Marantz 3300 - Fanboy issues, buyer beware.....

I am quite familiar with the Marantz 3300/3600/3800 preamps, and owned a Marantz Model 7 tube preamp for nearly 30 years. I also owned a Hafler preamp.

A new Schiit Saga blows all of them out of the park sonically. I use a Sylvania Bad Boy 6SN7GT in the original Saga and the sound is great.

why not build a system out of new Schiit gear? And if you want a complete system without tubes, the Schiit Ragnerak is on closeout at $999. You can put a multibit DAC in it for a few hundred more, and you get a headphone amp that ranks up there with the best as well.

I had Marantz (3200,140) gear in the ‘70s. It depends if you’re looking to make a system with fantastic aesthetics and decent sound or better sound.
 

A great combo for me a little later on in the ‘80s was an Advent 300 as a preamp and a Hafler DH-200. The Advent has a terrific phono section if you want to play records and the Hafler was a really clean power amp. Unlike the Marantz, these are not pretty components. They ugly. The Advent looks like a radio from 1958 and the Hafler is a rectangular block of dead weight. But they sound great and you can probably get them both for the same price as the Marantz.

I kept them both for 20 years before I was temporarily seduced by the dark side of home theathre (oooof aaah). Thank goodness that only lasted a year..

szeidman2002: I agree with your pairing! That Advent receiver - who remembers it today? - is a gem! It's pre-out made it quite versatile! Add the excellent phono stage - still competitive today! - and you have one of the best bargains in audio. 

Consider portability and compatibility along with sound quality. Old gear is best left to tinkerers and collectors to source for themselves. You didn't say how old your son is, but if he is in the peripatetic years in his 20s, compact, easily-moved 2 channel monitors and a reasonable sub and a one-box integrated amp with dac and streamer would be a good option. JBLs SA750 is that, but maybe out of the budget range. Cambridge Audio CXA81 and a WiiM Pro streamer would be an excellent budget-conscious option.