unit.
One of the best powers sellers I've ever had the pleasure of buying audio gear from on ebay was a man by the name of Alan Dickson. I purchased much wonderful gear from Alan, an Absolutely immaculate QRX-7001, Immaculate TEAC A2340R R-R Tape Deck, and I also did buy the flawless Maratnz 2285B Black Face Euro Model, and Matching 5025 Black Face Cassette Deck from him too. Every transaction was flawless, packed well, great, polite communication and he'll stand behind what he sells you. His ebay user ID is ADICKSON, and tell him I sent ya! Mark D'Ambrosio
